Citizenship and Immigration committee  As I mentioned, we're working very closely with them to try to figure out where we should target out of the hundreds and hundreds of applicants, what regions have the greatest need, and what types of candidates they're looking for.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  There's a division in the legislation in terms of which organizations or which mechanisms are used to appoint, and that's how it's set out in the legislation.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I don't believe so. I wouldn't really be in a position to comment on a policy decision.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  So—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Honestly, I couldn't say the date off the top of my head. As I said, it's a constant intake model. We could check and get back to you with the exact date we posted it. We do often put a date in there. There's nothing like a deadline to focus the mind, so we often put a deadline in there, but we don't actually close it out.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Certainly.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Fair enough.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The one thing I would say to the committee in terms of the vacancies, and I think Mr. Aterman was beginning to explain this a bit to Mr. Tilson, is that there is nothing specific in the legislation in terms of the number of positions that have to be filled. The vacancies you see, that 24 is really our working number that we've come to with the IRB in terms of what we understand are positions that remain open, if you will.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I would point to two sections in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act that deal specifically with termination of members, and I can speak only to the Governor in Council appointees, because we do not work with the IRB in terms of public servants. What I would say, Madame Chair, is that termination with cause—because they are good-behaviour appointees....

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Right. These appointees at the Immigration and Refugee Board serve at good behaviour, and to be quite frank, the only way they can be removed is for cause. So you have to assess, and when I say assess, I mean an investigation has to be conducted to make a determination—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The bar would have to be that they had done something that went well beyond the terms and conditions of appointment, or that was not consistent with the manner in which we expect GIC appointees to conduct themselves. We would look to the minister to provide the GIC appointee with a recommendation after, quite frankly, doing a formal investigation to assess whether or not the bar of cause had been met.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It's quite in-depth, as I said, particularly for those who serve at good behaviour. We would be expected to make a clear determination of cause, and in order to do so, we would have to do an investigation, and again, it would be triggered by the minister making a recommendation to the Governor in Council.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Mr. Chair, I do believe, and I would emphasize with the committee, that, as I mentioned, I know you're focused on the IRB, but we've had over 20—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Absolutely, yes. For sure.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Sure. In terms of appointments, I would just say we've had tremendous interest from Canadians across the country with regard to the appointments we've had. I couldn't get into specifics. I could say, in orders of magnitude, there have been well over 500 applications for the IRB.