Question Period Note: EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE SUPPORT DURING WILDFIRE EVACUATIONS

What are Employment Insurance supports available for workers and employers affected by wildfire evacuations?

The Government of Canada recognizes the significant impact that wildfires and lengthy community evacuations due to natural disasters are having on workers and employers.

The Employment Insurance program is critical during these difficult times providing income support to eligible workers and helping employers avert layoffs through the EI Work-Sharing program.

Rapid response teams are also used to help impacted workers apply for benefits and get the Employment Insurance support they need.

The Government of Canada is committed to enhancing the EI program to ensure that it offers reliable and flexible support to respond to modern workforce realities and continues to meet the needs of workers and employers, including those impacted by wildfires.

If pressed on additional support for workers impacted by natural disasters in 2025:

The Government of Canada continues to closely monitor the impact that natural disasters are having on workers in Canada and stands ready to respond and support impacted workers.

Natural Disasters and Impact on Employment Insurance (EI)

Hours of work lost due to natural disasters and related evacuations can impact some workers’ access and entitlement to EI benefits:

Some may not have the minimum 420-700 hours of insurable employment to qualify for regular benefits, including workers facing seasonal layoffs in the months after a disaster.

Among those who do qualify, some may not be entitled to enough weeks of EI regular benefits to cover them until they can return to work, particularly if their industry or employer faces long-term recovery.

Current Supports for Workers and Employers Impacted by Disasters

Service Canada deploys emergency response toolkit that includes on-site engagement at evacuation centres, proactive outreach to employers, and simplified application processes. Additionally, EI volumes and service pressures are actively monitored to adequately prioritize claims in affected areas, facilitating expedited applications for EI benefits.

Workers and employers impacted by natural disasters may be supported through the EI Work-Sharing program:

The Work-Sharing program helps employers and employees avoid layoffs when there is a decrease in business activity beyond the employer's control. The program provides income support for eligible employees who work a temporarily reduced work week. Work-Sharing agreements are between employers, employees, and Service Canada.

Through Work-Sharing, employers can retain skilled workers and avoid the expensive process of recruiting and training new employees when their business returns to normal levels by employees working a reduced work-week instead of being laid off. It also helps employees maintain their skills and jobs by supplementing their wages with Work-Sharing benefits for the days they are not working.

The Work-Sharing Program may introduce temporary special measures at any time to provide additional support for affected businesses during a period of economic downturn, natural disaster or if a national emergency is declared. The special measures provide targeted supports to further help businesses recover and avoid layoffs by adjusting some program eligibility criteria.

Workers whose employment has been impacted by the 2025 wildfire season may benefit from the temporary measures introduced to support workers in response to tariffs. These measures include:

until October 11, 2025, adjusting the EI regional unemployment rates upward by one percentage point in all EI regions (up to a maximum of 13.1%, with no region seeing an unemployment rate below 7.1%), meaning that no one requires more than 630 hours to qualify for EI regular benefits (compared to up to 700 hours normally) and entitlement to EI regular benefits starts at 17 weeks (compared to 14 or 15 weeks normally);

until April 11, 2026, temporarily waiving the one-week EI waiting period, so that workers are able to receive benefits for the first week of unemployment, helping unemployed workers more easily adjust to a drop in income; and

until April 11, 2026, suspending the treatment of monies paid on separation (e.g. severance pay), so that these do not need to be used up before claimants are able to start receiving EI benefits; and

as of October 12, 2025, offering extra weeks of EI regular benefits (20 extra weeks to a maximum of 65 weeks) to long-tenured workers to provide them with more time to re-enter the labour force. This measure applies to claims established between June 15, 2025 and April 11, 2026.

Previous Supports for Workers and Employers Impacted by Disasters

In February 2025, the Government of Canada introduced a temporary disaster Employment Insurance measure for two communities – Jasper, Alberta and the Bunibonibee Cree Nation, Manitoba. This measure applied to workers in areas with: 

Wildfire evacuations lasting at least 21 days during the 2024 wildfire season, indicating a substantial disruption to local employment; and 

A formal request for federal assistance by a provincial or territorial government for additional federal support, indicating severity of the disaster event.  

A one-time credit of 300 hours of insurable employment was available to workers who resided within the three targeted postal codes associated with evacuation orders and established a claim for EI benefits between July 21, 2024 and July 19, 2025.

In addition to the hours credit, additional flexibilities under the EI Work-Sharing Program were established to support those affected by the wildfires in Jasper and Bunibonibee Cree Nation. The measures ended on August 3, 2025. These temporary special measures improved access to the program for employers and workers by:

extending the maximum duration of Work-Sharing agreements;

waiving the requirement to serve a cooling-off period between agreements; and

expanding the eligibility criteria for both employers and employees, including to seasonal employers and employees.

KEY FACTS

During wildfire and other disaster situations, Service Canada can quickly mobilize its on-the-ground emergency response to provide affected clients with facilitated access to key income support programs and services, including Employment Insurance.

Impacted workers can benefit from flexible access and more weeks of benefits due to temporary Employment Insurance tariffs related measures in place. In addition, Work-Sharing temporary special measures currently in place to address tariffs also increase access and provide targeted support to help businesses recover and avoid layoffs.

As of early September 2025, about 85,000 Canadians have been evacuated due to wildfires this year. On average, evacuations orders have lasted more than 18 days, with about 30% of all evacuations that have lasted at least 21 days.

Workers can experience prolonged interruptions of work during disaster-related evacuations making it difficult to qualify for or to have enough weeks of Employment Insurance benefits.