Relief, pride and tears. That’s how Laurie Chalifour-Racine reacted when she learned a years-long legal battle over the Employment Insurance Act was finally over.
Chalifour-Racine was one of six Quebec moms who fought to have sections of the law struck down.
All six women lost their jobs during, or shortly after, their maternity and parental leaves and were subsequently denied regular Employment Insurance benefits as a result.
They argued the law was discriminatory and disproportionately affected women and, in September, the Federal Court of Appeal agreed, handing them a victory.
It was only last week, however, that the group learned the federal government would not challenge the ruling.
In an email to CBC News, the office of the minister of jobs and families confirmed the government would not appeal the court’s decision, focusing instead on amending the legislation to align with it.
“The Government of Canada will work on solutions in [the] coming year to enhance the EI system to better reflect the needs of a modern workforce, including working parents, with flexible, reliable support,” the email reads.
Laurie Chalifour-Racine with her two children Cayden, 10, seen standing in back, and Kenan, 8. (Submitted by Laurie Chalifour-Racine)
Chalifour-Racine says she’s still coming to terms with what it all means.
“I feel relieved, I feel very proud,” she said.
“I do feel that this will have a big impact on, you know, new mothers, women in general â¦. This is big.”
Chalifour-Racine, the lead plaintiff in the case, was laid off 10 years ago, in December 2016, from her job at a Montreal-area financial institution. At the time, she was on maternity leave with her first-born.
She says she received a severance package from the employer which amounted to a few weeks of salary and called Service Canada to know if she would be eligible for EI job loss benefits.
She was denied on the grounds that she hadn’t accrued enough insurable work hours in the last 52 weeks to qualify.
“Of course I wasn’t working,” she said. “Like, I was busy with my child that I was nursing and then, you know, no daycare and all of that.”
Chalifour-Racine said even if her husband at the time was able to support her, it put the family under financial stress.
Federal Court of Appeal rules in favour of Quebec moms denied EI benefits after maternity job loss
She lost her job after her maternity leave. Now she’s been denied EI
She was incredulous that in 2017, women could still find themselves without job loss protection when having children.
“When you get pregnant, nobody knows that you put yourself at risk,” she said, adding she found the situation “absolutely unfair.”
After numerous phone calls looking for advice, Chalifour-Racine eventually found help with Mouvement Action Chômage (MAC) de Montréal, an advocacy group dedicated to defending the rights of the unemployed.
In 2018, lawyers with MAC de Montréal helped Chalifour-Racine and five other mothers who joined the cause bring their case to the Social Security Tribunal of Canada â an administrative tribunal that oversees disputes over the interpretation and application of laws and regulations.
Some of the women in the group were denied EI benefits because, like Chalifour-Racine, they hadnât accumulated enough insurable work hours during the reference period, while others had maxed out their benefits.
The Employment Insurance Act limited the combination of regular job loss benefits and special benefits, such as maternity and parental leave, to 50 weeks.
In 2022, the general division of the tribunal ruled in the women’s favour and agreed that parts of the EI Act violated their constitutional rights to equality under the law.
The Canada Employment Insurance Commission (CEIC), however, appealed the decision and subsequently won, prompting the group to bring the case to the Federal Court of Appeal.
The appellate court upheld the lower tribunal’s decision, finding that the provisions in the EI Act that limit the stacking of maternity and parental benefits with job loss benefits, even if they apply to both men and women, disproportionately affect women.
The three-judge panel unanimously declared the discriminatory parts of the EI Act to be “of no force or effect,” meaning they have been struck down, but suspended the declaration for one year.
Sibel Ataogul, the lead attorney for the applicants, called it a landmark case.
She said the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision speaks to how the Act had been sexist toward women since its very beginnings.
At different times, women either couldn’t receive benefits at all or were disqualified from receiving them depending on their marital status.
“So it is a landmark case insofar as that I think it really takes away that hopefully last sort of remaining element that was just really discriminatory against women,” she said.
Ataogul said the responsible thing for the government to do now is ensure it makes the necessary changes as soon as possible so that women can get the benefits they are entitled to.
The court gave the government until Sept. 3, 2027 to amend the law.
Fanny Labelle with the Mac de Montréal said it is also hoping for a speedy process and, while the legal battle may be over, there is still a lot of work to do.
She said there are hundreds of women whose files at the Social Tribunal are on hold, pending the legislative changes and the way they will be applied.
She said the Mac de Montréal will continue to meet with legislators and push for the specific changes it wants to see.
The organization is also planning a big celebration to mark what it says is a collective win, not just for women in Quebec, but across Canada.
