I can respond, Mr. Chair. I think as we come up on the one-year anniversary of the implementation of the new system, we have a good set of numbers behind the results we've seen to date.
Through the major reforms, we introduced timelines to ensure that individuals were being heard at the IRB at the first level within specific time periods. Whether they were claiming at a port of entry or after having been in Canada for a certain amount of time, we found that the timelines were being met in the vast majority of cases. That has resulted in people getting positive protection decisions sooner than they had under the previous regime, which could have taken 21 or 24 months, for example, with people waiting in limbo for that kind of certainty.
The new system has also streamed applicants from certain countries so those who come from what are termed designated countries of origin, which don't normally produce refugees, are given a fast-track system, which basically mirrors the previous system in that there is a hearing at the IRB and recourse to the Federal Court.
Those who come from other countries that are not designated have access to a new refugee appeal division that has been established at the IRB, which adds that second layer of review for those individuals, plus there is the Federal Court as the final recourse after that.
The CBSA has been given funds to launch a pilot project on assisted voluntary returns, which they are administering out of Toronto with the International Organization for Migration. There have been very positive results after the first 16 months. We're seeing a great deal of take-up by people who have had a negative decision or who have decided they want to abandon their claim and return voluntarily to their country of origin. It helps lower removal costs downstream. It actually helps provide in kind assistance to these people who decide voluntarily to leave, and the IOM then is able to help them once—