Thanks very much.
I am joined by Sébastien St-Arnaud, who was with you in the last session as well.
I am going to briefly discuss the changes that are being proposed to the leave related to death or disappearance of a child, under part III of the Canada Labour Code.
In September 2018, the Government of Canada replaced the federal income support for parents of murdered or missing children grant program with the Canadian benefit for parents of young victims of crime. This was done in response to a 2017 report by the federal ombudsman for victims of crime, which recommended broadening eligibility for the program in order to mitigate barriers to uptake.
The new benefit includes a number of changes to make the income support more inclusive and flexible, including extending the age limit of the victim from under 18 to under 25; expanding eligibility to parents whose children under the age of 14 are a probable party to the crime; increasing the income support amount by $100 to $450 per week; doubling the period in which recipients can receive the benefit to 104 weeks in situations where the child disappeared; and allowing recipients to work up to 20 hours a week while receiving the benefit.
While the new benefit was introduced in 2018, the government did not have the opportunity to make corresponding changes to the leave related to death or disappearance under part III of the Canada Labour Code.
What is proposed here are amendments to part III of the Canada Labour Code that would align the leave related to death or disappearance of a child with the improved Canadian benefit for parents of young victims of crime, in order to provide employees in the federally regulated private sector with job protection while they receive the benefit.
These changes include extending eligibility for the leave to parents of children from under 18 to under 25 years of age, which recognizes the changing characteristics of Canadian families that see adult children staying with their parents beyond the age of 18.
They include increasing the maximum length of the leave from 52 to 104 weeks in instances where the employee is a parent to a child who has disappeared. With this change, eligible parents whose child has disappeared would be entitled to the same amount of leave as parents whose child has died.
They would increase the total amount of leave that may be taken by employees in respect to the disappearance of a child from 52 to 104 weeks, and this allows two or more parents of the same child who has disappeared to share up to 104 weeks of leave. This amendment reflects the change that extends the maximum duration of leave for parents of children who have disappeared from 52 to 104 weeks.
Finally, for parents of children under the age of 14, they would eliminate the exception that disentitles employees to the leave if the child was a party to the crime that led to their death.
I am happy to take your questions.