History of the Unemployment Insurance - 1983 Unemployment Insurance Act Amendments (Bill C-156)
Although the government had decided against comprehensive changes to the UI Act, it made some policy changes in 1983 on the basis of legal decisions and the UI Task Force recommendations.
Bill C-156 amended the Act by extending the variable entrance requirement provision for two years to June 1985. It also addressed other issues.
C-156 clarified the Commission’s authority to create rules for an unemployment insurance program for self-employed fishermen by regulation. A recent Supreme Court decision, the Vicky Silk case, had cast doubt on that authority. The bill also provided regulatory authority to implement some of the changes suggested by the Task Force on Atlantic Fisheries. These changes included a benefit period for winter fishermen, the use of the best 10 weeks of earning to calculate the benefit rate, and a rule that allowed fishing benefits only to those with a minimum of six weeks of fishing employment.
Maternity benefits were simplified to allow greater flexibility and fairness for women. The most significant change was the revocation of section 46 of the UI Act. It had denied any type of UI benefits in the period eight weeks before the expected birth to six weeks after the actual birth to women who were not entitled to maternity benefits. This was done despite the approval the Supreme Court of Canada had given to the section in the Bliss case of 1978.
After passage of C-156, there were several complaints under the Canadian Human Rights Act about the use of January 1, 1984 as the effective date of the revocation of section 46. A human rights tribunal ruled that since changes were made in June 1983 to include “pregnancy” as an additional ground of discrimination under the CHR Act, the revocation of section 46, also passed in June 1983, should have come into effect immediately instead of on January 1, 1984. The government filed an appeal with the Federal Court but later withdrew it.
The “magic 10” rule which had required maternity claimants to have 10 weeks of employment around the time of conception was also eliminated. In addition, the benefit period for maternity claims was made more flexible to allow for premature or delayed births and to allow pregnant women to claim regular or sickness benefits.
Adoption benefits were introduced for the first time. A maximum of 15 weeks of benefits became available to one or the other parent in the case of a placement toward legal adoption effective January 1, 1984.
Bill C-156 also included a provision to clarify the Commission’s authority to restrict or prohibit the payment of benefits during annual, repetitive off-work periods for occupations such as teacher and boat captain. Although the Commission had passed a regulation restricting the access of teachers to benefits during non-teaching periods in 1980 (see Chapter XVII), an Umpire ruled this was beyond the Commission’s authority. This provision in the legislation placed that regulatory ability on firmer legal footing for the summer of 1983.
