EI Sickness Benefits
A private members bill to extend employment insurance sickness benefits from 15 to 52 weeks was introduced by the New Democrat MP for New Westminster-Coquitlam, Fin Donnelly, in Ottawa on Monday.
Donnelly held a press conference, after announcing the bill, with the NDP critic for employment insurance Yvon Godin, MP for Acadie-Bathurst, and cancer survivors Natalie Thomas and Marie-Hélène Dubé.
Dubé has collected more than 200,000 signatures on two separate petitions to extend EI sickness benefits.
The bill would extend benefits for illness, injury and quarantine, he said in a followup phone interview.
People who are battling cancer and other chronic or long-term diseases are often starting or in the middle of treatment at 15 weeks, Donnelly explained.
He became aware of the issue when Thomas, a Coquitlam resident, came to speak with him soon after he was elected last November.
She had to turn to friends and family when her benefits ran out as she was completing treatment, he said.
Now that the bill has been introduced, it will have to go to second and third reading before it can be passed.
The next step is raising awareness, Donnelly said.
“We’re really highlighting this issue, that it is only there for 15 weeks.”
Donnelly’s predecessor, Dawn Black, also introduced a private members bill regarding EI sickness benefits after meeting Thomas in July of 2006. Bill C-316 was introduced in March 2007, and reintroduced in October 2007, but did not make it to second reading.
Thomas, who has lived in Coquitlam for 35 years, was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2006, she said, and needed a mastectomy.
She had a second surgery on July 5, and two days later received her last EI payment. Thomas had to rely on the kindness of friends, who would drop off groceries and mail her gift cards, to survive financially.
“I went to Dawn’s office two weeks after I got out of the hospital,” Thomas said, “and told her, somehow we have to see this change.”
Thomas worked with Black, writing letters to local newspapers, and collecting more than 1,000 signatures over nine months.
But the campaign went quiet when Black became the NDP MLA for New Westminster, and Thomas suffered from health problems last year.
But when Donnelly became the new MP last fall, Thomas took up the campaign again.
“I am determined that people out there get the help they need, she said.
Cancer is difficult enough without the financial strain, Thomas added.
“When you go through cancer, you’re first fighting the fear of your own mortality, and secondly, fighting the treatment,” she explained, adding to be without an income at that time adds tremendously to the fear and stress.
Maternity benefits are available for a maximum of 15 weeks, but the beneficiary can apply for parental benefits for a maximum of 35 weeks in addition to that, as well.
Regular EI benefits last from 19 to a maximum of 50 weeks.
According to a press release from the federal NDP, one-third of all sickness claims are exhausted before the beneficiary can return to work.
jfuller-evans@royalcityrecord.com
