Canadian Refugee Procedure

There are many books about the substance of refugee law, both Canadian and international. They cover subjects such as what it means to have a well-founded fear of persecution and when a claimant has access to adequate state protection. This book is not one of them. Instead, this is a book about the

Fundamental justice requires that a tribunal which adjudicates upon rights must act fairly, in good faith, without bias and in a judicial temper, and must give the opportunity for parties to adequately state their case.[1] The standards of conduct for the Board are fundamentally based on and recogni

Refugee Status Determination is said to be among the most difficult forms of adjudication, involving as it does fact-finding in regard to foreign conditions, cross-cultural and interpreted examination of witnesses, ever-present evidentiary voids, and a duty to prognosticate potential risks rather th

Members are expected to approach each case with an open mind and, at all times, must be, and must be seen to be, impartial and objective. A decision of the tribunal is liable to be set aside for bias if a reasonable person, properly informed of the facts and having thought the matter through in a pr

Parties are entitled to an independent decision maker.[1] When we speak of independence, we are referring to the ability of the decision-maker to render decisions in an atmosphere that is free from inappropriate influences so that they approach and determine the matters in issue freely and in a suff

All refugee proceedings have ritual, ceremony, and behaviour that is considered to be proper decorum. A ritual is a frequently performed action conducted in a predetermined order. The ritualized activities during hearings help decision-makers uphold authority in the process and bring a sense of sole

In that capacity, the Chairperson ... (h) 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's guideline‑issuing and

(coordonnées) Division means the Refugee Protection Division. (Section) officer means a person designated as an officer by the Minister under subsection 6(1) of the Act. (agent) party means, (a) in the case of a claim for refugee protection, the claimant and, if the Minister intervenes in the claim,

While the IRB has offices in other cities, such as Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Calgary, these offices do not have registries and are not registry offices "specified by the Division" to receive communications within the meaning of this rule.[1] This said, since June 2025 all Canada Post mail sent to the Im

It is said that at its heart, the refugee process is about storytelling. Lawyer Tess Acton writes that "stories permeate the Canadian refugee determination system. At the port of entry a claimant tells their story to the border official, in preparation for a hearing a refugee claimant tells their st

As Martin Jones and Sasha Baglay observe, “the representation of refugee claimants by qualified counsel is an important part of the Canadian refugee determination process. The availability and expertise of counsel bring significant benefits to both the claimants and the overall efficiency and legiti

(1) Either English or French may be used by any person in, or in any pleading in or process issuing from, any court established by Parliament. Communications by public with federal institutions 20. (1) Any member of the public in Canada has the right to communicate with, and to receive available ser

The Refugee Protection Division simply would not be able to exist in its current form without interpreters. They are key professionals involved in the refugee claim process and over 90% of IRB hearings require interpretation services, with the Board providing interpretation in over 260 languages in

The RPD Rules regarding the appointment of representatives for minors and for those who are unable to appreciate the nature of their proceedings are of significant and enduring importance to proceedings before the Refugee Protection Division. Globally, children below 18 years of age constitute about

Notice to claimant (4) If the personal or other information of the claimant has not been made public, the Division must make reasonable efforts to notify the claimant in writing that (a) it intends to disclose the information to the other claimant; and (b) the claimant may object to that disclosure.

These two Divisions of the Immigration and Refugee Board have no power to take notice of facts that form part of their expertise, and they err if they attempt to take notice of facts not before them. This contrasts with the procedure at a hearing held before the Refugee Protection Division of the Im

(f) may, despite paragraph (b), allow a claim for refugee protection without a hearing, if the Minister has not notified the Division, within the period set out in the rules of the Board, of the Minister’s intention to intervene; ### The Division may allow a claim if the Minister has not notified th

The Board's Chairperson Guidelines 7: Concerning Preparation and Conduct of a Hearing in the Refugee Protection Division discusses this and provides guidance on this point. The guidelines state that a conference should be held only where it would be more practical or efficient to consider issues bef

However, a minor may attend the hearing if they wish in consultation with their designated representative.[1] It is notable that the previous practice notices to this one only waived the default that children will not be expected to attend a hearing to accompanied children. For example, the Practice

The Division is required, in accordance with the following three rules, to notify the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness (PSEP) or the Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) that intervention in an RPD case, wherein neither organization had originally inte

Intervention — exclusion clauses (3) If the Minister believes that section E or F of Article 1 of the Refugee Convention may apply to the claim, the Minister must also state in the notice the facts and law on which the Minister relies. Time limit (4) Documents provided under this rule must be receiv

12. - ↑ BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre, Refugee Reform Paper, <[ page 3. - ↑ Çalı, B., Costello, C., & Cunningham, S., Hard Protection through Soft Courts? Non-Refoulement before the United Nations Treaty Bodies, German Law Journal, 21(3) (2020), 355-384.

Rules 31-43 are in a section of the rules entitled "documents" and they concern how to provide documents, the language(s) that documents may be in, the process that the Division should follow when it itself wants to provide documents, the criteria that the Division shall use to determine whether to

Oral testimony is at the heart of most proceedings before the Refugee Protection Division. The rules herein concern witnesses other than a person who is party to a matter. For a discussion of the principles related to oral testimony before the Board more generally, see: [Canadian Refugee Procedure/1