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Helpful Places

Government of Canada – DTPR AI Register

AI-Assisted Triage of Immigration Client Enquiries

Inform

What it collects that can identify you

Sensitive personal information
Identifiable data
  • Client enquiries submitted to IRCC will contain personal information about immigration applicants — names, application numbers, case details, and other identifying information included in the body of the enquiry or attached documents.
About behaviour
Identifiable data
  • The content and nature of client enquiries — what clients are asking, what type of immigration matter they are raising — is behavioural data that the system uses to determine how to categorize and route the enquiry.
Run by
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)
Where
No fixed location
Kept
Not stated by the Helpful Places.
Shared with
Accountable organization, Vendor

What it is for

Inform

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada uses AI tools from Amazon Web Services to automatically sort and route incoming client enquiries, aiming to reduce response times and improve the client experience. Government employees review the sorted enquiries and respond to clients. The AI does not make final decisions about immigration cases — it helps staff prioritize and direct incoming messages.

What it collects and what happens to it

Data taken in

Sensitive personal information
Identifiable data
  • Client enquiries submitted to IRCC will contain personal information about immigration applicants — names, application numbers, case details, and other identifying information included in the body of the enquiry or attached documents.
About behaviour
Identifiable data
  • The content and nature of client enquiries — what clients are asking, what type of immigration matter they are raising — is behavioural data that the system uses to determine how to categorize and route the enquiry.

Processing

Classification & Prediction
  • AWS SageMaker is used to train and deploy machine learning classification models that categorize incoming enquiries by type, urgency, or appropriate routing destination. This is the core triage logic.

What it does

Deciding (Analytical AI)
Human decides
  • The system classifies and scores incoming client enquiries to determine how they should be triaged and routed. GC employees — the primary users — review the AI's classifications and act on them, meaning humans decide on the final routing and response.
Sensing (Perceptive AI)
Human decides
  • AWS Textract is used to extract text from documents submitted with client enquiries, converting unstructured document content into structured data that can be processed downstream.

Outputs

A recommendation or prediction
Anonymized data
  • The system produces a triage classification or routing recommendation for each incoming client enquiry, directing it to the appropriate queue or GC employee team. This is advisory output — employees review and act on the recommendation.

Run by

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)
  • The federal department responsible for immigration, refugee protection, and citizenship in Canada. IRCC deploys this AI system to triage incoming client enquiries and improve response times for government employees.

Government of Canada AI Register — 2526-IRCC-003

Built by

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
  • Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the vendor supplying the AI services used in this system, specifically AWS Textract (for document text extraction) and AWS SageMaker (for machine learning model training and deployment).

Government of Canada AI Register — 2526-IRCC-003

Kept for

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

Shared with

Available to the accountable organization
  • The triage outputs and enquiry data are accessible to IRCC employees (GC employees) who use the system to manage and respond to client enquiries.
Available to vendor
  • As AWS Textract and SageMaker are cloud-based services, client enquiry data processed through these services may be accessible to or processed by Amazon Web Services as the technology provider. The extent of vendor data access is not specified in the register entry.

Stored

Stored on 3rd Party Cloud
  • Client enquiry data is processed through AWS cloud services (Textract and SageMaker), indicating storage on third-party cloud infrastructure operated by Amazon Web Services.
  • Duration: Not specified in the register entry
How to read the colours

Can it identify you?

Anonymized data
Data about people with the link to who is broken. Stripped of identifiers, blurred, aggregated, or noised so this system can’t reasonably tie a record back to an individual.
Pseudonymous data
Each person’s data is tied to a token (hash, ID, template) that lets this system recognise the same person across events, but the token itself doesn’t reveal a name. Reidentification is possible with extra information.
Identifiable data
The data either contains a direct identifier (name, address, account name, recognisable face or voice, plate number) or carries a token this system uses to look up legal identity during processing.

Who completes the loop?

Human decides
This mode suggests; a person decides what to do next. The AI is always advisory — a human is in the loop on every decision. Example: a triage tool ranks cases for a clinician who chooses which to see first.
Human executes
This mode decides; a person carries out the result. Example: an optimizer plans the day’s trash-collection routes, and drivers run them.
Autonomous
This mode decides and acts on its own. No person reviews each decision or carries out the resulting action.

Definitions from the DTPR standard. Amber is about your data, violet about who decides. The fuller the shape and the deeper the colour, the more identifying the data or the less a person is involved.

What you can do

Ask about this system

Questions go to the Helpful Places, not the vendor.

Your rights

  • Right to Algorithmic TransparencyClients whose enquiries are processed by this system have the right to be informed that AI is being used to triage their messages. IRCC is required under the Directive on Automated Decision-Making to be transparent about its use of automated systems. Contact IRCC's Client Support Centre for more information.
  • Right to a Human ReviewThe system is operated by GC employees who review AI-generated triage classifications before acting on them. Clients can request human review of how their enquiry was handled by contacting IRCC directly.

Risks and safeguards

  • Reputational harmmisclassification of an immigration enquiry could cause it to be routed incorrectly, delaying response and potentially creating inaccurate impressions about a client's case type.Safeguard: GC employees review all AI-generated triage recommendations before acting; the system is advisory, not determinative.
  • Civil liberties harmimmigration clients are a particularly vulnerable population; systematic misclassification along demographic lines could constitute discriminatory treatment in a high-stakes domain.Safeguard: human review by GC employees is required before any action is taken; the register notes the system is developed with vendor oversight. Further bias auditing details are not available in the register entry.