A Liberal minister struck a last-minute deal with Conservatives before the holidays to extend bereavement leave to bereaved parents who work in federally regulated industries.
Conservative MP Tom Kmiec, whose daughter Lucy-Rose died at just 39 days old in 2018, has been trying to change the law to give parents who have a stillborn baby or who lose a child more time off from work to cry. .
The Calgary MP introduced a private member’s bill before the recent general election in an attempt to extend the bereavement leave, but, like most private bills, it did not become law.
Since he began his campaign, Calgary MP Shepard has been contacted by people across Canada who suffered a stillbirth or lost children, including other MPs.
Kmiec said thousands of parents, devastated by grief but forced to return directly to work, wrote supporting his call to change the law to allow them more time at home to cry.
“I experienced it first hand and read so many stories of people who were so mired in their pain that they couldn’t work,” she said.
Last week in the House of Commons, Liberal MP Brenda Shanahan revealed that 30 years ago she had given birth to a stillborn daughter and that, at work, “people had a hard time understanding” what she was going through.
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Kmiec recently pointed out in Parliament that several MPs, including the Minister of Immigration, Sean Fraser, have lost children. In December 2019, Fraser shared how her newborn daughter Ruth had died in her mother’s arms.
Hearing Kmiec and other MPs talk about their personal tragedies led members on both sides of the House to work together to see if they could make Kmiec’s proposals, widely supported in Parliament, into law.
In a rare outbreak of cross-party cooperation, days before MPs took a break for the holidays, Labor Minister Seamus O’Regan and conservative labor critic Scott Aitchison reached an agreement to ensure that the law change proposed by Kmiec will reach the statute book.
Liberals and conservatives cooperate to extend leave to grieving parents. #CDNPoli #DueloLeave
O’Regan told The Canadian Press that such a deal, to transpose an opposition MP’s private bill, was a “rarity” and that he had “been in this business long enough to know that this was not it happens very often. ”
The minister added key clauses from the Kmiec bill into a government bill known as C-3, which was in the final stages of approval by the chamber.
“It became clear to me that because of Mr. Kmiec’s personal tragedy, the entire Commons was very convinced of it,” O’Regan said. “I know they came to me with something that meant a lot and it was born out of a very personal tragedy.”
According to Kmiec, the last-minute deal with the government was brokered by Aitchison, who had the idea to personally approach O’Regan.
“There were intense negotiations. They made an offer that if they agreed to bereaved, we would speed up the bill, ”Kmiec said.
Under the change, which received royal consent last week, grieving parents working in federally regulated industries, including the postal service, airlines, banks and railroads, would get eight weeks of unpaid leave. . Previously, grieving parents, including those with dead children, had a combination of five paid and unpaid leave days.
Parents who have a stillborn baby after 20 weeks gestation and those who lose a child under 18, or a disabled child regardless of age, will qualify for extended bereavement leave.
Kmiec’s daughter, with a rare chromosomal condition and a hole in her heart, had a cesarean delivery. The deputy said he had no idea until the day before she was born that Lucy-Rose had any health problems.
He said in an interview that the experience of losing her was devastating for him and his ex-wife, who had a career in the manufacture of baby products.
Kmiec said that not only did he not have the proper opportunity to cry, but many supporters, knowing that he and his wife were expecting a baby, offered him their congratulations after his birth, and the MP had to convey the tragic news dozens of times. .
This Canadian Press report was first published on December 21, 2021.
Reference-www.nationalobserver.com