Status of Women Committee on Dec. 10th, 2020

[Prof. Andrea Doucet]

I think we already have a carers day in Canada. There is one day devoted to carers. Is that correct, Nora?

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

No, there's no day specifically devoted to invisible work. The issue is much broader than just the work of caregivers. It also includes work in the family and volunteer work.

[Prof. Andrea Doucet]

That's a very good point. Volunteer work is a very, very important part of unpaid work. We've seen it through the pandemic. It's an important part of caring for our neighbours. I think with the climate crisis, the work that we need to do, the volunteer and community work that we need to do to care for our planet is going to become more important.

I think it's a great idea to have a larger carer day that recognizes all the invisible work that mainly women do. I like that idea.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Okay.

We'll go to Ms. Mathyssen for six minutes.

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you to the witnesses.

The Vanier Institute did a study which stated that over their lifetimes, 30% of employed women caregivers report missing at least one full day of work; 6.4% retire early or they quit or lost paid jobs; and 4.7% turn down job offers or promotions because they were trying to balance paid and unpaid care work.

During the pandemic, New Democrats pushed the government for some paid sick leave to cover COVID-related illness and time off that was required and we were successful. How could a permanent paid sick leave program and those kinds of provisions help with the balance and the stresses that a lot of people, mainly women, experience because of these responsibilities placed upon them?

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Whoever wants to answer, it's fine.

[Nora Spinks]

Madam Chair, I think the question about managing multiple responsibilities at home, work and in the community is critically important for us to understand. There are public supports and then there are workplace supports. Andrea can speak specifically about some of the leave provisions, but one of the things we've been exploring together is the concept of top-ups. We're all in this together, so if you're going to be on leave and you're going to be receiving benefits, a portion comes from the government through EI and often employers will top that up and either match or increase the amount of funds available for that employee when they are away.

That's one part. That's the predictable planned leave that we can manage in advance.

Then there are the short-term ones or the intense ones that are harder to manage and are harder to predict, but are often either the trigger or the final straw that results in somebody leaving the paid labour force. It's those unplanned, unexpected issues, like COVID, like mom breaking her hip or like a spouse having heart surgery.

Those kinds of situations you can't always predict are where we have a fairly big gap, and it's where the employee ends up bearing the brunt of that. They have to take time off, sometimes unpaid. They have to sometimes step right out of their career and take an unpaid leave or leave the workforce entirely. Often it's women and often, when it's related to elder care, it's later in their career path—not exclusively, but often—so it's a bigger financial hit, a bigger impact on their pensionable earnings and on their future earnings.

I think governments and public policy, but also employers and the labour movement, can work together to fill those gaps.

[Prof. Andrea Doucet]

To build on what Nora said, as you know, there are special benefits under EI—maternity and parental, compassionate and leave to care for a disabled family member—but as Nora said, the pandemic has demonstrated that we need a broader suite of special benefits if we're thinking about public policy.

In terms of parental leave, for example in Sweden, parental leave can be taken up to the child's age of eight, so they can respond to particular emergencies in the household, especially caregiving responsibilities, if the child is dealing with any mental health issues. This kind of thinking about leave beyond just the beginning and the end of life....

We've seen with the pandemic that all the way through life there are those moments of uncertainty. Women should not have to pay that high cost of leaving work, reducing work or jeopardizing their long-term economic earnings and pensions because of those uncertainties. I think public policy-wise, we could think more creatively about special benefits in a broader way.

Also, to build on what Nora was saying, the workplace policies are also really important. Nora Spinks and I are both involved in a project that is trying to put in place a caregiver standard in workplaces where employers would have a consistent way of working with employees when they have these caregiving responsibilities on a regular basis, if they're caring for an elderly person at home or a disabled family member. There needs to be some standard for this in workplaces so they, too, can accommodate workers, especially women, but hopefully men as well.

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

I do understand, because EI is so limited now, it has been cut back so much that expansions on that 55% are certainly not enough for the majority of people just to get by, so I understand. That is an excellent point.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

We will now go to our second round of questions.

Ms. Shin, you have five minutes.

[Nelly Shin, Conservative, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you so much.

I thank our witnesses this morning for providing us with their useful information, and things we need to step back and think more thoroughly through.

My first question has to do with mental health.

I recognize that a lot of unpaid care work comes through women who are not employed and in the workforce as well. They don't have access to workplace benefits, like mental health care and counselling services. There's probably a lot of stress and pressure. It's not easy taking care of people who are sick or going through hard times.

How do women who are unemployed but are providing this kind of care at home access support for mental health or support systems, especially during times, as you said, when these services are locked out? How are they accessing it? Are they accessing it? Are there any specific areas of mental health challenges they're expressing?

[Nora Spinks]

Mental health has been a concern for a long time. COVID has magnified, amplified and intensified the need for our understanding and recognition of the importance of mental health.

The research is clear. People who are trying to balance work and family and provide care during COVID are indicating their mental health has been impacted. We need to know where people are going for help. The first place they tend to go is their personal circle of support—their friends, colleagues, family members and extended family members. They're reaching out to each other. Then they go to their first circle of public support—usually their family physician. The family physicians are often the ones who have to give them the bad news that mental health services and treatment are really difficult to access. It's then that the pressure starts to build on these individuals and their families.

We have been conducting a study with family therapists across the country, and asking them what's coming through their doors. We're asking how well the therapists are doing, caring for those caregivers and those individuals dealing with their loneliness, anxieties and depression. We're seeing that family therapists, psychologists and sociologists across the country providing these services are finding that e-health and telehealth, providing counselling over the phone or over the Internet, is making it more accessible to more people. They're increasing access.

For some, they're indicating that it's increasing their effectiveness by being able to schedule these routines. They are also able to provide therapy while people are in their own environment. It provides them with a lot of information they wouldn't otherwise receive.

It's something we need to continue to monitor. Clearly, there is a shortage of mental health services. Certainly, from the COVID experience, telehealth and tele-counselling experiences are going to reshape mental health services for decades to come.

[Nelly Shin, Conservative, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Professor Doucet, do you have anything to add?

[Prof. Andrea Doucet]

The mental health dimensions of unpaid work are not looked at enough. I would go back to the issue of measurement and data. Time use studies have looked at people's stress in terms of time. Again, if we did follow-up qualitative work, we could tap into people's stresses around time pressures and not being able to get through everything they need to get through in the day because of all the demands on them.

The mental health part of this is critical. I agree with Nora that it's been revealed even more through COVID.

[Nelly Shin, Conservative, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Along the same lines, I would like to talk about respite and the opportunities for care workers, who are unpaid, to get a break. I've run into some single mothers in my constituency and other places. They have a very high need—

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Unfortunately, you're out of time.

We'll go now to Ms. Sidhu for five minutes.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to give some information. For mental health issues, especially for seniors who are in isolation, I am listening a lot, and I have talked to people in long-term care. I was so glad when the Prime Minister announced $240 million to develop, expand and launch virtual care, which is the Wellness Together portal. When adults need a helpline they can text front-line workers at 741741. I'm getting a lot of positive feedback on the virtual care.

My question is for Ms. Spinks and anybody else.

There are federal support initiatives, such as the Canada child benefit. I want to let you know that in my riding of Brampton South, the Canada child benefit has helped over 24,000 children a year. I know other members have heard that too. For example, in Ms. Sahota's riding, 37,000 children are getting the benefit.

Has your research indicated that the Canada child benefit has helped families to access child care so that parents are more able to participate in the workforce instead of being dependent? I know mostly women are taking on child care and are not being paid.

Madam Chair, I want to share my time with Marc after this question is answered.

[Nora Spinks]

The child care benefit has certainly had a positive impact on families and family life.

What we've been asking during COVID.... In the early days of COVID, one of the highest levels of stress and anxiety was related to financial stress. People were worried they weren't going to have adequate income. That was their number one stress.

Once the CERB, the CCB and the supplementary benefits started to roll out, the financial anxiety started to decrease and other anxieties started to increase because of isolation. As somebody mentioned earlier, there was a need for respite, breaks and rest.

One of the things we have been documenting very clearly over the last several months is that people are running full out, non-stop. There are no breaks. There is no rest. There are no weekends. People are working. If you're working outside the home in the service sector or the health care sector, your hours have gone up; the demands on you have gone up and your number of shifts has gone up. If you're working from home, you are working well into the night and over weekends.

We really need to understand how significant financial assistance is in tempering the anxiety that people are feeling. This is the CERB, the CCB and some of the EI benefits that Andrea mentioned, with the extension of some of the available caregiver relief benefits that are targeted specifically to either veteran families or low-income families. Financial security makes a huge difference.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Monsieur Serré.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Ms. Sidhu.

I am really proud that our government brought in shared parental leave. That's very important.

In 1994 and 1997, with the birth of my two girls, I was eligible for only 10 weeks of parental leave because my wife and I chose her to stay at home. She was eligible, at the time, for 25 weeks, so it was not even equal. I wondered why women could access 25 weeks and men couldn't access 25 weeks. I had only 10 weeks.

I want to know get your perspective. I don't have much time right now, with 30 seconds left, but can you provide the committee with any data or recommendations on why men should have an equal amount of parental leave? If women finish after six months, why can't the men access the other six months? Why is it not equal for men and women? As everyone says, men have to be part of this, but the system discriminates against men, if I may say it that way.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Now you're out of time.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Can you provide the committee—

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

I'm sorry.

Now we'll go Madam Larouche for two and a half minutes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

My thanks to the witnesses again.

Earlier, you touched on a subject that Mr. Serré has just mentioned again, namely the role of men and how they can contribute to the family environment and do the invisible work.

I would also like to highlight the incredible success of paternity leave in Quebec. The numbers are impressive. Until 2006, only one Quebec father in five took a few days of parental leave; outside Quebec, only 10% to 15% of Canadian fathers took it. Today, 80% of Quebec fathers stop working when a child is born to care for the child for several weeks.

So the Quebec parental insurance plan, which replaced the Canadian parental leave in Quebec, has made a big difference for new fathers. It created a paternity leave reserved for them alone, which is not even transferable to the mother. This was an extraordinary step forward.

What measures could be created at the federal level to further encourage fathers? What other barriers could be removed to help fathers play more of a role in the family and do more of the invisible work?

[Prof. Andrea Doucet]

Thank you for raising the issue of fathers and paternity leave and highlighting how well Quebec has done on that front. You're absolutely right. More than eight out of 10 fathers take leave in Quebec, and one in 10 fathers in the rest of Canada.

What we can learn from Quebec is that the parental sharing benefit the federal government put in was a great move, but it didn't go far enough. The wage replacement rate is low compared to international standards. International commentators have argued that it should be at least 70% so that fathers can actually bargain with their workplaces and can actually take it or can feel that the family can afford for fathers to take leave.

The parental sharing benefit in Canada, unlike the QPIP benefit in Quebec, is not an individual non-transferable entitlement. It's actually dependent on the first parent or the mother. If the mother takes leave, then the father can take the parental sharing benefit, but we know that one-third of mothers in Canada do not receive benefits. There's already a disadvantage built in, and less economically advantaged families will be affected by that. We need to learn more from Quebec. I really think that we should just adopt a very similar model.