Mr. Speaker, the response is as follows: a) A total of 3.91 million applications for EI benefits were submitted electronically between September 1, 2008 and November 5, 2009. Paper applications are only given out in exceptional situations and account for approximately 1% of the total applications received.
b) Women represent 40.6% of this volume of applications. The ratio of denied claims is not available by gender.
c) The percentages of (a) that were full time or part time workers are not available.
d) The percentages of (a) that were the result of: (i) Job Loss = 73.5% (ii) Maternity/Parental leave = 11.8% (iii) Compassionate Care leave = .05%
e) There are 323,259 women with active claims that have the potential to receive extended benefits under the legislative changes in Bill C-50, An Act to Amend the Employment Insurance Act.
All women who have or have had active claims in 2009 and 2010 are eligible for the 5 additional weeks of regular benefits provided by budget 2009.
Of over 2.7 million Canadians who are self-employed, over 940,000 of those are women, or approximately 35%. These women are now eligible to register for EI special benefits, which the government introduced in Bill C-56, the Fairness for the Self-Employed Act, which was passed and received royal assent in Fall 2009.
As announced in budget 2010, all Canadians who have a close family member murdered as a result of a crime will be more easily able to access EI sickness benefits, as a part of enhancements to the federal victims strategy.
And the government recently tabled legislation to provide all members of the Canadian Forces with better and more flexible access to EI parental benefits that are interrupted or deferred due to mandatory deployment.