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The Canadian government offers anywhere from sixteen to nineteen weeks of maternity benefits. Eligibility for maternity benefits only requires mothers to have worked at least six hundred hours in the past year. The window to receive said benefits begins up to twelve weeks before the expected date of birth and lasts up to seventeen weeks after birth. Additionally, parental benefits are offered to both parents of newborn or adopted children. These benefits may be collected within a week of the new child entering the family and expire fifty-two weeks later. Extended benefits are also available for up to sixty-one weeks but payout at a lower rate.

Benefits are as follows:
Standard Parental benefits: 55% of weekly earnings
Extended Parental benefits: 33% of weekly earnings
Maximum insurable earnings:  $56,300

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The Family Medical and Leave Act ensures up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave for parents of newborns, those caring for an adopted child, and those caring for a sick immediate relative. This act does not compensate workers with a portion of their normal wages but does ensure that an employee cannot lose their job by stepping away for the twelve-week period. In order to be eligible, employees must have worked with their employer for at least a year, work for a business that employs at least fifty workers, or have worked for at least 1,250 hours cumulatively.

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Infant Mortality Rates and Birth Outcomes 

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Infant Mortality Rates and Birth Outcomes 

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According to the United States Centers for Disease Control, infant Mortality refers to the death of a child before their first birthday.

Canadian Infant Mortality Rate: 4.4 deaths/1000 births
The United States Infant Mortality Rate: 5.7 deaths/ 1000 births

By comparing these two statistics, we see that although the rates of infant mortality are close, Canada still has a slightly lower rate of premature death. That being said, data suggest that the most common causes of infant mortality for both countries are generally the same, including birth defects, low birth weight, sepsis, injuries, sudden infant death syndrome, and pregnancy complications. By further analyzing the differences in statistics such as low birth weight, we may further understand this difference.

Canadian Low Birth Weight Infants: 5.6% of total live births
American Low Birth Weight Infants: 7.8% of total live births

It should be noted that Infant Mortality and Low Birth Weight are most common amongst African Americans in the United States. Taking into account how race could potentially play into the issue of infant mortality, and considering how racism causes black mothers increased stress which negatively affects their babies, we may be able to attribute differences in low birth weight and mortality with differences in population makeup. This could also be potentially attributed to differences in the culture surrounding race as well, though.

This concept is applicable to family policy in Canada because, should the leading causes of birth be largely preventable, this would indicate that government action is necessary to protect families and their children. Moreover, because family leave includes extra provisions to care for sick children, if newborns and coming into this world with severe conditions that parents must step away from work to care for, this factor must be taken into account.

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In analyzing family policy and leave, it's also important to evaluate how well the education system in a country is serving the general population since a child's future is largely dependent upon this factor.  To compare Canada to other nations, we may look to metrics like reading comprehension assessments and continued education past high school.

Reading performance (PISA)
Canada: 520 mean score
the United States: 505 mean score

Enrollment in Early Childhood Education for 0-5-year-olds:
Canada: 53% of children
the United States: 56% of children

The rate of citizens 26-64 that attended at least some college education:
Canada: 60% of citizens
the United States: 50.1% of citizens

The above indicators imply that while children in the United States attend early education at a slightly higher rate, the Canadian education system better prepares students with critical thinking skills like reading. In turn, Canadians go on to attend college at nearly ten percent higher than Americans. While this might be because of differences in affordability, social norms, or the job market itself between countries, the fact is that the Canadian system seems to be proven more effective at educating the public. This is important in deciding where to raise children and should be considered in terms of family planning alongside how parental leave should be arranged.

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The wage gap is defined as the difference between the median earnings for women relative to the median earnings for men.

Canadian gender wage gap: 16.1% difference
United States gender wage gap: 17.7% difference
OECD Total Average: 12.53% difference

The above statistic suggests that while Canada is doing a better job at ensuring gender equality in terms of wages, there's still work to be done across both countries. Compared to the other countries included in this indicator, though, both nations are doing below average in terms of ensuring wage equality.

This is especially important because, when taking into account how single mothers often struggle to make ends meet, it's important that women be able to support themselves with competitive wages that match that of their male counterparts.

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In 1969, Canada began permitting abortion under certain circumstances such as cases where the mother's life would be in danger. In turn, this exception opened the door for further abortion rights, though. Full decriminalization later came around in light of the 1988 Supreme Court case R v. Morgentaler which argued that forcing a woman to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term would unfairly interfere with one's aspirations. Over the years, improvements were also made to the legislation to allow abortion procedures to occur outside of hospitals in clinical settings.

This further relates to Canada's family leave policies because women must be able to decide for themselves in the first place whether they want to start a family. Therefore, having full autonomy of one's reproductive rights is an imperative aspect of family policy for a country.

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The Canadian Medicare system is a publically-funded universal healthcare system organized amongst the country's thirteen provinces. Considering how taxpayer dollars are used to fund this healthcare system, that means that all citizens are able to access care free of cost for most services. Beyond just public health, sixty-seven percent of the population receive private complementary coverage from their employer.

Quality of the healthcare system and different metrics of measuring it include:

the percent of citizens that report being satisfied with the wait times they must endure for care:
Canada: 41.78% satisfaction
the United States: 60.5% satisfaction

the percent of citizens that report being satisfied with the skill and competency of medical staff members:
Canada: 74.77% satisfaction
the United States: 74.69%

Quality index rating of the healthcare system, as assessed by ratings of cost efficiency and other measures:
Canada: 71.98
the United States: 69.03

According to these indicators, while Canada might have a better system in terms of making sure that all citizens are insured and can afford care, the United States health care system is only slightly behind in terms of citizens' satisfaction. In essence, while both countries enjoy a generally competent staff, the difference lies between cost and how long patients must wait for care. This concept is important to consider alongside the family leave policy because people must know that they can receive quality healthcare coverage at every step of the way in starting a family. In order for a government to prioritize the well-being of families, it must protect their health.

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Suggestions for United States Family Leave Policy

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Suggestions for United States Family Leave Policy

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Although the United States has seemingly similar metrics in terms of how well families report being supported, there are some key differences that could drastically improve U.S policy. The biggest difference that's worlds apart is that the United States does not ensure any sort of financial assistance for families after the adoption or birth of a child, merely just insurance that they'll retain their jobs for a period of leave. If the United States could in any way mirror the Canadian system by allowing either parent or even both, to step away from work with some of their wages being supplemented, it would be much easier for families to plan their futures financially. The same rationale goes towards how Canada has free universal healthcare, making certain that every citizen has access to affordable care. If the United States could design its health care system in a similar manner where private insurance is just complementary care instead of primary, we could standardize the healthcare industry so that everyone generally does not have to worry about coverage falling through and leaving them with expensive medical bills. Alleviating this stress from families would create a much better environment for children to grow up in. Granted, wait times for care might become slightly longer, but the quality of physicians would not be at risk. Furthermore, we could also look into lowering the cost of college education in our country as we see that in Canada where tertiary schools cost less there is a higher enrollment. By having a better education system and therefore a more capable and competent general population, our society could invest in its youth and wellbeing for decades from now.

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Education:
Enrollment in ECE: https://globalnews.ca/news/6593651/canadas-low-ranking-for-enrolment-in-early-childhood-education-sparks-concern-for-lethbridge-educators/

Rates of College Education: https://data.oecd.org/eduatt/population-with-tertiary-education.htm

Reading Performance: https://data.oecd.org/pisa/reading-performance-pisa.htm

Family Leave Policies:
Canada: https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/ei/ei-list/reports/maternity-parental.html#h2.1
United States: https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/benefits-leave/fmla

Infant Mortality and Health Outcomes:
Infant Mortality: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/ea7e9e6a-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/ea7e9e6a-en

Low Birth Weight: https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Health/Births/Low-birth-weight

Leading causes of infant mortality Canada: https://www.statista.com/statistics/587413/top-ten-causes-of-infant-mortality-in-canada/
Leading Causes of infant mortality United States: https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternalinfanthealth/infantmortality.htm

Gender Pay Gap:
https://data.oecd.org/earnwage/gender-wage-gap.htm

Healthcare Access:
Quality of Health Care:
https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Health/Quality-of-health-care-system/Health-care-system-index

Satisfaction with waiting times:
https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Health/Quality-of-health-care-system/Short-waiting-times

Competence of medical staff:
https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Health/Quality-of-health-care-system/Skill-and-competence-of-medical-staff

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/international-health-policy-center/countries/canada

Child Care:
Net Child Care Costs:
https://data.oecd.org/benwage/net-childcare-costs.htm

Financial Disincentive to Join the WorkForce:
https://data.oecd.org/benwage/financial-disincentive-to-enter-employment-with-childcare-costs.htm#indicator-chart

Reproductive Rights:
https://nafcanada.org/history-abortion-canada/

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Employment and Social Development Canada

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Maternity and Parental Benefits - Canada.ca

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Demand, Web sites, Birth, Records, Law, Appeals, Children, Rates, Programs, Income, Diseases, Household income, Labour, Adoption, Family, Employers, Salaries, Forms, Workplace, Competition, Employment, Postal services, Languages, Beneficiaries, Debt, Prov