Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I thank the witnesses. It's interesting to hear different points of view, whether from a research perspective or from a human resources perspective. As for you, Ms. Hamill, you talked to us about the human aspect; you have my deepest sympathy, and I offer you my condolences. I don't think you ever fully recover from an experience like that. My daughter was born during the pandemic, and I think there needs to be research on the experience of pregnancy, childbirth and grief during that time. The pandemic added an emotional layer and prevented people from fully experiencing the ritual we should engage in to try to heal and take care of ourselves. It wasn't easy to do that in this context. I offer you my deepest condolences, and I thank you for your courage in continuing the fight. I imagine you're doing this in memory of your daughter and to spare others from going through this experience; we can feel that.
You said you didn't know how many weeks should be allowed under the bill. It's difficult to estimate the number of weeks needed. I'll come back to that with the researcher who mentioned it. Let's get back to the bill before us today. According to the Quebec parental insurance plan, people are entitled to 18 weeks, but the fact remains that it's hard to quantify.
We actually want a more comprehensive reform of employment insurance so that the Employment Insurance Act would be more humane, more feminist and more compassionate. Often, it is women who are penalized. There are still women who face discrimination and are unable to access employment insurance after maternity leave because they haven't accumulated the required number of weeks of work. The rules are not flexible enough and don't take women's situations into account. Our former colleague, Louise Chabot, fought for employment insurance reform.
As I said, it's hard to put into weeks the amount of time off required. Do you have any other measures to suggest to us? How many weeks do you think we should keep in mind, as legislators? In your experience, what could accompany this bill and help parents?