The complaint was screened out after a review determined that the allegations did not fall within the jurisdiction of the member complaints process. The Complainant, legal counsel for the refugee claimants, alleged that a member of the Refugee Protection Division unfairly excluded French-language documents while accepting similar English ones, suggesting unequal treatment of Canada's official languages. The Member, who did not understand French, relied on counsel's input and noted in their decision that they would have recused themselves for a bilingual Member had the relevance of the French documents been indicated. The decision also stated that certain testimony was unsupported, despite it being submitted in French.
The Ombudsperson concluded that the allegations related to adjudicative independence—such as evidence assessment and hearing management—and therefore fell outside the scope of the Procedures for Making a Complaint about a Member. The Chairperson accepted the recommendation to screen out the complaint, and the file was closed.