Citizenship and Immigration committee  Pre-removal risk assessment applications are made in the context of a removal process that has already commenced. The Canada Border Services Agency has made certain arrangements for the potential removal of the person, subject to the outcome of the application. It is simply a matter of keeping the process as streamlined as possible.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The original change proposed in Bill C-11 was to grant the refugee appeal division the option of issuing oral decisions at the end of the hearing. It added that; it does not take it away with this amendment. It continues to have that option. But for pre-removal risk assessment applications, the current practice of delivering written decisions through Canada Border Services Agency is intended to be retained.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The decision will be made by a member of the refugee protection division of the Immigration and Refugee Board. It will be done in writing and it will be delivered through Canada Border Services Agency, as are decisions of the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration today.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Are you asking if it is possible for a person to have made a claim before the refugee protection division and then subsequently make a pre-removal risk assessment and you want to be assured that it would not be the same member who makes the second decision?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes. Basically, the only words that change are, “In the case of an applicant described in subsection 112(3)”, which is added to subsection 114(3) so as to restrict in the future the minister's authority to vacate to those cases where the minister has authority to grant a stay of removal.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Basically it's to allow the board to deal with granting of protection in other cases and for the board to deal with vacation of the granting of refugee protection as appropriate. They would deal with all of those types of cases. The minister's jurisdiction is restricted to those cases under subsection 112(3).

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That's right. Today the minister makes all of those decisions to grant protection, and therefore all of those decisions to vacate.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The board will make decisions on the vast majority of applications for protection, and the board will deal with vacation of any decisions they would make with respect to those applications.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Today, no, the board doesn't have that particular power. It's a power that's retained by the minister for all of these applications.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No, I think you're mixing up two parts of the legislation. Today, if the minister were to identify that the person who had been granted refugee protection by the refugee protection division of the board had lied or misrepresented his case, the minister would have to apply to the board for a vacation of that determination.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  --applications for protection.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Paragraph 169(c) is amended in Bill C-11 to provide that decisions of the refugee appeal division may be issued either orally or in writing. At the end of a hearing, if a hearing is called for under the legislation, there could be an oral decision, or the member, if he needed time to formulate his thoughts, could adjourn the process and issue a decision in writing.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We're modifying an existing clause to make it more restrictive with respect to the jurisdiction of the minister.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I would agree with everything you've said except the suggestion that in some way the legislation changes anything. The legislation says that where the minister grants refugee protection, or grants a stay of removal, and learns later that the decision was based on fraud or misrepresentation, the minister can vacate his or her original decision.