About the Index
The Index of Jurisprudence is a supplement to the Digest of Benefit Entitlement Principles. The Digest contains the application policy of the Canada Employment Insurance Commission (CEIC) in regard to entitlement issues under the Employment Insurance (EI) Act and its Regulations such as Antedating, Earnings, Voluntarily Leaving Employment, Availability for Work, etc.
The Digest provides guidance based on jurisprudence whereas the Index is a search tool providing access to a database of summaries of jurisprudential decisions, categorized by issues and sub-issues. The Index is a supplement in that it can be used to find relevant and recent jurisprudence not referred to in the Digest - it does not provide guidance. Service Canada agents must rely on the Digest and periodically issued Bulletins for guidance.
The Index is primarily intended to provide Service Canada agents with significant and relevant decisions that support the entitlement application policy of the CEIC under the EI Act and its Regulations. Two useful features of the Index are the listings, Last 200 CUBS selected and Last 100 Court Decisions. Here the searcher will find the most recently authored summaries.
Both the Digest and the Index are maintained by Benefit Entitlement of the Policy, Appeals and Quality Directorate (PAQD) of Service Canada.
There are some 7,000 decisions of the Umpire currently in the Index, or CUBs as they are known (CUB standing for Canadian Umpire Benefit). Authors of CUBs currently and generally are judges of the Federal Court of Canada.
There are some 35 decisions of the Federal Court (FC) and some 1,200 decisions of the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) in the Index. Decisions of the FCA take precedence over Umpire decisions and FC decisions. There are some 15 decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada in the Index.
Other various search capabilities for EI related jurisprudence exist under the Jurisprudence Library, maintained by Appeals Services of the Policy, Appeals and Quality Directorate of Service Canada. All decisions highlighted in the Index are located in the repository of decisions maintained by Appeals Services in both official languages.
The number of CUBs is at the 70,000 mark and the number of FCA decisions has grown significantly in recent years. The Index is in need of housekeeping. Changes will be made over the coming year to improve its efficiency and effectiveness.