Gender Based Analysis Plus

Gender Based Analysis Plus
Governance structures

Not applicable.

The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) is an independent administrative tribunal responsible for making well-reasoned decisions on immigration and refugee matters, efficiently, fairly and in accordance with the law.

The IRB is not responsible for developing public policy, programs/initiatives or services on refugee and immigration matters, as this falls under the mandate of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency. When consulted by government on impacts that proposed government policy may have on the IRB’s work, the IRB includes GBA+ considerations in its input as appropriate.

The Board develops operational policy instruments that aim to fill gaps in guidance provided by the Board’s enabling legislation, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, and for use internally by the IRB’s decision-makers and support personnel including documents such as the Chairperson’s Guideline on Proceedings before the IRB Involving Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression and the Chairperson Guidelines 4: Women Refugee Claimants Fearing Gender-Related Persecution. GBA+ is used during the development, monitoring and review of these internal policy instruments.

Human resourcesGBA+ has been supported by an estimated 0.5 of one full-time equivalent (FTE) distributed across employees in several branches and Divisions of the IRB. However, an accurate count of FTEs cannot be provided as no employees are solely dedicated to GBA+ activities.
Major initiatives: results achieved

In 2018–19, the IRB intended to begin a review of the Chairperson’s Guideline 4: Women Refugee Claimants Fearing Gender-Related Persecution. Due to work priorities and pressures associated with, among others, the increased intake levels for refugee claimants, the IRB has deemed it necessary to shift this work into 2019-20.

In May 2017, the IRB Chairperson issued Guideline 9: Proceedings Before the IRB Involving Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression. The IRB began a review of the use of the Guideline by IRB members and personnel in 2018-19, and is aiming to complete this work by Fall 2019.

Reporting capacity and dataIn its case management system, the IRB currently records a limited amount of information including gender, age, and country of origin on persons appearing before the four Divisions of the Board. Such information is typically collected through forms from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). Recording this information allows the IRB to analyze its client base in a gender disaggregated and age stratified way. As the IRB seeks to further digitalize its operations, it is seeking to more systematically collect information on decision makers’ consideration of its Guidelines, including those on SOGIE and gender-related persecution. This will allow for more in-depth analysis of vulnerable persons appearing before its Divisions.