From 2011 – 2019 Canada’s refugee system contained a list of Designated Countries of Origin (“DCO“). History Bill C-11, the Balanced Refugee Reform Act, received Royal Assent on June 29, 2010. It introduced sweeping changes to Canadian refugee law, including establishing the DCO regime. The government estimated that approximately 10% of all asylum claimants in Canada could be subject to expedited processing under the DCO policy. The government has estimated that designations would result in a 57% decline in the number of claims received from such countries over the 12 months following a designation. The DCO List The initial list of DCOs covers 27 countries, 25 of which are in the European Union (edit: see below for a list of additional countries that have been added): Austria Belgium Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Slovak Republic Slovenia Spain Sweden United Kingdom United States of America
Admitting New Evidence at the Refugee Appeal Division
Section 110(4) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (the “IRPA“) provides that at the Refugee Appeal Division (the “RAD“) a person may only present evidence that arose after the rejection of their claim or that was not reasonably available, or that the person could not reasonably have expected in the circumstances to have presented, at the time of the rejection. Specifically, it states: Evidence that may be presented (4) On appeal, the person who is the subject of the appeal may present only evidence that arose after the rejection of their claim or that was not reasonably available, or that the person could not reasonably have been expected in the circumstances to have presented, at the time of the rejection. Exception (5) Subsection (4) does not apply in respect of evidence that is presented in response to evidence presented by the Minister. Hearing (6) The Refugee Appeal Division may hold a hearing if, in its opinion, there is documentary evidence referred to in subsection (3) (a) that raises a serious issue with respect to the credibility of the person who is the subject of the appeal; (b) that is central to the decision with respect to the refugee protection claim; … Read More
Standard of Review in Refugee Appeal Division Hearings
On December 15, 2012, the Refugee Appeal Division (the “RAD“) began considering appeals against decisions from the Refugee Projection Division (the “RPD“) to allow or reject refugee claims. According to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada’s website, the steps to a RAD appeal are: Once you receive the written reasons for the decision from the Refugee Protection Division, you have 15 days to file a Notice of Appeal. You have 30 days from the day you received your written reasons for the RPD decision to perfect your appeal by filing an Appellants Record. The Minister may choose to intervene at any point in the appeal. The RAD Member makes a decision on your appeal. In most cases, this decision will be provided to you no later than 90 days after you have perfected your appeal, unless an oral hearing is held. Almost immediately there was uncertainty over what the role of the RAD was. The RAD began operating under the assumption that it would review RPD decisions using the reasonableness standard, and its members began stating that the following principles governed its appeals: that deference is owed to RPD findings of fact and questions of mixed law and fact; … Read More