Citizenship and Immigration committee  The anticipated pending caseload by the end of this fiscal year--so that's two weeks from now--is 10,000 appeals.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I don't actually have that figure here. I have some of the officials here. I wonder if I could turn to them to see if anyone has that specific statistic. Otherwise, we can get that for you.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  On the first comment, so that everyone is aware of this, not all persons with criminal convictions who are permanent residents have a right of appeal to the IAD. There is certain serious criminality that doesn't, and that was dealt with as an amendment at the time of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No, not everyone. There are serious criminality provisions under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, and those persons do not have a right of appeal to the IAD, even though they are permanent residents. That was an amendment to that point. In the old immigration act, every permanent resident had that right of appeal.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'm sorry, but once again, I just want to make sure I have the correct statistics. The IRB is resourced for a complement of 164 Governor in Council appointees. In the whole of 2007, we had an average complement of 105 members. We were resourced for 164, and we had a complement of 105.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I brought my statistics, and as Mr. Dolin mentioned, an individual member is rarely involved in the national...and the scope of it all.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, I think that's probably most appropriate for me to cover. There are three steps to the whole process, the first being a regular application form, which is screened to see if people have the minimal requirements. Then there is a written exam that covers four competencies. Each of those competencies must be passed to pass the written exam, and that is a change in the process that came into place after the Harrison report in July 2007.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Obviously at the board, and particularly if you look at the statute, the statute says...and I'm going to speak more from the legal community. I'm also a lawyer, so I'm a little bit more familiar with the law society rules, but I've also looked at CSIC regulations. For example, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act itself says that a certain percentage of our decision-makers must be lawyers.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I really couldn't tell you that.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I really can't give you an idea of how long it takes, but I do know most of the lawyers who have immigration practices and are dealing with the question of when a good start would be for their appointment are cognizant of that period of time. It really depends on their own knowledge of the situation.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No. This is some technical information with respect to how the selection advisory board works. We have nine competencies, and they are the ones you would imagine for a decision-maker: ability to communicate, good judgment, analyze, make decisions, a results orientation, ability to organize yourself, information skills.