Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada’s 2024 to 2025 Departmental Results Report

On this page

• At a glance
• From the Chairperson
• Results – what we achieved
• Core responsibility 1: Adjudication of immigration and refugee cases
• Internal services
• Spending and human resources
• Spending
• Funding
• Financial statement highlights
• Human resources
• Supplementary information tables
• Federal tax expenditures
• ​ Corporate information
• Definitions

At a glance

This departmental results report details the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada's (IRB or the Board) actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results outlined in its 2024 to 2025 Departmental Plan.

• Vision, mission, raison d'être and operating context

Key priorities

The Board identified the following key priorities for 2024 to 2025:

• Maintaining quality and consistent decision-making
• Undertaking internal process improvements
• Leveraging technological advancements to increase efficiencies
• Managing productivity through data and analytics
• Ensuring an effective and diverse workforce

Highlights for the Board in 2024 to 2025

• Total actual spending (including internal services): $352,875,031
• Total full-time equivalent staff (including internal services): 2,573

For complete information on the IRB's total spending and human resources, read the Spending and human resources section of its full departmental results report.

Summary of results

The following provides a summary of the results the Board achieved in 2024 to 2025 under its main areas of activity, called “core responsibilities.”

Core responsibility 1: Adjudication of immigration and refugee cases

Actual spending: $273,278,219

Actual full-time equivalent staff: 2,051

The IRB is an independent administrative tribunal established by Parliament on January 1, 1989, to resolve immigration and refugee cases. Decisions on immigration and refugee cases made by the IRB must conform with the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) and the Canadian ​Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and applied in a manner that complies with the international human rights instruments to which Canada is a signatory and incorporates the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.

As is the case in many other countries, Canada has seen a dramatic increase in the number of refugee claimants over the last two years. This has challenged the IRB, which performs a vital role with its partners. The IRB, as the administrative tribunal mandated to decide refugee and immigration matters in an impartial and fair manner, is keenly aware of its critical role in the process and the need to hear and decide cases quickly once people appearing before the Board have provided the required information and a complete file is received from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency.

While the IRB's caseload in its Immigration Division (ID), Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) and Refugee Appeal Division (RAD) has been relatively stable in recent years, the number of claims made to the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) has seen historically high growth. Building on past accomplishments, the Board refined its Horizon 2026–27 strategic plan and pursued efforts to simplify and standardize its processes, including leveraging technology. It also employed cost management strategies, including reallocating existing resources to priority initiatives that are intended to transform how work is done. Through these efforts, the Board strengthened its resilience and increased its capacity to process more cases. In 2024 to 2025, the IRB achieved a record-setting total of 102,500 decisions across its four divisions. This unprecedented milestone was a direct result of the IRB's commitment to ongoing modernization through process improvement and innovation. The IRB accomplished this without compromising on quality, maintaining its ability to render fair decisions and provide timely access to justice.

The Supreme Court of Canada has held that both the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Bill of Rights apply to the determination of refugee protection claims by the IRB.^{Footnote 1} The Supreme Court has also held that where a serious issue of credibility is involved, fundamental justice requires that credibility be determined in an oral hearing. The courts have also consistently held that given the nature of the rights being adjudicated, both the Refugee Protection Division and the Refugee Appeal Division must afford the parties before them a high degree of procedural fairness.^{Footnote 2}

For more information on the IRB's Adjudication of immigration and refugee cases, read the “Results – what we achieved” section of its departmental results report.

From the Chairperson

I am pleased to present the 2024 to 2025 Departmental Results Report for the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB or the Board), Canada's largest administrative tribunal. The IRB plays the crucial role of ensuring that decisions regarding immigration and refugee matters in Canada are made fairly, efficiently, and in accordance with Canadian law and international obligations. 

We are proud of the work we are doing at the Board. The Board is currently operating in a context that is evolving rapidly, with increasing legal complexity. While the IRB's caseload for three of its divisions has been relatively stable in recent years, the number of claims before the Refugee Protection Division in the last two years has seen record high growth. The IRB has faced this challenge head-on and finalized more cases than in any other year.

In 2024 to 2025, the IRB finalized a total of 102,500 decisions across its four divisions:  

• the Immigration Appeal Division finalized nearly 4,000 appeals,
• the Immigration Division finalized over 8,300 detention reviews and over 2,100 admissibility hearings,
• the Refugee Appeal Division finalized over 9,400 appeals, and
• the Refugee Protection Division finalized 78,700 cases, a 42% increase year-over-year.

I would like to acknowledge the dedication and commitment of our decision-makers and employees in achieving these exceptional results. The IRB's record-setting year was also attained by prioritizing ongoing process improvement and innovation. Over the past year, the IRB has refined its Horizon 2026–27 strategic plan and implemented internal reforms to processes, technology and productivity management to continue to address demand while ensuring access to justice. The IRB is exploring Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve non-adjudicative functions. For example, to reduce transcription backlogs and manual effort, RPD hearing transcripts are now generated using speech-to-text AI and reviewed internally before delivery to RAD decision-makers.

By leveraging effective management, modern technology and streamlined internal processes, the Board has maximized available resources, maintained a results-oriented approach and surpassed its targets. Looking forward, the IRB will ensure the sustainability of these gains. At this time, the Government has proposed legislative changes to immigration and refugee eligibility and processes and is also seeking to limit spending. While the impact of these changes on the Board remains unclear, the IRB will continue with determination and focus, to uphold high-quality decision-making, maintaining its standing as a respected and trusted tribunal. Equally, the IRB is committed to being a valued workplace. These efforts will ensure the continued delivery of tangible, measurable results.

Results – what we achieved

Core responsibilities and internal services

• Core responsibility 1: Adjudication of immigration and refugee cases
• Internal services

Core responsibility 1: Adjudication of immigration and refugee cases

In this section

• Description
• Quality of life impacts
• Progress on results
• Details on results
• Key risks
• Resources required to achieve results
• Related government priorities
• Program inventory

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).

Quality of life impacts

This core responsibility contributes to the “Good Governance” domain of the Quality of Life Framework for Canada. The domain indicator reflected in the core responsibility description is:

• Confidence in institutions

Progress on results

This section details the IRB's performance against its targets for each departmental result under Core responsibility 1: Adjudication of immigration and refugee cases.

Table 1: Fair and timely adjudication of immigration and refugee cases

Table 1 shows the target, the date to achieve the target and the actual result for each indicator under the fair and timely adjudication of immigration and refugee cases in the last three fiscal years.

The Results section of the Infographic for the IRB on GC InfoBase page provides additional information on results and performance related to its program inventory.

Details on results

The following section describes the results for the adjudication of immigration and refugee cases in 2024 to 2025 compared with the planned results set out in the IRB's departmental plan for the year.

Fair and timely adjudication of immigration and refugee cases

Results achieved

Over the past year, the IRB has refined its Horizon 2026–27 strategic plan and implemented internal reforms to processes, technology and productivity management to continue to address high demand, maintain quality decision-making and ensure access to justice. The objectives outlined in the IRB's 2024 to 2025 Departmental Plan remain relevant despite adjustments required to address shifting operational realities.

Maintain quality and consistent decision-making

The IRB has well-established mechanisms in place to ensure it continues to make fair and timely decisions in accordance with the law. Guided by its Quality Assurance Framework for Decision-Making, the Board has robust quality assurance practices in place such as training and tools for decision-makers, as well as support and tools for parties appearing before the Board. The level of preparedness of parties participating in hearings, and the quality of the oral and written information they provide, does impact the quality of the decisions rendered. As part of its commitment to maintaining quality and consistent decision-making, in 2024 to 2025, the Board: 

• Partnered with a non-governmental organization to improve access to information presented during RAD Ready Tours so that appellants have increased knowledge and a better understanding of the Division's appeal process. The RAD also developed and implemented a style guide for decision-writing to help simplify the language used by members explaining the reasons for their decisions to appellants. 
• Developed updated Web content to ensure that it is accessible, relevant and reflective of best practices.
• Developed an adjudication framework to support the adjudicative and case management functions of the Board. The framework will help the IRB modernize, simplify and streamline its instruments and tools, reducing complexity for everyone involved from case initiation and preparation to the final decision. The Board also continued to make progress on its updates to the Immigration Division Rules through consultations with external stakeholders and portfolio partners.
• Advanced work to simplify and modernize the interpreter and designated representative programs, including advancing the development of a new Contracted Designated Representative Quality Assurance Framework. Enhancements to these programs ensure that appropriate support continues to be provided for hearings. 
• Invested in training to support decision-makers, such as formalizing mentorship programs in all divisions and centralizing learning resources into a training hub, thus reducing time spent accessing multiple resources. It also advanced the development of a formal, documented approach for reviewing and updating new member training material.

The IRB will continue to prioritize tools and training for decision-makers to equip them in maintaining consistent, quality decision-making, and it will provide appropriate support to those appearing before the Board to ensure continued access to justice.  

Process improvements

In 2024 to 2025, the Board undertook extensive consultations with employees and conducted internal process reviews to identify and address areas for improvement and standardization. As part of this work on streamlining internal processes, the Board:

• Introduced standardized processes, which increased the number of cases ready to be scheduled or streamed for abandonment if they were missing critical information, such as Basis of Claim Forms. The Board implemented a national model for how to process these claims, in support of more timely finalizations.
• Streamlined triage and scheduling functions by designing and piloting a new approach to strategic national scheduling and case assignment, and increased the number of files picked up by members to fill gaps in the hearing schedule through a strategic stand-by initiative. These initiatives in the Refugee Protection Division reduced postponements by increasing the number of files that proceed to a hearing, maximizing decision-makers' productivity and increasing access to justice as more cases were heard.
• Based on objective evidence and case law, identified new types of refugee protection claims that can be finalized without a hearing or following a short hearing. This allowed the IRB to finalize more cases, and reduced wait times for certain claimants.
• Developed simplified reasons templates for oral and written decisions on refugee protection claims and implemented a framework for integrating these into decision-makers' work practices. This further equipped decision-makers to render concise decisions and reasons on refugee protection claims, improving efficiency.
• Implemented a single national 1-800 toll-free telephone number to simplify the way clients interact with the IRB by telephone. 
• Collaborated with portfolio partners to identify and consider means to support faster decision-making and reduce wait-times for new refugee claims.  

The Board has made great strides toward improving efficiency through process improvements, particularly for functions that support decision-making. It will continue to pursue this work to ensure sustained gains.

Technology

Leveraging technological advances, in 2024 to 2025 the IRB prioritized increased efficiency through process modernization, while also improving stakeholder interactions. Innovations such as digital tools for better data sharing and streamlined communication demonstrate the Board's commitment to stakeholders and decision-makers alike. The IRB is doing the foundational work to ensure that it is prepared to meet its immediate needs as well as long-term objectives. In 2024 to 2025, the Board:

• Continued improving access to the My Case portal, which has streamlined communication channels for sending and receiving documents, forms and case-file information. The IRB worked with central agencies and federal enablers on increasing the information available digitally and launched two-factor authentication to increase the integrity of the portal. Access was launched for contracted designated representatives, and work is continuing toward providing access to others, including claimants, appellants and uncontracted designated representatives.
• Approved the IRB Digitization Standard and Procedures, which will allow the IRB to decrease dependencies on paper-based records related to case files held by the Board. A digitization process is now in place, including a quality assurance process. Digital documents are now accepted as the official record, leading to a reduction in the volume of paper records retained by the IRB.
• Began development of a new scheduling module to be used by all four divisions. The new tool will have increased functionality to support increased efficiencies and simpler processes.
• Implemented an AI speech-to-text service to generate transcripts from RPD proceedings as a tool for RAD decision-makers. This initiative marked the Board's first use of AI to support transcription. It was a meaningful step forward that provided valuable insights for future refinement. Feedback collected will be instrumental in shaping the next steps and ensuring that we continue to improve the accuracy and efficiency of our transcription services.

Through investment in innovation and the advancement of foundational work, the IRB continues to pursue modern technological solutions that support efficient processes and enable future needs.

Productivity management

The Board enhanced effectiveness by leveraging data and analytics to remain results- and performance-focused and by strengthening internal management structures, while continuing to ensure that decisions are fair, timely and made in accordance with the law. The Board continues to build a strong culture of productivity through regular monitoring and reporting of results against targets, identifying challenges as they arise and adjusting operations as required. This approach has helped position the Board to handle increasing demands and pressures and develop a results-driven culture. To this end, in fiscal year 2024 to 2025, the IRB:

• Actively engaged in forward planning and in-year monitoring to manage resources and focus efforts on key, transformative activities.
• Built upon its recently completed financial stability model by incorporating key drivers of cost and productivity into its performance measurement framework. 
• Gained more precise insight into RPD inventory accountabilities, volumes and process times across the full case lifecycle, which supports more effective performance and resource management. For instance, the IRB now has a more comprehensive view into the 281,300 refugee claims that were in the inventory as of March 31, 2025; 178,800 of them are ready for adjudication, while the remaining 102,500 were missing information from claimants, pending security screening by the Canada Border Services Agency, or another reason. This additional insight clarifies IRB accountabilities and reduces bottlenecks in the asylum system.

The IRB continues to build a results-driven culture, one that is equipped to make evidence-based management decisions and to strategically handle increasing demands.

Key risks

The IRB continued to manage the risks identified in the 2024 to 2025 Departmental Plan and successfully implemented mitigation strategies to reduce and control any impact on the Board's strategic outcomes and results.

Throughout the year, RPD intake volumes continued to exceed funded processing capacity. This led to the actualized risk that the Board's capacity was further strained, placing pressure on existing processes and resources to finalize decisions, and increasing inventory and wait times. The IRB mitigated this risk with effective management and active planning discussions. Temporary funds from Budget 2022 allowed the Board to increase its capacity, streamline processes and increase efficiencies, leading to increased finalizations. While this temporary funding ended in 2024 to 2025, the IRB continues to seek stable funding to ensure the integrity and effectiveness of its processes.

In 2024 to 2025, the IRB faced a risk that a competitive and highly mobile labour market may impact its ability to recruit and retain a highly skilled workforce. The Board mitigated this risk through a focus on retaining and investing in its current personnel, continuing to advance its work to maintain a healthy workplace. The IRB also engaged its employees through extensive consultation, seeking opportunities to streamline processes in order to increase efficiency and reduce productivity impediments. This focus on optimizing and automating processes allows employees to focus on higher value activities.

The Board's success is equally conditional on the ability of its portfolio partners, key service providers and external stakeholders to cope with demand. This risk of pressure on the immigration and refugee system was mitigated by maintaining collaborative relationships with partners and stakeholders through structures such as the Asylum System Management Board and the IRB Consultative Committee. This engagement enabled appropriate monitoring of system capacity and alignment of priorities, so that the Board could maintain progress and react quickly to changes in the operating context. Additionally, the IRB undertook extensive process improvements, including to scheduling, which allowed it to optimize the number of hearings held during the year. It also provided additional support to those not able to secure representation before the Board.

Finally, in 2024 to 2025, the IRB faced a risk to organizational effectiveness. It was the risk that the Board's existing skills and capacities, including those related to management, IT capacity, procurement and project management, did not reflect the corporate and operational needs of an evolving IRB. There was also a dependency on private sector capacity to support IRB needs. The Board mitigated this risk by prioritizing transformational initiatives identified as critical in its strategic plan, ensuring that existing capacity was focused on the most important work. It leveraged governance committees and reallocated existing resources where possible to ensure the successful completion of these initiatives. To support these initiatives, the IRB invested in improving its project management and IT capabilities, establishing a dedicated team to manage strategic initiatives and strengthening governance around IT projects. Additionally, the IRB developed management training, specifically for supervisors and first-line managers, to bolster management skills and contribute to organizational effectiveness.

Resources required to achieve results

Table 2: Snapshot of resources required for Adjudication of immigration and refugee cases

Table 2 provides a summary of the planned and actual spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.

The Finances section of the Infographic for the IRB on GC InfoBase page and the People section of the Infographic for the IRB on GC InfoBase page provide complete financial and human resources information related to its program inventory.

Related government priorities

This section highlights government priorities that are being addressed through this core responsibility.

Information on the Board's contributions to Canada's Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in our Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.

Innovation

Innovation is key to achieving and sustaining the IRB's mandate, including ensuring access to justice. As highlighted in the departmental results “Results – what we achieved” section, in 2024 to 2025 the Board made innovative process improvements and leveraged technology to support its employees and those appearing before it, with a focus on efficient decision-making.

Program inventory

Adjudication of immigration and refugee cases is supported by the following programs:

• Refugee protection decisions
• Refugee appeal decisions
• Admissibility and detention decisions
• Immigration appeal decisions

Additional information related to the program inventory for the adjudication of immigration and refugee cases is available on the Results page on GC InfoBase.

Internal services

In this section

• Description
• Progress on results
• Resources required to achieve results
• Contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses

Description

Internal services refer to the activities and resources that support a department in its work to meet its corporate obligations and deliver its programs. The 10 categories of internal services are:

• Management and Oversight Services
• Communications Services
• Legal Services
• Human Resources Management
• Financial Management
• Information Management
• Information Technology
• Real Property (not applicable to the IRB)
• Materiel
• Acquisitions

Progress on results

This section presents details on how the IRB performed to achieve results and meet targets for internal services.

In fiscal year 2024 to 2025, the IRB's internal service priorities, including those described below, played a key supporting role in the Board achieving its departmental result of fair and timely adjudication of immigration and refugee cases. The IRB continues to strive to build a respectful work environment and has continued to advance its efforts to ensure that its workforce is diverse, well-trained and resourced, and enabled with appropriate tools and technology.

People management remains a key priority at the IRB, with a focus on retaining and investing in its current workforce. The IRB prioritized effective management, specifically equipping supervisors and first-level managers to ensure organizational effectiveness. In 2024 to 2025, the Board developed and piloted a foundational onboarding program targeted for new managers and supervisors, which included basic training and competency development. It also continued to invest in training and development for decision-makers through its Member Learning Secretariat, which worked with the divisions to formalize their mentorship programs and created a centralized learning resources hub.

The IRB continues to place a great importance on the diversity of its workforce, recognizing that having a workplace representative of Canada's population contributes to its success as an organization. The Board progressed initiatives identified in its 2024-2026 Strategic Plan on Diversity and Inclusion to advance its goals of promoting a culture of inclusion, strengthening its diverse workforce, integrating the principles of diversity and inclusion into all aspects of the Board's work, and measuring progress transparently. For example, in 2024 to 2025, the IRB continued to deliver mandatory training, focusing on unconscious bias, microaggressions and anti-racism, and ensured that its new onboarding program reflected these values. It also included accountability for achieving quantitative targets associated with both a representative workforce and an inclusive organizational culture in executive performance agreements.

As outlined in the IRB Accessibility Plan 2023 to 2025, the IRB aims to become barrier-free by 2040 for persons with disabilities, whether they are working at the Board or appearing before its divisions. The IRB published its Accessible Canada Act progress report 2024, which highlights the actions taken by the Board over the past year. For example, decision-makers received plain language training to improve clarity and accessibility in communications. The IRB hired accessibility coordinators in the Human Resources Branch and the Information Management and Technology Branch. This expertise has been instrumental in helping the IRB develop and implement policies, procedures, tools and communications that are inclusive by design.

The Board continued to make important strides in enhancing psychological health and safety in the IRB workplace, accomplishing all commitments for the fiscal year as outlined in its 2024-2027 Psychological Safety and Mental Health Strategy. Specifically, the Board provided tools and support to managers and supervisors to enhance managerial competencies related to mental health and psychological safety in the workplace. It also continued its efforts to build capacity around addressing and preventing psychological risks, consulting with other departments to develop a proposal related to vicarious trauma, and providing information sessions and peer support groups.

Having the right tools and technology in place is essential to ensuring that the Board can meet the growing demands of the asylum system. The IRB continues to equip its employees with modern technology so that they are able to work efficiently and effectively. The Board adopted updated application hosting approaches, consistent with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat's direction, including cloud-based storage solutions and collaboration tools. This supports the Board's mandate by ensuring that IRB staff have timely access to information and an efficient work environment.

Resources required to achieve results

Table 3: Resources required to achieve results for internal services this year

Table 3 provides a summary of the planned and actual spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.

The Finances section of the Infographic for the IRB on GC InfoBase and the People section of the Infographic for the IRB on GC InfoBase provide complete financial and human resources information related to its program inventory.

Contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses

Government of Canada departments are required to award at least 5% of the total value of contracts to Indigenous businesses every year.

IRB results for 2024 to 2025

Table 4: Total value of contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses^{Footnote 1}

As shown in Table 4, the IRB awarded 5.81% of the total value of all contracts to Indigenous businesses for the fiscal year.

The IRB determined three commodities that are excluded from the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business calculation:

1. Interpreter services (where contracts are issued directly to individual interpreters for a variety of foreign languages) is not a commodity that can be met through set-asides.
2. Commissionaire contracts are issued through a Public Services and Procurement Canada standing offer. The IRB does not control the solicitation mechanism to issue or include set-asides.
3. Transcription services are issued through a pre-existing departmental standing offer. There is no opportunity to issue set-asides for this commodity.

The IRB's performance against the minimum 5% target:

• Fourteen new contracts were awarded to Indigenous businesses in 2024 to 2025.
• Training was provided to procurement officers on how and why to issue set-asides for Indigenous businesses.
• Officers were also instructed to promote the use of set-asides with clients when procurement requests came to the team.
• Procurement officers actively sought out Indigenous vendors in Professional Services Supply Arrangements and in National Master Standing Offers, where it is permitted to select specific vendors from pre-approved lists.

Additional awareness is being provided to clients about set-asides and the potential for including them in bid solicitations.

In its 2025 to 2026 Departmental Plan, the Board estimated that it would award 5% of the total value of its contracts to Indigenous businesses by the end of 2024 to 2025.

Spending and human resources

In this section

• Spending
• Funding
• Financial statement highlights
• Human resources

Spending

This section presents an overview of the Board's actual and planned expenditures from fiscal year 2022 to 2023 to fiscal year 2027 to 2028.

Graph 1: Actual spending by core responsibility in 2024 to 2025

Graph 1 presents how much the department spent in 2024 to 2025 to carry out core responsibilities and internal services.

Analysis of actual spending by core responsibility

The above pie chart shows that 77% of actual spending is allocated to the IRB's core responsibility and 23% to supporting internal services.

Refocusing Government Spending

In Budget 2023, the government committed to reducing spending by $14.1 billion over five years, starting in 2023 to 2024, and by $4.1 billion annually after that.

As part of meeting this commitment, the IRB identified the following spending reductions.

• 2024 to 2025: $8,266,000
• 2025 to 2026: $10,536,000
• 2026 to 2027 and after: $13,644,000

During 2024 to 2025, the IRB worked to realize these reductions through the following measures:

• Modern business processes
• Digital innovation
• Travel and Professional Services

Budgetary performance summary

Table 5: Actual three-year spending on the core responsibility and internal services (dollars)

Table 5 shows the money that the Board spent in each of the past three years on its core responsibility and on internal services.

Analysis of the past three years of spending

The increase in actual spending from 2024 to 2025 reflects the Government's Budget 2022 announcement of a temporary top-up investment of $87 million over two years, concluding in 2024 to 2025.

The IRB has experienced notable growth in recent years. Actual spending rose by 20% in 2023 to 2024 and by 3% in 2024 to 2025, primarily due to increased expenditures related to processing a record number of immigration and refugee cases.

During 2024 to 2025, intake increased by 10% while finalizations increased by 29%, which demonstrates the IRB's commitment to reducing case inventories and addressing rising demand, in alignment with the temporary funding received.

In 2024 to 2025, the IRB also began implementing efficiency measures as part of the government-wide initiative to refocus spending. These included the adoption of more modern business processes, investments in digital innovation to streamline case management, and targeted reductions in travel and professional services. These efforts are designed to enhance operational efficiency, improve service delivery, and ensure responsible stewardship of public funds.

The Finances section of the Infographic for the IRB on GC InfoBase offers more financial information from previous years.

Table 6: Planned three-year spending on the core responsibility and internal services (dollars)

Table 6 shows the Board's planned spending for each of the next three years on its core responsibility and on internal services.

Analysis of the next three years of spending

The expected decline in spending for fiscal year 2026 to 2027 and forward is primarily due to the sunsetting of the one-time investment funding provided in Budget 2024, aimed at enhancing departmental operational efficiencies. While spending is expected to decrease from the peak in 2024 to 2025, productivity gains are anticipated to partially offset the reduction. Furthermore, the Government has recently launched a Comprehensive Expenditure Review (CER) to ensure government spending is responsible, cost-effective, and yields tangible results for Canadians. This review may impact the IRB's future performance against plans.

The Finances section of the Infographic for the IRB on GC InfoBase offers more detailed financial information related to future years.

Funding

This section provides an overview of the Board's voted and statutory funding for its core responsibility and for internal services. Consult the Government of Canada budgets and expenditures for further information on funding authorities.

Graph 2: Approved funding (statutory and voted) over a six-year period

Graph 2 summarizes the IRB's approved voted and statutory funding from fiscal year 2022 to 2023 to fiscal year 2027 to 2028.

Graph 2 includes the following information in a bar graph:

Analysis of statutory and voted funding over a six-year period

The graph above illustrates the IRB's approved funding over time. In fiscal year 2024 to 2025, total funding includes temporary top-up resources provided through Budget 2022, which concluded at the end of that fiscal year.

In 2025 to 2026, the IRB receives a $61.9 million investment under Budget 2024 as part of the initiative “Funding for the Stabilization and Integrity of Canada's Asylum System.” Of this amount, $33.6 million will become ongoing permanent funding.

The projected decline in future years reflects the planned conclusion of the temporary Budget 2022 top-up, the one-time investment under Budget 2024, and the implementation of Budget 2023 measures aimed at refocusing government spending.

Consult the Public Accounts of Canada for further information on the IRB's departmental voted and statutory expenditures.

Financial statement highlights

The IRB's Financial Statements (Unaudited) for the Year Ended March 31, 2025.

Table 7: Condensed Statement of Operations (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2025 (dollars)

Table 7 summarizes the expenses and revenues for 2024 to 2025 which net to the cost of operations before government funding and transfers.

Analysis of expenses and revenues for 2024 to 2025

Table 7 above shows that actual results exceeded planned results by $21.9M for 2024 to 2025. This is due to timing differences as planned costs did not include funding requested in-year for items such as collective agreements and the operating budget carry-forward.

The 2024 to 2025 planned results information is provided in the Board's Future-Oriented Statement of Operations and Notes 2024–25, prepared as of December 1, 2023.

Table 8: Condensed Statement of Operations (unaudited) for 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025 (dollars)

Table 8 summarizes actual expenses and revenues and shows the net cost of operations before government funding and transfers.

Analysis of differences in expenses and revenues between 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025

Table 8 above compares the IRB's net costs, year over year. Costs of operations increased by $11.8M or by 3% in 2024 to 2025 versus 2023 to 2024. The actual costs from 2024 to 2025 capture incremental funding received during the year, such as amounts to implement collective bargaining agreements, that were not yet signed in 2023 to 2024.

Table 9: Condensed Statement of Financial Position (unaudited) as of March 31, 2025 (dollars) 

Table 9 provides a brief snapshot of the amounts the IRB owes or must spend (liabilities) and its available resources (assets), which helps to indicate its ability to carry out programs and services.

Analysis of the IRB's liabilities and assets since last fiscal year

Table 9 above shows the IRB's net liabilities increased by 6.4% or $3M from 2023 to 2024 due to the increase in salaries, accrued wages and related obligations. These obligations are recorded as liabilities until they are disbursed, thereby contributing to the overall increase in total liabilities. These obligations, coupled with a $3.7M decrease in non-financial assets, after a decrease in Leasehold improvements as the IRB reduced its footprint year over year, resulted in a net financial position decrease compared to the prior fiscal year.

Human resources

This section presents an overview of the Board's actual and planned human resources from fiscal year 2022 to 2023 to fiscal year 2027 to 2028.

Table 10: Actual human resources for the core responsibility and internal services

Table 10 shows a summary in full-time equivalents of human resources for the IRB's core responsibility and for its internal services for the previous three fiscal years.

Analysis of human resources for the last three years

The increase in the IRB's actual full-time equivalents from fiscal years 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025 is primarily attributed to the additional staffing required to manage a higher volume of refugee protection claims. This growth reflects the final year of temporary funding provided through Budget 2022, which supported the Board's efforts to address the anticipated rise in claims over the two-year period.

Table 11: Human resources planning summary for the core responsibility and internal services

Table 11 shows the planned full-time equivalents for the IRB's core responsibility and for its internal services for the next three years. Human resources for the current fiscal year are forecast based on year to date. 

Analysis of human resources for the next three years

The anticipated reduction in planned full-time equivalents from the peak in fiscal year 2024 to 2025 is expected to be offset by productivity improvements, enabling IRB to maintain optimal decision-making capacity. These gains will enable the IRB to continue operating at an optimal level of decision-making capacity. Furthermore, the Government has recently launched a Comprehensive Expenditure Review (CER) to ensure government spending is responsible, cost-effective, and yields tangible results for Canadians. This review may impact the IRB's future performance against plans.

Supplementary information tables

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

• Gender‑based Analysis Plus

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.

Corporate information

Departmental profile

Appropriate minister(s): The Honourable Lena Metlege Diab, P.C., K.C., M.P

Institutional head: Manon Brassard, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer

Ministerial portfolio: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

Enabling instrument(s): Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

Year of incorporation / commencement: 1989

Departmental contact information

Mailing address:

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

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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, departments or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

core responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)

An enduring function or role of a department. The departmental results listed for a core responsibility reflect the outcomes that the department seeks to influence or achieve.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)

A report that outlines the anticipated activities and expected performance of an appropriated department over a 3-year period. Departmental Plans are usually tabled in Parliament in spring.

departmental priority (priorité)

A plan, project or activity that a department focuses and reports on during a specific planning period. Priorities represent the most important things to be done or those to be addressed first to help achieve the desired departmental results.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)

A high-level outcome related to the core responsibilities of a department.

departmental result indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)

A quantitative or qualitative measure that assesses progress toward 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 outlining a department's accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

Full-time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)

Measures the person years in a departmental budget.  An employee's scheduled hours per week divided by the employer's hours for a full-time workweek calculates a full-time equivalent. For example, an employee who works 20 hours in a 40-hour standard workweek represents a 0.5 full-time equivalent.

Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS Plus])

An analytical tool that helps to understand the ways diverse individuals experience policies, programs and other initiatives. Applying GBA Plus to policies, programs and other initiatives helps to identify the different needs of the people affected, the ways to be more responsive and inclusive, and the methods to anticipate and mitigate potential barriers to accessing or benefitting from the initiative. GBA Plus goes beyond biological (sex) and socio-cultural (gender) differences to consider other factors, such as age, disability, education, ethnicity, economic status, geography (including rurality), language, race, religion, and sexual orientation.

government priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2024–25 Departmental Results Report, government priorities are the high-level themes outlining the government's agenda as announced in the 2021 Speech from the Throne .

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

A program, project or other initiative where two or more federal departments receive funding to work collaboratively on a shared outcome usually linked to a government priority, and where the ministers involved agree to designate it as horizontal. Specific reporting requirements apply, including that the lead department must report on combined expenditures and results.

Indigenous business (entreprise autochtones)

For the purposes of a Departmental Result Report, this includes any entity that meets the Indigenous Services Canada's criteria of being owned and operated by Elders, band and tribal councils, registered in the Indigenous Business Directory or registered on a modern treaty beneficiary business list.

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 a department did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the department intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)

A qualitative or quantitative measure that assesses progress toward a departmental-level or program-level result, or the expected outputs or outcomes of a program, policy or initiative.

plan (plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how a department 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 the amounts presented in Main Estimates. Departments must determine their planned spending and be able to defend the financial numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

program (programme)

An Individual, group, or combination of services and activities managed together within a department and focused on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)

A listing that identifies all the department's programs and the resources that contribute to delivering on the department's core responsibilities and achieving its results.

result (résultat)

An outcome or output related to the activities of a department, policy, program or initiative.

statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)

Spending approved through legislation passed in Parliament, other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose and the terms and conditions of the expenditures.

target (cible)

A quantitative or qualitative, measurable goal that a department, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées)

Spending approved annually through an appropriation act passed in Parliament. The vote also outlines the conditions that govern the spending.