Member (Decision-Maker), Immigration Division

Important messages

We are committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free work environment, starting with the hiring process. If you need to be accommodated during any phase of the evaluation process, please use the Contact information below to request specialized accommodation. All information received in relation to accommodation will be kept confidential.

Assessment accommodation

Duties

The Immigration Division (ID) is one of four Divisions of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB). The ID is responsible for conducting detention reviews and admissibility hearings. Unlike the IRB’s other three Divisions, the ID’s workload is composed entirely of cases referred to it by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

Members (Decision-Makers) at the Immigration Division (ID) require similar competencies to those expected of members in other Divisions, yet the nature of ID Members’ work can be especially challenging.

Notably, expectations include:

• Rendering well-reasoned decisions orally at the conclusion of each hearing, with very limited scope – given the statutory time-limits and high-volume caseload – to reserve and render decisions in writing later.
• Conducting hearings in difficult circumstances in-person or at correctional and remand centres or by videoconference or teleconference with hearing participants in multiple locations.
• Managing voluminous files and exhibits; this may be in the form of a physical or digital file
• Dealing professionally and compassionately with individuals who are suffering from serious mental illness, and who may not appreciate the nature of the proceedings.
• Presiding at hearings with significant media interest
• Preside over cases involving subjects who may have engaged in serious criminality, crimes against humanity, or acts of terrorism

Work environment

The Immigration Division (ID) Member (Decision-Maker) role is unique in that it provides the opportunity to make a difference in the world. The ID offers on-going training and professional development to its employees, allowing them to become experts in immigration and refugee law, world geography and cultures, managing hearings, and many other areas.

The ID is a high volume tribunal and members are expected to carry a fairly heavy workload, meet tight deadlines, and render a high number of quality decisions.

Intent of the process

The intent of this process is to create a pool of fully qualified candidates valid for two years for anticipatory staffing of Member (Decision-Maker) positions in Montreal, Etobicoke (Ontario), and Vancouver with various linguistic requirements, various conditions of employment, various operational requirements, various organizational needs and/or various tenures (acting, assignment, deployment, indeterminate, secondment, specified period, casual) within the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.

Public Service employees who are at the same group and level may be considered first for a deployment.

Positions to be filled: Number to be determined

Information you must provide

Your résumé.

In order to be considered, your application must clearly explain how you meet the following (essential qualifications)

► EDUCATION

• Graduation with a degree from a recognized post-secondary institution in a field related to the position such as social work, criminology, sociology, or human geography.

Note:
• The term “degree” refers to a baccalaureate as established by educational authorities.
• The term “institution” refers to a public or private institution that has been given authority to grant degrees by a public or private act of a provincial/territorial legislature or through a government-mandated quality assurance mechanism. For greater certainty, also included are institutions authorized to grant specific academic credentials for specific academic programs.

Degree equivalency

► EXPERIENCE

• You have approximately a minimum of two (2) years of experience as an adjudicator in an administrative tribunal or quasi-judicial organization.
OR
• You have approximately a minimum of two (2) years of significant work experience presenting cases* before an administrative tribunal or court of law.
OR
• You have approximately a minimum of two (2) years of experience as a practitioner or an advocate or counsel in the areas of criminal, immigration, or refugee law.

Note:

*Presenting cases is defined, for the purpose of this selection process, as bringing cases orally before an administrative tribunal or court of law which includes the presenting of evidence or documentation and the examination or cross examination of witnesses.

If you possess any of the following, your application must also clearly explain how you meet it (other qualifications)

► ASSET QUALIFICATIONS : EDUCATION

• A bachelor of law degree

• Post-secondary studies in immigration, refugee, migration, settlement, or diaspora resulting in a certificate or graduation with a degree from a recognized post-secondary institution.

Degree equivalency

► ASSET QUALIFICATIONS : EXPERIENCE

• You have approximately one (1) year experience as a decision maker presiding over hearings and rendering decisions at an administrative tribunal or a quasi-judicial organization.

• You have at least one (1) year experience in presenting cases before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.

• You have experience working within another order of government (province, territory, or municipality) in the fields of immigration, refugee, migration, settlement, diaspora, or with vulnerable populations.

• You have experience working as Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) hearings officer for approximately two (2) years.

• You have experience interpreting and applying legislation, regulations, and constitutional law to prepare decisions or present cases in the area of immigration law or refugee law or criminal law

• You have training in adjudication, investigations, or mediation

The following will be applied / assessed at a later date (essential for the job)

Various language requirements
• English Essential
• Bilingual Imperative (CCC/CCC)*

Note:
*You must be able to work in English AND in French.

Information on language requirements

► KNOWLEDGE:

• You have a comprehensive understanding of the legal and administrative principles that guide the functioning of an independent administrative tribunal and Members in carrying out their responsibilities.

► COMPETENCIES:

• Listening Skills: you can listen actively and communicate clearly and effectively with counsel, advocates, and subjects of proceedings, including those who are not professional representatives or who have limited experience interacting with governmental representatives.

• Effective Verbal Skills: you can formulate reasoned decisions that are clear, concise and intelligible, and communicate them orally and in writing in a timely manner.

• Judgement: you make use of sound judgment and integrity to make clear, transparent decisions regarding complex and /or sensitive issues or materials.

• Self-control: you demonstrate self-confidence, self-control, and sensitivity to the diverse interests of parties, their representatives, and witnesses, in order to maintain control in confrontational and stressful situations.

• Reliability: you are reliable, and your organizational and time management skills allow you to deliver on your commitments..

• Inclusiveness: you can implement practices to advance an inclusive, healthy organization, respectful of the diversity of people and their skills and free from harassment, biases, and discrimination

• Respect and Values: you conduct yourself with integrity and believe and demonstrate ethical treatment of everyone.

The following may be applied / assessed at a later date (may be needed for the job)

► ORGANIZATIONAL NEEDS

Placement of IRB employees affected by Workforce Adjustment (WFA):

In order to ensure placement of IRB employees affected by Workforce Adjustment (WFA), we are asking all affected employees who are interested in this position to apply. Since a pool of qualified candidates will be established from this process, we will proceed with the assessment of all candidates. However, should affected employees qualify; they will be appointed prior to other qualified candidates.

It is important to note that if an employee is no longer affected by WFA at the time of appointment, he/she cannot be appointed ahead of other affected qualified candidates.

The IRB has a need to increase its representation of persons from the following employment equity groups: Members of visible minorities and Persons with Disabilities. To that effect, the final appointment of qualified individuals will take this organizational need into consideration.

Conditions of employment

►CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

• Secret security clearance
• Willingness and ability to travel across Canada
• Willingness and ability to work overtime
• The successful candidates for each position must be willing to relocate to the respective city of appointment (Montreal Island , Etobicoke, or Vancouver).
• Individuals who are appointed are required to swear the oath or give the solemn affirmation of office set out in the rules of the Board before their first hearing as per Section 152.1 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
• Willingness and ability to work outside the public service's core business hours (Mondays to Fridays) as per Article 25.11 in the Program and Administrative Services Collective Agreement.

Other information

The Public Service of Canada is committed to building a skilled and diverse workforce that reflects the Canadians we serve. We promote employment equity and encourage you to indicate if you belong to one of the designated groups when you apply.

Information on employment equity

► GENERAL INFORMATION

Candidates must meet the essential qualifications to be appointed to a position.

Candidates may be required to meet the asset qualifications, the operational requirements or the organizational needs, depending on the requirements of the specific position being staffed.

Candidates are entitled to participate in the selection process in the official language of their choice. Candidates are required to indicate their preferred official language in their application.

For this selection process, our intention is to communicate with candidates by e-mail. This includes: invitations, information requests, assessment results, etc. Candidates MUST check their email accounts frequently as there may be a deadline for responses.

Acknowledgment of receipt of applications will not be sent; we will contact candidates when the screening process is completed.

► APPLICATIONS

Public Service Resourcing System (PSRS): will time out after 60 minutes; this may result in your inability to save your work or loss of data. It is recommended that you draft ALL RESPONSES as well as your CV/résumé in another document on your PC which may be saved (e.g. in MS Word or WordPerfect) and copy/paste into the PSRS when completed.

If you are a Federal Public Servant please identify your Personal Record Identifier (PRI) on your résumé and/or application.

► DOCUMENTS REQUIRED

Proof of your education credential(s) and Canadian Citizenship will be required. Education and Citizenship MUST have been acquired at the time of application.

If you are currently an indeterminate or term public servant, a copy of your current letter of offer will be required.

► ASSESSMENT STRATEGY

• PHASE 1: SCREENING:
Screening will be completed via the Public Service Resourcing System (PSRS) questionnaire. When describing how you meet each of the experiences (essential and asset), we strongly suggest that you indicate where and when you gained the experience (organizations, dates, context etc.), your exact role and responsibilities, the actions you personally took and not the efforts of the team, and the impact of your actions. Remember that the relevance of your experience in relation to the position for which you are applying will be taken into consideration.

• PHASE 2: ASSESSMENT:
Qualifications indicated on this advertisement may be assessed throughout the selection process effective from the time you submit your application. This includes any correspondence (written or oral) with Human Resources and Management.

Asset Qualification(s) may be used as part of the screening criteria and/or selection decision.

You may be assessed using one or more of the following tools: standardized tests, written exams, interview, simulation exercise, reference check, and other assessment tools.

Pass marks will be established for each qualification. However, achieving the pass mark is not a guarantee of an appointment or that candidates will be put through the next stages of the assessment process. A cut-off score, top-down approach or random selection may be used at any step if there is a sufficient number of candidates to meet anticipated staffing needs. You will be notified if this approach is used.

Decisions regarding final selection may be based on the level, extent or degree of skill achieved in one or more qualifications; for example, we could select candidates who achieved the highest rating for a specific qualification or for a combination of qualifications.

Timelines for this process are very strict. The onus is on candidates to make themselves available for each assessment session.

Scheduling of alternative assessment dates will ONLY be considered for the following reasons with proof:

o Religious reasons;
o Death in the family;
o Medical reasons;
o Conflicting exams; or
o Other exceptional circumstances

• PHASE 3: SELECTION:
Successful candidates will be placed in a pool to be used within the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada based on management needs. The final selection may be based on a variety of factors such as competencies, relevant experience, asset qualifications, and organizational needs.

► TRAVEL

Please note that in order to proceed with assessments, candidates may be required to travel to the closest assessment location (such as IRB Regional Offices or other assessment centers).

Attempts may be made to assess candidates through methods such as teleconference and videoconference.

Travel cost for individuals who are not Federal Public Servants will not be covered.

Federal Public Servants’ travel will be covered in accordance with the National Joint Council’s Travel Directive.

►RELOCATION

All newly appointed employees other than EX/GIC appointees to the Federal public service, who accept an indeterminate or term position of at least one year, will be relocated under the Initial Appointees Relocation Program.

The Initial Appointees Relocation Program provides newly appointed employees with the sum of up to five thousand dollars ($5,000), subject to certain provisions.

For more information on the Initial Appointees Relocation Program please visit the following website: http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/hrpubs/tbm_113/iairp-prinefp-eng.asp

Federal Public Servants who accept a position will be relocated under the National Joint Council Relocation Directive.

For more information on the Relocation Directive please visit the following website: http://www.njc-cnm.gc.ca/directive/index.php?dlabel=nrd-drc&lang=eng&did=6&merge=2

Preference

Preference will be given to veterans and to Canadian citizens, in that order, with the exception of a job located in Nunavut, where Nunavut Inuit will be appointed first.

Information on the preference to veterans

We thank all those who apply. Only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.