As required by the Treasury Board
Directive on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures, this report provides information on travel, hospitality and conference expenditures for the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018, except for information withheld under the
Access to Information Act or the
Privacy Act.
Travel, hospitality and conference expenditures incurred by a federal department or agency relate to activities that support the department or agency’s mandate and the government’s priorities.
The 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.
IRB’s travel, hospitality and conference expenditures support the delivery of the following core programs and services to Canadians:
- 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; and
- The IRB carries out its work in three regional offices: Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, one satellite office in Calgary, points of service in Winnipeg and Edmonton and itinerant locations in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba as required. All these sites hold hearings, supported by adjudicative and corporate support. Internal and support services are managed at IRB Headquarters, located in Ottawa.
For more information on the IRB’s mandate and activities, please refer to the
2017-18 Departmental Result Report and
2018-19 Departmental Plan.
Travel, Hospitality, and Conference Expenditures
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
Year ended March 31, 2018
| Expenditure Category | Expenditures for year ended March 31, 2018 ($ thousands) | Expenditures for year ended March 31, 2017 ($ thousands) | Variance
($ thousands) |
|---|
|
Travel |
| Operational activities | 294 | 331 | -37 |
| Key stakeholders | 178 | 150 | 28 |
| Internal governance | 563 | 486 | 77 |
| Training | 387 | 346 |
41 |
| Other | 20 | 53 | -33 |
| A. Total travel | 1,442 | 1,366 | 76 |
| B. Hospitality | 41 | 40 | 1 |
| C. Conference fees | 33 | 33 | 0 |
|
Total [A+B+C] |
1,516 |
1,439 |
77 |
| International travel by Minister and Minister’s Staff (included in travel) | Not Applicable | Not Applicable | Not applicable |
Significant variances compared with previous fiscal year
Travel
Compared with fiscal year 2016-17, departmental travel expenditures increased by $76K or 5.6% mainly due to:
Key Stakeholders: participation in the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) meetings in Costa Rica and Geneva; and International Association of Refugee Law Judges (IARLJ) in Athens. Included is travel to meet stakeholders to find modern accommodations alternatives for expansion and innovation due to the impact in office space requirement as a result of the irregular migration.
Internal governance: the establishment of a new unit to deal with the Legacy cases of Refugee Protection Division (RPD) section and the establishment of a national branch for the delivery of Internal Services.
Training: New Members training was required as a result of increase in FTE.
Hospitality
Compared with fiscal year 2016-17, departmental expenditures remained stable.
Conference fees
Compared with fiscal year 2016-17, there was no variance in the departmental expenditures.