Question Period Note: IMPROVEMENTS TO THE APPEAL PROCESS FOR EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

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

• The Employment Insurance Board of Appeal will be a return to a locally based tripartite decision-making model for first-level Employment Insurance appeals, outside of the Social Security Tribunal.

• The Department is advancing key activities to ensure the successful launch of the Employment Insurance Board of Appeal, the date of which will be set by Order in Council. This includes Canada Employment Insurance Commission and Governor-in-Council selection processes for Board of Appeal members.

• The Executive Head of the Board of Appeal, who was appointed on March 24, 2025, is working closely with the Department to prepare for the onboarding and training of new members.

• The Board of Appeal Regulations were published in Canada Gazette, Part II on March 26, 2025, and will come into effect at the same time as the launch of the Employment Insurance Board of Appeal.

In August 2019, the Government at the time announced significant changes to the Employment Insurance (EI) and Income Security (IS) recourse processes. These changes included client-centric improvements within the Social Security Tribunal (SST) and a return to a locally based tripartite decision-making model for first-level EI appeals (called EI Board of Appeal) outside of the SST.

Over summer 2022, consultations were held to review issues previously raised by stakeholders and parliamentarians, to examine possible solutions and to identify any remaining concerns relating to the proposed legislation. In parallel, consultation in the form of an online survey, open to the public, was also conducted to review certain aspects of the EI appeal process.

Following these consultations with Canadians and stakeholders, Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1, which received Royal Assent on June 22, 2023, introduced amendments to the Department of Employment and Social Development Act (and consequential amendments to other Acts) to establish a new independent tripartite Board of Appeal. As a tripartite organization, the new EI Board of Appeal will represent the interests of government, workers and employers, helping put first-level EI appeal decisions back into the hands of those who pay into the EI system. Legislation stipulated that the tribunal will begin to receive EI appeals at a date to be set by Order in Council.

The EI Board of Appeal will hear first level EI appeals. Until the EI Board of Appeal is operational, the SST will continue to hear first- level EI appeals. To ensure seamless operations following the launch of the EI Board of Appeal, there will be a transition period during which the new Board of Appeal and the SST – General Division will run in parallel, 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 in subsections 43.02 and 43.03(1)(a) that the BOA positions for the Executive Head, the Regional Coordinators and the presiding members are to be appointed by the Governor-in-Council, whereas subsections 43.03(1)(b) and (c) assign the responsibility for appointing members representing the workers and employers communities to the Canada Employment Insurance Commission. The selection processes for members to be appointed by Governor-in-Council and for the members to be appointed by the Canada Employment Insurance Commission were launched in 2024, in order to appoint and train the regionally dispersed members in advance of the Board of Appeal launch.

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