Refugee groups are expressing deep concern over recent job cuts at the federal board responsible for hearing asylum claims, warning that the reductions will exacerbate an already significant backlog. The Canada Employment and Immigration Union (CEIU) confirmed that 53 positions were eliminated at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB), representing roughly two percent of the board's workforce.
Impact on Asylum System
Gauri Sreenivasan, co-executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR), an advocacy group representing refugees and migrants, stated that the cuts will lead to negative outcomes for refugees and for Canada as a whole. She emphasized the IRB's vital role in ensuring a fair process for individuals fleeing danger abroad.
The IRB is currently facing a backlog of nearly 300,000 claims, a dramatic increase from 17,000 in 2016. Rubina Boucher, national president of the CEIU, argued that removing staff undermines the board's ability to clear pending cases, asserting that a system in crisis cannot be fixed by eliminating the people who keep it running.
Context of Cuts
Although the IRB's headcount dropped slightly between 2024 and 2025, overall employment has increased by about 800 over the past five years. The cuts come as part of a broader government cost-cutting exercise, the comprehensive expenditure review, which aims to reduce the public service by approximately 40,000 jobs from its 2023-2024 peak. While the IRB was excluded from this review, it committed to respecting its spirit by seeking savings.
According to the union, the job eliminations were announced through the IRB's Realignment and Reallocation Plan. However, IRB spokesperson Linda MacMillan stated that the plan's goal is not to reduce the overall workforce but to allocate more resources toward asylum claim processing. Affected workers will be offered alternative positions at similar levels wherever possible.
Future Plans
The IRB intends to increase the number of decision-makers and other staff directly supporting asylum processing. In a planning document, the board outlined plans to automate low-value activities and leverage technology to better manage cases. The IRB reported clearing 100,000 decisions in 2024-2025, an increase of nearly 30 percent over the previous year.
