Quarterly Financial Report for the quarter ended June 30, 2018

​ISSN: 2564-355X

​Statement Outlining Results, Risks and Significant Changes in Operations, Personnel and Program

Introduction

This quarterly financial report has been prepared by management as required by section 65.1 of the Financial Administration Act and in the form and manner prescribed by the Treasury Board. The report should be read in conjunction with the Main Estimates and Supplementary Estimates (A) and the previous quarterly financial reports for the current year. The report has not been subject to an external audit or review.

The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) is an independent administrative tribunal that was created on January 1, 1989, by an amendment to the Immigration Act. In 2002, the Immigration Act was replaced by the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), which was amended by the Balanced Refugee Reform Act (BRRA) in 2010 and by the Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act (PCISA) in 2012.

The IRB has a single strategic outcome which is to resolve immigration and refugee cases before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada efficiently, fairly and in accordance with the law.

The IRB has five programs: Refugee Protection, Refugee Appeals, Immigration Appeals, Admissibility Hearings and Detention Reviews and Internal Services. The Internal Services program supports the four other programs.

A summary description of the IRB's programs can be found in the 2018-19 Departmental Plan.

Basis of Presentation

This quarterly report has been prepared by management using an expenditure basis of accounting. The accompanying Statement of Authorities includes the IRB's spending authorities granted by Parliament and those used by the IRB in a manner consistent with the Main Estimates and Supplementary Estimates (A) for the 2018-19 fiscal year. This quarterly report has been prepared using a special purpose financial reporting framework designed to meet financial information needs with respect to the use of spending authorities.

The authority of Parliament is required before money can be spent by the Government. Approvals are given in the form of annually approved limits through appropriation acts or through legislation in the form of statutory spending authority for specific purposes.

When Parliament is dissolved for the purposes of a general election, section 30 of the Financial Administration Act authorizes the Governor General, under certain conditions, to issue a special warrant authorizing the Government to withdraw funds from the Consolidated Revenue Fund. A special warrant is deemed to be an appropriation for the fiscal year in which it is issued.

The IRB uses the full accrual method of accounting to prepare and present its annual departmental financial statements that are part of the departmental performance reporting process. However, the spending authorities voted by Parliament remain on an expenditure basis.

Highlights of Fiscal Quarter and Fiscal Year-to-Date (YTD) Results

This section highlights the significant items that contributed to the net increase or decrease in resources available and actual expenditures for the year and for the quarter ended June 30, 2018 in comparison to the prior year.

The total budgetary authorities available for use, as at June 30, increased in 2018-19 from those in 2017-18 by $2.6 million (1.9%). This increase was largely as a result of the funding received for personnel and operating expenditures arising from the impact of the irregular migration and funding received to support an increase in number of appeal decisions arising from increased numbers of decisions rendered.

By the end of the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2018, the year-to-date expenditures of $31.3 million had increased by $3.8 million (14%) compared with the same period in the previous year.

The following table provides a detailed explanation of the significant changes by standard object:

Risks and Uncertainties

The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) is funded through annual appropriations. As a result, its operations are affected by any changes in funding approved by Parliament. In addition, the IRB's operations are affected by fluctuations in the intake of immigration and refugee cases, and by changes brought by legislation and/or Federal Court jurisprudence.

The significant volume in asylum seekers is raising since the last report, mainly due to the influx of those arriving at irregular border crossings largely in Quebec.

The IRB has been selected to be part of one of the new service delivery models for compensation services, called the Pay Pods. Pay Pods was officially launched on June 14, 2018.  

The Pay Pod concept was previously rolled out as a pilot project in other departments serviced by the Public Service Pay Centre (Pay Centre) and have reported positive changes with regard to client service, case resolution and reduction in backlog.  

The objective of a Pay Pod is to help stabilize the pay system and to better support departments and their employees. To this extent, IRB has assigned a department's pay liaison unit in order to quickly fix errors before they become a problem and to work on the department's priorities while slowly working away at the backlog.

Human Resources and Finance units at IRB, are working closely on employees pay issues, offering constant support including emergency salary advances or priority payments to employees at risk.

Significant changes related to operations, personnel and program

The former Chairperson of the IRB, in its commitment to continuous improvement in the delivery of administrative justice, commissioned an audit of long-term detention reviews. The aim was to identify areas for improvement in the detention review process where persons are detained for long periods of time under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

The audit report (the Report) along with the IRB's Management Response and Action Plan (MRAP) have been made available on the IRB's external website.

In the context of Budget 2017, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship announced an independent review of the refugee determination process to determine possibilities for efficiencies and higher productivity at the IRB.

The final report of the independent review of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada by former Deputy Minister Neil Yeates has been published at the IRB's external website.

In Budget 2018, $72M were allocated, over a 2-year period, for the IRB to address the refugee backlog, enabling the hiring of 250 additional personnel. This is having a significant pressure in the physical space and accommodation plans are underway, trying to minimize disruption of activities and impact to current personnel. Changes include new telework arrangements, office sharing, refit of workstations, relocation of employees to different building, either temporarily or permanently. Consultations underwent with local unions and regional Occupational Health and Safety Committees.

The following changes to senior personnel were made since the last report:

• The appointment of Richard Wex as Chairperson of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada as of July 23, 2018
• The appointment of Roula Eatrides as Deputy Chairperson (DC) of the Immigration Division (ID) as of April 9, 2018
• The appointment of Christian Laverdure as Director General of Tribunal Services as of April 9, 2018

Approval by Senior Officials

Original version was signed by

Richard Wex
Chairperson

Original version was signed by

Marcel Poirier
Acting Chief Financial Officer

Ottawa, Canada
August 27, 2018