Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for the invitation to join you today for this important conversation.
I am here today speaking in support of Evan's law.
As a member of this committee, you will hear from HR professionals and frontline managers who have grieving parents return to work before they are ready and sit in meetings crying quietly. You will hear from health care professionals who hold the hands of their grieving patients and know that on top of their grief, they will also lose access to EI benefits but know now is not the time to share that information.
Most importantly, you will hear from families who have experienced the unimaginable, the loss every parent fears: the loss of an infant and the loss of their hopes and dreams for a life that will not be. You will hear from families about their pain and their grief. You will hear about their experiences and frustrations with the EI system, which was never designed to include support for grieving parents. You will hear about what it feels like when they receive a letter from Service Canada, demanding that they pay back the benefits they inadvertently received, because they are no longer eligible and because they didn't inform Service Canada quickly enough about their loss in order to stop those payments in the first place. You will hear from them how under the current EI program, grieving families are excluded and prevented from receiving fair treatment.
My name is Nora Spinks. As the chairman stated, I'm the CEO of Work-Life Harmony. Today, I bring a policy perspective to this conversation. I've been informing federal family policy for several decades. In the past, I was involved in informing change to extend maternity and parental leave options to include both a 12-month and an 18-month benefit.
I was involved in developing the compassionate care benefit, which is now available under the EI program; the CCB provides people on temporary leave up to six months' worth of benefits to care for somebody who is at the end of life.
Recently, as the chair of the National Seniors Council, I was involved in advising the ministers of health and seniors on policy and benefits for older adults in Canada.
As the current chair of Veterans Affairs' ministerial family advisory group, I am involved in informing policies focusing on the well-being and quality of life of veterans and veteran families, such as the introduction of the veteran caregiver recognition benefit.
Good public policy is fair and equitable, without barriers to access and with minimal administrative burden. The late Jane Jacobs, an influential Canadian activist who shaped our policies designed to enhance quality of life, was once credited as saying that good public policy comes when decision-makers see in their mind's eye the people most affected by it.
Evan's law is good public policy. Evan's law reduces barriers to EI benefits and reduces administrative burden for grieving families. Evan's law recognizes and supports families that experience the unimaginable. Evan's law improves the grieving family's quality of life. Evan's law sends a message to all families, especially to grieving families, that the Government of Canada sees you, hears you and is here to support you in your time of unimaginable grief. With Evan's law, families will no longer have to remember to contact Service Canada when the item at the top of their to-do list is to pick out a coffin for their infant.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.