Family Caregiving

UPDATE: Complete the Family Caregiving survey!

To assist our research the BC Law Institute is interested in hearing from the family caregivers of BC. We are interested in learning about your particular caregiving circumstances, your experience of accessing BC laws to improve your lives, and what kinds of supports you have received or been denied in your ongoing struggle to balance work and caregiving. We are also interested in your perspective on how laws, policies and practices should be reformed and how you think our society should value family caregiving. 

1. English: Family Caregiving Survey

2. Spanish: Encuesta de Cuidador Familiar

3. Chinese: 家庭照料者問卷調查

4. Punjabi:ਫੈਮਿਲੀ ਕੇਅਰਗਿਵਿੰਗ ਪ੍ਰੋਜੈਕਟ

5. Filipino:  Survey sa Family Caregiver

 

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Project Overview  

Funded by the Law Foundation of B.C., the Family Caregiving Research Project will review the current legal framework governing leave, accommodation and other entitlements available to employees who are providing care for family members, elderly parents and grandparents and disabled adult children, addressing the care needs of adults living with mental health issues, physical and developmental disabilities and long terms illnesses, as well as the corresponding challenge of their caregivers to balance work and domestic responsibilities. The project will involve an inter-jurisdictional analysis of family care leave provisions including human rights law, labour law, employment law, constitutional law, taxation law and pensions and benefits entitlements, and the work will culminate in a published B.C. Law Institute study paper containing directions for law reform.

Who are BC's Caregivers?

AlthoughBCLI has gathered little social data on this issue, our preliminaryinvestigations suggest that while the laws in this area may be genderand culture neutral, the family care landscape likely is not; rather,gender, language, culture, ability, age and other social groupmemberships may impact on both access to services and the need orresponsibility of an individual to assume care responsibilities. Forexample, a significant portion of the caregiving labour performed inCanada is provided by women.

An advisorycommittee of professionals with expertise in employment law, humanrights and caregiving will be informing the work of this project.

We want to hear from you

Weare interested in your views on this topic, especially if you arecurrently providing care to a family member or receiving care from aloved one. We will be holding community consultation events next year.Keep your eyes on this webpage for updates on how you can get involvedin this project. In the meantime, please send any comments to us at familycare@bcli.org.