Terms of Reference
Background
As an independent federal government institution, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) is responsible for setting its own strategic priorities and for the development of its operational procedures and initiatives. With that said, the IRB recognizes that the successful implementation of new procedures and initiatives that affect stakeholders and those who appear before the IRB may require discussions and/or consultations with its stakeholders.
The IRB's Consultative Committee (IRBCC) is comprised of representatives from national stakeholder organizations and IRB senior managers. The IRBCC is used to inform stakeholders of the Board's organizational priorities and initiatives as well as to gather their views and consult on specific initiatives, as appropriate.
At the IRBCC meeting on June 18, 2019, the Committee recognized the need for more frequent and ongoing strategic engagement on the IRB's digitization efforts. Accordingly, the IRB committed to the creation of a sub-IRBCC Digitization Advisory Committee.
Mandate
This advisory committee is responsible for engaging in a dialogue on the IRB's digitization vision and initiatives. Stakeholders on this Digitization Advisory Committee will be asked to provide their views on the matters discussed, and the IRB has a responsibility to carefully consider comments received from stakeholders. The Advisory Committee will be Chaired by the Executive Director or Director General of Tribunal Services.
Objectives
The objectives of the Digitization Advisory Committee are to:
- Inform stakeholders of the IRB's vision and Strategy on digitization.
- Provide input on the exchange of information and use of different channels with clients.
- Gather user's insight and input on the needs, opportunities and challenges persons who appear before the IRB may face with the IRB's digitization efforts.
Membership
IRB (internal) members include:
- Committee Chair: Executive Director
- Vice-Chair: Director General, Tribunal Services
- Deputy Chair Refugee Protection Division (on behalf of all divisions)
- Director General, Policy, Planning and Corporate Affairs
- Senior Director, Information Management and Information Technology
- Senior Director, Policy, Outreach and Engagement
- Senior Director, Registry Services
Stakeholder (external) members include one representative from:
- The Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR)
- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Office in Canada (UNHCR)
- The Canadian Bar Association, Immigration Law Section
- L'Association québécoise des avocats et avocates en droit de l'immigration (AQAADI)
- The Refugee Lawyers Association (RLA)
- Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants (CAPIC)
- Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers (CARL)
- Legal Aid Ontario (LAO)
Additional subject matter experts may be invited to participate in Committee meetings, at the IRB's discretion.
Frequency of meetings
This Committee will meet and be consulted on an ad hoc basis, at the IRB's discretion.
Secretariat Services
The IRB's Tribunal Services Branch and Policy, Engagement and Parliamentary Affairse (PEPA) will work together to provide secretarial services for this Committee. The main responsibility of the secretariat is to convene and manage meetings as well as coordinate the IRB's correspondence with external Committee members.
The Tribunal Services Branch will lead on developing and managing meeting agendas (in liaison with PEPA), note taking during the meeting, preparing a follow-up document (as required) after meetings, tracking and reporting on action items. PEPA will lead on liaising with Committee members to distribute information and report results of conversations back to the IRBCC.