Bill C-222 Employment Insurance Act

A softly hooded baby angel floating above two parents standing together at a grave in a peaceful cemetery
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C-222 An Act to Amend the Employment Insurance Act and the Canada Labour Code (Death of a Child)

Short Title:  Relieving Grieving Parents of an Administrative Burden Act (Evan's Law)

Bill Type:  Private Member’s Bill

Bill Sponsor:  Hon. Terry Beech (Burnaby North—Seymour)

Status: At Third-Reading in the House of Commons

Latest activity:  Debate at Third-Reading on Tuesday, October 27, 2026 (House of Commons)

Estimated Read Time:  2 minutes

WHO GAINS POWER

  • Grieving parents gain automatic continuation of parental EI benefits if their newborn or newly adopted child dies during the benefit period — no new claim or report proving continued eligibility required
  • Self-employed parents registered for EI receive the same protection
  • Federally regulated employees are entitled to up to 10 weeks of bereavement leave when their child or their spouse’s or common-law partner’s child dies. The leave can be taken from the date of death until 12 weeks after the last funeral, burial or memorial service, subject to the extended window for maternity leave
  • Employees whose child dies while they are on, or entitled to, maternity leave can take up to 10 weeks of bereavement leave within a window ending 12 weeks after the last funeral, burial or memorial service, or 12 weeks after maternity leave ends, whichever is later

WHO LOSES POWER

  • Service Canada loses the ability to cut off parental benefits automatically when a child dies — continuation is now deemed by Law
  • Employers in Federally regulated industries lose the ability to deny or limit bereavement leave beyond what the Bill sets out

WHO GAINS MONEY

  • Parents who lose a newborn or newly adopted child continue receiving parental EI benefits for the remainder of their benefit period — money they would previously have lost
  • Self-employed parents registered for EI receive the same financial continuity

WHO LOSES MONEY

  • The EI fund absorbs the cost of continued benefits for parents whose children die during the benefit period — no cost estimate is included in the Bill

THE CATCH

  • ⚠️ The Bill preserves eligibility for parental EI benefits after a child dies and expressly removes the need for a new claim or a report proving continued eligibility
  • ⚠️ This Bill only covers federally regulated employees under the Canada Labour Code — Provincially regulated workers (the vast majority of Canadians) are not covered by the bereavement leave provisions. Each Province sets its own rules
  • ⚠️ The EI provisions apply broadly — any parent receiving parental EI benefits is covered regardless of employer, but the bereavement leave extension is Federal workplaces only
  • ⚠️ There is an exception for criminal conviction — if the child dies as a result of an offense and the parent is convicted, benefits stop
  • ⚠️ The Bill comes into force on the first Sunday after six months from Royal Assent — or earlier by Order in Council. Grieving parents cannot access these protections until that date