Bill C-222, the proposed Relieving Grieving Parents of an Administrative Burden Act (Evan’s Law), would amend the Employment Insurance Act and the Canada Labour Code. Its stated goal is to keep certain Employment Insurance benefits payable after a child dies and to extend bereavement leave in specified cases. It is not in force: if enacted, it would start on the first Sunday after six months from Royal Assent, unless an earlier date is set by order.
For certain Employment Insurance claims, a claimant would be treated as continuing to care for a newborn or a child placed with them for adoption until the benefit period ends, even if the child dies during that period.
The same change would apply to the specified benefits for self-employed people. In both cases, no new claim or report would be required to prove continued eligibility.
The Employment Insurance change would not apply if the claimant is convicted of an offence that caused the child’s death.
Employees covered by the Canada Labour Code would be entitled to up to 10 weeks of leave when their child, or their spouse or common-law partner’s child, dies. The bill sets a period in which the leave may be taken, and a separate, potentially longer period for some deaths during section 206 leave.
Transitional rules would apply to some employees when the changes start, including allowing one additional leave period for certain employees who had already taken two periods.
Employment Insurance claimants and self-employed people: If you receive one of the benefits covered by the bill to care for a newborn or a child placed with you for adoption, the child’s death during the benefit period would not, by itself, end your eligibility for the rest of that period. You would not need to file a new claim or report to prove continued eligibility. The exception is a conviction for an offence that caused the child’s death.
Employees covered by the Canada Labour Code: You would be entitled to up to 10 weeks of leave after the death of your child or your spouse or common-law partner’s child. The leave could be taken from the date of death until 12 weeks after the latest funeral, burial or memorial service.
Employees whose child dies while they are on, or entitled to, section 206 leave: A separate rule would let you take up to 10 weeks of leave. The period for taking it would end 12 weeks after the later of the latest funeral, burial or memorial service, or the end of the section 206 leave.
People generally: The bill does not set Employment Insurance benefit amounts, create a new program, or state whether the Code leave is paid.
Employment Insurance benefits could continue for the rest of a covered benefit period after a child’s death, but the material gives no estimate of the resulting public cost.
The bill requires no new claim or report in the specified cases; it gives no estimate of any administrative savings or costs.
The bill sets no funding amount and gives no estimate of employer costs related to leave.
The Employment Insurance Act and Canada Labour Code as currently in force were not supplied, so the precise current entitlements and how much they would change could not be verified.
The bill excerpt does not include the full definition of “child” used for the Code leave rules.
The text does not explain what section 206 leave covers.
The bill does not give details about how the Employment Insurance exception would be applied before a conviction, or how disputes about eligibility would be handled.
The start date depends on Royal Assent and could be brought forward by order. The supplied material does not say whether or when that will happen.