Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Ballantyne on March 23, 1994 regarding injured workers' access to courts, following the appeals process. The honourable Member for Yellowknife North asked me on March 23 what recourse was available to workers who have exhausted the appeals process for workers' compensation.
The Workers' Compensation Act is quite specific about such cases.
Section 7.9(1) of the act states: "Subject to sections 7.7 and 7.8, a decision of the appeals tribunal on an appeal is final and conclusive." Section 7.9(2) states: "A decision of the appeals tribunal may not be questioned or reviewed in any court."
The only exceptions would be:
1. Where the board considers that the appeals tribunal has failed to properly apply the policy established by the board or has failed to comply with the provisions of the act or the regulations (section 7.7). In this case, the board may direct the appeals tribunal to rehear the appeal and give fair and reasonable consideration to that policy and those provisions. In doing so, the board may stay a decision, ruling or order of the appeals tribunal pending a rehearing of the appeal.
2. The appeals tribunal may vary a decision made by it and may, on its own motion, rehear an appeal (section 7.8).
3. A judicial review may be sought by an appellant where it is felt that the appeals tribunal has, for example, failed to follow the rules of natural justice, fettered its discretion, or exceeded its authority. In such cases, the court may only direct that the appeal be reheard and under what parameters but cannot change the appeal decision itself.