Refugee groups fear public service cuts will worsen asylum claim backlog

Refugee groups are worried recent job cuts at the federal board that hears asylum claims will bog down a system facing a significant backlog.

Last week, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) announced internally that it would be cutting 53 jobs, according to the Canada Employment and Immigration Union (CEIU).

Cuts of that depth would shrink the board’s workforce by about two per cent, and refugee advocates said it comes as demand on Canada’s immigration system is under increasing pressure from worsening conflicts overseas.

“It will lead to bad outcomes for refugees and, ultimately, bad outcomes for all of Canada,” said Gauri Sreenivasan, co-executive director for the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR), an advocacy group representing refugees and migrants.

Sreenivasan said the board plays a “vital” role in ensuring a fair process for those who come to Canada fleeing danger abroad.

The IRB, which handles claims referred by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), is facing a backlog of nearly 300,000 claims, up from 17,000 in 2016.

Rubina Boucher, national president of the CIEU, said trimming the workforce will hamper the board’s ability to clear the pile of pending cases.

“You cannot fix a system in crisis by removing the people who keep it running,” she said in a written statement.

Although the IRB headcount dropped slightly between 2024 and 2025, the board’s overall population is up by about 800 employees over the last five years.

Like most federal departments, IRCC was tasked with finding up to 15 per cent savings from their operational budget over three years under the “comprehensive expenditure review,” a broad cost-cutting exercise that is central to the government’s plan to trim the public service by about 40,000 jobs from its peak in 2023-2024.

The IRB, which is independent from IRCC but reports to the same minister, was excluded from the review. Nonetheless, the board committed to respecting “the spirit of the exercise” by seeking out savings.

According to the union, the cuts were announced to staff as part of the board’s “Realignment and Reallocation Plan.”

In an email, Linda MacMillan, an IRB spokesperson, said the goal of the plan is not to reduce the board’s overall workforce, but instead “to put a greater proportion of resources towards asylum claim processing.”

The IRB will offer affected workers a different job at a similar level “wherever possible,” according to MacMillan.

“Through this exercise, the IRB will also be increasing the number of decision-makers and other staff directly supporting asylum claim processing in order to meet this priority.”

In a department planning document, the IRB said it intends to automate “low-value activities” and use technology to better manage cases.

The board said it cleared 100,000 decisions from its list in 2024-2025, an increase of nearly 30 per cent over the previous year.

System under stress

But claims keep coming.

Sreenivasan said ongoing conflicts around the world, as well as an immigration crackdown in the United States, are fuelling a growing demand for protection.

In her view, any move to limit Canada’s capacity to administer a “fair and effective” immigration system will harm refugees and the country’s global reputation.

Mary Roman, CEO of the Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization, said job cuts at the review board will have a predictable impact on the queue.

“Things are going to take longer, for sure,” she said. “The federal (government) is cutting the funds. The provincial (government) is also cutting the funds. Nobody understands the impact on the humans that we are dealing with.” 

New law aims to reduce backlog

The cuts come shortly after other recent efforts to ease the caseload at the review board.

Bill C-12, which became law at the end of March, will reduce the number of claims referred to the IRB.

Under the new law, any asylum seekers who entered the country after June 24, 2020 will not have their claims heard by the board if they’re filed more than a year after they arrived in Canada. Neither will claims that are filed 14 days after a person enters the country between ports of entry along the Canada-U.S. land border.

“These new eligibility requirements will reduce pressure on the asylum system, protect it against sudden increases in claims, close loopholes and deter people from claiming asylum as a shortcut to regular immigration pathways,” according to the government. 

But Sreenivasan said the changes won’t help — and will instead force IRCC to set up its own internal system to handle the cases.

“We’re just mind of moving the queue from one place to another,” she said.

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