Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Ministerial Transition Binder – March 2025

​​​​​On this page

1. The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada at-a-glance
2. IRB in the Broader Refugee and Immigration Continuum
3. IRB’s four tribunals
1. Refugee Protection Division
2. Refugee Appeal Division
3. Immigration Division
4. Immigration Appeal Division
4. Financial and human resources
5. Governor in Council members
6. Key external stakeholders
7. Biographies of senior officials and organization chart

1. The Immigration and Refugee Board at-a-glance

Key points

• The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada's (IRB) mission, on behalf of Canadians, is to hear and decide on immigration and refugee cases efficiently, fairly and in accordance with the law.
• The IRB reports to Parliament through the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) and contributes directly to Canada's humanitarian traditions, the security of Canada and the quality of life of Canadians, as well as to the fulfillment of international obligations.
• It consists of four divisions:
• the Refugee Protection Division
• the Refugee Appeal Division
• the Immigration Division
• the Immigration Appeal Division
• The IRB is the country's largest administrative tribunal with a budget of $352.7M and 2,592 full time employees, headquartered in Ottawa with locations in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal. IRB has the largest complement of Governor in Council appointees.
• Canada, like many other countries, has seen record level increases in refugee claims. The IRB is responding to the challenge in a number of ways, and this year, like last year, will finalize more claims than what it is funded for.
• The key challenges facing the IRB are:
• High asylum claim intake levels;
• The need for surge funding to fully address this intake; and
• The risk of further geo-political shifts that could further drive demand.

Background

Created by an Act of Parliament in 1989, the IRB is Canada's largest administrative tribunal. Like every administrative tribunal, the IRB must exercise its decision-making authority independently, in a manner that is fair, transparent, efficient, and in accordance with the rules of natural justice. The primary statutory framework governing the IRB and defining the basic features of its organizational structure is the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which became law in 2002 and was substantively reformed in 2012.

How we work

• The IRB reports to Parliament through the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC), but, as a tribunal, has a degree of institutional independence, unlike a line department such as IRCC.
• The IRB is led by a Chairperson appointed by the Governor in Council (GIC) who, under the IRPA, is a member of each Division of the Board and is the chief executive officer of the Board. In that capacity, the Chairperson, among other duties:
• has supervision over and direction of the work and staff of the Board;
• assigns cases to Board members and schedules IRB proceedings;
• takes any action that may be necessary to ensure that the members of the Board carry out their duties efficiently and without undue delay; and
• may issue guidelines in writing to members of the Board and identify decisions of the Board as jurisprudential guides, after consulting with the Deputy Chairpersons, to assist members in carrying out their duties.
• The Chairperson is a Deputy Head under other legislation (e.g. Privacy Act and Access to Information Act) and acts as Chief Accounting Officer for the IRB (Financial Administration Act).
• IRB members (“decision-makers”) make decisions on refugee claims and appeals, admissibility hearings, detention reviews and immigration appeals before the Board's four divisions.
• Members are either GIC appointees (Immigration Appeal Division and Refugee Appeal Division) or, public servants (Refugee Protection Division and Immigration Division). Members appointed by the GIC are recommended by the Minister of IRCC to Cabinet.
• Supporting our four divisions, the IRB also has employees who are dedicated to registry services and others who deliver strategic and corporate services to the Board's senior leadership and decision-makers.
• The IRB collaborates on strategic issues through a Deputy Minister-level Asylum System Management Board with IRCC and CBSA counterparts.

Operational context

• The IRB responds to demand for adjudication in accordance with levels of in-Canada asylum claims, referrals for permanent residency and refugee appeals and in accordance with the enforcement orders of the CBSA. The IRB has seen historically high growth of asylum claims, but largely stable growth elsewhere.
• To address high growth of asylum claims, and in the absence of augmented funding, we have implemented internal reforms to processes, technology and productivity management to continue to address demand in the face of a lowering budget. Minimizing wait times is fundamental to the integrity of the immigration system and its enforcement.

Legal framework for immigration and asylum adjudication

• As a signatory to the Refugee Convention and its Protocol, Canada is committed to protecting individuals at risk of persecution for those claiming protection within Canada based on a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion, or whose removal from Canada would subject them personally (a) to a danger of torture; or (b) to a risk to their life or to a risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.
• The IRB is obligated to uphold principles of fairness, natural justice, and non-discrimination, ensuring all processes are in line with:
• the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom (Charter),
• the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, which are the key legal documents that define the term “refugee” and outline the rights of refugees and the international standards of treatment for their protection,
• the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, and
• the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Accessible Canada Act, and the Official Languages Act.
• jurisprudence from the Federal Court, the Federal Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada, and
• Chairperson's Guidelines on several topics including Gender Considerations; Detention; and Accessibility to IRB Proceedings.
• Chairperson's Jurisprudential Guides on several topics, including guidance on the proper analysis under Article 1E (exclusion) and the proper analysis for generalized risk under section 97 of the IRPA.

2. IRB in the Broader Refugee and Immigration Continuum

Key points

• The enabling legislation for the asylum system is the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations.
• The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB), the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), are each responsible for different stages of the immigration and asylum continuum.
• IRB: is responsible for making well-reasoned decisions on immigration and refugee matters, efficiently, fairly and in accordance with the law.
• CBSA: is responsible for enforcement functions related to immigration and refugee matters (detention, removals, investigations, security screening, and intelligence and immigration control functions) and determines eligibility for refugee claims at ports of entry and refers refugee and inadmissible cases to IRB.
• IRCC: is responsible for making policy decisions regarding immigration selection, visitor visas, citizenship, and eligibility determination for refugee claims inside Canada, and refers eligible claims to the IRB for a decision.

Background

• The In-Canada Asylum System (ICAS) manages refugee protection claims from within Canada based on a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion, or whose removal from Canada would subject them personally (a) to a danger of torture; or (b) to a risk to their life or to a risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment; and they meet the eligibility requirements in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
• ICAS is distinct from Canada's humanitarian refugee resettlement program, where persons in need of protection abroad are selected to resettle in Canada as permanent residents following screening by IRCC and/or by the UNHCR.
• By contrast, Canada's asylum procedure is only accessible to persons with the means to gain access to Canada, whether through visa-free access, work, study or visitor visas, smuggling ventures or access by land under an exception to the Safe Third Country Agreement at the Canada/US border.
• The Government of Canada sets targets for permanent resident admissions through a multi-year levels plan. This plan includes projections for refugees and protected persons; however, asylum intake is unplanned, and Canada has an obligation under the 1951 Convention to process every claim it receives.

Immigration and asylum responsibilities

• The IRB is responsible for deciding immigration and refugee cases and appeals efficiently, fairly and in accordance with the law.
• CBSA supports the integrity of the immigration and asylum system by conducting security screening, gathering intelligence and performing immigration control functions in Canada, at ports of entry and overseas. CBSA also determines the eligibility of all refugee protection claims made at a port of entry and refers eligible claims to the IRB for a decision. The Minister (via Minister's counsel) represents CBSA in some proceedings before the IRB, for example in matters of detention before the Immigration Division and applications to vacate before the Refugee Protection Division, among others.
• IRCC has the overall responsibility for immigration and refugee matters. It is responsible for selecting immigrants, issuing visitors' visas, and granting citizenship. IRCC also determines the eligibility of refugee protection claims made inside Canada and refers eligible claims to the IRB for a decision. The Minister (via Minister's counsel) represents IRCC in some proceedings before the IRB, for example in residency obligation appeals before the Immigration Appeal Division and on credibility issues before the Refugee Protection Division and the Refugee Appeal Division, among others.

IRB’s four tribunals

3A. Refugee Protection Division

Key points

• The Refugee Protection Division makes determinations of whether a claimant meets the definition of a refugee under the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention (i.e. due to a fear of persecution by reason of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion) or a person in need of protection (i.e. because they face torture, a risk to life or risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment) under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
• Cases do not proceed to hearing or decision without having first received a Front End Security Screening (FESS).
• Hearings can be conducted virtually or in person. They are non-adversarial unless the Minister (IRCC or Public Safety) is intervening and is represented to present relevant information that may be contrary to the claim.
• If issues of integrity or security arise in a claim, the Minister (IRCC or Public Safety) is notified and provided with the opportunity to review and intervene in the claim.
• As of March 14, 2025, the Refugee Protection Division has finalized over 74,000 cases this fiscal year, surpassing its fiscal year target of at least 60,000.
• The Refugee Protection Division is projected to receive over 180,000 asylum claims in 2024-2025, which is more than received the previous fiscal year.
• Not all cases in the Refugee Protection Division's inventory are currently ready for a hearing: CBSA has an inventory of cases that have not yet been security screened and for newer cases, claimants have not completed their claims.
• For the past five years, the acceptance rate at the Refugee Protection Division is on average 63%, with fluctuations over time due to country and type of claims received.

Claims

Inventory

• Growth: Inventory is anticipated to continue to grow though intake is trending downward. At the end of January 2025, the pending inventory comprised more than 278,500 claims, an increase of 33%, or 92,000 claims, over the past 10 months.
• Claimants' location:
• 37% in Quebec
• 47% in Ontario
• 11% in the Western provinces
• 5% in the Maritime provinces, territories, or have yet to provide their address.
• Wait times: The average processing time (i.e. the time from referral to decision) of claims finalized from April 2024 to January 2025 inclusively was 15 months.
• Approximately 34% of the current inventory of refugee claims were “incomplete” which means they cannot proceed to a hearing and finalization due to a pending security screening and/or other outstanding requirement outside of IRB control. The median age of incomplete cases was 5 months.

Inventory composition by age and type

Country make-up

3B. Refugee Appeal Division

Key points

• The Refugee Appeal Division considers appeals against decisions of the Refugee Protection Division to allow or reject claims for refugee protection. In most cases, a paper review in intended, so the Refugee Appeal Division will base its decision on the documents provided by the parties, without holding a hearing.
• The Refugee Appeal Division decides whether to confirm or to substitute its own decision in place of the Refugee Protection Division's decision. It may also decide to send the case back to the Refugee Protection Division to hear it again, giving directions to the Refugee Protection Division that it considers appropriate.
• As of February 1, 2025, the Refugee Appeal Division finalized 7,300 appeals this fiscal year and is on track to finalize over 9,000 appeals in 2024-25.
• Average wait time for appeals finalized from April 2024 to January 2025 inclusively was 4 months from the time the appeal was filed.
• From April 2024 to January 2025 inclusively, 28% of appeals decided were allowed, while 70% were dismissed, and 2% were withdrawn or administratively closed.
• From April 2024 to January 2025 inclusively, the Federal Court granted approximately 400 applications for leave and overturned approximately 100 RAD decisions, representing 2% of the decisions for the period.
• Minister's appeals made up 2% of appeals received this fiscal year to date.

Total appeals

Intake

This fiscal year, to date, the Refugee Appeal Division received 8,300 appeals and finalized 7,300 decisions. Intake outpaced output by 14%.

Wait times

The average wait time for appeals as of February 1, 2025, was 4 months from filing the appeal.

Inventory

As of February 1, 2025,

• the Refugee Appeal Division inventory comprised 3,300 appeals, up 45% from the beginning of the fiscal year.
• 98% of pending appeals were less than 1 year old.
• 52% of the inventory was in Central (Toronto) region, 27% was in Eastern (Montreal) region, and 21% was in Western (Vancouver) region.

Country make-up of inventory as of the end of January 2025

Appeals finalized

3C. Immigration Division

Key points

• Immigration Division conducts hearings on immigration-related matters. These include:
• Admissibility hearings: Where the CBSA believes that a permanent resident or foreign national is inadmissible to, and removable from Canada on enumerated grounds, including security; human rights or international violations; criminality; and misrepresentation.
• Detention reviews: When CBSA detains a person who is inadmissible to Canada; is a danger to the public; is unlikely to appear for immigration processes; or in cases where a foreign national is unable to establish their identity. Detention review is required at 48 hours or as soon as possible afterwards, then at 7 days and then every 30 days thereafter. The law places the onus on the Minister's counsel to demonstrate that there are reasons for continued detention.
• From April 2024 to January 2025 inclusively, the Immigration Division finalized 6,900 detention reviews, and 1,800 admissibility hearings with an annual target of 9000 detentions reviews and 1200 admissibility hearings.
• As of February 1, 2025, the average wait time for admissibility hearings was 5 months.
• From April 2024 to January 2025 inclusively, 98% of detention reviews were concluded within legislative requirements.
• In this period, 50 persons were detained for more than 6 months
• As of February 1, 2025, 14 persons were detained for more than 6 months.

Background

Admissibility hearings

Admissibility hearings by type

Detention Reviews

3D. Immigration Appeal Division

Key points

• Immigration Appeal Division hears appeals on immigration-related matters. These include:
• Sponsorship appeals: If IRCC refused the application of a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident to sponsor the immigration of a close family member to Canada
• Removal order appeals: A removal order issued by the Immigration Division or by the CBSA against a permanent resident of Canada, protected person or holder of a permanent resident visa may be appealed to the Immigration Appeal Division.
• Residency obligation appeals: Permanent residents can appeal the loss of status to the Immigration Appeal Division
• As of February 1, 2025, the Immigration Appeal Division had decided 3,300 cases this fiscal year to date, surpassing its target of at least 3,000 finalizations for 2024-25.
• Immigration Appeal Division finalizations have surpassed or matched intake for the past five fiscal years and are expected to surpass intake again in 2024-25.
• Average wait time for appeals finalized as of February 1​, 2025, was 6 months and 5 months for sponsorship appeals specifically.
• Inventory has remained stable for the past four fiscal years and the Division is expected to be able to maintain this equilibrium in 2024-25.

All appeals

Sponsorship appeals

4. Financial and human resources

Key points

• The IRB has a current budget of $352.7M and 2,592 full time employees across Canada.
• Available financial and human resources are set to be reduced starting next fiscal year, creating challenges to manage the high level of intake:
• Budget 2024 provided permanent funding, but not to the level of the sunset funding, leaving the IRB with a shortfall.
• In Budget 2024, IRCC and CBSA asked and received surge funding to address the increase of asylum claims​ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

• The budget levels decrease by 2% ($7.3M) in 2025-26, and by 10% ($37M) in 2026-27 compared with this fiscal year (FY2024-25). █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
• Innovation and efficiency plans will allow the IRB to increase the number of Refugee Protection Division finalizations over 85,000 in the 2025-26 fiscal year but this level of performance is likely to decrease to align with the significant budget reduction in FY26/27.

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5. Governor in Council appointees

• Immigration Appeal Division and Refugee Appeal Division decision-makers (or members) are appointed by the Governor in Council (GIC) — the Governor General acting on the advice of Cabinet. Appointments are made on the recommendation of the Minister of IRCC following an open, transparent, and merit-based selection process.
• The IRB has the largest number of GIC appointees in the Government of Canada.

• As of March 2025, the GIC complement includes:

  Decision-makers	Full-time equivalent (FTE)
  Refugee Appeal Division	119
  Immigration Appeal Division	28

• A full complement of decision-makers enables the Board to provide timely access to justice for immigration and refugee appellants. Therefore, the IRB will continue to work closely with your office and the Privy Council Office to maintain a full complement of GIC decision-makers, and to ensure that the composition of the appeal divisions reflects operational, linguistic, gender and diversity requirements.
• Consistent and timely appointment recommendations are paramount to the IRB's ability to maintain a viable GIC decision-maker complement.
• Regular selection processes allow the IRB to maintain a pool of highly qualified candidates, filling both GIC decision-maker and Assistant Deputy Chairperson positions as they become available.

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6. Key external stakeholders

The IRB collaborates with various national and international organizations to fulfill its mandate. The key organizations are listed below.

Professional associations: Organizations representing lawyers and immigration consultants are a key constituency for the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB). They communicate IRB initiatives, procedures, and expectations to their members, and provide valuable input as the IRB develops and implements new initiatives. These associations include:

• Association québécoise des avocats et avocates en droit de l'immigration
• Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants
• Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers
• Canadian Bar Association
• College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants
• Refugee Lawyers Association of Ontario

Provincial legal aid programs: Effective representation by legal counsel helps to ensure that application deadlines are met, parties are well prepared, and proceedings advance efficiently. In this context, the IRB has collaborative and positive working relations with legal aid programs in key jurisdictions. The IRB Consultative Committee includes legal aid representation from Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia.

Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR): The IRB has a long standing, positive and collaborative working relationship with the Canadian Council for Refugees, a national non-profit umbrella organization representing more than 180 groups across Canada involved in the settlement, sponsorship, and protection of refugees and immigrants.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): The IRB has a history of close collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees spanning over the past three decades. This relationship is multi-faceted, encompassing consultation on IRB policy and operational initiatives; information and data sharing; and cooperation in the delivery of international capacity building, including in the context of current and past efforts to strengthen refugee determination systems in Mexico, Costa Rica and elsewhere in Latin America. As well, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has certain authorities under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, for example the entitlement to observe IRB proceedings involving a refugee claimant or a protected person, in line with its responsibility for supervising the application of the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol.

Key external stakeholders - Contacts

7. Biographies of Senior Officials and Organization Chart

 

Manon Brassard – Chairperson

Manon Brassard was appointed Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada effective July 23, 2023.

Prior to her appointment, Ms. Brassard held the position of President of the Canada Economic Development Agency for Quebec Regions from 2016. From 2010 until 2016, Ms. Brassard held the positions of Assistant Deputy Minister at Citizenship and Immigration Canada, at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and at the Treasury Board Secretariat, after serving in a number of executive roles in various public sector organizations.

Ms. Brassard began her public service career with the Board in 1989, where she served in a number of roles, including Senior Legal Adviser and Director General of the Policy, Planning and Research Branch.

Ms. Brassard has a Bachelor of Laws from the Université of Laval and was called to the Bar of Quebec in 1984.

 

Roger Ermuth – Executive Director

Roger started with the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada in October 2021. Prior to his appointment, Roger was an Assistant Comptroller General with the Office of the Comptroller General where he had responsibility for public accounts, community development and government-wide policy related to financial management, transfer payments, costing, and charging.

Roger has held a number of positions across the federal public service, including Vice President, Health Security and Infrastructure at the Public Health Agency of Canada and Deputy Chief Financial Officer at Correctional Services Canada. He has also worked at the Privy Council Office, Indian and Northern Affairs, Agriculture Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency.

In recognition of his contributions to the accounting profession, he was admitted as a Fellow of Chartered Professional Accounts (FCPA-FCMA). Roger also has an MBA from the University of Ottawa, a graduate certificate from Harvard University and a BComm from Carleton University. Prior to joining the government, he worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers. Roger was also a Moderator with the legacy CMA (accounting) program and part time instructor at the University of Ottawa's MBA program.

 

Hongchao Wang – Head of Corporate Services/Chief Financial Officer

Hongchao started with the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) in May 2024. Prior to her appointment, Hongchao was Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Director General Financial Operations with Health Canada.

Hongchao has held a number of positions across the federal public service, including Executive Director Policy Internal Controls and Corporate Reporting at Health Canada, Director Resources Management at Shared Services Canada and Director Financial Policies and Systems at Correctional Services Canada.

Hongchao is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA). She holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Ottawa. Prior to joining the government, Hongchao worked for Ernst and Young.

 

Roula Eatrides – Deputy Chairperson of the Refugee Protection Division

Roula Eatrides was appointed Deputy Chairperson of the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) in September 2019.

Ms. Eatrides joined the IRB in 2018 as Deputy Chairperson of the Immigration Division (ID). Previously, she was the Deputy Superintendent for Operations and Corporate Services at the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy. Ms. Eatrides has also served as Executive Director and General Counsel at the Federal Court and as Registrar of the Tax Court of Canada. Prior to joining the Public Service, Ms. Eatrides practiced law at Osler and Stikeman Elliott and was a part-time professor at the University of Ottawa's Common Law Program for several years.

Ms. Eatrides is a member of the Ontario Bar and holds an undergraduate degree in Economics, a Bachelor of Laws Degree and a Master's Degree in Business Administration. She has been recognized for her contributions, including a Public Service Award of Excellence in 2015 for Management Excellence and a Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.

 

Suzanne Gilbert – Deputy Chairperson of the Refugee Appeal Division

Suzanne Gilbert was appointed Deputy Chairperson of the Refugee Appeal Division at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) in September 2024. Prior to this appointment she had held the position of Deputy Chair of the Immigration Appeal Division since April 2019. Ms. Gilbert has also held various positions at the IRB in Montreal and Toronto, including Assistant Deputy Chairperson of the Immigration Appeal Division, and of the Refugee Protection Division, in Toronto. From 2006 to 2016, Ms. Gilbert held a number of positions, including Chair and Associate Chair for the Social Justice Tribunals Ontario with the Child and Family Services Review Board and Custody Review Board.

Ms. Gilbert holds a Master's Degree in Health Law from the Université de Sherbrooke and was called to the Barreau du Québec in 1981.

 

Greg Kipling – Deputy Chairperson of the Immigration Division

Greg Kipling was appointed Deputy Chairperson of the Immigration Division (ID) in October 2019. Prior to this appointment he was Director General for Policy, Planning Corporate Affairs at the IRB. ​Between 1999 and 2016, Mr. Kipling served in a number of progressively senior positions at the Board, including Director of Research, Chief of Staff to the Chairperson and Director General for Policy, Planning and Research. Prior to joining the IRB, Mr. Kipling worked as a consultant in the field of Indigenous health and human rights as well as a researcher and writer on social issues.

Mr. Kipling holds Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of Toronto and Carleton University as well as a Master of Arts degree from Carleton University.

 

Caroline Labranche – Deputy Chairperson Immigration Appeal Division

Caroline Labranche was appointed Acting Deputy Chairperson of the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) in June 2024, following which she became Deputy Chairperson of the IAD in January 2025. She initially joined the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) in 2016 as a member of the IAD and subsequently became the Assistant Deputy Chair (ADC) of the IAD Eastern Region, in 2017.

From 2003 to 2016, Ms. Labranche held various positions with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, including Regional Program Advisor, Citizenship Manager, Senior Analyst and Liaison Officer and Acting Director of Operations Support with the Regional Operations Support Directorate.

Ms. Labranche holds a Bachelor of Teaching English as a Second Language, a Bachelor of Laws and was called to the Barreau du Québec in 1994.

 

Julie Wellington – Senior General Counsel

Julie Wellington was appointed Senior General Counsel of the IRB Legal Services in May 2021. Previously, Ms. Wellington served as Director and General Counsel at Justice Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Legal Services, where her main client was the Canadian Coast Guard. Prior to that, she spent almost 20 years in the Constitutional, Administrative and International Law Section at Justice Canada, where she practiced mainly in administrative law and constitutional law. In addition to her practice, she was an instructor for a number of professional development courses, including the Basic Principles of Administrative Law, Liability of the Crown, Crown Immunity and Solicitor-​Client Privilege in the Government Context. She held several senior roles, including Deputy Director General and General Counsel and Acting Director General and Senior General Counsel. She began her career at Justice Canada in the Competition Law Division, providing advisory and litigation services.

Ms. Wellington is a member of the Law Society of Ontario and holds a Bachelor of Commerce (B. Comm) and a Bachelor of Laws Degree (L.L.B) from the University of Ottawa.

 

Stephanie Shatilla – Ombudsperson

Stephanie Shatilla became the Ombudsperson of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) on January 8, 2024. She first joined the IRB in 2018 as the Assistant Deputy Chairperson of the Refugee Protection Division in Central Region. She then worked as the Executive Lead in the Workplace Wellness Directorate and later as the Senior Director of the Healthy Workplace Directorate in the Human Resources Branch.

Ms. Shatilla spent 2010 to 2018 with the Ontario Public Service, in immigration, federal-​provincial-territorial and stakeholder relations, and in women's economic empowerment and ending gender-based violence. When she joined the federal public service in 1999 and until 2010, Ms. Shatilla held positions in communications, program policy, and strategic policy at the Department​ of Canadian Heritage, and then in program policy with Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Organization chart