The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) is committed to rendering quality decisions and to upholding a high standard of conduct. The IRB is also equally committed to ensuring that the member complaints process remains transparent, fair, and efficient.
To this end, the Board has taken steps to improve the member complaints process, including:
- bolstering the independence of the process by assigning responsibility for overseeing the process to an independent Ombudsperson;
- enhancing transparency by publishing an annual report, including summaries of all member complaints that are finalized by the IRB; and
- increasing the timeliness of service by implementing
service standards for three key phases of the complaints process.
Additionally, as part of the
management response and action plan (MRAP) to address the recommendations of the IRB's
Evaluation of the IRB Process for making a complaint about a member, the IRB revised its
Procedures for making a complaint about a member. To accomplish this goal, the IRB consulted with national stakeholders, members, the union, and internal partners to:
- clarify the scope of the procedures;
- better outline the steps within the complaints process;
- refine the criteria for deciding member complaints; and
- include commentary sections where appropriate to provide further guidance and clarification of the complaints process.
As a result, the IRB is releasing its updated
Procedures for making a complaint about a member (effective June 30, 2022). In addition, the IRB made minor updates to its Code of conduct for members of the IRB, to reinforce that member complaints must relate to alleged breaches of sections 9 to 15.
The IRB is also releasing its latest
Annual report on member complaints. This report covers a 15-month period from January 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022. Subsequent annual reports will use the fiscal year timeframe to align with federal government reporting.
You are encouraged to read the new
Procedures,
Code of Conduct, as well as the latest
Annual Report to understand how the Board manages complaints made about the conduct of its members, as well as the types of complaints received and how they have been resolved.