One comment I would begin with is that the new entrant/re-entrant requirement under EI has had a disproportionately negative effect on new immigrants in large urban centres. In other words, it's not simply a case that it's hard for women who have been engaged in caregiving to get access to EI, under the 910-hour rule, but that it's been quite well-documented, including by my colleagues at the Caledon Institute and elsewhere, that this is a challenge for immigrants too, that it's important to look at the relationship between immigrant status and gender in looking at the situation.
And, of course, you mentioned the issue of rural women. I think, again, geography plays a very important role in these things.
One of the things that we've observed—I don't have the number handy, but I could certainly provide it—is that young people, particularly young women, and certainly young immigrant women, are having difficulty accessing EI as new entrants to the labour force.
So I would certainly emphasize that point and underscore that it's a population we should be studying. The value of funding for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada is that people who engage in this kind of research work can pursue research toward the very positive end of improving public policies like employment insurance.