The complainant was counsel for an appellant who attended a pre-hearing conference before a member of the Immigration Appeal Division.
The complainant alleged that the member had prejudged the matter before them and did not handle the hearing professionally. More specifically, it was alleged that the member was critical of how the complainant handled certain matters, and that the member was not neutral, as evidenced by the fact that the member did not agree to provide the complainant with the pre-hearing conference recording.
The decision of how the member handled the proceedings before them, as well as whether to provide a pre-hearing conference recording, was part of the member's adjudicative discretion, and therefore, was not within scope of the Procedures for Making a Complaint about a Member (the Procedures).
The Office of the Ombudsperson reviewed the audio recording of the hearing and determined that there were no comments or behaviour on the part of the member which could form the basis of a conduct complaint.
After reviewing the complaint, and consistent with the recommendation of the Ombudsperson, the Chairperson dismissed the complaint under the Procedures because none of the allegations were within scope.
The complaint was dismissed and the file was closed.