Human Resources committee  We often ask the officers or the commission to talk to us first from the moment a representative is assigned to a case. Unfortunately, it has previously happened that an officer who needed additional information after the appeal—he was doing a second check after the appeal—directly called the claimant.

Human Resources committee  Consider the example of the Saint-Hyacinthe region. There are a large number of locations. The former CSST offices have small hearing rooms. There are those of the court house and offices in other buildings in the region that could be available to hold these hearings. They have the required equipment, recording devices, telephones, etc.

Human Resources committee  Please repeat your question. I don't understand the question.

Human Resources committee  I've never had any knowledge of that.

Human Resources committee  Of course, it would be preferable for a body independent of the board of referees and the commission to prepare the appeal docket. For the moment, it's the commission people who do it. The claimants or individuals appealing a decision thus automatically have some doubt. Furthermore, the hearing is normally held in the commission's offices, which casts even more doubt on the board of referees' impartiality.

Human Resources committee  As for the umpires, it's very long. Even if the claimant has found work, the period they want to recover is a period when he was in any case unemployed. There is a benefit period to be recovered, even if it's been 14 months.

Human Resources committee  It would definitely be good to have access to the statistics. They would supplement our own statistics that we keep locally. We nevertheless have good local statistical tables concerning situations in our area. As regards the assessors, if there are only two, generally we'll automatically recommend that people wait and file a postponement request, particularly if the assessor representing the worker is absent.

Human Resources committee  If the individual goes back to work and is no longer eligible for benefits, it is possible to recover the hours accumulated. Some people have banked hours. If the person's claim is denied because of misconduct or that person loses the 2,000 hours accumulated, that's quite significant.

Human Resources committee  Yes.

Human Resources committee  My first comment concerned people's ability to be represented. Now I would like to emphasize that, when a worker asks to be represented, a more meticulous job has to be done. A person who represents himself will do his work when he receives the appeal docket and has to go and pick up his documents.

Human Resources committee  Madam Chair, first I would like to thank you for inviting me to testify. I represent the Conseil national des chômeurs et chômeuses, which has designated one of its base groups to appear before you as a result of its experience with the boards of referees. I work for the Mouvement Action-Chômage de Saint-Hyacinthe.