Question Period Note: IMPROVEMENTS TO THE EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE APPEAL PROCESS

What is the government doing to implement the Employment Insurance (EI) Board of Appeal?

The Government is improving the Employment Insurance appeals process by launching the Employment Insurance Board of Appeal, which will be comprised of workers and employers from across Canada, as well as the federal government.

The Employment Insurance Board of Appeal is dedicated to ensuring fair, impartial and client-centric decisions: putting decision-making in the hands of those who pay into the system.

Key activities to launch the Board are progressing well, in anticipation of the launch of the Employment Insurance Board of Appeal.

First announced in August 2019, the Employment Insurance (EI) Board of Appeal was created as part of significant improvements to the EI and Income Security (IS) recourse processes. The EI Board of Appeal represents a return to a locally based tripartite decision-making model for first-level EI appeals outside of the Social Security Tribunal (SST).

Over summer 2022, consultations were held with stakeholders, parliamentarians, and with the public to ensure that various groups have a role in shaping the legislation to meet the needs of Canadians.

Following these consultations, Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1 received Royal Assent on June 22, 2023, introducing amendments to the Department of Employment and Social Development Act (and consequential amendments to other Acts) to establish a new independent tripartite EI Board of Appeal.

Legislation stipulated that the EI Board of Appeal will begin to receive EI appeals at a date to be set by Order in Council. Until the EI Board of Appeal is operational, the SST – General Division will continue to hear first-level appeals and continue to operate in parallel with the EI Board of Appeal during a transition period. This will ensure seamless operations until a date set by a second Order in Council dissolves the EI Section of the SST – General Division.

The Department of Employment and Social Development Act prescribes that:

The Executive Head, the Regional Coordinators and the presiding members are to be appointed by the Governor-in-Council; and,

Responsibility for appointing members representing the worker and employer communities is assigned to the Canada Employment Insurance Commission.

The Executive Head of the EI Board of Appeal was appointed on March 24, 2025, and is working closely with the Department in anticipation of onboarding and training of members.

The selection processes for members to be appointed by the Governor-in-Council and for the members to be appointed by the Canada Employment Insurance Commission were launched in 2024, to appoint and train the regionally dispersed members in advance of the EI Board of Appeal launch.

KEY FACTS

The Employment Insurance (EI) Board of Appeal is a new, tripartite, decision-making body to replace the existing EI Section of the Social Security Tribunal’s General Division, which will ensure greater regional representation and participation from employers, workers and government.

Legislation that was introduced under the Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1 in March 2023, to enable the creation of EI Board of Appeal, received royal assent and became law on June 22, 2023.

Since 2023, key activities to launch the EI Board of Appeal are well advanced, in anticipation of the Coming into Force date, which will be set by Order in Council. These include:

In 2024, the selection process for EI Board of Appeal member appointments was launched.

In March 2025, the Executive Head of the Board of Appeal was appointed.

In March 2025, the EI Board of Appeal Regulations were published in the Canada Gazette, Part II.