I just keep thinking about one thing, although I don't know if it has been raised before. The person already raised the point about extended health benefits. I do want to mention that we've talked about whether 12 weeks is enough and whether it's automatic enough.
One thing we haven't really talked about is how people get access to bereavement support if there is no organization in their area. We have many rural areas where it would be difficult to get in-person support.
I was wondering if the committee would consider something. If we know that it's really dependent on the extended health plan that someone might have to get any type of funding for counselling—and it is actually quite expensive—maybe we could talk about a benefit. It could be part of such a benefit that if this automatic benefit kicks in, there is going to be a schedule, a bare minimum of support that a counsellor offers.
Again, I'm not saying everybody has to take up that help. Maybe some people don't want it. If people are looking for support and there's nothing in their area, how do we pick that up? If they don't have extended health, and they can't go to a registered counsellor anywhere in their area or they can't afford it, is there something the government would do? Would it be prepared to fund three sessions, as a bare minimum, so that someone can at least pick up the phone and check in with somebody who's specifically trained on bereavement? This is particularly for those who are not in metropolitan areas where there might be support organizations that are peer-to-peer or volunteer run. We should not have people fall through the cracks in those areas.