Summary of the Evaluation of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act Division 9/National Security Inadmissibility Initiative

About the Program

The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) is the primary federal legislation regulating immigration to Canada. Within IRPA, Division 9 provides statutory authority that allows for the use and protection of classified or otherwise non-disclosable information in immigration proceedings. These proceedings including security certificates before the Federal Court (section 77); admissibility proceedings before the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), detention reviews and appeals before the Immigration Appeals Division (section 86); and judicial review proceedings and related appeals before the Federal Court (section 87).

The Initiative is a combination of the activities of nine federal partners including Public Safety Canada, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Justice Canada, Global Affairs Canada, Canada Border Services Agency, Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Courts Administration Service and the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.

What We Examined

The purpose of the evaluation was to examine the governance and performance of the Initiative from 2015-16 to 2018-19. Relevance was not examined as the continuing need for the Initiative was clearly laid out in recent initiative renewal documents.

Recommendations

Led by the Senior Assistant Deputy Minister of the National and Cyber Security Branch, Public Safety Canada, in collaboration with all partners should:

  1. Explore options for a common secure platform to allow for classified information sharing;
  2. Review the indicators included in the Performance Measurement Strategy and consider developing mechanisms to regularly collect and report on performance data.

The Initiative is a combination of the activities of nine federal partners including Public Safety Canada, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Justice Canada, Global Affairs Canada, Canada Border Services Agency, Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Courts Administration Service and the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.

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