Dear Member of Parliament,
We are writing to you today to gain your support for Petition e-6646 which has been certified and was presented in the House of Commons by Dan Albas (Okanagan Lake West—South Kelowna) on February 2, 2026. This petition was initiated by Sharon Whiting, a senior residing in Kelowna, B.C. who has been the sole caregiver of her grandchild for the past 12 years.
Currently the CPP program only provides children’s benefits for contributors who are disabled or deceased. There is no equivalent support for seniors aged 60 and older who are raising dependent children. This is a policy gap that must be filled.
Across Canada, thousands of seniors step in as kinship caregivers to keep children out of foster care. While this provides stability and continuity for children, it often places caregivers under significant financial strain. Retirement incomes were not designed to cover the costs of raising children, yet many seniors are doing exactly that.
The joint UBC and Fairness for Children Raised by Relatives research report, 2025 Reimagining Family Support Services Perspectives from Kinship Caregivers, discovered the following, “From the ages of 0 to 24 years, nationally there are 75,645 grandchildren living with at least one grandparent without parents.” This number is from 2021, but is likely higher now, as more grandparents are stepping up to raise their grandchildren when the children’s parents are not able to take care of them.
The CPP Program is currently within the 2025 to 2027 Triennial Review and is in need of your support to enable a CPP applicant, with child dependents, to receive a monthly payment for the child/ren the contributor is legally responsible for.
First Call urges you to review the detailed petition, support it if it comes to the House for a vote, and to support the consideration of a third CPP children’s benefit for seniors raising dependent children through the Triennial Review of CPP.
Sincerely,
Adrienne Montani
Executive Director