Thank you very much. I realize how difficult it is for everybody to be here today, especially in your role, because you're following whatever the system is. It's up to legislators to change the system if that's what it comes down to, but the information you're giving us is on the current system. I know you wanted to add something, so I'll give you a quick second to add what you wanted to say.

9:30 a.m.

Director, Employment Insurance Policy, Special Benefits Policy, Department of Employment and Social Development

Rutha Astravas

Thank you.

You made a comment about the steps that parents have to take to report a death. I would just like to add that there is a process currently for any family member to report a death to Service Canada, whether it's a parent, child, or whatnot. That's necessary because you need to cancel existing benefits at the federal and provincial levels, including the identification cards and programs and benefits that the person is receiving. It's just part of the process of dealing with someone's death, and that is a standard process.

9:35 a.m.

Liberal

Dan Ruimy Liberal Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC

Thank you.

I have a quicker question, just for confirmation. You need 600 hours to qualify, so if you have 500 hours, you're out of luck. Is that correct?

9:35 a.m.

Director General, Employment Insurance Policy Directorate, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Andrew Brown

Correct.

9:35 a.m.

Liberal

Dan Ruimy Liberal Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC

For parents who are on parental benefits, if the child dies, the benefit stops in the week that they die, as you mentioned. Is there an opportunity for them to claim sickness benefits? If the doctor says, “Yes, you have PTSD”, for instance, would they then be able to qualify for that?

9:35 a.m.

Director General, Employment Insurance Policy Directorate, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Andrew Brown

Yes, they would. Someone who has already qualified and is receiving parental benefits would be able to switch from parental benefits to sickness benefits, and there need not be a gap between those two benefits.

9:35 a.m.

Liberal

Dan Ruimy Liberal Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC

Perfect. That's what I was looking for. There is no gap.

Just for clarification, in the case of maternity benefits, if the child passes away, their benefits continue, right?

9:35 a.m.

Director General, Employment Insurance Policy Directorate, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Andrew Brown

Yes.

9:35 a.m.

Liberal

Dan Ruimy Liberal Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC

What happens in the case of parental benefits for birth or adoptive or same-sex parents?

9:35 a.m.

Director General, Employment Insurance Policy Directorate, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Andrew Brown

If it's parental benefits—

9:35 a.m.

Liberal

Dan Ruimy Liberal Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC

It's the same thing.

9:35 a.m.

Director General, Employment Insurance Policy Directorate, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Andrew Brown

—it's the same thing. The parental benefits end, while maternity benefits can continue because they're for a different purpose.

9:35 a.m.

Liberal

Dan Ruimy Liberal Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC

In the case of the family caregiver benefit, how does that work? What I'm reading says what happens if there's an illness or injury, but it doesn't say what happens if somebody dies. How does that work for the caregiver benefits?

9:35 a.m.

Director General, Employment Insurance Policy Directorate, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Andrew Brown

The caregiver benefits are for the family member who is still living but may be in a critically ill situation, or even in a gravely ill situation. They're payable when someone is providing care to that individual. In the event that the family member dies, the benefits end the same week of that individual's death. In those cases, just as with parental benefits, the benefit is linked to providing care to that person; therefore, when the person dies, we are no longer able to pay the benefit.

9:35 a.m.

Liberal

Dan Ruimy Liberal Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC

Then again, if I go to my doctor and I get the necessary....

9:35 a.m.

Director General, Employment Insurance Policy Directorate, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Andrew Brown

With a certificate indicating that you are unable to work, you may be able to switch from that caregiving benefit to sickness benefits.

9:35 a.m.

Liberal

Dan Ruimy Liberal Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC

That's fairly seamless, if you have the right certificate.

9:35 a.m.

Director General, Employment Insurance Policy Directorate, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Andrew Brown

That's right.

9:35 a.m.

Liberal

Dan Ruimy Liberal Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC

I guess my next question is how difficult that is. What would the criteria be? Would you have to prove mental health issues? That's going to be the challenge, is it not?

9:35 a.m.

Director General, Employment Insurance Policy Directorate, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Andrew Brown

In the case of sickness benefits, all that we require is a note from the doctor that indicates that this person is not able to work due to a medical reason for this period. We don't even require that there be a specific form, but we do require that it indicate that the person is incapable of working due to injury or illness, a medical reason.

9:35 a.m.

Liberal

Dan Ruimy Liberal Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC

Okay.

Again, I just want to reiterate that—and I understand that we've all said it—data is key. We're going to need to figure out a way to know, without breaching privacy laws, what those statistics are. How much is the uptake? Without this, it's very difficult to make law. We're going to have to figure out that part.

Given all the questions that we're asking here, do you see a way forward that stands out for you?

9:35 a.m.

Director General, Employment Insurance Policy Directorate, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Andrew Brown

I guess there are different aspects of the issue. It depends what aspects we're prioritizing to solve.

In terms of other stakeholders, we've had people requesting different kinds of changes to the EI program. One that we've heard from the Canadian Cancer Society, for example, has been to take a look at allowing benefits to continue to be paid for some sort of a grace period, I'll call it—for compassionate reasons, to allow the benefit to continue to be paid for a period of time before it's cut off, perhaps a few weeks. That might also allow the person some time to prepare to return to work. It could also allow the employer some time to prepare for the return of the employee. It's also important to remember that it's not just the person but, in terms of returning to a job, the workplace that they're returning to. That's been one thing that's been suggested.

I think otherwise what we've heard here was about the access requirements to the program in the first place, but I would just say that an important thing from our perspective is remembering that it's a big program, so we're looking for clear criteria rather than flexibility. That is a challenging thing to administer in a large program.

9:35 a.m.

Liberal

Dan Ruimy Liberal Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC

Thank you.

9:40 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Bryan May

MP Falk, you have five minutes, please.

9:40 a.m.

Conservative

Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK

Thank you for being here today. Thank you for your brief presentation.

I have a question that I think is going to follow up with Mr. Ruimy's question. I guess I want to hear confirmation.

Maternity leave is for the mother who births the child. That's what maternity leave is for. Adoptive parents and same-sex couples, who don't birth a child, do not receive the maternity benefits. If their child dies while they are receiving parental benefits, that is it.