Sub-series consists of selections of case files opened by the IAB to document regular individual appeals against deportations or exclusions from Canada (that is, other than referred cases). All the cases selected were brought before the Board in calendar years 1956 through 1967, and were decided in 1956 through 1968.
Each file documents the proceedings and outcome of an individual appeal. Most appeals are completed either in the year they are brought before the IAB, or in the year following. A file usually contains the following documents: the original Notice of Appeal (form 20M); the original Minutes of the Inquiry, as conducted by the Special Inquiry Officer or SI0 of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration whose decision is being appealed; an original letter from the SI0 setting out the facts of the case; the carbon of the notice of acknowledgement to the SI0 (form IAB-1, first version); the carbon of the notice setting the date and location of the proposed Board hearing (initially the form IAB-2, first version; later IAB-1, second version); miscellaneous original correspondence on the organization and scheduling of the hearing; copies of any relevant documentation presented to the Inquiry as exhibits (although these may be absent or limited in number); an original signed carbon of the Board's final decision, either a short form giving no specific reasons (form IAB-3, first version; later form IAB-2, second version) or else a longer signed memorandum giving detailed reasons; and various notices conveying the decision to the parties concerned.
In the later years the files become somewhat more streamlined, with revised forms, a more formal mode of documentation, and fewer extraneous and original records. The files selected for historical or legal interest may, however, be more complex).
At the beginning of each year a "general" file numbered "000" is opened for correspondence and inquiries from the public on general topics and on cases not actually before the Board (such as cases still at lower appeal levels, in process of formulation, or rejected as not being in the proper form). Three sample files of this type, for the years 1963, 1966 and 1967, are in Volume 8.
Volumes 1 to 3 contain nine different continuous runs of case files. These were selected in or about 1969, apparently at random, from among routine case files opened in calendar years 1956, 1957, and 1959 to 1963. There are also two files selected on unknown grounds from files opened in 1958. Those opened in 1956-59 are in file blocks 1000 to 1999, and those of 1960-63 in blocks 000 to 1999.
Volumes 4 to 9 contain individual files selected on four or five occasions between 1969 and 1972. There were apparently chosen for their historical and/or precedentiary interest from case files opened in calendar years 1961 to 1967. All are in file blocks 000 to 1999.
Volumes 9 and 10 contain a single continuous run of files (67-1171 to 67-1213) opened in calendar year 1967. These are the last of the cases decided by the "old IAB" (General Board of Immigration Appeals). The last case registered was entered on 10 November 1967 and decided on 1 December 1967. A few earlier cases were decided by members of the old Board, by special arrangement with the reorganized IAB, as late as 1968.