E-7762 Amend Employment Insurance for caregivers Petition Tracker | Signature Growth — Canadian Petition Tracker
Track E-7762 — Amend Employment Insurance for caregivers — with 7 signatures and counting. Sponsored by Heather McPherson. See signature growth trends and provincial breakdown on PetitionTracker.ca.
Canonical URL: https://petitiontracker.ca/petition/e-7762
Petition Details
- Status: Active — open for signatures
- Closing date: January 8, 2027
- Sponsor: Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona)
- Category: Employment and labour
Signature Statistics
Provincial Distribution
Petition Text
Petition to the House of Commons in Parliament assembled
Whereas:
• 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.
Similar Petitions