IRCC Minister Transition Binder 2021: Overview - Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada

Introduction

The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (the Board or IRB) is Canada’s largest independent administrative tribunal with four tribunals (“divisions”)

Established over 30 years ago with a mandate to resolve a range of refugee and immigration cases –fairly, efficiently and in accordance with the law

Refugee Protection Division

• Hears and decides claims for refugee protection made in Canada

Immigration Division

• Conducts admissibility hearings and detention reviews for foreign nationals or permanent residents

Refugee Appeal Division

• Decides appeals from Refugee Protection Division decisions to allow or reject refugee protection claims

Immigration Appeal Division

• Hears appeals on immigration-related matters, such as sponsorship applications and removal orders

Only the Refugee Protection Division and the Immigration Division (for admissibility hearings) make first-instance decisions; the other divisions review decisions made by the Government or by the IRB itself

The IRB’s Budget (2021-22) is approximately $300M with approximately 2,100 full-time equivalents (FTE) employees

The IRB’s four divisions have a funded complement of approximately 500 adjudicative decision-makers (“members”) in 2021-22:

Staffed by public servants

• Refugee Protection Division (RPD)
• Immigration Division (ID)

Staffed by Governor-in-Council appointees

• Refugee Appeal Division (RAD)
• Immigration Appeal Division (IAD)

Members appointed by the Governor-in-Council (GIC) are recommended by the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to Cabinet following a merit-based assessment process and named by the Governor General based on advice from Cabinet.

Those appointed generally hold office for a mandate of three to five years and are eligible for reappointment; reappointment recommendations are based on performance.

A full complement of GIC appointments is key to IRB performance, access to justice and keeping wait times in check.

The IRB currently has a number of member positions to fill at both the RAD and IAD. In addition, a significant number of members are at the end of their mandates. [Redacted]

Area Overview

The Board:

• Is an independent administrative tribunal characterized by:
  • both (i) individual decision-maker (“adjudicative”) independence and (ii) a degree of institutional independence, different than a line department such as IRCC
  • it does, however, remain a part of the executive branch for which the Minister is ultimately politically accountable and works closely on strategic issues with IRCC/CBSA through a Deputy Minister-level Asylum System Management Board(see IRB transition materials on balancing institutional independence with Minister’s accountability to Parliament)
• Is led by a Governor-in-Council-appointed Chairperson who:

Chairperson

• • is responsible for determining the schedule and assignment of cases at IRB and may propose rules about how all divisions operate (IRPA).
  • is a member of each division.
  • reports to Parliament through the Minister of IRCC.
  • is a Deputy Head and acts as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Accounting Officer for IRB (Financial Administration Act).
  • has four Deputy Chairpersons who are responsible for each division as well as an Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer responsible for overall internal administration.

An overview of the organizational structure is provided (see Annex).

Recent Operational Context

• Unprecedented intake of refugee claims between 2015 and 2018 – an increase of 300% – well above funded processing levels.
  • Many from claimants entering between ports of entry (e.g. at Roxham Road in Quebec)
• Intake resulted in the largest backlog and longest wait times for refugee claims and appeals in the Board’s history, and increased public scrutiny.
• In response, the IRB launched an ambitious Growth and Transformation Agenda:
  • Growth: Government investment of some $600M / four years in temporary funds
  • Transformation: Three IRB strategic priorities –
    • Increased productivity and efficiency
    • Enhanced quality in decision-making; and
    • Strengthened management
• Operating context further and more recently challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Growth and Transformation Agenda: Growth

• Through recent budgets, IRB secured approximately $600M in temporary funding (until April 2023) to reduce the gap between its processing capacity and rising refugee claim intake
• Doubled in size: As a result, the IRB has doubled its size and productivity targets for finalizing claims and appeals.
• Performing organization: Allowed the IRB to consistently meet/exceed funded performance commitments across all divisions, pre-pandemic (2018-20)
• In 2019-20, the IRB finalized more than 42,000 refugee claims and nearly 11,000 refugee appeals, the most since the system was reformed in 2012
• In 2020-21, despite pandemic disruptions, the IRB:
  • Pivoted to a digital environment
  • finalized some 50,000 decisions across all divisions
  • reduced pending inventories by 25% to 40%, depending on the division
  • met strict legislative time limits in detention reviews
  • eliminated the backlog and introduced a new 12-month service standard for immigration appeals

Budget RPD and RAD combined per Fiscal Year since 2017-18:

• 2017-18 was $138M
• 2018-19 was $173M
• 2019-20 was $230M
• 2020-21 was $295M
• 2021-22 is $296M

FTE RPD and RAD combined per Fiscal Year since 2017-18:

• 2017-18 was 1,050
• 2018-19 was 1,250
• 2019-20 was 1,600
• 2020-21 was 1,800
• 2021-22 is 2,100

Solved cased by the RPD and RAD:

From 2018 to 2020:

• Increase of 78% in finalizations (RDP and RAD combined) with 67% increase in funding from 2018-2020

From 2020 to 2021:

• In 2020 the inventory was 101,500. In 2021 the inventory went down to 67,500 which amounts to a reduction in inventory of 34% during the pandemic

Despite recent gains across IRB divisions, as borders reopen, and unless additional funding is provided, backlog of claims is expected to increase once again. The IRB will work with IRCC and your office to address the IRB’s long-term funding needs.

Growth and Transformation Agenda: Transformation

Three strategic priorities:

1. Improved Productivity

• Building culture of operational awareness, performance and results
• Introducing efficiency measures from intake to recourse in support of access to justice

2. Enhanced Quality

• Launched Quality Assurance Framework – recently identified as an international best practice following an independent review – broad suite of measures in support of quality decision-making at IRB
• Established Centres of Excellence at the RPD and the RAD to monitor trends and address emerging issues
• Developing Chairperson Guidelines on gender related claims and policy statement on trauma-informed adjudication

3. Strengthened Management

• System-level approach: DM-level Asylum System Management Board established with IRCC and the CBSA to align effort across the asylum system, while respecting the Board’s independence
• Top IRB management priority: responding to the pandemic
  • Future of Work
  • Becoming Digital
• IRB moved from paper-based/on-site hearings to a virtual-by-default hearings model during the pandemic; 99% of hearings are now being held virtually (more than 30,000 hearings held since pandemic); pending hybrid model post-pandemic
• Focus on organizational culture; published the Board’s first Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan in August 2021

Outcomes: Improved access to justice and public confidence

Current State of Play – Challenges

Despite growth in capacity and productivity, progress achieved to date is at risk.

The Board faces a number of important challenges:

Funding

• Sunset funding: Recent investments to address increased refugee claim and appeal volumes are currently scheduled to sunset in April 2023, reducing the IRB’s budget by approximately half, with projected returns to increases in both wait times and backlogs once pandemic-related border restrictions lifted.
• Nature of funding:
  • The temporary nature of current funding presents challenges for operations, staff retention and talent acquisition.
    • In 2020, 47% of IRB staff were temporary, compared to 17% in the Public Service
  • Funding is not flexible to align with fluctuations of intake of refugee claims from year to year, allowing for inventories to increase between fixed budget cycles

GIC appointments

• Key to Board achieving funded commitments at both Refugee Appeal and Immigration Appeal Divisions; improved access to justice; and public confidence in immigration and refugee determination system.
• [Redacted]

Key Takeaways

• IRB characterized by individual and institutional independence yet part of the executive branch with Minister politically accountable for organization, requiring careful balancing of considerations.
• Challenging operating context marked by unsustainable refugee wait times and backlogs led to recent temporary investments and IRB’s Growth and Transformation Agenda, enabling the Board to successfully scale up and achieve program commitments and public policy objectives.
• While pandemic disrupted operations, IRB was able to reduce the size of inventories across all divisions and manage wait times by pivoting to becoming an increasingly digital organization, with majority of hearings now being held remotely.
• [Redacted]
• The IRB will continue to work with portfolio partners, central agencies, stakeholders and your office to address ongoing challenges and ensure the continued integrity of Canada’s refugee and immigration determination system.

Annex – Organizational Structure

• IRB Chairperson – Richard Wex
  • Executive Director and Chief Financial officer – Jason Choueiri
    • Chief Innovation and Technology Officer - Irwin Bess
    • Director General, Human Resources and Administration Branch – Kevin Whitehouse
    • Deputy Chief Financial Officer – Geofredo Garay
    • Director General, Strategic Directions and Corporate Affairs – Heather Primeau
    • Director General, Operations and Regional Services – Christian Laverdure
      • Director Regional Operations (Eastern) – Vacant
      • Director Regional Operations (Western) – Stephanie Strong
      • Director Regional Operations (Central) – Neil Willard
  • Chief of Staff – Evan Travers
  • Senior General Counsel – Julie Wellington
  • Deputy Chairperson Refugee Protection Division (RPD) – Roula Eatrides
    • Assistant Deputy Chairperson, RPD (Eastern) - John Szekula
    • Assistant Deputy Chairperson, RPD (Western) – Karin Michnick
    • Assistant Deputy Chairperson, RPD (Central) – Catherine Smith
    • Assistant Deputy Chairperson, RPD (Quality Centre) – Negar Azmudeh
    • Assistant Deputy Chairperson, RPD (Taskforce on Less Complex Claims and Gender Related claims) – John Hutchings
  • Deputy Chairperson Immigration Division (ID) – Greg Kipling
    • Assistant Deputy Chairperson, ID (Eastern) – Isabelle Germain
    • Assistant Deputy Chairperson, ID (Western) – Alice Tang
    • Assistant Deputy Chairperson, ID (Central) – Heather Gibbs
  • Deputy Chairperson Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) – Suzanne Gilbert
    • Assistant Deputy Chairperson, IAD (Eastern) – Caroline Labranche
    • Assistant Deputy Chairperson, IAD (Western) – Linda Taylor
    • Assistant Deputy Chairperson, IAD (Central) – Tsering Sergong
  • Deputy Chairperson Refugee Appeal Division (RAD) – Paula Thompson
    • Assistant Deputy Chairperson, RAD (Eastern) – Roxane Vachon
    • Assistant Deputy Chairperson, RAD (Western) – Jody Brennan
    • Assistant Deputy Chairperson, RAD (Central) – Rara Khan
    • Assistant Deputy Chairperson, RAD (Quality Center) – Angus Grant
  • Ombudsperson – Raymond Kunze