Canada’s immigration agency implemented significant reforms this week, informed by a recent report it commissioned.
The modifications are intended to improve Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) operations.
Earlier this year, IRCC got a report on how to become a more successful and efficient department from one, of its past Deputy Ministers, Neil Yeates.
IRCC commissioned Yeates’ assessment to assess whether the department’s existing structure best enables it to carry out its mandate. In a government department, the Deputy Minister is the most senior civil servant.
They oversee the management of their department, including the implementation of policies and strategies, as well as the management of people and finances, in a non-political capacity.
Christiane Fox, the current Deputy Minister of the IRCC, communicates with the department’s minister, who is a politician and is now Immigration Minister Marc Miller. The function of the Immigration Minister is to carry out the government’s elected mandate.
Yeates : The IRCC’s Organizational Structure is Broken.
Yeates writes in his assessment, which CIC News has a copy of, that “the current organizational model at IRCC is broken but is being held together by the hard work and dedication of staff.”
He suggests that “a series of steps be taken to realign the organizational structure (including a major shift to a business line-based structure), reform the governance system, implement stronger management systems (especially planning and reporting), and facilitate the development of a culture to better support the department’s goals and objectives (including consideration of an overall review of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and measures to improve levees).”
Yeates explains that there are numerous reasons why IRCC’s current model is broken, but two in particular stand out: a difficult operating environment in Canada and globally, and second, IRCC has grown exponentially since its current organizational structure was introduced more than 20 years ago. To emphasize this argument, Yeates states that IRCC’s overall employment has expanded from 5,352 in March 2013 to 12,949 in January 2023.
Fox Says The IRCC “Felt like a Cisis”
In an interview with journalist Paul Wells last week, Fox claimed that the Yeates report will have a big impact on the department’s objectives. When Fox started at IRCC in July 2022, she told Wells that the new position “felt like a crisis” and that her coworkers were stressed and fatigued.
She came to the conclusion that departmental changes were required, and while she didn’t want to make them right away, she also didn’t want to wait two years.
After receiving the Yeates report and talking with public stakeholders, including IRCC candidates, Fox developed a plan of action in June 2023. She has been steadily implementing the modifications since then.
The Operating Environment of IRCC
Yeates elaborates on the different forces influencing IRCC, the most important of which are:
The nature of work looks to be changing permanently as a result of the pandemic, and as a result, more people, including IRCC personnel, are working remotely, with a general directive to return to the office 2-3 days a week.
While working from home has been beneficial, it remains to be seen how it will affect IRCC’s organizational culture, according to Yeates.
Demand for IRCC Services
Demand for IRCC’s programs frequently outstrips the department’s processing capacity, as assessed by service standards (the goals the department sets for itself to process applications for each line of business).
Despite the fact that IRCC has methods and resources to manage its inventory, such as caps for specific programs, its stocks can rise very quickly when demand for its programs exceeds its processing capability.
IRCC’s employment has expanded in tandem with the program’s demand. Yeates describes its workforce as “medium sized” in 2013, with 5,217 non-executive employees, which has more than doubled to 12,721 employees by 2023. Executives in the department have increased from 135 in 2013 to 227 currently. Despite program and employee expansion, IRCC’s organizational structure, which was built for a smaller department, has largely remained the same.
The prevalent immigration narrative in Canada has not been substantially questioned, and the actual impact of immigration has not been typically adequately documented. As a result, an immigration policy review at IRCC may be useful in guiding the department’s future course.
Digital Transformation: IRCC has received significant financing for its Digital Platform Modernization, and such transformations are often difficult, especially at an institution like IRCC with so many responsibilities. However, there is little doubt that IRCC must become a totally digital organization.
Global Uncertainty: Global armed conflicts are on the rise, democracy is under attack, and variables such as climate change are influencing global migration demand, all of which will have a substantial impact on IRCC.
The IRCC Departmental Culture is “dedicated.”
While emphasizing that the purpose of his report is not to be critical, Yeates observes that IRCC currently has limited department-wide planning, no multi-year strategic plan, and inconsistent planning across the department, all of which pose a variety of challenges such as the department’s inability to achieve its goals and a lack of accountability among staff.
IRCC employees described the department’s culture as “committed, collaborative, and supportive,” which has aided in overcoming the department’s inadequacies in organizational structure, governance, and management systems.
Furthermore, Yeates noted a schism inside the department between the “IRPA school” and the “client service school.” He points out that the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act was enacted in 2001. with a framework to exclude applicants, with numerous reasons outlined for why an applicant may be denied.
Immigration officers are educated to enforce IRPA, but little attention has been devoted to the possibility that these officers may have “unconscious bias” that influences their decision-making.
On the other hand, individuals who belong to the “client service school” are willing to waive requirements and are more inclined to compromise in order to improve the service provided to IRCC clients.
