2022 to 2023 Departmental Results Report

On this page

• From the Chairperson
• Results at a glance
• Results: what we achieved
• Core responsibility: Adjudication of immigration and refugee cases
• Internal services
• Spending and human resources
• Spending
• Human resources
• Expenditures by vote
• Government of Canada spending and activities
• Financial statements and financial statements highlights
• Corporate information
• Organizational profile
• Raison d’être, mandate, and role: who we are and what we do
• Operating context
• Reporting framework
• Supporting information on the program inventory
• Supplementary information tables
• Federal tax expenditures
• Organizational contact information
• Appendix: definitions

From the Chairperson

I am pleased to present the 2022 to 2023 Departmental Results Report for the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB or the Board), Canada's largest administrative tribunal.

The IRB was created nearly 35 years ago with a mandate to adjudicate immigration and refugee cases efficiently, fairly and in accordance with the law. The decisions the Board makes have a significant impact on the lives of those appearing before us. As such, continuously working to enhance access to justice and public confidence in the immigration and refugee determination systems is at the core of our work.

In 2022 to 2023, the Board's work continued to be guided by its Growth and Transformation Agenda in a challenging operating context of growing volumes already beyond funded capacity, shifting mobility patterns, and changing post-pandemic workplace models. Through this Agenda, we continued enhancing our culture of performance, emphasized quality and consistency in decision-making, and further strengthened our management practices.

The Budget 2022 announcement of permanent annual funding of $150 million to the IRB has allowed the Board to stabilize its workforce and deliver increased access to justice. A temporary “top up” investment of $87 million over two years will be used to help respond to growing pressures on the asylum system and to position the Board for success in a post-pandemic environment.

The IRB's results for fiscal year 2022 to 2023 reflect an organization that has improved its culture of performance and ability to adapt and succeed in its challenging operating environment. Over 72,000 cases were finalized across all four divisions:

• The Refugee Protection Division finalized 48,201 claims – the highest number of claims ever finalized in the history of the Division. The percentage of cases pending more than two years was reduced to less than 10%, down from 44%.
• The Refugee Appeal Division finalized 10,873 appeals and reduced its inventory by 11%, keeping wait times below 6 months.
• The Immigration Division finalized 1,364 admissibility hearings and 8,916 detention reviews for a total of 10,280 finalizations.
• The Immigration Appeal Division finalized 3,216 appeals, keeping wait time and inventory stable despite an upward trend in intake for the past two years.

Innovations introduced to meet the demands of the pandemic have transformed the Board into a predominantly digital organization. Secure, private virtual hearings, digital case management, and an effective hybrid workplace model have allowed the IRB to demonstrate its ability to fully function digitally.

The IRB successfully closed off its first Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan (2021 to 2023) and published its Accessibility Plan 2023 to 2025 in December 2022, in compliance with the Accessible Canada Act. The Plan guides our work to become barrier free for people with disabilities, whether they are working at the Board or appearing before it. The IRB also partnered with equity-seeking communities to attract and retain new talent to better reflect Canada's diversity as part of an external recruitment and retention plan. Progress was also made in implementing actions that support the Board's Vision for Psychological Safety as outlined in its Strategy for Psychological Safety and Mental Health in the IRB Workplace.

The work undertaken in 2022 to 2023 will help support the future direction of the IRB in the years to come.

Manon Brassard
Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer

Results at a glance

The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB or the Board) is Canada's largest independent administrative tribunal. It is responsible for making well‑reasoned decisions on immigration and refugee matters efficiently, fairly and in accordance with the law.

Fiscal year 2022 to 2023 saw a return of significant volumes of referrals to the IRB after two years of reduced intake due to border restrictions and reduced migration during the COVID-19 pandemic. The IRB's multi-year Growth and Transformation Agenda, and the continuation of innovation and transformation made to adjust operating models to ensure access to justice during the pandemic, ensured strong results for the Board. The IRB focused on the three pillars of the Agenda: to improve productivity and efficiency in support of greater access to justice for those appearing before it; to enhance the quality of and consistency in decision‑making; and to strengthen management. The Board also continued to be guided by the strategic outcomes to improve access to justice and enhance public confidence in the immigration and refugee determination system. The IRB remained focussed on supporting a healthy organizational culture of operational awareness, performance, and results.

Text version - Results at a glance

Results at a glance

Funds used	$285,477,909
Full-time equivalents	2,169
Finalizations	72,570
72,570 Finalizations	4% increase from fiscal year 2021 to 2022
130,215 Intake	94% increase from fiscal year 2021 to 2022
92,301 Inventory of pending cases*	51% decrease from fiscal year 2021 to 2022

*The Immigration Division does not have an inventory for detention reviews                         

                        

Growth

Budget 2022 announced permanent funding of $150 million annually to the IRB, regularizing funds that had previously been provided on a temporary basis. This allowed for the stabilization of the workforce by converting 946 employees from term to indeterminate employment. In addition, the Budget announced a further temporary top up investment of $87 million over two years. In 2022 to 2023, the Board had 2,169 full-time equivalents, which represents an increase of 141 full-time equivalents over fiscal year 2021 to 2022.

Transformation

Sustained and improved productivity

The IRB achieved strong productivity results in 2022 to 2023, enabling the Board to provide increased access to justice to those appearing before it. The four divisions collectively issued over 72,000 finalizations, almost 3,000 more than in fiscal year 2021 to 2022. The Refugee Protection Division finalized 48,201 claims, the most since its inception in 2012. The Refugee Appeal Division finalized 10,873 appeals and reduced its inventory by 11%, keeping wait times below 6 months. The Immigration Division finalized 1,364 admissibility hearings and 8,916 detention reviews for a total of 10,280 finalizations. The Immigration Appeal Division finalized 3,216 appeals, keeping wait time and inventory stable despite an upward trend in intake for the past two years.

The Board worked with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to advance a system‑wide approach that maximizes productivity, while providing meaningful and fair access to justice across the decision-making continuum. The IRB met or exceeded its case management priorities for processing refugee claims that were developed at a system level during spring 2022.

The health and safety of IRB employees and those appearing before it remained a top priority. The Board advanced its hearings operating model by establishing a practice notice that provides information regarding the scheduling of virtual, hybrid and in-person hearings. All IRB hearings are scheduled as virtual hearings by default. However, hybrid or in-person hearings may be scheduled on request or at the discretion of the Board.

The IRB advanced its Digital Strategy and built on gains from its adoption of a virtual-by-default hearings model to become a predominantly digital tribunal. The Board also completed projects to further improve information and document sharing with IRCC and the CBSA and added additional videoconferencing capabilities for those appearing before the Board.

Enhanced the quality of and consistency in decision-making

The IRB published its updated Quality Assurance Framework for Decision-Making. The Framework was expanded to include key strategies and activities of the Immigration Division and the Immigration Appeal Division, and tools and resources for external parties appearing before the Board. In July 2022, the Board published its updated Chairperson's Guideline 4: Gender Considerations in Proceedings Before the Immigration and Refugee Board. Further to this, progress was made on the renewal of Chairperson's ​ Guideline 3: Child Refugee Claimants: Procedural and Evidentiary Issues and Chairperson's Guideline 8: Procedures with Respect to Vulnerable Persons Appearing Before the IRB. The Board also updated its member conduct complaint process to hold members accountable for conducting hearings in a respectful and competent manner.

Strengthened management, with a focus on people management

The Board leveraged the foundation put in place during the pandemic and adopted a hybrid workplace model. That model was further refined following the December 15, 2022, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat's announcement of a “Common hybrid work model for the Federal Public Service.”

The Board is completing a review and validation of its current productivity and costing models and establishing commitments to enhance those models. Work continues in fiscal year 2023 to 2024, including the review of integrated business planning activities.

In support of an organizational culture based on civility, respect, diversity, and inclusion, the Board concluded its first Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan and moved into year four of the implementation of its Strategy for Psychological Safety and Mental Health in the workplace. In December 2022, the Board published its IRB Accessibility Plan 2023 to 2025​.

For more information on the IRB's plans, priorities and results achieved, see the “Results: what we achieved” section of this report.

Results: what we achieved

Core responsibility: Adjudication of immigration and refugee cases

Description

The IRB renders quality decisions and resolves cases in a timely manner regarding immigration and refugee protection cases. This includes determining refugee protection claims and appeals and applications to vacate or cease refugee protection. It also includes making decisions in admissibility hearings and detention reviews, and on appeals on certain immigration cases (e.g., family sponsorship applications, certain removal orders, applications based on meeting residency obligations and admissibility hearings).

Results

Fiscal year 2022 to 2023 marked the fourth year of the IRB's Growth and Transformation Agenda. The results articulated against its three strategic objectives also contributed to the Agenda's two strategic outcomes of providing meaningful and fair access to justice for those appearing before the Board and maintaining public confidence. While maintaining access to justice, the Board also continued safeguarding the health and safety of employees and those who appear before it.

The IRB undertook initiatives to sustain and improve productivity and to better monitor performance in support of access to justice

In 2022 to 2023, the IRB achieved significant results from a productivity perspective as it maintained an organizational culture of operational awareness, performance, and results. The Board successfully increased its decision-maker capacity to support the 2022 to 2023 target to finalize up to 50,000 refugee claims and up to 13,500 refugee appeals. More than 10,000 of which were finalized as less complex claims through the Task Force for Less Complex Claims, and projected wait times were reduced for new actionable less complex claims by half.

From a historical high inventory of May 2020, the inventory across all four divisions was reduced by more than 40% to approximately 62,000 cases by the beginning of fiscal year 2022 to 2023. However, a significant volume of referrals during 2022 to 2023 caused an increase in inventory to approximately 92,000 by the end of March 2023, but this remained 13% lower than in May 2020.

The IRB continued to evolve its future work model based on prioritizing the health and safety of staff and those appearing before the Board, while maximizing access to justice. In July 2022, the Report on the sense of access to justice associated with virtual hearings held before the IRB using MS Teams and the Management Response and Action Plan were released. With two-thirds of the recommendations completed, including the continuation of the virtual hearings operating model after the pandemic, the Board will continue to implement the remaining recommendations in fiscal year 2023 to 2024. This includes designing a framework to guide future reviews or evaluations on virtual hearings. The Board addressed important issues around privacy and access to technology with hearings as part of its response to the recommendations made during the review on virtual hearings.

The Board published the Practice Notice: Scheduling of virtual, hybrid, and in‑person hearings at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada which came into effect September 20, 2022. The notice set out a model for the Board's enhanced virtual hearings operating model that provides increased access to IRB facilities for hybrid or in-person hearings. This enabled the IRB to continue with its virtual-by-default hearings operating model with the option of in-person hearings held at IRB offices, thus ensuring access to justice for those who appear before it. From January 2021 to March 2023, 98% of hearings have been held virtually. Post-hearing surveys completed for refugee protection claims reported high satisfaction with virtual hearings, where 97% of respondents indicated they would recommend this type of hearing to others. This aligns with third-party reviews and stakeholder feedback which also confirmed that this continues to be an effective model.

In 2022 to 2023, the IRB made progress with its Digital Strategy and leveraged technology to target operational efficiencies and enhance user experience. Building on the success of the virtual-by-default hearings model and advancing the Digital Strategy, the Board is well-positioned to move forward with the development of a national operating model for the Refugee Protection Division. This includes the development of new adjudicative and scheduling tools to support timely and efficient decision-making. In support of access to justice, the Digital Case Management Modernization initiative has helped improve productivity with progress made towards an end-to-end electronic case management system that supports decision-making. This is expected to result in additional efficiency gains through improved speed and flexibility with which information is shared. Work continues in fiscal year 2023 to 2024.

The Board made efforts to optimize the scheduling of refugee claims and reduced postponement rates at the national level, providing claimants with more timely access to justice. In addition, the Board increased file preparation efforts to ensure files are ready for hearings, which reduced delays in the refugee claim process. The IRB advanced productivity initiatives in 2022 to 2023 related to national triage; these initiatives will continue in 2023 to 2024. The Board also developed and supported innovative strategies for improved inventory management, such as through increased frequency and availability of monitoring tools including weekly reports and meetings, as well as scheduling and monitoring of cases using a lifecycle approach to support efficient case management.

The Board continued to collaborate with IRCC and the CBSA to increase efficiencies through advancing data and document exchanges. In addition, further advancements were made through a systems‑wide approach to strategically manage the inventory of refugee claims and appeals between organizations. The IRB met or exceeded its refugee claim processing priorities during spring 2022, resulting in the Board meeting its objectives.

The Board continued to enhance its business intelligence monitoring and reporting capabilities with regular reviews of its operational insights and made necessary adjustments to its divisional operational plans. The Board continues to explore the use of data insights (e.g., databases of country conditions, jurisprudence, and similar decisions), text mining, and predictive analytics.

To complement the focus on productivity, the Board put a continued focus on quality and consistency in decision-making

The IRB's Quality Assurance Framework for Decision-Making provides an overview of the activities, processes, strategies, and structures that contribute to quality adjudicative decision‑making at the Board. The Framework, which is reviewed annually, provides a comprehensive range of initiatives across all four divisions that the Board has identified and will, over time, individually strengthen as part of a strategic approach to support quality adjudicative decision-making. During the reporting period, the Board focused on various elements of the Framework, summarized under the following three areas:

1. Focus on training and support for members and management

The Refugee Protection Division and the Refugee Appeal Division made progress to increase the capacity of their respective quality centres, which were established to monitor trends and address the real-time quality of decision‑making. Refugee Protection Division initiatives that supported this included enhanced new member training and mentorship, professional development sessions for existing members, and advancing the development of adjudicative tools to support decision‑making. To help integrate information from monitoring activities and to share performance observations, the Refugee Appeal Division implemented an enhanced performance management framework and developed feedback processes with member managers in the quality centres.

In 2022 to 2023, the Board initiated a review to assess the effectiveness of new member training for all divisions. In addition, the Refugee Protection Division continued to focus on support, tools, and training for its managers. In May 2022, the Division delivered a comprehensive training program for member managers focusing on adjudicative issues, as well as core management responsibilities to ensure they are fully equipped to effectively manage their teams and members.

2. Focus on increased access to justice for certain populations appearing before the Board

In 2022 to 2023, the IRB made progress to improve access to justice through multi-year quality initiatives aimed at making proceedings more responsive and adaptive to the needs of those appearing before the Board. The IRB modernized its procedures to improve access to justice, quality, and productivity with the new Immigration Appeal Division Rules, which came into force on January 14, 2023. These new Rules are the result of several years of effort and consultations with IRB members, staff, portfolio partners, and other stakeholders. Further to this, the Board began consultations with stakeholders and other government departments on the Immigration Division Rules.

On July 18, 2022, the updated Chairperson's Guideline 4: Gender Considerations in Proceedings Before the Immigration and Refugee Board was published. The Guideline complements the Board's efforts to respond to the changing landscape of gender-based adjudication and expands application to include all divisions within the Board. It also explicitly references the ongoing application of a trauma-informed and intersectional approach to proceedings involving gender considerations. This is consistent with the Board's existing commitment to trauma-informed adjudication in all refugee and immigration cases involving individuals who have experienced trauma. Additionally, the IRB has implemented the recommendations from the review of Chairperson's Guideline 9: Proceedings Before the IRB Involving Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics, further strengthening decision-making in respect to claims based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics. The Board also advanced the revision of Chairperson's Guideline 8: Procedures with Respect to Vulnerable Persons Appearing Before the IRB and Chairperson's Guideline 3: Child Refugee Claimants: Procedural and Evidentiary Issues. The Board leveraged lessons learned from the implementation of Guideline 4 and the updated guidelines were issued in the second quarter of fiscal year 2023 to 2024.

To further improve access to justice, the IRB made considerable progress on enhancements to the Board's designated representative and interpreter programs to strengthen registry and common support services. The Refugee Appeal Division began to scope out ways of enhancing support for unrepresented (self-represented) appellants. The Board also improved services for unrepresented appellants in the Immigration Appeal Division that guide appellants through the appeal process. The Board increased the number of admissibility hearing decisions available to the public, thereby increasing transparency and awareness for persons and counsel appearing before the Board. Furthermore, the Board initiated a web renewal exercise to enhance quality and access to justice, and to improve the effectiveness of online information and the services provided.

3. Focus on hearing conduct

The IRB is committed to rendering quality decisions and to upholding a high standard of conduct, and ensuring that the member complaints process remains transparent, fair, and efficient. Based on recommendations from a third-party evaluation on its Member Complaints program, the IRB modernized and published its member conduct complaints process on June 30, 2022, fully implementing revisions to the Procedures for Making a Complaint About a Member and the Code of Conduct for Members of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. To further ensure quality hearings, the Board made considerable progress in 2022 to 2023 to identify an approach to address counsel conduct, with implementation beginning in fiscal year 2023 to 2024. This contributes both to the IRB's strategic outcomes and to its core responsibility of providing access to justice and fair hearings for those who appear before it.

Innovation

Innovation has been key to achieving and sustaining the mandate and strategic priorities of the IRB. In 2022 to 2023, the IRB made significant advancements related to its innovation projects and the results can be seen throughout this report. This includes maximizing productivity and quality through robotic process automation which will allow the Board to fully modernize its case management. The IRB also implemented new cloud-based applications for case management.

The Board will continue to strengthen its capacity to apply process automation and assistive tools to support scheduling and inventory management, and use innovation to modernize processes, technology, and solutions.

Key risks

The IRB continued to manage the risks identified in the 2022 to 2023 Departmental Plan and successfully implemented mitigation strategies to reduce and control any impact on the achievement of the Board's strategic outcomes and results.

Throughout the fiscal year, there was a risk that IRB's targets would not be met should the inventory of claims continue to grow beyond funded capacity (financial resources) or should there be a constrained supply of human capital (human resources). This risk was mitigated through permanent and temporary funding announced in Budget 2022 that stabilized the IRB's budget and workforce. However, referrals to the Board are once again outpacing the IRB's processing capacity leading to, once again, growing inventories and wait times.

There was a continued risk throughout the fiscal year related to the Board's partners' and stakeholders' capacity to support IRB priorities, including the availability of counsel. By implementing focused scheduling strategies, as well as working closely with our counsel community, the IRB was able to mitigate this risk. Further, during 2022 to 2023, a continued risk involved the increasing number of non-actionable refugee protection claims referred to the IRB from its partners (such as those with missing information, or with outstanding security screening) which negatively impacted scheduling flexibility and utilization of member capacity to achieve targets. To mitigate this emerging risk, the Board has been working with portfolio partners to address delays in front-end processing that results in inventory being non-actionable at the time of referral.

Results achieved

The following table shows, for adjudication of immigration and refugee cases, the results achieved, the performance indicators, the targets and target dates for 2022 to 2023, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Financial, human resources and performance information for the IRB's program inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

The following table shows, for adjudication of immigration and refugee cases, budgetary spending for 2022 to 2023, as well as actual spending for that year.

Financial, human resources and performance information for the IRB's program inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The following table shows, in full-time equivalents, the human resources the Board needed to fulfill this core responsibility for 2022 to 2023.

Financial, human resources and performance information for the IRB's program inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Internal services

Description

Internal services are those groups of related activities and resources that the federal government considers to be services in support of programs and/or required to meet corporate obligations of an organization. Internal services refer to the activities and resources of the 10 distinct service categories that support program delivery in the organization, regardless of the internal services delivery model in a department. The 10 service categories are: acquisition management services; communication services; financial management services; human resources management services; information management services; information technology services; legal services; material management services; management and oversight services; and real property management services.

Results

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, the IRB's internal services priorities, including those described below, played a key supporting role in the Board achieving its mandate. These priorities also supported the Board's continued focus on delivering client‑centric services that are accessible, effective, and responsive to clients' needs.

Strengthened management, with a focus on people management

The Board's hybrid workplace model, which had been adopted in early 2022, was further updated following the December 15, 2022, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat's announcement of a “Common hybrid work model for the Federal Public Service.” In line with occupational health and safety requirements, the Board equipped over 90% of its workstations with the necessary equipment, successfully performed network stress tests, and released a booking tool for employees. Telework agreements were put in place by March 31, 2023, for all employees however, there were exceptions. For example, IRB public servant decision-makers (members) were given a one-year exception, though members continue to be present on site at IRB offices for in-person hearings.

In response to the impact of the pandemic, the Board continued to make significant progress in implementing its Digital Strategy and will continue to make investments in technology and operational procedures. The IRB worked with Shared Services Canada to enhance systems and applications, including tools and technologies available to support staff with virtual hearings. Progress continues into 2023 to 2024 to improve information management at the Board by leveraging new internal collaboration tools, cloud‑based storage solutions, and automating case management.

The IRB completed its first Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan. While ongoing work continues into 2023 to 2024, the Board successfully completed 17 of the 20 identified initiatives in its Strategic Plan. This included publishing its IRB Accessibility Plan 2023 to 2025 in December 2022, in compliance with the Accessible Canada Act. The IRB also partnered with equity-seeking communities to attract and retain new talent to better reflect Canada's diversity as part of an external recruitment and retention plan. Additionally, the Board reviewed its hiring processes to identify gaps, ensure they are culturally sensitive, and are free of barriers for employment equity groups. To address micro‑aggressions in the workplace, diversity and inclusion awareness training was implemented for managers and employees. The Board also launched its Mentorship Plus Program to better support leadership development, with a specific emphasis on supporting members of underrepresented groups who aspire to be leaders in executive positions. In January 2023, the Chairperson's Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion (forum for employees of diverse backgrounds to provide advice to the Chairperson with a focus on strengthening diversity and inclusion) held a workshop in order to consult its members on the next iteration of the Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan. The next iteration of the Plan will also be informed by the results of an Employment Systems Review. This Review is a requirement under the Employment Equity Act that assesses the IRB's policies and practices to identify systemic and attitudinal barriers to employment opportunities for designated group members.

The Board made progress implementing actions that support its Vision for Psychological Safety outlined in the ​Strategy for Psychological Safety and Mental Health in the IRB Workplace. Sessions were held in November and December 2022 for mental health first aid certification for employees and mental health training for managers, both of which provided tools and a safe space to talk about mental health and psychological safety in the workplace. In 2023 to 2024, the IRB will continue to expand its suite of tools for managers and supervisors to support mental health and wellness, as well as invest in additional support for employees and provide engagement activities.

Employee pay-related issues continued to be addressed and the IRB worked with the Public Service Pay Centre on issues outside of its control.

Contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses

Under the Directive on the Management of Procurement, which came into effect on May 13, 2021, federal organizations must ensure that a minimum of 5% of the total value of the contracts awarded are held by Indigenous businesses. This requirement is being implemented over three phases, with completion expected by fiscal year 2024 to 2025.

The IRB is a phase 2 organization and is required to achieve the minimum 5% target by the end of 2023 to 2024. The Board has not identified any risks that would result in an inability to meet this requirement. It is anticipated that the Board's procurement activities to date will have contributed to its annual minimum target of awarding 5% of the total value of contracts to Indigenous businesses by the end of fiscal year 2023 to 2024. The following chart shows the Board's progress since fiscal year 2021 to 2022.

Most of the IRB's contracting activity is facilitated using Public Services and Procurement Canada's mandatory ProServices, which include prequalified Indigenous business vendors. The IRB is exploring additional means to broaden its outreach to Indigenous vendors in order to meet its target by March 31, 2024. The IRB's procurement strategies encourage procurement officers to include one or more Indigenous vendors in every solicitation request processed. This has proven successful in reaching annual incremental percentage growth in awarding IRB contracts to Indigenous businesses. The Board's procurement activity growth for Indigenous vendors has demonstrated positive results towards meeting the planned target.

The IRB's annual procurement plan will include engagement strategies to help promote and support the participation of Indigenous businesses in competing for IRB contract awards and will monitor those results. The Board's procurement team will make themselves available to meet with Indigenous businesses, as appropriate, to present the IRB procurement model and identify any future business opportunities. In addition, the team will participate in future outreach activities and Industry Days.

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

The following table shows, for internal services, budgetary spending for 2022 to 2023, as well as actual spending for that year.

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The following table shows, in full‑time equivalents, the human resources the IRB needed to carry out its internal services for 2022 to 2023.

Spending and human resources

Spending

Spending from fiscal year 2020 to 2021 to fiscal year 2025 to 2026

The following graph presents spending (voted and statutory expenditures) over time.

Budget 2022 announced permanent funding of $150 million annually to the IRB, regularizing funds that had previously been provided on a temporary basis. In addition, the Budget announced a further temporary top up investment of $87 million over two years. As such, planned spending in fiscal year 2023 to 2024 and in 2024 to 2025 will increase to reflect this temporary funding. This additional funding will help increase the number of refugee protection claims finalized over that two-year period. The IRB will return to its regular level of funding in fiscal year 2025 to 2026.

Budgetary performance summary for the core responsibility and internal services

The “Budgetary performance summary for the core responsibility and internal services” tablepresents the budgetary financial resources allocated for the IRB's core responsibility and for internal services.

The increase in actual spending in 2022 to 2023 is attributed to costs incurred to continue the IRB's Growth and Transformation Agenda. This increase was funded by the Government of Canada's temporary investments for the IRB's operations in Budgets 2018 and 2019, which were extended in the Economic and Fiscal Snapshot 2020.

A permanent source of funding and temporary funding over a two-year period was announced in Budget 2022. This funding, beginning in fiscal year 2023 to 2024, will help ensure sustainability of claim processing up to 50,000. To coincide with continued growth in refugee claims, planned spending in fiscal year 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025 forecasts resource capacity growth for this temporary surge in refugee claims processing.

Human resources

The “Human resources summary for the core responsibility and internal services” table presents the full-time equivalents allocated to the IRB's core responsibility and to internal services.

Human resources summary for the core responsibility and internal services

The increase in full‑time equivalents in 2022 to 2023 is due to the hiring of temporary decision‑makers and support staff to increase the number of refugee protection claims and appeals being finalized. Following the Budget 2022 announcement, the IRB stabilized its workforce on a permanent basis. Full-time equivalents are forecasted to continue to grow over the next two fiscal years on a temporary basis, funded by temporary investments peaking in fiscal year 2024 to 2025.

Expenditures by vote

For information on the IRB's organizational voted and statutory expenditures, consult the Public Accounts of Canada.

Government of Canada spending and activities

Information on the alignment of the IRB's spending with the Government of Canada's spending and activities is available in GC InfoBase.

Financial statements and financial statements highlights

Financial Statements

The IRB's financial statements (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2023, are available on its website.

Financial statement highlights

Condensed Statement of Operations (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2023 (dollars)

Total expenses increased compared to the previous fiscal year primarily due to costs incurred to augment capacity to finalize more refugee protection claims and appeals. Total expenses were higher than planned due to unforeseen salary increments (collective bargaining, overpayments, etc.).

The 2022 to 2023 planned results information is provided in the IRB's Future-Oriented Statement of Operations and Notes 2022 to 2023.

Condensed Statement of Financial Position (unaudited) as of March 31, 2023 (dollars)

Departmental net financial position improved due to an increase in investments in tangible capital assets.

The 2022 to 2023 planned results information is provided in the IRB's Future-Oriented Statement of Operations and Notes 2022 to 2023.

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate minister: The Honourable Marc Miller
Institutional head: Manon Brassard, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer
Ministerial portfolio: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
Enabling instrument: Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
Year of incorporation/commencement: 1989

Raison d'être, mandate, and role: who we are and what we do

“Raison d'être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do” is available on the IRB's website.

Operating context

Information on the operating context is available on the IRB's website.

Reporting framework

The IRB's departmental results framework and program inventory of record for 2022 to 2023 are shown below.

Supporting information on the program inventory

Financial, human resources and performance information for the IRB's program inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information tables are available on the IRB's website:

• Reporting on green procurement
• Gender-based analysis plus
• Response to parliamentary committees and external audits

Federal tax expenditures

The tax system can be used to achieve public policy objectives through the application of special measures such as low tax rates, exemptions, deductions, deferrals and credits. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures. This report also provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical information and references to related federal spending programs as well as evaluations and GBA Plus of tax expenditures.

Organizational contact information

Mailing address

Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
Minto Place, Canada Building
344 Slater Street, 12th floor
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada
K1A 0K1

For more contact information, visit Contact Us.

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Appendix: definitions

appropriation (crédit)
Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)
Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

core responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)
An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)
A report on the plans and expected performance of an appropriated department over a 3‑year period. Departmental Plans are usually tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental priority (priorité)
A plan or project that a department has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired departmental results.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)
A consequence or outcome that a department seeks to achieve. A departmental result is often outside departments' immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

departmental result indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)
A quantitative measure of progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)
A framework that connects the department's core responsibilities to its departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)
A report on a department's actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

full‑time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)
A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person‑year charge against a departmental budget. For a particular position, the full‑time equivalent figure is the ratio of number of hours the person actually works divided by the standard number of hours set out in the person's collective agreement.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS Plus])
An analytical tool used to support the development of responsive and inclusive policies, programs and other initiatives; and understand how factors such as sex, race, national and ethnic origin, Indigenous origin or identity, age, sexual orientation, socio-economic conditions, geography, culture and disability, impact experiences and outcomes, and can affect access to and experience of government programs.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)
For the purpose of the 2022 to 2023 Departmental Results Report, government-wide priorities are the high-level themes outlining the government's agenda in the November 23, 2021, Speech from the Throne: building a healthier today and tomorrow; growing a more resilient economy; bolder climate action; fighter harder for safer communities; standing up for diversity and inclusion; moving faster on the path to reconciliation; and fighting for a secure, just and equitable world.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)
An initiative where two or more federal organizations are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

Indigenous business(enterprise autochtones)
For the purpose of the Directive on the Management of Procurement Appendix E: Mandatory Procedures for Contracts Awarded to Indigenous Businesses and the Government of Canada's commitment that a mandatory minimum target of 5% of the total value of contracts is awarded to Indigenous businesses, an organization that meets the definition and requirements as defined by the Indigenous Business Directory.

non‑budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)
Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance (rendement)
What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)
A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.

performance reporting (production de rapports sur le rendement)
The process of communicating evidence‑based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision making, accountability and transparency.

plan (plan)
The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally, a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)
For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in Main Estimates.
A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

program (programme)
Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)
Identifies all the department's programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department's core responsibilities and results.

result (résultat)
A consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization's influence.

statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)
Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

target (cible)
A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées)
Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an appropriation act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.