Ottawa to relax EI rules for compassionate care benefits

Change will allow a dying person to designate anyone
as a caregiver, not just immediate family members

Ottawa - The federal government plans to relax employment insurance rules to allow anyone to qualify for benefits if they have been designated by a palliative care patient as a caregiver.

Six weeks of benefits are now permitted under the two-year-old program but recipients must be immediate family members - parents, children or spouses.

Human Resources Minister Belinda Stronach says the changes are coming soon.

"We recognize the definition needs to be broadened," Stronach says. "I think it's right that the person who is not well or dying can determine who their caregiver is going to be."

Approximately 25% of an estimated 2.7 million unpaid caregivers in Canada are friends and neighbours, as opposed to family members.

Funding for the expansion is expected to be included in the next federal economic update or budget tabled by Finance Minister Ralph Goodale. NUPGE

Web posted by NUPGE: 20 October 2005

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