Citizenship and Immigration committee  Great. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the government's approach to Governor in Council appointments, the roles and responsibilities of various decision-makers in the appointments process, and how this

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes. As we explained to your colleagues, our role is really with regard to the appointments process more generally. I'm happy to take questions on specifics to the IRB, but we are very much about supporting the entire government system—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'm happy to take questions as much as we can—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  As much as I've read in the news clippings and from what your colleagues have explained.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes. That's what I understand as well.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  In terms of the process, ultimately it is ministers who make a recommendation to the Governor in Council regarding the length of a term. There are limits in some legislation. In the IRB there is a limit, as I understand it, of seven years for a full-term appointment. You can be r

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It would really depend on a number of variables that would have been taken into consideration at the time of the appointment. It's quite important for these organizations to have continuity, and I do know as well that, in our circumstances, performance is also taken into account

Citizenship and Immigration committee  What I could tell you is that, previous to the government's new approach, it was really left to tribunals, in particular. I'll speak to those. They actually ran their own—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Sure.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  To be honest, I wouldn't be able to speak to much of what was done because our role at that point in time would have really been around accepting the recommendations from the minister of who they wanted to appoint from the processes they would have undertaken. We would have condu

Citizenship and Immigration committee  At that point in time, as I said, in terms of assessing the competencies and running a full competitive process, that was all handled by the IRB before this new approach that the government has put into place.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Exactly. It's to the two appeal divisions, and it's the chair's discretion where those individuals will be placed.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  What I would say again is that there is quite a rigorous process. There's a notice of opportunity that's posted on our website. I would encourage you to have a look at that. It sets out exactly what the IRB requires. Again, we work in partnership with organizations to set the not

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Our goal is to fill them as quickly as possible. I will be honest with you, though, that it can take anywhere from five to seven months to fill a spot on an adjudicative tribunal. That's why we have a constant intake model to try to expedite that as much as possible, being very c

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,