The Chairperson has issued the
Policy Governing Communication between the Refugee Protection and Refugee Appeal Divisions, which provides parameters for communication between the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) and the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD), at the member, member manager and support staff levels.
The new Policy facilitates collaboration between the RPD and RAD with the objective of further enhancing the consistency, efficiency and quality in decision-making across the refugee determination continuum. By encouraging communication between the divisions, the Policy will contribute to the establishment of adjudicative strategies, case inventory management approaches, as well as the identification of trends, gaps and opportunities for training.
The policy also reaffirms the principles of institutional independence and reinforces the
Code of Conduct for Members of the IRB by defining and limiting forms of communications that could improperly influence members and compromise their adjudicative independence. It prohibits, for example, discussions on specific ongoing claims or appeals.
Since the new policy builds on and incorporates elements of the two documents listed below, these documents have been revoked:
- Chairperson's Instructions Governing Communications Between Related Divisions at the Immigration and Refugee Board (issued in 2014); and
- Terms of Reference for Interface Meetings between the Deputy Chairpersons of the Refugee Protection Division and the Refugee Appeal Division (issued in 2017).