Canada’s parental leave policies are hurting self-employed women

When Sophie Warwick was preparing to start a family and called the CRA about maternity benefits, she didn’t expect to come out of the call with more questions than answers.

Warwick was hoping for clarity on how she and her business co-founder, Jillian Climie, could implement a top-up — where their company provides additional money to employees receiving employment insurance (EI) during parental leave. Instead, a rep admitted that they had no idea, before transferring the call to a colleague who said that they had never heard of 50/50 business owners having such a program, and that the possibility of accessing EI was unlikely.