Last week, Canada’s immigration department implemented significant changes as a part of a new plan to enhance its operations. 

Earlier in 2023, a previous Deputy Minister, Neil Yeates, reported on how Canada’s immigration department can become effective & efficient. IRCC further commissioned this report to evaluate whether the department’s current structure enables it to accomplish its mandate. The Deputy Minister is the senior civil servant in the government department. Serving in a non-political role, they oversee the management of their department, like implementing policies & strategies, managing budgets & people, etc. 

Well, IRCC’s present Deputy Minister, Christiane Fox, corresponds with Marc Miller, stating that the immigration minister’s role is to implement the elected government’s mandate. 

Yeates: IRCC’s Broken Organizational Model 

Yeates concludes in his report that the present organizational model at IRCC is broken but is being held together by the hard work & dedication of staff. 

He suggests that some steps must be taken to realign this structure, reform the governance system, implement a stronger management system, & facilitate cultural development to support the goals & objectives of Canada’s immigration department. 

In addition, the previous deputy minister explained various reasons why IRCC’s present model is broken. He highlights two major reasons for this. First is the challenging operating environment in Canada.

Secondly, IRCC has grown manifold since its present organizational structure was introduced over 20 years ago. In order to highlight this, Yeates notes IRCC’s total workforce has grown from 5,352 employees to 12,949 employees in January 2023. 

Fox: IRCC ‘Felt Like A Crisis’ 

In an interview, Fox stated that Yeates’s report would influence major changes in Canada’s immigration department. Upon assuming her role in July 2022, she explained that the new job felt like a crisis & that her co-workers at the department were exhausted & under duress. She further concluded that department changes were important & while she didn’t wish to make them immediately, she also didn’t want to wait for two years. 

In addition, in June this year, Fox had a plan of action after obtaining the report & consulting with public stakeholders. Since then, she has been rolling out the changes steadily. 

IRCC Reorganizes To Business-Line Model 

Among the changes which took place last week, the department was reorganized across the following sectors: 

  • Citizenship & Passport
  • Asylum & Refugee Resettlement
  • Chief Information Officer
  • Chief Financial Officer
  • Communications
  • Corporate Services 
  • Client Service, Innovation, & Chief Digital Officer 
  • Migration Integrity
  • Service Delivery 
  • International Affairs & Crisis Response
  • Economic, Family, & Social Migration 
  • Strategic Policy 
  • Settlement Integration & Francophone Affairs 

Fox explains that the department is being reorganized upon Yeates’ recommendations across different lines of business. Well, this implies that IRCC employees will be divided across numerous clients & in a way to be responsive to changes across the globe. For instance, Canada’s immigration department has a new International Affairs & Crisis Response sector, which was meant to help IRCC plan for humanitarian crises & create a plan of action. Moreover, IRCC has dealt with crises, like Ukraine, since last year & Afghanistan & Syrian refugee resettlement initiatives.    

In addition, she also stresses the significance of IRCC taking more client focus moving forward, wherein the department incorporates the experience of its applicants more strongly into the decisions it makes. 

IRCC’s Operating Environment 

Yeats elaborates on the numerous forces impacting IRCC. Here they are!

  1. Hybrid Working Environment 

The nature of work is changing permanently because of the pandemic. Thus, more workers, like IRCC employees, are working remotely with a general direction to return to the office 2-3 days a week. Moreover, Yeates explains that while working from home has been effective, it remains to witness the effect of it on IRCC’s organizational culture.

  1. Demand For IRCC Services 

Demand for IRCC programs often exceeds the department’s capacity for processing as measured by its service standards. Although IRCC has resources & tools at its disposal in order to manage inventory, like caps for specific programs, its inventories can multiply whenever demand for its programs exceeds the capacity. 

  1. IRCC’s Growth 

IRCC’s program demand has grown along with its workforce. Yeates characterized its workforce as ‘medium-sized’ in 2013, having 5,217 non-executive staff, which will be doubled by 2023, i.e., 12,721. In addition, executives in the department have also grown from 135 employees to 227 presently. However, despite the growth of the staff & program, the organizational structure at IRCC has primarily remained the same. 

  1. Immigration Policy Review 

The dominant immigration narrative hasn’t been challenged & the impact of immigration isn’t documented well, too. As such, an immigration policy review at IRCC might be advantageous for helping IRCC shape the department’s future direction.  

  1. Digital Transformation 

IRCC has obtained significant funding for its Digital Platform Modernization. The transformations are pretty challenging, specifically at a place like IRCC, which has integral responsibilities. However, there is a little dilemma that IRCC might need to become a digital department completely. 

  1. Global Uncertainty 

Global armed conflicts are increasing, democracy is under threat, & numerous factors, like climate change, are impacting global migration demand, which will continue to impact IRCC significantly. 

Canada’s Immigration Department Is ‘Committed’ 

In his report, Yeates observes that IRCC presently has limited department-wide planning. In addition, it lacks a multi-year strategic plan & planning across departments is also inconsistent. 

Well, all this poses various problems, like the inability to achieve departmental goals, lack of accountability among staff members, etc.  

IRCC staff described the departmental culture as ‘collaborative, committed, & supportive’, which can help overcome the shortcomings of management systems, governance, & organizational structure. 

In addition, Yeates pointed to a tension between what he calls ‘IRPA School’ & ‘Client Service School’. He asserts that the IRPA Act was introduced in 2001 within a framework to exclude candidates with various reasons listed for why they might be denied. Immigration officers are trained to enforce IRPA. However, little attention has been given to the potential of these officers to have ‘unconscious bias’, which might impact their decision-making. 

On the other hand, a few fall under client service school & are willing to waive requirements & be open to compromise to improve IRCC clients’ service. 

Highlights Of Yeates’ Recommendations 

Yeates has made certain recommendations across four areas, i.e., culture, governance, management systems, & organizational structure. 

  1. Culture
  • Undertaking an IRPA review to determine whether amendments are made to support desired outcomes better. 
  • Review the training offered to staff members involved in IRPA administration to ensure it reflects the desired approach as well as the philosophy of the department. 
  • Integrate the voices of IRCC’s dynamic communities. 
  1. Governance 
  • The Executive Committee must assume responsibility for corporate services as well as finance, thus absorbing the functions of the Corporate Finance Committee.
  • A new Operations Committee should be established, which will absorb the Issues Management Committee functions. 
  • The membership of these committees has to be reconsidered as a part of the reorganization process.
  • A review must be conducted on the split of responsibilities between IRCC & CBSA under IRPA to rationalize & streamline accountabilities & roles.  
  1. Management Systems 
  • The Deputy Minister should lead a new planning & reporting regime. 
  • Develop a 35-year strategic plan. 
  • Undertake an actual planning cycle across all departments, like IT, HR, etc. 
  • Implement a quarterly reporting regime.    
  • Ensure links with the performance management work of the department.
  1. Organizational Structure 
  • IRCC should move to a business-line organization. 
  • It must develop emergency and crisis management protocols that identify Assistant Deputy Minister leads in Numerous Scenarios.