Employment Insurance benefits and leave

Employment Insurance (EI) benefits and leave information for workers, families, fishers and sickness, how to apply and how to submit a report.

Regular benefits

Apply for benefits if you have lost your job through no fault of your own.

Sickness benefits

Apply if you are unable to work due to illness, injury or quarantine.

Maternity and parental benefits

Apply if you're pregnant, have recently given birth, are adopting a child or are caring for a newborn.

Caregiving benefits and leave

Apply if you are providing care or support to a critically ill or injured person or someone needing end-of-life care.

Benefits for the self-employed

Get information on the self-employed program and find out how to register.

Benefits for Canadians living abroad

If you live or work outside of Canada, get information on Employment Insurance, pensions, benefits and taxes.

Fishing benefits

Apply for benefits if you are a self-employed fisher who is actively seeking work.

Find a job

Find public and private sector job opportunities if you lost your job, apply or extend a work permit, get a social insurance number, a criminal record check or a security clearance.

Employment Insurance information for employers

Employers' EI responsibilities, records of employment and instructions on completing the ROE form during COVID-19, EI premiums and other resources.

 Additional Employment Insurance regular benefits for seasonal workers in targeted regions

Seasonal workers are an important part of Canada’s growing economy. To better support them, the Government of Canada will continue to provide up to 5 additional weeks of Employment Insurance (EI) regular benefits to eligible seasonal workers who live in 1 of 13 targeted EI economic regions:

• Newfoundland / Labrador (excludes capital)
• Eastern Nova Scotia
• Western Nova Scotia
• Prince Edward Island (excludes capital)
• Charlottetown
• Madawaska–Charlotte
• Restigouche-Albert
• Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine
• Bas-Saint-Laurent-Côte-Nord
• Central Quebec
• Chicoutimi-Jonquière
• North Western Quebec
• Yukon (excludes capital)

If you’re a seasonal worker from 1 of the economic regions listed above and you start an EI claim from September 26, 2021 to October 28, 2023, you may be eligible for up to 5 additional weeks of regular benefits if one of the 2 following situations applies to you:  

1. at the time your claim starts, you meet the seasonal worker criteria:
   • in the previous 5 years, you had at least 3 EI claims^{Footnote 1} for which you received regular or fishing benefits, and
   • at least 2 of those EI claims started around the same time of year as your current claim
   Or
2. at the time your claim starts, you don’t meet the seasonal worker criteria, but you did meet these criteria on an EI claim that started between August 5, 2018 and September 25, 2021