Labour disruptions impact at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada

​​Overview

The Public Service Alliance of Canada declared a general strike beginning Wednesday, April 19th.  As a result, bargaining groups representing 159,000 public servants are on strike. These employees provide a range of services for the public.

During this labour disruption, certain services may be delayed or not delivered at all. As well, the public may have trouble accessing some Government of Canada buildings where services are delivered.

At the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB), some services will continue during this labour disruption.

Services maintained​

Submitting documents

You must still submit any required documents within the normal timeframes. Please clearly title any documents with the IRB file number and the client's last name to enable efficient processing.

Hearings

If your hearing will not be proceeding on the scheduled hearing date, the IRB will contact all parties, in advance, to cancel your hearing. Cancelled hearings will be rescheduled at a later date.

If you have a hearing scheduled before the IRB, and you have not been informed of a change, you should appear for your hearing at the scheduled time and location. This applies to virtual, hybrid, and in-person hearings.

If your hearing does not start immediately, please allow 30 minutes to elapse from the hearing start time that is listed on your Notice to Appear. While we will do everything we can to minimize delays, the labour disruption could impact hearing start times. If your hearing has not begun after 30 minutes, you may leave the hearing. The IRB will contact all parties as soon as possible to reschedule your hearing.

Detention review hearings will proceed as planned.​

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Services partially or fully disrupted

Some IRB processes, like most Government of Canada services, may be impacted during the labour disruption:

  • hearings, other than detention reviews, may be delayed or may not take place
  • processing of files may be delayed
  • Access to Information and Privacy services may be delayed​​

You should expect delays with:

  • responses to phone, fax or email enquiries
  • receiving email or documents​​

Contacts

Related links