Banff-Airdrie MP Blake Richards recently sponsored a parliamentary petition calling on the House of Commons to adopt and enact seven recommendations that were made following a study regarding bereavement leave for parents grieving the death of a child.
“For more than two years, the House of Commons report entitled Supporting Families After the Loss of a Child has gathered dust,” Richards said in a statement, after sponsoring the petition. “This report includes seven recommendations made by an official Parliamentary committee that would help ease the pain that grieving parents face following the death of a child. “
The recommendations, according to Richards, include extending income supports for grieving parents to ensure they do not end abruptly and unexpectedly after the loss of a child.
Richards said in his statement that instead of implementing the important recommendations made in the report, the federal government has sat on its hands and done nothing to support grieving parents.
“Meanwhile, New Zealand’s parliament recently moved to provide paid leave inclusive of all family make-ups following a miscarriage or still birth,” he said. “It is time for Canada to follow our Commonwealth partner’s lead and enact similar changes.”
The petition, according to Richards, signals the wishes of many Canadians who feel strongly about these recommendations and are calling on the government to adopt them.
As of press time, the petition had a total of 285 signatures. Of those, 138 are from Alberta, 67 from B.C., 45 from Ontario, 11 from Nova Scotia, 11 from Quebec, eight from Saskatchewan, two from both Newfoundland and Labrador and Manitoba, and one from New Brunswick.
Richards took to Facebook after his announcement and said no parent suffering through the loss of an infant, stillbirth or miscarriage should have to face insensitive bureaucracy from the federal government.
“There is a clear blueprint for action through the seven parliamentary report recommendations from the Supporting Families After the Loss of a Child which will ensure no grieving parents have to face insensitive bureaucratic federal government programming,” he said
The petition is available online and can be viewed by visiting petitions.ourcommons.ca.
Jordan Stricker, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @Jay_Strickz
