A Study on the Immigration and Refugee Board’s Appointment, Training, and Complaint Processes

As displacement and forced migration increases, the willingness to share in the responsibility to provide vulnerable people a safe haven to rebuild their lives is decreasing, especially amongst the wealthiest nations in the world. Canada has thus far gone against that trend, remaining a welcoming nation with a humanitarian spirit. However, the trust Canadians have in the system is at risk of being lost if the situation with irregular migrants is not managed properly.

In June, the committee undertook a study seeking to improve and strengthen the integrity of the IRB.

Chronic underfunding of the IRB has reduced the capacity for the IRB to hear claims in a timely fashion, resulting in a backlog of 53,000 that is growing at the rate of over 2,000 per month. Given this situation, the NDP would have liked this study to include an examination of IRB funding. Unfortunately, this was not part of the mandate.

Throughout the study it was clear that the IRB must remain independent and adequately funded to ensure it can fulfill its mandate timely and efficiently. While I agree with the general direction of the report’s recommendations, key recommendations brought forward by witnesses pertaining to the call for a truly independent complaint and disciplinary oversight mechanism were ignored as the committee adopted a ‘wait and see’ approach. A number of other valuable insights were also overlooked; hence the NDP has put forward 10 additional recommendations in a supplementary report. These would strengthen the IRB, provide its members with better training, and increase the transparency and accountability of the IRB to the public.

Recommendation 1:

That the government of Canada provide stable, adequate, long-term funding to the IRB to ensure that highly competent Board Members can be attracted and retained.

Recommendation 2:

That all Board Member vacancies be filled expeditiously.

Recommendation 3:

That the government of Canada work with the IRB to institute an equity hiring program to increase Board Member diversity so as to ensure the IRB is more reflective of the people appearing before it.

Recommendation 4:

That the government of Canada further de-politicize the IRB appointment process by replacing the current GIC appointment model with that of the U.K.’s Judicial Appointments Commission.

Recommendation 5:

That the government of Canada work with the IRB to institute periodic training reviews as part of the ongoing professional development of members to ensure that the training is being absorbed, and if not, follow-up training can be provided in a timely manner.

Recommendation 6:

That the government of Canada work with the IRB to implement a fully-independent complaints investigation mechanism.

Recommendation 7:

That the independent complaint body report its findings within 90 days of a complaint being lodged. Should the body require additional time for an investigation, the individuals involved should be notified of this, and made aware of the status of the investigation.

Recommendation 8:

That the government of Canada work with the IRB to put in place a mechanism to examine the effectiveness any given sanction has had on the sanctioned IRB member prior to fully reinstating them to ensure the issue has been adequately addressed.

Recommendation 9:

That the government of Canada work with the IRB to review and implement an updated list of sanctions and the guidelines describing when each sanction is appropriate; and that possible sanctions escalate up to and including termination, including for GIC appointees.

Recommendation 10:

That the government of Canada work with the IRB to produce an annual public reporting of any and all founded complaints and their corresponding sanctions against IRB members.

The IRB holds a vital role in Canada’s immigration system and the system as a whole provides a model that many nations in the world can look to, hence the importance of ongoing examination of the IRB so that we can do right by vulnerable people in search of safety in Canada.

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CIMM#115: Pension Transferability and Access to Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF), and Delays in Permanent Residence and Visas for Hong Kongers Recent Reforms to the International Student Program

James McNamee, Director General, Family and Social Immigration Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I would say that's generally the case. If the work permit they obtained was originally connected to the public policy, that's correct. I don't know if that's the situation in all cases. In some cases, applicants may have had an LMIA-based work permit to begin with.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC, NDP
That's right. However, under the special immigration measure, the LMIA is not required. I have a list of applicants in those circumstances. Their work permit renewal application was rejected. They were asked to submit an LMIA, which makes no sense. I want to flag that as a deep concern now emerging for people whose open work permits are being rejected as they wait for their permanent resident status. At this rate, given the immigration levels plan numbers and the processing delays happening, and with the number of applicants in place, you can imagine that it's going to take something like eight years to get through the backlog of people getting their PR status. This means that if they are trying to get their pension, they will not be able to do so for eight years, because they are required to provide proof of permanent residence.
I want to flag this as a major concern. I hope the department will take action to fix the error being applied to applicants whose open work permits are being rejected under this stream. Can I get a confirmation from officials that this will be undertaken?

James McNamee, Director General, Family and Social Immigration Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Yes, that issue has been raised with the department already, and we're looking into it to see what exactly happened in those situations.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC, NDP
Okay. Officials are aware of it, and yet it's still happening. I have cases coming to me that are happening. I'm about to prepare a giant pile of this stuff for the minister, so I hope the officials will fix that. The other thing related to the pension, of course, is lengthy delays for people to get their permanent status. Based on the immigration levels plan and the number of applicants in place, is it the officials' anticipation that it will take about eight years to get those applications processed?

James McNamee, Director General, Family and Social Immigration Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
We have looked at that possibility. Certainly, it will take longer than we had previously indicated to the committee. I would note that the first year of the levels plan is the fixed year. The years that follow, in this case, 2026 and 2027, are flexible. There are opportunities to adjust those numbers in the future, and that could affect that timeline. It's hard to say whether eight years will be the timeline, but it will be longer than had been originally predicted because the numbers have gone down.

CIMM#114: Recent Reforms to the International Student Program

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
Aside from looking at patterns of potential violators—the groups and organizations taking advantage of students with these fraudulent letters of acceptance—will you be including in the analysis what types of institutions are being utilized for these fraudulent letters? In other words, is it private institutions versus public institutions, colleges versus universities and so on? Will that be part of the analysis?

Bronwyn May, Director General, International Students Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
It's not always the case that a letter originates from an institution. We would need to look at various possible sources.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
Maybe I can reframe that.
Obviously, as these are fraudulent letters of acceptance, they wouldn't be issued by the institutions. However, regarding the list of institutions being used for the purpose of these fraudulent letters, I would be interested in obtaining information to determine what percentage are private institutions and public institutions, how many of them are colleges, how many of them are universities and so on. That will tell us very specific information that I think is important when trying to tackle fraudulent activities.

Bronwyn May, Director General, International Students Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I completely agree. That's a very important line of analysis.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
I will make the further request to make sure you share this information with the committee. I'll argue that this information should not be kept secret. It should be public and transparent—shared with all Canadians—so that we're aware of what the landscape is and of how international students are being taken advantage of. With respect to that analysis, will there be information and data on what countries are being targeted?

Click to read the full discussion from the Committee meeting

CIMM#113: Pension Transferability and Access to Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF), and Delays in Permanent Residence and Visas for Hong Kongers

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
All right. Thank you.
Hence, we have this problem. You have the Canadian government, which created this lifeboat scheme for Hong Kongers who are fleeing persecution in Hong Kong as a result of the national security law. The government, in its wisdom or lack thereof, created this lifeboat scheme that only provides for temporary residence by way of a work permit or a study permit. Then these people have to go to the queue to make an application for permanent residence, and we know that there is a huge backlog and delay in processing.
In the beginning, there was swift action, but as time has passed, it's been lengthened by way of the delay, to the point where the former minister even made an announcement to further extend people's work permits and study permits for another three years. That is to say, a person could be here for six years—as long as six years—under this current scheme without getting permanent residence. This is because the minister anticipated that people would not be able to swiftly get their permanent resident status. That is the reality.
As a result of that, people are not able to provide proof of permanent residence, because the application is in process. To make it even worse, the government—the minister—just made an announcement about the levels plan, cutting levels to the tune of 105,000 permanent resident status applications.
You can imagine how long the wait-list is for Hong Kongers as they continue to wait. Now, these Hong Kongers have zero intention of returning to Hong Kong, because they know that they would be persecuted if they did. People know that. I think the Canadian government knows that.
This is my question, then, to you as the manager of their pension, which, because of this rule, they're unable to access: Would your organization be willing to write to the regulator to ask for consideration for these applicants who are in a prolonged period of waiting for permanent resident status, to ask that their declaration indicating that they do not intend to return to Hong Kong be accepted as proof that they intend to leave Hong Kong permanently so that they can access their pensions? Is that something that your organization would consider doing?

Maryscott Greenwood, Global Head, Government Relations, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company
I think I understand the question.
The basic premise of your question has to do with the period of time it takes for the Government of Canada to determine and provide permanent residency or citizenship. It seems to me that this is a function of the Government of Canada, as opposed to a regulated entity. That's how I would answer that.

Laura Hewitt, Senior Vice-President and Head, Global Government Affairs and Public Policy, Sun Life Financial Services of Canada Inc.
Yes. I would say that it's not within our authority to change the criteria.
However, our numbers show that once that permanent residency does come through, we're able to process the applications and approve Canadian permanent residents.