On October 17, USJE National President David Neufeld and Regional Vice President (RVP) Jeff Sandelli had the opportunity to meet with federal Minister of Job and Families, Patty Hajdu, and MP for Thunder Bay-Superior North.
By way of background, RVP Sandelli had recently reached out to Minister Patty Hajdu’s constituency office to request this meeting given that her riding contains a Community Parole Office and the fact that as Minister of Jobs and Families, she oversees the federal Labour file.
The focus of the request was an opportunity to meet with Minister Hajdu directly in order to discuss how federal public safety personnel in communities throughout Canada (including the Thunder Bay area and other parts of northern Ontario where she serves) are vulnerable to occupational stress injuries owing to the nature of their work.
While Minister Hajdu has an exceedingly busy schedule, her constituency staff recognized the urgency of the meeting owing to the relevance of this discussion for public safety personnel in her riding and the country as a whole.
During the meeting, RVP Sandelli and USJE President David Neufeld were able to highlight a major challenge for federal public safety personnel who, despite having a significantly higher risk of occupational stress injuries owing to the nature of the work, are often denied Workers’ Compensation for work related psychological injuries.
USJE briefed Minister Hajdu on its efforts since September 2023 to propose key amendments to the federal Government Employees Compensation Act (GECA) which provides the legislative and funding mechanism by which federal public service employees are covered under provincial and territorial Workers’ Compensation boards. Currently, GECA directs the provincial and territorial Compensation boards to exclusively determine the criteria, benefits and other supports offered to individuals who apply for Workers’ Compensation, including federal public safety personnel.
USJE highlighted that presumptive injury legislation in the provinces and territories frequently leaves out public safety personnel that do not fall into the traditional categories, such as Police, Fire & Paramedics , including thousands of federal public safety personnel who are at higher risk of occupational stress injuries owing to their efforts to keep Canadians safe from coast to coast to coast.
Further, there is no consistency across the country when it comes to Workers’ Compensation coverage for mental health injuries. Even in jurisdictions that have adopted more permissive Workers’ Compensation criteria that is regarded as inclusive of mental health injuries, federal public safety personnel (including USJE members) are regularly denied coverage for occupational health injuries.
USJE highlighted that the consequences of this policy gap is that despite regular, often long-term exposure to traumatic incidents, materials, victims and criminalized persons, many USJE members, regardless of where they live in the country, are frequently not able to get the financial (paid time off) and clinical support they need in order to recover if they develop an occupational stress injury.
Making matters worse is that, among those who choose to appeal a claim that is denied (a daunting prospect), many do not succeed during this process. This means that, ultimately, there may be no choice but for public safety personnel to continue working while suffering a psychological injury. In some cases, federal public safety personnel are forced to leave the workplace on long term disability if they have no opportunity to get well.
Minister Hajdu was very engaged in the discussion with USJE and expressed her strong interest in better understanding how this situation could be rectified. She noted that she was not familiar with USJE’s proposed amendments to the federal legislation, but would take the time to speak with her officials to identify a way forward.
As Minister Hadju has an extensive background in the social services sector (having overseen a large homeless shelter in Thunder Bay before getting elected as an MP), she expressed her compassion and understanding for the difficult work many federal public safety personnel undertake within the criminal justice system, including USJE’s.
USJE is looking forward to re-connecting with Minister Patty Hajdu in the coming months and finding ways to quickly implement meaningful improvements so that USJE members, and other federal public safety personnel, have access to the support they deserve when they develop an occupational stress injury.
USJE’s meeting with Patty Hajdu builds on several conversations with other senior government members, including Secretary of State for Labour and MP John Zerucelli, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health and MP Maggie Chi, as well as the Shadow Minister for Public Safety, MP Frank Caputo and Shadow Minister for Addictions, MP Todd Doherty.