CACL Appears Before Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and Status of Persons with Disabilities

CACL appeared today before the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities as a witness to its study on Bill C-44, the proposed Helping Families in Need Act. Bill C-44 is designed to address the challenges and difficult circumstances of families whose child is critically ill, has died or has disappeared as the result of a crime. The Bill would provide Employment Insurance (EI) benefits to parents who are providing support to their critically ill child and to allow access to sickness benefits for those who are accessing EI parental benefits.
 
CACL has long called for extension of EI Compassionate Care benefits to families providing care to a son or daughter with disabilities as one component of a comprehensive caregiving strategy. CACL appreciated the opportunity to appear before the Committee to outline the challenges and extraordinary demands of caregiving provided by families to children with disabilities. Text of CACL’s oral submission on Bill C-44 is available here.
 
For questions, comments or to share your story related to parenting a child with an intellectual disability please contact CACL Policy and Programs Officer Tyler Hnatuk at tyler@cacl.ca. Alternately if you just wish to share your story with the CACL community and engage online with others, you can do so by using our online tool: Share Your Story