Mr. Speaker, the response is as follows:
a) The governor in council may appoint from among judges of the Federal Court such number of umpires as the governor in council considers necessary for the purposes of the Employment Insurance Act. In addition, the Employment Insurance Act allows for judges or former judges of a superior, county or district court or a judge or former judge appointed under an act of Parliament or the legislature of a province, to be appointed as an umpire. As of today, 42 judges are appointed as umpires.
b) Of the 42 umpires, 18 are bilingual.
c) Umpires are located throughout Canada and travel across Canada to hear employment insurance appeal cases.
d) Since there are sufficient bilingual umpires to hear appeals, the language does not have an impact on the length of time to process those appeals. The majority, around 85%, of appeals are heard within 6 months from the initial request to the hearing of the appeal. Those not scheduled within 6 months are cases where the appellants are located in remote areas which are only visited once a year depending on the volume of appeals. Locations include Whitehorse, Yellowknife, Sept-Iles.