Evidence of meeting #101 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was irb.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
There are no vacancies there. We're talking about the Governor in Council side.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
So how can we speed that up? What can we do to do that? That's clearly one of the reasons the decisions aren't being made within 60 days, because you don't have enough bodies to deal with them.
Acting Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
The Governor in Council appointees are appointed to the refugee appeal division, not the refugee protection division. The refugee appeal division, that's where those vacancies are. We have 12 that were announced a couple of days ago. They haven't started work yet. So 12 of the 24 have been identified.
In addition to that, with budget 2018, we got money for additional Governor in Council appointees, and when we obtain that money, subject to a Treasury Board submission, then we'll have to fill a further 16 Governor in Council positions.
Liberal
Marwan Tabbara Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Thank you both for being here, and I understand that the department has a difficult task ahead dealing with a lot of cases, including sensitive cases. You mentioned in your testimony that a lot of these individuals are trying to find out the truth. Individuals might be facing persecution or even death, and they must be asked tough questions, as you rightly pointed out.
My question is about the appointments. I'm trying to get at the root cause, and why we're seeing these allegations, and why we're seeing this in the news. Is there something you can provide to the committee? With these appointments, are we maybe overlooking something? Maybe in the old system we weren't looking at the credentials as closely as we wanted to. What are some of the recommendations you would give to the committee with regard to what we did previously and how we looked at these appointments, and how we looked at their credentials and their experiences?
Acting Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
I would say the appointments process is a rigorous one at the moment. The people who apply on the GIC side, first, they're subject to a paper screen, and then they write a written test that is five hours long, divided into two parts. Then they're subject to an interview to look at behavioural competencies, and that includes things like cultural sensitivity and judgment, and finally, if they pass the interview, they're subject to reference checks.
On the GIC side, for every 10 applicants, one qualifies, and then the number who are appointed from within that pool is yet smaller. On the public service side, I would say it's an equally rigorous process at the moment, and the ratio of qualifications there is about the same. So roughly speaking, for every 10 applicants, there's one who makes it through.
Liberal
Liberal
Marwan Tabbara Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Is this different from previous processes? You talked about the interview specifically.
Acting Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
There have been changes over the years in the—
Liberal
Acting Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
I know that we've had a test on the GIC side for a number of years. The test has become a bit more rigorous. It's now a longer test and looks at people to see whether they're suited to work in the first-level decision-making, or as an appellant decision-maker. That wasn't there before.
Liberal
Marwan Tabbara Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
I'm not sure if you can give me timelines of when the tests were—
Acting Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
I'd have to get back to you on when those things were modified. I had no involvement with the public service side of recruitment in the past.
Liberal
Marwan Tabbara Liberal Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON
Since these changes have taken place, are you seeing a positive outcome now, or maybe fewer allegations against some of these judges? The ones that have been newly appointed, not....
Acting Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
I think you'll be able to see for yourself. We will be providing you—or we have provided you, as you'll see this afternoon, I think—a breakdown of the number of complaints by year. At one point in 2010 there were 39 complaints, whereas in 2015 there were 11; in 2016, 11; in 2017, 13. So the number of complaints has gone down, relative to that particular time.
The composition of the membership has changed, and we can provide you with information on the demographics and—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant
I'm afraid I need to end it there. Thank you very much.
Mr. Tilson, you have five minutes.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
When complaints occur, are they reviewed in such a way that training can be adjusted to correct the subject of the complaint in the future?
Acting Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
Yes. When training is prescribed, it's for the individual.
Conservative
David Tilson Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON
If someone makes a complaint against a particular board member, others can learn from that complaint.
Does the training or education that's provided deal so all members can take advantage of that complaint and perhaps correct the ways in which they're dealing with asylum seekers.
Acting Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
I think if a complaint is made against an individual, it doesn't necessarily follow that the other 150 or 200 decision-makers are making the same mistake.
That said—
Conservative