Evidence of meeting #11 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was claim.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
I'm sorry. I have limited time.
One idea that I want to suggest is this. Would it be better if the claimant actually had to make their claim when they arrive? My understanding is that they don't necessarily have to. Further to that, what if there were a video record of that claim that they made when they arrived? Would that help you?
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
There is a presumption that, if they delay claiming, there's something questionable about their claim, and maybe the fear is not so real. However, it's a rebuttable presumption because the time that it takes to claim refugee status starts when the claim materializes. Therefore, if they came here as a visitor or as a worker and did not fear persecution, they wouldn't have such a hearing or they wouldn't have such a recording.
What's relevant—and it's not me saying it; it's instruction from the Federal Court, really—is that we look at delays, and if the delay is explained, if there's a valid reason, then a delay in itself is not a sufficient reason to decline a claim.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Julie Dzerowicz
Thank you so much, Mr. Redekopp.
Thank you so much, Ms. Brassard.
Next we go for five minutes to Mr. Zuberi.
Liberal
Sameer Zuberi Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I'd like to thank the witnesses for being with us.
I want to pick up on a theme you were just elaborating about with respect to a change of country situation. In the IRB proceedings, are changes in country situation sometimes fundamental to the decision on the claim?
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
Yes. If someone claimed refugee status, by the time their claim is heard, if the country conditions are way better or way worse, then the board member will consider that and will put it to the claimant with fairness and natural justice, and they have a chance to respond. The member will make a decision on the basis of the entire evidence in front of them.
Liberal
Sameer Zuberi Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
It makes sense that, as you said, basic fairness would require that any tribunal would consider fundamental change of circumstances in the country in question.
Liberal
Sameer Zuberi Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
The legislation, as it's currently written, says that claimants have one year, or in some cases 14 days, to apply to your tribunal for asylum.
After that, in order to not be removed from Canada, one has to apply to the pre-removal risk assessment procedure. I know that you're at the tribunal. You have a very different procedure. I'm also certain that you have an awareness of the PRRA system.
Can you compare and contrast the two in terms of the robustness and the access to procedural fairness, etc.?
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
I can speak more about the IRB than I can speak about the PRRA. At the IRB, the person is represented by counsel, if they want to be, with legal aid, and the counsel or the consultant has a very active role. There is natural justice, and they have the opportunity to make their case orally, particularly if there's an issue of credibility, through an interpreter or a designated representative, if need be. Those are the standards of the legislation.
The PRRA, as it is now, not as proposed in Bill C-12, was conceived as this. Once you've received a negative decision from the board, for instance, but you haven't been removed yet, and when a year has elapsed, if you're now maybe ready for removal, then you have a pre-removal risk assessment. You've had the benefit of an RPD decision and an RAD decision, and if they were both negative, maybe you would have a Federal Court decision. The PRRA then has to look at the considerations after all of that has been taken care of.
Liberal
Sameer Zuberi Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
What I'm getting at also is that the PRRA is evaluated by one civil servant—documents submitted to them without any testimony other than those written documents. Is that correct?
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
I think the PRRA has the ability to have some hearings. However, I would direct questions about the PRRA to the IRCC. It's really the master of that process.
Liberal
Sameer Zuberi Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
Certainly. I appreciate that.
Budget 2025 has $66 million allocated for the IRB. How will that help with what you're doing into the future? Could you share a bit about that?
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
The budget proposes improving asylum case processing by renewing an investment of $33 million for the next two fiscal years. We had sunset funding, funding that was temporary in nature that was scheduled to end March 31. Now it's been renewed for two years.
We're going to continue our efforts to improve the system that we started. We started with easy things to do, the things that could get quick results. We've also started on longer-term initiatives. If you're interested, I'd be happy to discuss them more. We're going to pursue that as fast as we can in order to get as many results as we can.
Liberal
Sameer Zuberi Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
I appreciate all that you and your colleagues are doing to make sure that everybody has a fair and robust process that takes into full consideration the seriousness of the matter that you're dealing with.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Julie Dzerowicz
Thank you.
Mr. Simard, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.
Bloc
Mario Simard Bloc Jonquière, QC
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I'd like to go back to what I was saying earlier, Ms. Brassard. We would appreciate it if you could send the committee information about the increase in the number of asylum seekers over the past 10 years.
Regarding the 14-day deadline, have you ever had any discussions with IRCC about implementing the bill's provisions on that? How will that work?
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
At this point in time, what I understand from the 14 days.... Right now, if someone stays for 15 days, they can claim. Now they won't be able to claim. That will draw from the IRB workload and send a part to the PRRA process. Some of that has to be defined in the regulations, which we have not seen. After that, it will be important to talk about what this means, about how many cases this means. It's clear to us that it reduces—
That means the number of cases we process will go down, but I don't know to what extent.
I don't know if that will reduce the number of cases referred to both organizations.
Bloc
Mario Simard Bloc Jonquière, QC
The reason I ask is that I'm sure the date of entry will be uncertain in some cases. How will the authorities determine if the 14-day limit has been exceeded?
I think IRCC will have to give direction on that. There are also special cases, such as Haitian refugees.
Clearly, a number of factors make this operation quite complex. That is why harmonization with IRCC will be crucial to determining how this provision should be applied.
Is that happening now or will you be doing it later?
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
Discussions about implementation are happening. We are also looking at the technology-related aspects. The bill proposes having a single file from start to finish.
As for the arrival date, it really is up to IRCC to determine that.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Julie Dzerowicz
Thank you, Ms. Brassard.
We have gone over time.
Next we have Ms. Rempel Garner for five minutes.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Thank you, Chair.
In previous rounds of testimony here, you have said that one-third of the backlog you have is incomplete applications. Is that correct?
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
How long do you sit on an incomplete application before abandoning it?
Chairperson, Immigration and Refugee Board
They're incomplete right now. Part of the 103,000 incomplete files are CBSA front-end security screening, FESS.