Evidence of meeting #63 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was board.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Thank you. It's appreciated.
Can you also please provide it for spousal, parental, as well as criminal categories—people who are to be...?
12:15 p.m.
Senior General Counsel, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
On removal orders, I understand.
12:15 p.m.
Senior General Counsel, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
I'm not personally able to say that we break it down into those specifics. I know we have numbers for the immigration appeal division writ large, but whether we have those—
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
If you can, I'd appreciate it.
Also, if can you give us an idea what time it took, say, in 2003-04, versus what the timelines are in 2006--07, I'd appreciate it.
12:15 p.m.
Senior General Counsel, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
[Inaudible--Editor]
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
One question I have for you pertains to something the committee will be discussing in the fall, and it's happening right now. We're going to be inviting people to come to speak to us about what's happening in Iraq. The situation in Iraq, as well as in other countries, changes from day to day. For example, today it's in the news on BBC that Turkey has sent soldiers into the northern part of Iraq. There is back and forth comment: one is denying, the other one is not denying it. Those reports are daily.
What procedure, sir and ma'am, do you have in your operations manual to follow up the daily news, to speak to the communities...? We're going to be hearing from Iraqis who have been affected—people in raids, people maimed, people blown up. I've heard some stories that certainly made my hair stand up.
What procedures are there in place for you to get updated? Is there a reaching out that you do to speak to communities—in your manual, in your training—whereby you reach out to the communities, talk to community stakeholders, to community groups, in order not only to verify the information you get from the news and the information from the department, but also to hear the individuals and what communities have to say?
Is there a procedure you are following?
12:15 p.m.
Full-time member of the Immigration and Refugee Board, Deputy Chairperson of the Refugee Protection Division, As an Individual
Sir, I'll answer that, and then I'll ask Ms. Figg to add to it.
What happens typically is that if there is something quite new—a new development such as the one you've talked about—
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
You mean the Turks going into the northern part of Iraq today.
12:15 p.m.
Full-time member of the Immigration and Refugee Board, Deputy Chairperson of the Refugee Protection Division, As an Individual
Yes. We have capacity within the board to have that information, and also the counsel who appears with the claimant will provide it. I have sat as a member when I have had news pertaining to the day I sat brought forward from another part of the world, information that was shared with me.
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, I'm not talking about the individual day that you're sitting. If you're responsible for that particular section of the world, do you get briefed and updated daily? Is there a reach-out mechanism to the community?
12:15 p.m.
Full-time member of the Immigration and Refugee Board, Deputy Chairperson of the Refugee Protection Division, As an Individual
We do not, as a board, reach out to the community because we have to rely on reliable, trustworthy information that is brought forward. We have a very effective research directorate that provides us with that kind of information.
Our problem is that if we reach into the community, we're not likely to always get factual information.
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Mr. Chair, can I ask Ms. Daley one final question?
Can you please provide us with a written manual of the mechanism that is followed up in the research and how you reach out to the communities and what work is being done, just as an outline, if you can?
12:15 p.m.
Senior General Counsel, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
I'll see what we have in terms of our research directorate, because that really is their responsibility.
Thank you.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle
Thank you.
Mr. Komarnicki.
I do believe we have time, just in case you want to get prepared, after Mr. Komarnicki, to go to Mr. Telegdi for a few minutes, and then to Madame Faille and Mr. Siksay.
Mr. Komarnicki.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'll be relatively brief.
Just from hearing you speak and the attention you give to this matter, we know that we have a very professional organization in place and a well-managed one as well. Certainly, you can take that back. I'm quite impressed with what I've heard. Certainly the background Mr. Sandhu has is impressive. I'm not sure you mentioned it, but I see you had a medal of honour from the Society of Ontario Adjudicators and Regulators for your outstanding contribution to the administrative justice system of Ontario. That goes well for what you're about to be doing.
Hopefully with your collective backgrounds you will be able to ensure the system works very well.
Mr. Sandhu, I noted that you mentioned that you responded to a fall 2006 advertisement and were interviewed in the process and then reappointed as a result of that. Was that an in-house advertisement, or was it one of the more general advertisements that appeared in various newspapers across the country like the Globe and Mail and the National Post? Could you maybe just tell us about that?
12:20 p.m.
Full-time member of the Immigration and Refugee Board, Deputy Chairperson of the Refugee Protection Division, As an Individual
Sir, I believe it did appear in the papers. I saw it on our website of the IRB, but our general counsel is quite certain that it appeared in the papers.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
12:20 p.m.
Senior General Counsel, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
Yes. My recollection is that it appeared in the national newspapers. It was also on our own website, so there was a link within the board to see if people were interested. Also I believe it was on the appointments secretariat at PCO. It may have been on their public website as well, where they list various vacancies and various agencies.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
12:20 p.m.
Senior General Counsel, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
Yes, it is very much a public process.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
The other point is that of course hearing about how the system operates is one thing, but seeing how it might operate is another. Have you had past experience where MPPs or members of Parliament actually observed how the processes work right in live action, so to speak, and maybe interact with some of the participants in the process?
I suppose all three or any one of you can answer that, maybe starting with Mr. Sandhu.
12:20 p.m.
Full-time member of the Immigration and Refugee Board, Deputy Chairperson of the Refugee Protection Division, As an Individual
Mr. Chairman, I did have that experience. As my résumé shows, I was the chair of the Ontario Board of Parole for six and a half years. In Ontario that was the provincial organization. We had considerable success in having the members of provincial Parliament come to observe our hearings. The comments I got back were all very positive in that they said they did not know what went on or how those hearings were conducted, quite understandably because those hearings were conducted in prisons, in jails.
Our hearings in the refugee protection division are still private because of the nature of the information that we consider, but I know from my last two years as a member that if members of this committee or other members of Parliament wish to observe, claimants would accept it. In the event that there is one who wouldn't want that, then fine, we'll ask somebody else. I would really invite people to come and participate, because I think that is the best way to understand the process.
12:20 p.m.
Full-time member and Assistant Deputy Chairperson of the Immigration and Refugee Board, Toronto Regional Office, As an Individual
I'll simply add that we have had representatives from all three levels of government from time to time who observe. The immigration appeal division hearings are public, so anybody at any time can observe them. The RPD hearings, as Mr. Sandhu said, are private, but we can ask counsel or a claimant if they would be prepared to permit an observer.
Almost invariably, given enough time, we can find a case for anybody to observe. I would echo the sentiment that we would be delighted to have representatives come and see these public servants at work, these decision-makers at work, and see the kinds of stories they hear and the claims they have to determine day in and day out.
12:20 p.m.
Senior General Counsel, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
The only other offer I'd also put on the table from the board--we have certainly done this in past, and I believe we would be more than willing to in the future--is that we would organize briefing sessions for members of Parliament and their staff. That's also a very interesting part of the whole thing, and then that would morph into actually observing a hearing in one of the three divisions. It could be a nice package.