Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good morning. I am Denise Page, Senior Health Policy Analyst for the Canadian Cancer Society.
On behalf of cancer patients and their families, we thank the committee for giving us this opportunity to speak about problems in access to special benefits and to highlight the improvements Bill C-44 will bring.
The Canadian Cancer Society is a national, community-based organization of volunteers whose mission is to eradicate cancer and enhance the quality of life of people with cancer. For a few years, the society has been calling for special benefits for parents of children with cancer. We want those benefits to reflect the reality the parents face. Currently, the only benefits parents have the right to are six weeks of compassionate care benefits, if a physician certifies the death of their child in the next six months.
I want to begin by talking to you briefly about childhood cancer. It is estimated that, in 2012, 1,400 children will be diagnosed with cancer and 160 will die from the disease. Although the five-year survival rate, for several types of childhood cancer, is 82%, cancer remains the second leading cause of death in children over one month of age, after accidents.
We are recommending that the committee ensure the flexibility of the new benefit program for parents, and here is why. The progression and the treatment of the disease vary depending on the cancer type and the child. Although each patient is different, chemotherapy treatment, for a child, takes about six months, but it can range from three to twelve months.
When radiation therapy is used as the main cancer treatment, it is usually administered once a day, five days a week, over three to eight weeks. Treatment may also be longer, and hospitalization periods may be more frequent or longer—or both—and not always ongoing. In addition, specialized pediatric oncology treatment is available only in certain Canadian cities, so many parents have to travel more than 100 km to have access to the required medical care for their child.
Taking care of one's child after a cancer diagnosis is not optional. It is critical for parents to participate 24/7 in the care of their child.
Cancer in children and youth creates a disproportionate impact on health and social services systems, as well as on the economy. Having a child with cancer is a difficult experience whose significant repercussions go beyond treatment. An estimated two-thirds of childhood cancer survivors have at least one chronic or late-occurring effect from their cancer therapy, and up to one-third of these late effects are considered major, serious or life-threatening.
One of the important things for this committee to keep in mind is that, in the case of cancer, more children are treated over a longer period of time, but not always on an ongoing basis. Cancer treatment is episodic. Pediatricians strongly encourage that children resume a normal life as soon as they feel better.
For that reason, we recommend the committee ensure that the program is flexible, so that parents can take time off from work when necessary, and resume a normal life when their child does. The idea is to recognize the non-continuity of treatments and the flexibility regarding benefit renewal in the event of a relapse or late side effects.
I will now briefly talk to you about combined benefits. Ms. Kittmer will be able to explain that better by sharing her personal story.
The combining of benefits is an important improvement that will stem from Bill C-44. It will allow an individual receiving parental benefits to claim sickness benefits in case of illness. Cancer cases during or following a pregnancy are not very common. The type of cancer most often related to pregnancy is breast cancer. We don't know exactly how many women in Canada are affected, as that data is not collected. However, in the United States, 227,000 breast cancer cases are diagnosed annually, 7,000 of which are supposedly related to pregnancy.
Like Ms. Kittmer, many women told us about how difficult it was for them to access sickness benefits. They were going through the best time of their life and their worst nightmare at the same time. They are very happy about this improvement.
Unfortunately, given the surgery, chemotherapy treatments and radiation treatments involved, the 15 weeks of sickness benefits expire before the end of treatment. We are recommending that the committee ensure the program's flexibility when it comes to combined benefits, so that it will be easier for parents to go from sickness benefits to parental leave during the treatment, or vice versa, and so have the time to recover without losing any quality time with their child.
The job protection component of this legislation will help many Canadian families. As a number of people have mentioned, this will unfortunately not apply to many jobs that come under provincial and territorial legislation. That is why the Canadian Cancer Society is urging the committee to ask the federal government—at the next meeting of the relevant federal, provincial and territorial ministers—for a clear commitment to discussing the need to amend provincial and territorial legislation in order to provide the same job protection to all Canadians.
Last February, the Minister of Finance said that the new family caregivers tax credit is a first step. We see this bill as another important step. We will work with the members of this committee and all the governments on moving this issue forward. The Canadian Cancer Society feels that the next key step is to enhance sickness benefits.
Thank you.
Ms. Kittmer will now share her story.