The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada publishes its Quality Assurance Framework for Decision-Making

​The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB or the Board) has published its Quality Assurance Framework for Decision-Making (QAF) and the results of a third-party review​.

Developed as part of the Board's 2019-20 multi-year Growth and Transformation agenda, the QAF demonstrates the Board's commitment to continuous improvement in quality and consistency in decision-making.

The Framework provides an overview of the various activities, processes, strategies, and structures that contribute to quality decision-making, as they relate to adjudication across the IRB, and provides an overview of the various activities at the Refugee Protection Division and Refugee Appeal Division. In the upcoming year, the Board will also incorporate existing activities at the Immigration Division and Immigration Appeal Division.

Organized according to the stages of a continuous improvement cycle: Plan, Do, Monitor and Measure, and Adjust, the Framework provides opportunities to proactively identify, evaluate and improve at every stage of the cycle.

The Framework demonstrates the commitment of the entire organization to creating and supporting a culture of continuous improvement.

The Framework was reviewed by of one of Canada's leading experts in administrative law. “I carefully reviewed the IRB's impressive Quality Assurance Framework. International best practice in administrative justice involves ensuring that tribunals are set up to get decisions right, set processes right and put errors right. The QAF puts in place high quality, robust processes to maximize decisional accuracy, prepare members to render accurate decisions through a fair procedure and to oversee potential errors in decision-making. I would have no hesitation in recommending that other administrative tribunals in Canada and further afield use the IRB's QAF as a model to optimize their own processes.” says Dr. Daly, University Research Chair in Administrative Law and Governance at the University of Ottawa.

The QAF positions the Board to remain ​a leading-edge administrative tribunal, and a creative partner in building the future of the Canadian immigration system.