Petition on the recent changes to Unemployment Insurance eligibility criteria:

Petition to the House of Commons in Parliament Assembled:

We, the undersigned residents of Canada, draw attention of the House to the following:

THAT the government of Canada has recently made changes to the eligibility requirements for unemployment insurance (UI);

THAT these changes have been made behind closed doors without any input from the ordinary Canadian citizens who are affected by such policies and these changes will negatively affect the livelihood of numerous Canadians;

THAT the adopted changes will negatively impact Canadians nation wide, in particular they will impact those Canadians who live in rural areas in which the economy is dependent upon seasonal employment.

We feel that the adopted changes to the unemployment eligibility criteria will force people out of their specialized occupations into unskilled, low wage jobs. In addition, we agree that Canadian individuals will be forced to look for employment at great distances outside their area of residence causing them to incur unreasonable time commitments and travel costs.

Combined, we feel these changes may lead to increased poverty for unemployed individuals as well as the families which they support.