ottawa — the liberal government is promising paid leave to help workers recover from a lost pregnancy, but details in the legislation reveal the new benefit would pay wages for only the first three days of a maximum eight weeks off.
the benefit would be available to employees in federally regulated industries such as telecommunications, banking and transportation. it was first announced in the federal budget in march and again in last month’s fall economic statement.
“every parent should have time to heal from the painful loss of a pregnancy,” deputy prime minister and finance minister chrystia freeland told the house of commons after tabling the statement on nov. 21.
although workers could take eight weeks off if the pregnancy ends in a stillbirth, any time beyond three days would be considered a leave of absence without pay, according to amendments to the canada labour code tabled last week.
“for a lot of people who’ve experienced pregnancy or infant loss, three days isn’t even enough time to move through the physical part of the loss,” said aditi loveridge, the founder of the pregnancy and infant loss support centre, an alberta-based charity.
she says the physical recovery can be difficult, especially in longer pregnancies that require inducement of a fetus that has died, and the grief can take far longer to process.