1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«As part of a larger program of sociocultural research on child loss in Canada, we wanted to know how the workplace acknowledges and aligns itself with the needs of this population [parents who lost a child].» (p. 512)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«To access official labour standards, we searched federal, provincial, and territorial government websites. We also reviewed the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Employment Insurance Act, as well as discussion documents outlining work place policies and recommendations for legislation. Finally, we reviewed legislation enabling employees to care for sick family members (e.g., compassionate care leave) across the jurisdictions, our goal being to understand if and how policy may anticipate bereavement. In total, this produced six federal, 12 provincial and three territorial web-accessed sources.» (p. 514)

Type de traitement des données :
Réflexion critique

3. Résumé

«How bereavement leave appears in labour standards suggests it is a response to a generic, time-limited state which involves instrumental tasks aimed at ceremonial obligations. This depiction of bereavement stands in stark contrast to research which characterize response to child loss as an intense, highly personal human experience with a process of healing and recovery that can take a life time. This disconnect is especially problematic when viewed through the lens of employee wellbeing, reintegration and workplace productivity. Our analysis provides insight into sociocultural assumptions about grief and loss, demonstrating how current labour practice reproduces common societal misunderstandings about parental bereavement. The workplace reproduces a sociocultural world that is highly ambivalent about death. As such, the workplace lacks the social tools to support the bereaved in a way that acknowledges and affirms their suffering as a normal part of the human condition. Bereavement leave needs to be re-framed such that employees who experience bereavement are not excluded from the protection from vulnerability that labour standards should afford.» (p. 523-524) Tout au long de leur analyse, les auteurs comparent les conditions dans lesquelles se trouvent les parents québécois endeuillés aux conditions dans l’ensemble du Canada.