The Chairperson of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) has issued a revised Guideline on Detention, which takes effect on April 1, 2019.
The objective of this Guideline is to assist members of the Immigration Division (ID) in carrying out their duties as decision-makers under the Immigration Refugee Protections Act while promoting consistency, coherence and fairness when making detention decisions before the ID.
The revised Guideline was informed by input from internal and external stakeholder consultations, evolved jurisprudence and issues raised through the external audit on long-term detention reviews that was commissioned in September 2017.
Some key features of the revised Guideline include hearing protocols supporting active adjudication, more fulsome guidance on alternatives to detention, elaboration on the treatment of minors and vulnerable persons, and reinforcement of the statutory default of release.