Human Resources Committee on Nov. 22nd, 2018

Evidence of meeting #126 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was information.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

Supporting Families After the Loss of a Child

MPs speaking

Also speaking

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

Ron Gravel Acting Director, Health Statistics Division, Statistics Canada

Valérie Gaston Chief Vital Statistics, Health Statistics Division, Statistics Canada

John Barlow Foothills, CPC

Michael MacPhee Director General, Employment Insurance Program and Services Oversight, Transformation and Integrated Service Management Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Blake Richards Banff—Airdrie, CPC

9:40 a.m.

Liberal

Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE

How simplified is the process? It looks as though it might be a model you could look at for the loss of a child in other circumstances.

Who introduces the family member to this particular program? How do they become aware of it?

9:40 a.m.

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

Rutha Astravas

There is information on that grant on the departmental website, as well as links from Justice Canada on different victim services. I'm aware that the department has done engagement with different community supports, with different levels of government, to make them aware of the grant and the corresponding leave that is offered.

9:40 a.m.

Liberal

Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE

I was not aware of that until I read the briefing notes. I'm not sure if any of the committee members might have been. However, it's an interesting model to look at.

You're not aware of the eligibility criteria. It's simply the loss of a child.

9:40 a.m.

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

Rutha Astravas

I don't want to err on this, because it is a separate grant, and more information is available—

9:40 a.m.

Liberal

Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE

Could you get the information back to the committee on the eligibility criteria?

9:40 a.m.

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

Rutha Astravas

We could follow up on that.

9:40 a.m.

Liberal

Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE

I would like to know a little more specifically how the information is processed to the parent, if you could provide that to the committee.

Chair, how is my time?

9:40 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Bryan May

You have 30 seconds.

9:40 a.m.

Liberal

Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE

You might not have this at Statistics Canada, but would you have a statistic on how long bereaved parents take before returning to work? Would this be information that StatsCan might have?

9:45 a.m.

Acting Director, Health Statistics Division, Statistics Canada

Ron Gravel

That is not under the responsibility of my health statistics program, but I could look into it and get back to you guys.

9:45 a.m.

Liberal

Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE

Could you answer that question, and at the same time, in your experience, tell us if bereaved family members return to doing the same job or type of work as they did before?

The other part I would like to know, if you could provide it to the committee, is what effect the death of a child has on the long-term labour force attachment of the parent.

9:45 a.m.

Acting Director, Health Statistics Division, Statistics Canada

Ron Gravel

Okay.

9:45 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Bryan May

Thank you.

Go ahead, MP Richards. You have five minutes.

9:45 a.m.

Blake Richards Banff—Airdrie, CPC

Great.

Has Service Canada or the Department of Employment and Social Development done any research on implementing anything that's being done in this study or through the motion that preceded the study? Has any research been done at all?

9:45 a.m.

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

Rutha Astravas

The simple answer is no. We are coming to this committee to learn and also to present what is currently available.

9:45 a.m.

Banff—Airdrie, CPC

Blake Richards

Okay. Was any briefing note provided to the minister about this that you are aware of?

9:45 a.m.

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

Rutha Astravas

As part of the motions process, there is a position paper prepared that analyzes the text of the motion.

9:45 a.m.

Banff—Airdrie, CPC

Blake Richards

Is there anything in the background work that was done for that, that could be provided to this committee?

9:45 a.m.

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

Rutha Astravas

I'm not aware of what is or isn't provided to parliamentarians, but I will ask departmental officials to look into that.

9:45 a.m.

Banff—Airdrie, CPC

Blake Richards

Okay. If you could please check into that and provide through our clerk anything that can be provided to this committee for our information, it would be appreciated. Thank you.

The information we were provided this morning indicated that 1,741 children under the age of one passed away in 2016. Could you tell me whether Service Canada has had any experience in dealing with those people, and how many of those people would Service Canada have dealt with, in particular with regard to having benefits either cancelled or changed?

9:45 a.m.

Director General, Employment Insurance Program and Services Oversight, Transformation and Integrated Service Management Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Michael MacPhee

We wouldn't have any of that information available at this point in time. We'd have to look back through the information that we do have available.

9:45 a.m.

Banff—Airdrie, CPC

Blake Richards

I'm a little frustrated by that, because the ongoing theme this morning for most of the questions that have been asked is that there isn't an answer for them. You knew you were coming here. You could probably anticipate the types of questions we would ask. I would have thought you would have done some preparation and been able to answer some of our questions. Frankly, I do find that a bit frustrating.

I would ask that you go back and please provide the information on that to our committee through the clerk. It should be available to you. Please, could you endeavour to get that back to this committee as well? That would be appreciated.

Let me turn to the young victims of crime grant. It was discussed a bit earlier. My understanding is that there is actually a specialized phone line or website, or maybe both, for people who are experiencing that unfortunate circumstance. Is that accurate? Is that true? Is that something that is available?

9:45 a.m.

Director General, Employment Insurance Program and Services Oversight, Transformation and Integrated Service Management Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Michael MacPhee

It is treated as a separate grant and is managed through a different group of resources, both from a processing perspective and from a call perspective.

9:45 a.m.

Banff—Airdrie, CPC

Blake Richards

Okay, so people do have a special dedicated line that they can call in that circumstance.

9:45 a.m.

Director General, Employment Insurance Program and Services Oversight, Transformation and Integrated Service Management Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Michael MacPhee

I have to confirm whether it is a special dedicated line specifically for parents of young victims of crime or part of another service. We can confirm that.