Thank you very much, Chair.
To our witnesses, thank you.
Ms. Hamill, thank you. I know it takes courage to come to committee to begin with, let alone to be vulnerable. I want to thank you for being willing to be so courageous in such a vulnerable time. Every time you share your story, you are being revictimized in a way. It brings up raw emotion.
I'm so sorry that this all happened during COVID. I had a baby in 2021 as well. I'm in a very rural riding and ended up having to be airlifted to the nearest hospital, which was three hours away. I had some experience in a neonatal centre during that terrible time. We couldn't even touch our babies. I am so sorry that this was the experience you had to navigate through in a very lonely place.
I'm very sorry as well about the experience you had to go through with Service Canada, a very bureaucratic, administrative place, which Ms. Venditti is probably familiar with. It isn't necessarily understanding, warm, friendly or compassionate. From a mother to a mother, I'm sorry, but I am so thankful that you have come here to share your story.
I spoke a little about this. I don't know if you're following the proceedings at all, but at the last committee meeting, we had the Cormiers here. MP Richards had a motion, a few parliaments back, to study this exact issue, and I had the privilege and opportunity to be on this committee at that time. The committee had robust recommendations. I was shocked at the stuff I was hearing.
One of the things the Cormiers said has shaped me as a parliamentarian: Compassion needs to be administered at every level of government, especially when we are here to serve the people and the departments are here to serve Canadians. That has really shaped me. I just want to emphasize the importance of sharing your testimony and your story, because that matters.
I will note that when we did that study, this committee had several recommendations that we sent to the government. The government then had a response. The government has known about these situations for a long time. They tabled a response on June 7, 2019. That was a long time ago.
From your conversations with other parents who might be in a similar situation, would you say their experiences with Service Canada were similar to yours?