Parents of missing or murdered children will be able to seek more money and more time off work to help cope with their loss.
The federal government announced Friday it will overhaul a little-known benefit for parents dealing with the disappearance of a child while having to pay the bills and, in some cases, navigate the legal system.
“Going forward more parents will be able to take time to focus on what is most important to them in their lives,” said Jean-Yves Duclos, minister of families, children and social development.
Under the renamed Canadian Benefit for Parents of Young Victims of Crime, the weekly benefit payment will increase to $450 from $100. The government is also doubling the period in which parents can receive the benefit to 104 weeks and allowing parents to work up to 50 per cent of their regular work week (or 20 hours per week) and have job protection. This applies to federally regulated businesses. Otherwise, it’s up to provinces and territories to adjust their respective labour codes.
“It’s not compensation for their loss. It’s help when they need it most,” said Bill Blair, MP for Scarborough Southwest and former Toronto police chief.
“I’ve had the difficult experience of sitting through lengthy court cases, preliminary hearings and trials with families who feel an obligation for their child to be present in the courtroom but it means they have to be away from work,” he said. “It’s always a difficult thing to manage.”
When the new benefit program launches this fall, more parents will also be able to apply.
The government is changing the age limit for the young victim from under 18 to under 25. It’s also eliminating the requirement that parents with children under the age of 14 must attest that their child was not a willing party to the crime.
If a youth aged 15 to 25 died after willingly participating in a crime, then his or her parents are not eligible for the grant.
Duclos said the current grant can accommodate 100 families per year, but the new model should triple that capacity to about 320 families.
Former prime minister Stephen Harper launched the benefit, previously named the Parents of Murdered or Missing Children grant, in 2013. But Duclos said only one per cent of the $10 million annual budget has been used.
He said they want to raise more awareness about the benefit and simplify the procedures to apply for funding, so more parents can tap into the grant.
“The previous program I think was brought forward with the best of intentions and a sincere desire to help families who had experienced this unimaginable grief,” said Blair. “But through experience we learned that it was inflexible, that the eligibility criteria was quite restrictive.”
He said violent crime and homicide rates have steadily declined over the past 15 years in Canada, but there has been a recent spike in “certain aspects of violence,” like gun violence in urban centres.
“The victims of those crimes far too often are young Canadians.”
