Amend Employment Insurance Act

AI summary

Petitioners ask the Government of Canada to amend the Employment Insurance Act so a confirmed progressive, life‑limiting neurodegenerative diagnosis makes caregivers eligible for EI benefits without certification of sudden health change or 26‑week death risk.

AI summaries describe petitioners’ requests and claims. Consult the official record for the full text.

Official petition

Petition to the House of Commons in Parliament assembled Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an incurable, fatal neurodegenerative disease, and most Canadians diagnosed with it live two to five years (ALS Society of Canada); ALS and similar progressive diseases require sustained caregiving—help with eating, transferring, communication, and breathing—for months or years before death, usually from family members who reduce or leave paid employment; Employment Insurance family caregiver benefits for adults require certification on sudden change in health rather than steady decline; Employment Insurance compassionate care benefits require certification of a significant risk of death within 26 weeks (Employment Insurance Act, s, 23.1), and prognosis in these diseases cannot reliably be narrowed to such a window; Caregivers therefore qualify for neither benefit during the long, middle period of the disease, when care needs are greatest; and Provincial job-protected leave provides no income, and the Canada caregiver amounts (Income Tax Act, s. 118(1)(d)) are non-refundable credits that reduce tax payable but cannot produce a refund (Canada Revenue Agency, Federal Income Tax and Benefit Guide), and so are worth noting to a caregiver who has left the workforce. We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to amend the Employment Insurance Act so that a confirmed diagnosis of a progressive, life-limiting neurodegenerative disease establishes eligibility for caregiving benefits without requiring certification of critical illness or of a significant risk of death within 26 weeks.

Government response

No government response is available yet.