Citizenship and Immigration committee  With respect to individuals appointed under the Public Service Employment Act, it is our intention to use what we already do for the decision-makers, but not necessarily copy the process completely.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for inviting me to come today to speak with you. My name is Simon Coakeley. I was appointed to the position of Executive Director at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, the IRB, in September 2008. As e

Citizenship and Immigration committee  In terms of the interview process, for example, if somebody.... One of the competencies—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Well, if they were—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Examples are if the chair felt there had been performance issues or if the individual, for example, had been consistently late in rendering decisions. I'm not speaking about a specific example, but if the chair had complaints from counsel who appeared before board members about t

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Because I've only been with the board since September 2008 and this process kicked in a few years before that, I can't respond to that.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  She's also been with the board about the same amount of time as I have, unfortunately. Ms. Fraser may have an opinion on that. I can't speak to what the rationale for the process was. I can say, though, that anyone who goes through the process now is qualified for appointment t

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That's correct according to the information I have, and again, I wasn't at the board in the period of time that was covered by the Auditor General's report. However, my understanding is that during the period covered by the Auditor General's report, which was January 1, 2006, to

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I have only been on the board since September, so I'm afraid I can't compare the current process to the previous one. I can remind members that the selection advisory board is a group of nine people, chaired by the chair of the IRB. Four of the members are jointly appointed by

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It would be growing, because one of the significant components of our backlog is the large increase in the number of refugee claimants over the last couple of years. In the fiscal year that just finished, we took in 36,000 refugee claimants. We project that our refugee claims nex

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Maybe I could just address the process generally. Once an IRB person has been appointed by the minister, they are given an extensive training program. This includes a process of in-class training. It includes sitting with other board members in three-member panels. They're assign

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The current system, with the selection advisory board, was put in place in July of 2007. It replaced the previous process that had two different advisory boards. I'm not sure when that process was put in place.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Mr. Chair, that is a question for our chair since he is the person who deals with the members. I am responsible for the officials who support the process. I agree that there is a difference between a judicial review and an appeal. I know that each member must make decisions base

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Once again, I cannot comment on specific cases. If a person feels that the hearing has not been fair, that person has several options. He can ask the Federal Court for a judicial review. If he feels that the member at his hearing is showing bias towards him, he can ask the judge

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Once again, I do not make those kinds of decisions. We must also realize that governor in council appointees are independent decision-makers. That must be approached very carefully. Even if our chair is responsible for managing governor in council appointees, each appointee has t