Above all, I am a woman of conviction, who has faced cancer 3 times in 5 years. To the initial stress of the disease and my status of single parent to two children, the meager 15 weeks benefits period of the Health Insurance paid by Employment Insurance added a heavy burden of financial difficulties.

Taken off guard by the length of the benefits, which I judged to be clearly insufficient, I conducted research that would permit me to discover that this portion of the law had not been amended since 1971. It did not take more for me to launch in 2009, a national petition requesting that this outdated benefit be increased from the current 15 weeks.

Thanks to this petition and to the involvement of many amongst you, I was able to collect over 600,000 signatures of which 500,000 have been submitted to date to Parliament on multiple occasions. More than 7 proposed bills have equally been created and presented in response to this petition, without a positive outcome unfortunately.

Thus, despite the considerable number of signatures amassed, the numerous bills and the political promises, this law remains unchanged today. The current government continues to demonstrate a total lack of political will to address this national issue of vital importance to the well-being of its citizens, while demonstrating that it was in favour of this change while part of the opposition.

Enough is Enough ! I need your help differently this time around, for the second stage of this battle!

I’ve been waging this battle for nine years, without giving up. Now is the time to end this battle by giving it the visibility it deserves.

That’s why I’m proud to announce the launch of the campaign “15 weeks is not enough!” It is time to make things happen and to demand, all together, this change from our elected representatives by writing them directly and obliging them to be accountable to the voters. This web campaign is conducted simultaneously across Canada and must be viral in order to ensure its success. Your involvement is therefore vital!

Let’s take part together in this historical and necessary change that the amendment of this law will represent. Let’s write to our elected representatives right now! We will finally allow all Canadians to obtain decent conditions to heal themselves without losing their dignity, to focus on their healing and to return to the labour force thereafter, for the benefit of the community.

15 weeks is not enough! Together, let’s make a difference!