Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Collecting Data ‘Stateless’ is included as a citizenship category in the IRB Basis of Claim form. On the Basis of Claim (BOC) form under the section “Your Citizenship,” applicants are requested to list each country of which they are or have been a citizen, and the status of their citizenship in the listed countries. The IRB’s case management system allows for claimants’ citizenship to be defined as ‘stateless’. The IRB receives and records country of persecution information for all claims, and since December 15, 2012, the IRB has been receiving and recording country of citizenship data. As statelessness relates to claimant citizenship and not to countries of persecution, the IRB has only been able to report on stateless claimants under the new system, since December 15, 2012. Age and gender information as well as countries of alleged persecution can also be provided for claims decided under the new system. The IRB receives citizenship data from its partners at intake and also determines and records this information at the time of decision. As a result, statistics on stateless individuals can be provided on claims referred to the IRB and/or claims decided by the IRB. The IRB does recognize that the country of reference, from which the person is claiming protection, may not be their country of citizenship. In support of their claim, claimants are asked to identify their country or countries of citizenship as well as the country or countries where they are at risk of serious harm. Where the claimant does not have a nationality (i.e. stateless), IRB members will assess the claim against the claimant’s country of former habitual residence. With respect to testing for statelessness, or the absence of citizenship documents, presiding IRB Refugee Protection Division (RPD) decision-makers determine the steps that are taken in order to obtain the information required to assess the elements of the claim, including if the claimant has a nationality or is stateless. For example, the IRB decision-maker may request additional claimant-specific information, such as foreign status verifications or biometric information. Reporting Data Information on citizenship (including statelessness) in all cases is recorded in the IRB case management system, including verbal and written decisions. The IRB does not generate routine reports on positive decisions, but can produce reports on acceptance rates. In their decisions (positive or negative), decision-makers “regularly” state the country of nationality of the claimant, or if the claimant is stateless, their country of former habitual residence. This data is collected in the IRB case management system and can be reported. However, the RPD does not report on the reason(s) for which claims are accepted. The determining factors in each individual case are explained by the decision-maker in their decision. Assessment The IRB states that ‘stateless’ is included as a citizenship category in the IRB Basis of Claim form, and that the IRB’s case management system allows for claimants’ citizenship to be defined as ‘stateless’, however, the IRB did not state whether they define ‘stateless’ in a specific way. 9