Human Resources committee  I will be available.

Human Resources committee  I'm sorry, can you repeat that, please?

Human Resources committee  Yes, that's exactly what the bill is trying to do. The bill basically is extending both the eligibility window and the benefit period by the number of weeks that the parental leave is deferred.

Human Resources committee  Obviously, as soon as we extend the measure to people who go abroad voluntarily, who are in fact totally under their own authority, it opens the door to a variety of situations. It becomes a lot harder to figure out, under the act and the regulations, which groups of people shoul

Human Resources committee  It's exactly that.

Human Resources committee  I'm not sure I understand what you mean by its being in the purview of the committee. I'm not aware of all the rules of how the committee works. In terms of the amendment, I'm not sure that the way the amendment is written will do what you want it to do, because there's always t

Human Resources committee  Yes, I used a word similar to that. Basically what I'm saying is that right now when there are extensions to periods in the act, it's for people who have no choice. It's not based on a choice of the individual. Either the kids are, in some cases.... Particularly for the eligibili

Human Resources committee  Yes, I understand your question. As I said, to our knowledge, no other group is required by law to go on an overseas mission. In the other cases, the individuals have to volunteer to go, be it police officers or other Canadians. That is why this measure targets only military pers

Human Resources committee  If the government had intended or does intend to extend the measure to individuals who volunteer to go on humanitarian or other missions, I would think that is the sort of thing we could try to study to see how it could be done.

Human Resources committee  It is the context you described, in other words, if people volunteer. I said that, right now, the measure on the table consists of giving military personnel the extension because they do not have a choice: they are required to return to duty from parental leave or to defer their

Human Resources committee  That is not directly related to today's issues. It is important to remember that when parental leave was extended from 10 to 35 weeks, the window was 52 weeks. There was no extension. There was a case where we wound up in court, and the government lost. A woman was seeking sickn

Human Resources committee  There was no reason other than to determine what the underlying reason for the amendment was. The employment insurance program works in a specific way. Currently, the eligibility window for parental benefits cannot be extended unless the person's children are sick and in the hosp

Human Resources committee  We have not done any costing to see what it would cost to extend the measure to other people.

Human Resources committee  Again, the idea behind this bill was to help those whose situation is beyond their control and who cannot take their parental leave because they are required to return to duty. The window was extended for those people.

Human Resources committee  Individuals can claim parental benefits during a period of 52 weeks after the birth of a child. In fact, they can take 35 weeks of parental leave during that 52-week window. There is some flexibility within that 52-week period.