Minister Kenney announces designations to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada

June 01, 2009

Ottawa, June 1, 2009 — Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney today announced three designations to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB).

In the Toronto office, Shari A. Stein was designated Deputy Chairperson of the Immigration Appeal Division and Hazelyn Ross was designated Assistant Deputy Chairperson. In the Vancouver office, Ross A. Pattee was designated Assistant Deputy Chairperson.

Ms. Stein was appointed to the Immigration and Refugee Board on April 17, 2001. She was initially assigned to the Convention Refugee Determination Division—now Refugee Protection Division—and was transferred to the Immigration Appeal division on March 16, 2002. On November 20, 2006, Ms. Stein assumed—on an interim basis—the duties of the Assistant Deputy Chairperson in the Toronto office. She was designated Assistant Deputy Chairperson on October 12, 2007. She assumed—on an interim basis—the duties of the Deputy Chairperson, responsible for the Immigration Appeal Division, on August 21, 2007.

Ms. Stein began her legal career as Law Clerk to the Chief Justice of the then High Court of Ontario. She has also worked as legal counsel in the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario, as a lawyer with the Advocacy Resource Centre for the Handicapped, and as a human rights consultant.
 
Subsequently, she was a senior policy analyst and a project team leader at the Employment Equity Division in the Management Board Secretariat of the Province of Ontario. Just prior to her appointment to the IRB, Ms Stein was a mediator with the Financial Services Commission of Ontario and a mediator for the mandatory mediation program at the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario.

Ms. Stein received her Bachelor of Arts from McGill University, her Master of Social Work from the University of British Columbia, and her Bachelor of Laws and Master of Laws from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University.

Prior to her initial appointment on August 7, 2001, Ms. Ross was a lawyer with Shepherd Mondrow in Toronto. She has also held a number of positions in the Government of Ontario where she worked as a law officer intern in the Ministry of the Attorney General and as a policy development officer in the Race Relations and Policing Unit in the Ministry of the Solicitor General and Correctional Services. In addition, Ms. Ross has been a member in both the Refugee Protection Division and the Immigration Appeal Division.

Ms. Ross received her Bachelor of Laws from the University of the West Indies in Barbados and was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 1996. Before earning her law degree, she received her Bachelor of Arts, Honours Sociology, and her Master of Arts, Educational Technology, from Concordia University in Montréal.

Prior to his initial appointment and assignment to the Refugee Protection Division on July 18, 2005, Mr. Pattee worked for the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) where he held senior management positions with the Special Investigations Unit and Corporate Communications and was Corporate Counsel. Prior to ICBC, M. Pattee worked in private practice with a large national law firm.

Ross Pattee received his Bachelor of Arts and his Bachelor of Laws from Queen’s University. He was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1989 and 1992 in British Columbia.

Created in 1989, the IRB is an independent administrative tribunal that reports to Parliament through the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism. The Board has three divisions—the Refugee Protection Division, the Immigration Appeal Division, and the Immigration Division. The IRB determines refugee protection claims made in Canada, hears immigration appeals, and conducts admissibility hearings and detention reviews.