Successful candidate faces declining public confidence in system

OTTAWA - At a time when public confidence in Canada's refugee system is in the doldrums, the government is poised to appoint a new head of the Immigration and Refugee Board.

Nurjehan Mawani, current chairperson of the board, which determines refugee claims and adjudicates other immigration matters, will step down next month when her term ends.

The Prime Minister's office has reportedly interviewed 12 candidates for the sensitive position, an appointment made by Cabinet.

The next chairperson of the board must grapple with such issues as the influx of boat people demanding refugee status, the backlog of claims before the board and declining public confidence in Canada's system for dealing with refugees.

Among the confirmed candidates is prominent Toronto immigration lawyer Lorne Waldman, who is challenging the government to conduct a transparent process rather than make a political appointment.

Waldman, an expert on immigration and refugee law who has written a text on the subject and litigated some of the country's most high- profile cases, said he hoped his candidacy raised the threshold.

``Given the crisis in public confidence that is confronting the board now, it would be a serious mistake for the government to make a political appointment,'' Waldman said.

``I thought that offering myself as a candidate might contribute to making the process more transparent, open and accountable,'' Waldman said, suggesting the board needed a chairperson with at least his qualifications.

``If the board doesn't get the right person now, I'd be very concerned about its future. It doesn't have to be me, but it has to be someone who is articulate, who knows the issues and has the capacity to defend the board and make it work more efficiently.''

Another candidate is John Frecker, the deputy chair of the board, responsible for its refugee division. Frecker confirmed his candidacy but declined to comment.

While Frecker holds a senior position within the board, his candidacy could be compromised because he had to apologize last year for a 1997 incident when he jokingly made a Nazi salute and said ``seig heil'' during a hearing after it was suggested the board was acting in a Stalinist fashion.

David Zimmer, an assistant deputy chairperson of the board who heads its busy Toronto office, has also been interviewed for the post. Zimmer, a lawyer with strong connections to the federal Liberal party, declined comment.

Sources say career bureaucrat Mary Gusella, a commissioner with the federal Public Service Commission, has also been interviewed. Gusella said through a spokesperson that as far as she knew, she was not ``a candidate for the position.''

Gusella was previously head of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and was once touted for the position of federal information commissioner. Before that, she was deputy minister in the multiculturalism department.

Sources inside the board said the dozen candidates fell into three groups: those with technical experience in refugee matters, those with bureaucratic experience and those with political connections and savvy.

``My gut feeling is that somebody with strong political credentials will win the day,'' a board official said.

Mawani is best known for introducing guidelines that allowed board members to grant refugee status to women who feared persecution because of their gender.

She is a lawyer who served as deputy chairperson of the board in Vancouver before being appointed to a seven-year term in 1992.