Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for the opportunity to speak to you today.
My daughter Lyrica died on New Year's Eve in 2021 from complications related to her congenital heart defect. She was seven and a half months old. Lyrica had what we always called “rock star hair”. In her short life, she had undergone two open-heart surgeries. One was expected shortly after birth and the second came unexpectedly during a routine checkup.
Each time, my husband and I stayed in the hospital in Toronto for about a month while she was an in-patient. Because this was 2021 during the height of COVID restrictions, visitors were not allowed. Our older daughter Octavia, who was two and a half at the time, had to stay with family while we were there. We were unable to see her during those hospital stays. Octavia adored her baby sister. She is deeply missed by our family, and her loss continues to ripple through our daily lives.
The days and weeks after Lyrica died are not entirely clear in my memory. Like many parents in shock and grief, we were simply trying to navigate what needed to happen next, which for us was caring for Octavia. Within the week, I had to tell two separate people at Service Canada what had just happened. During that conversation, I was told that because my daughter had died, my maternity and parental benefits could not continue as they had been, and I had already accrued a $300 debt.
They did explain that I could transition to sick leave benefits. However, my employer does offer short- and long-term disability coverage that provided higher pay options with much less administrative burden, and we chose that option. My husband's employer offered the same. In that sense, we were fortunate. We continued to have income and job protection during that time. I am very aware that many families do not have that option.
Parents who are grieving the loss of a child are barely hanging on to routine daily tasks. Navigating new benefit claims, paperwork or potential repayments during those early days was an overwhelming burden.
Seeing that legislation like this has been attempted in the past, at a time when it might have been in place before my daughter died, makes this issue feel especially important for me. What happened in my situation is something that could and should have been prevented. No parent who has lost a child should have to navigate government paperwork or repay benefits while they are still in the earliest days of grief.
Thank you for the opportunity to share my experience and to support this important change.