In 2024, the Canadian employment insurance program still does not protect workers who lose their job during or after their maternity leave. This refusal to grant protection in the event of unemployment to new mothers perpetuates the inequities experienced by women in the labor market. Already hit by job loss, these women become even poorer by being deprived of employment insurance, simply because today, they still assume family responsibilities disproportionately.
An injustice recognized by politics
As early as 2009, the Liberal Party of Canada, then in opposition, asked the Harper government to correct this aberration. Nothing was done. Neither by the conservatives nor by the liberals since their return to power in 2015. Tired of waiting for a political response to this glaring problem, the Action-Chômage Movement of Montreal took legal action in 2018 in order to have the provisions of the Employment Insurance Act responsible for this discrimination.
In 2022, the General Division of the Social Security Tribunal ruled in favor of the six workers who initiated the appeal by clearly indicating that the law discriminated against women: “ [Si] a woman loses her job during maternity and parental leave, she no longer has protection. She must therefore rely on her savings or her spouse’s income. This keeps women poor and dependent. It is to consider women’s income as a supplementary salary which does not deserve the same protection [à l’assurance-emploi]. »
Despite unanimous recognition of the problem, the Liberal government decided not to change the law and even appealed the decision. The legal saga continues today, and the Federal Court of Appeal of Canada will rule on the case within a few months.
End the ping-pong game
Remember that barely two years ago, the minister responsible for the file, Carla Qualtrough, publicly declared that she did not yet know “how we are going to approach it or in what order we are going to resolve all of this”. “But I’m working on it. This is my main concern,” she argued. Asked about this issue last February in the House of Commons, his successor, Randy Boissonnault, instead declared that he would not intervene as long as the issue was before the courts.
The Montreal Action-Chômage Movement and the signatories of this letter are asking the Trudeau government to act and legislate instead of letting the matter get bogged down in an eternal legal battle. It is possible to resolve this problem quickly by amending only a few sections of the Employment Insurance Act.
The Liberal Party of Canada recognizes this blatant injustice, as do the Bloc Québécois and the New Democratic Party. The federal government therefore has the necessary support in the House to pass these minor legislative changes, which would provide relief to thousands of discriminated and impoverished workers each year.
Failing that, his inaction raises a very legitimate question: is his feminism a facade?
* Also co-signed this text: 1. Pierre Laliberté, workers’ commissioner at the Canada Employment Insurance Commission; 2. Federation of Quebec Women (FFQ); 3. Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN); 4. Quebec Federation of Workers (FTQ); 5. Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ); 6. Central Democratic Unions (CSD); 7. Unifor Canada; 8. Interprofessional Health Federation of Quebec (FIQ); 9. Alliance of professional and technical health and social services personnel (APTS); 10. Autonomous Education Federation (FAE); 11. Union of Professionals of the Government of Quebec (SPGQ); 12. Autonomous and united movement of the unemployed (MASSE); 13. Quebec Network of Autonomous Community Action (RQ-ACA); 14. Federation of Associations of Single-Parent and Recomposed Families of Quebec (FAFMRQ); 15. Popular Education and Community Action Movement of Quebec (MEPACQ); 16. Popular Action Front for Urban Redevelopment (FRAPRU); 17. Grouping of organizations for collective defense of rights (RODCD); 18. Action-Chômage Movement of Trois-Rivières; 19. Victoriaville unemployed group; 20. Action-Chômage Côte-Nord; 21. LASTUSE du Saguenay; 22. Action-Chômage Kamouraska; 23. Action populaire Rimouski-Neigette; 24. Movement of unemployed men and women of Estrie; 25. Group for the defense of social rights of Drummond; 26. Association for the Defense of Social Rights (ADDS) of the South Shore; 27. Unemployment Committee of Eastern Montreal; 28. Action dignity Lanaudière; 29. Center for Immigrant Workers.