Refugee Lab: 2021 Refusal Rates
Professor Rehaag and his team at the Refugee Law Laboratory have published the refusal and approval rates from the IRB, based on decisions in 2021. This research and data is a huge benefit for both individual refugee claimants and representatives. This data represents decisions across Canada and it breaks down decisions by individual RPD Members (judges) as well as by countries of origin. We have used this data for years to gauge how adjudicators compare and to see how approval rates may change from year to year and from country to country.
The Refugee Law Laboratory is a huge project. I had dinner with Sean Rehaag when he came to Winnipeg to discuss his research. As an aside, he is a great guy and he is extremely passionate about transparency and consistency in the legal system.
Prof Rehaag notes:
As usual, there is lots of variation in recognition rates. At the RPD, the recognition rate range is from 0% (D Mungovan) to 100% (K. Bugby, D. Coyne & H Savageincluding). And at the RAD, the appeal allowal rate range is from 1.1% (L. Mokhtar) to 71.7% (J. Corry).
To be clear, a 0% recognition rate at the RPD means the decision maker refused every case heard by that person. Every refugee claimant who appeared before RPD Member Mungavan was denied. We do not want to single out any particular adjudicator; however, this data paints a compelling picture and raises serious questions. RPD Member Mungavan heard more than 30 refugee claims from countries including Iran, Nigeria and Colombia. He refused every claim.
In contrast, the refugee claimants who were lucky (and, I hesitate to use “luck” as it relates to such a serious matter; however, in this case, the selection of the RPB Member with the claimant is pure luck, as far as I am aware) may have had their claims decided by a different RPD and they would have had a much better chance as a positive decision. Based on the data, that is a fact.
In the future, Prof Rehaag and his team will be making this information easily searchable and available:
Also, I am excited to report that my Refugee Law Lab will soon be launching a web portal to share this sort of data in a more accessible format with better visualizations – and the portal will have constantly updated Federal Court data as well. If you’d like to see what the RPD portion of the portal currently looks like (and if you have any feedback for us), you can check out a video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNF4Sv8qlzw
As you can see from above, this future project/ portal is designed for the public, not only lawyers and trained legal professionals. The YouTube video provides a guide to how we will be able to find decisions from different countries of origin and from different RPD Members.
We look forward to using the web portal at the Refugee Law Lab as soon as it becomes available.
