Human Resources committee  I don't believe the declaration of a conflict is a measure that's tracked—

Human Resources committee  —and monitored. The hearing is often just simply rescheduled, and the results are factored into the....

Human Resources committee  Yes, our duty is to deal with the training.

Human Resources committee  In French, this is the Conseil arbitral and the juges-arbitres, the Board of Referees and Umpires.

Human Resources committee  We are talking about the panel members of the Board of Referees, and not about referees.

Human Resources committee  I mentioned the factors that are taken into consideration when the decision is made to hold hearings in the Service Canada centres. The cost of renting a room is often very high, for one thing. Confidentiality and the protection of the information we have at the commission are al

Human Resources committee  That is an important point. There are administrative links between Service Canada and the boards of referees. These connections are necessary.

Human Resources committee  I would mention two things. As I mentioned in my remarks, when we first receive the appeal, the first step is to review the issue at hand. In many cases we will immediately conclude that there was an erroneous decision made and solve the matter right then. There's this first revi

Human Resources committee  This is before it even gets to the board of referees. We can review and take a second look at the actual decision that was made. That is the first step. The board of referees itself is generally a fairly informal hearing process compared to the more formal umpire hearing. There'

Human Resources committee  Our focus has been on trying to have a timely hearing. Our worry would be that if further steps were put in, it might slow down the ultimate hearing. It's not something we've actively considered.

Human Resources committee  I would have several things to say. First of all, most of the decisions of the Boards of Referees are unanimous. Differences of opinion among the panel members have not arisen very often. As I said, it is not up to me to talk about the appointment process. We have a role to play

Human Resources committee  It's in the range of 20%.

Human Resources committee  Yes, it's about 20% of client appeals, which is similar, as I was indicating earlier, in the success rate of client appeals to the board of referees, which I said was 22% to 24% on average.

Human Resources committee  The commission has an overall responsibility for the administration of the EI program and the responsibility to premium payers for lawful and appropriate administration of the program. It's a dual responsibility in terms of the rights of the claimant as well as upholding the inte

Human Resources committee  There are three members on the board, and a Governor in Council appointee.