Employment Insurance Act - Amendments - Bill C-23

BILL C-23 – Modernization of Benefits and Obligations Act

An Act to modernize the Statutes of Canada in relation to benefits and obligations.

Official version published in the Canada Gazette Part III – Vol. 23, No 2– August 9, 2000, Chapter 12.

SHORT TITLE

1. This Act may be cited as the Modernization of Benefits and Obligations Act.

INTERPRETATION

1.1 For greater certainty, the amendments made by this Act do not affect the meaning of the word "marriage", that is, the lawful union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.

SUMMARY

A number of federal Acts provide for benefits or obligations that depend on a person's relationship to another individual, including their husband or wife and other family members. Most of those Acts currently provide that the benefits or obligations in relation to a husband or wife also apply in relation to unmarried opposite-sex couples who have been cohabiting in a conjugal relationship for at least one year. Some of those Acts provide for benefits or obligations in relation to certain family members of a person's husband, wife or opposite-sex common-law partner.

This enactment extends benefits and obligations to all couples who have been cohabiting in a conjugal relationship for at least one year, in order to reflect values of tolerance, respect and equality, consistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The sections of Bill C-23 relating to the Employment Insurance Act are as follows:

EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE ACT (1996, c. 23)

106. Subsection 2(1) of the Employment Insurance Act is amended by adding the following in alphabetical order:

``common-law partner''

``common-law partner'', in relation to a claimant, means a person who is cohabiting with the claimant in a conjugal relationship, having so cohabited for a period of at least one year;

107. (1) Subsections 23(1) and (2) of the Act are replaced by the following:

Parental benefits

23. (1) Notwithstanding section 18, but subject to this section, benefits are payable to a major attachment claimant to care for

(a) one or more new-born children of the claimant;

(b) one or more children placed with the claimant for the purpose of adoption under the laws governing adoption in the province in which the claimant resides; or

(c) one or more children if the claimant meets the requirements set out in the regulations made under paragraph 54(f.1).

Weeks for which benefits may be paid

(2) Subject to section 12, benefits under this section are payable for each week of unemployment in the period that begins with the week in which

1. the child or children of the claimant are born,

2. the child or children are actually placed with the claimant for the purpose of adoption, or

3. the claimant first meets the requirements set out in the regulations made under paragraph 54(f.1)

and ends 52 weeks after that week.

(2) Subsection 23(4) of the Act is replaced by the following:

 

Division of weeks of benefits

(4) If two major attachment claimants are caring for a child referred to in subsection (1), weeks of benefits payable under this section may be divided between the major attachment claimants.

(3) Section 23 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (4):

Interpretation

(5) Subsections 12(3) to (8) and subparagraph 58(1)(b)(ii) shall be read as including the situation where a claimant is caring for one or more children and meets the requirements set out in the regulations made under paragraph 54(f.1).

108. Subparagraph 29(c)(ii) of the Act is replaced by the following:

(ii) obligation to accompany a spouse, common-law partner or dependent child to another residence,

109. Section 54 of the Act is amended by adding the following after paragraph (f):

(f.1) for the purposes of paragraphs 23(1)(c) and (2)(c) and subsection 23(5), respecting the following requirements, subject to consulting the governments of the provinces:

i) the circumstances in which the claimant must be caring for the child or children,

ii) the criteria that the claimant must meet,

(iii) the conditions that the claimant must fulfil, and

(iv) any matter that the Commission considers necessary for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of section 23;

Coming into Force

Sections 106 & 108 come into force on July 31, 2000.

Subsection 107(2) came into force on February 12, 2001

Subsections 107(1), 107(3) & Section 109, not yet proclaimed in force.