Human Resources committee  Work provides a number of important considerations. For people with MS, for example, being able to work makes them able to continue with their benefits in terms of their disease-modifying therapies, which actually have been shown in study after study to reduce disability. Of cour

Human Resources committee  Thank you for the question. Yes, I think there are multiple benefit programs that could be better coordinated with EI sickness benefits, from provincial and territorial programs to the program you spoke of, which is the Canada pension plan disability benefit. One of the things

Human Resources committee  Thank you for that. Yes, I think there should be acknowledgement regarding the changes to working while on sickness benefits included in the EI system benefits. It's an important change that has been made and it supports keeping people attached to the workforce and being able to

Human Resources committee  Thank you for the question and thank you for highlighting that very important report of this committee around episodic disabilities. It was, I think, 20 years in the making when it came to the HUMA committee. Many of the conditions and diseases that are considered episodic, inc

Human Resources committee  It's interesting. The MS Society over the last few years has really looked at the extension piece and has worked with a lot of different organizations, the Canadian Cancer Society being one, and the Canadian Labour Congress and others, employers included, and round tables. Back

Human Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon. My name is Julie Kelndorfer, and I'm the director of government and community relations for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. I'm also one of the 90,000 Canadians who live with MS in Canada, a country with one of the highest rates of

Human Resources committee  I want to point to those four studies I'm going to send to the clerk, which speak specifically to the employer's perspective and the importance of that.

Human Resources committee  Thank you for your question. That's an interesting one. I'd not actually ever heard or even thought about that piece, in terms of the denial. We typically hear that people want to appeal, or we hear their frustrations. I don't know about you, Drew, but I haven't really heard abo

Human Resources committee  Thank you for the comments and questions. This is very challenging, for sure. I think any decisions that are made to change the support programs, yes, need to take in those considerations. I think also that there's an economic and a basic need for people to be taken care of. Per

Human Resources committee  Yes, I know. It's a catch-22.

Human Resources committee  I think we do it all the time. Drew, maybe you want to speak to this too. But yes, it's important for us as organizations to advocate for improved quality of life for people with MS and other disabilities, for whatever needs to happen in order to change things. I think there

Human Resources committee  In terms of wait and the appropriate use of medical practitioners, I think it also speaks to the programs, where we ask for medical certification and by whom. I think that's also part of the issue for people with episodic disabilities, and people with disabilities as well. You ha

Human Resources committee  Yes. There are two Conference Board reports in the “MS in the Workplace” series. There's also the Public Policy Forum work on “Condition Chronic”. The fourth one I'll mention is the Institute for Research on Public Policy. It's called “Leaving Some Behind: What Happens When Worke

Human Resources committee  In terms of the EI sickness benefit program.... First of all, in regard to the clawback you talked about and how they're worse off if they work. For example, a person with MS who is experiencing a relapse and is only available to work part time, they get docked, then, dollar for

Human Resources committee  The MS Society has been involved with the Conference Board of Canada as well as the Public Policy Forum. They have looked at MS in the workplace. The Public Policy Forum report called “Condition Chronic” looks at chronic disability and diseases. If you look at the key messages i