Amendment of Decision
I. The Legislation
The Commission, a Board of Referees or an Umpire may amend or rescind one of their decisions on one or more of the following grounds:
- the presentation of new facts;
- the decision-maker is satisfied that the decision was made without knowledge of some material fact;
- the decision-maker is satisfied that the decision was based upon a mistake as to some material fact.
Section 120 Employment Insurance Act
II. Purpose of the Legislation
If either the Commission, the Board of Referees or an Umpire decide a claim without being aware of an important document or piece of information, or without the affected party being able to present his or her point of view, the legislation allows them to re-open the case and correct the situation, either when the mistake is brought to its attention or it discovers the fact by its own means.
Briere v. C.E.I.C., [1989] 3 F.C. 88 (F.C.A.) A-637-86
Reconsideration of a decision by an Umpire on the basis of new facts is and should remain a rare commodity. Claimants are given a large number of opportunities to challenge the decisions affecting them and Umpires should be careful not to let the reconsideration process be abused by careless or ill-advised claimants.
Canada (A.G.) v. Chan (1994), 178 N.R. 372 (F.C.A.) A-185-94
III. What Constitutes New Facts
A different version of facts already known to the claimant, mere afterthoughts or the sudden realization of the consequences of acts done in the past are not "new facts". New facts, for the purpose of these provisions, are facts which either happened after the decision was rendered or had happened prior to the decision but could not have been discovered by a claimant acting diligently. In both cases the facts alleged must have been decisive of the issue put to the Umpire.
Canada(A.G.) v. Chan (1994), 178 N.R. 372 (F.C.A.) A-185-94
Mansour v. Canada (A.G.), A-145-00, october 30, 2001 (F.C.A.)