Refugee Status Determination in Canada: Ensuring Procedural Fairness at the Immigration and Refugee Board

The Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) of Canada was created with the intentions of providing every refugee claimant within Canada the opportunity to tell their stories in a formal oral hearing. With the creation of the IRB and oral hearings came the responsibility of ensuring procedural fairness for these refugee claimants throughout the refugee status determination (RSD) process. However, overtime governments have changed, public attitudes over refugees have shifted and public policies have been introduced which have impacted the way that the IRB’s institutional purpose and objectives have become prioritized and re-negotiated. Specifically, although the IRB has many objectives listed in the Immigration and Refugees Protections Act (IRPA), sovereignty and security has become increasingly favored over humanitarian responsibilities which has consequently diminished procedural fairness for refugee claimants. Namely, inconsistent waiting and processing times, concerns of bias in decisionmaking and the overall inaccessibility of the claims process.