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 recognizes the significant impact that wildfires and the increasing number of lengthy community evacuations are having on workers and employers.

• Employment Insurance (EI) plays an important role during these difficult times, providing workers with income support when their workplaces must close.

• To help vulnerable workers impacted by lengthy wildfires evacuations in 2024, the Government introduced a pilot project that provides a credit of 300 hours of insurable employment to workers in Jasper, Alberta and Bunibonibee Cree Nation, Manitoba. The credit is in place until July 19, 2025.

• This credit helps offset the hours of work lost during the evacuations, making it easier to qualify for EI and increasing the weeks of regular benefits available.

• The results of this pilot project could help inform future EI approaches to respond to major disasters.

Natural Disasters in Canada and Impact on Employment Insurance
• Canada has seen a significant increase of severe and frequent natural disasters in recent years. With climate change, natural disasters are expected to become the new reality.
• The 2024 wildfire season was the second-worst in terms of area burned since 1995, following the 2023 wildfire season. The majority of Canada’s wildfires in 2024 were in Western Canada (i.e., British Columbia, Alberta, Northwest Territories, and Saskatchewan).
• The hours of work lost due to natural disasters and related evacuations can have impacts on access and entitlement to Employment Insurance (EI) benefits. Workers may not have enough hours to qualify for benefits. Workers who do qualify 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.
o The number of hours of insurable employment a claimant worked during their qualifying period determines, along with the regional rate of unemployment, their eligibility for EI regular benefits (typically a minimum of 420 to 700 hours required) and the maximum number of weeks of EI regular benefits they can receive (typically14 to 45 weeks).
o Under the temporary EI measure introduced in response to foreign tariffs, between April 6 and July 12, 2025, claimants need between 420 and 630 hours to qualify for regular benefits and the maximum number of weeks of regular benefits payable is 17 to 45 weeks.
• Service Canada facilitates expedited applications for EI benefits when a significant disaster occurs. However, there is no flexibility to respond to the impact disasters can have on access and entitlement to EI.
Jasper and Bunibonibee Cree Nation Wildfires
• While there were many wildfires in 2024, only two resulted in evacuations that lasted longer than three weeks and prompted a formal request by a provincial or territorial government for urgent federal assistance: the wildfires in Jasper, Alberta and Bunibonibee Cree Nation, Manitoba.
• These factors signal the severity of the situations, resulting in significant disruptions to local employment and increasing the likelihood that workers in these communities could face challenges accessing EI benefits or may not be entitled to enough weeks of benefits to cover them until they can return to work.
EI Disaster Pilot Project
• On February 2, 2025, the Government introduced a new EI pilot project that provides a one-time credit of 300 hours of insurable employment to workers who reside within the postal code regions associated with the Jasper and Bunibonibee Cree Nation wildfire evacuations and establish a claim for EI benefits between July 21, 2024, and July 19, 2025. Eligible claimants have the hours credit applied to the first claim they make during this period.
• The temporary one-time hours credit helps offset the effects of employment hours lost during the evacuations and improves access to EI benefits. Workers already able to qualify without the hours credit can receive up to nine additional weeks of regular benefits.
• It is expected that about 1,030 claimants will benefit from this pilot project: about 370 workers are expected to become eligible for EI thanks to the one-time hours credit, and approximately 660 workers who had already established EI claims are expected to use at least one additional week of regular benefits available as a result of the hours credit.
• The pilot project only applies to workers from the Jasper and Bunibonibee Cree Nation communities. Workers from communities where other severe wildfires that occur while the pilot project is in effect are not eligible for the one-time hours credit. However, those workers may still qualify for EI and could benefit from the improved EI access and adequacy offered by the current temporary EI measures introduced in response to foreign tariffs.
• This pilot project will test the effectiveness of using an hours credit to mitigate the impact of natural disaster evacuations on EI benefits, and of using postal codes to identify eligible claimants. The results may be used to inform future policy development and an approach for responding to major disasters.
Temporary Work-Sharing Flexibilities
• 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.

• To help businesses and workers affected by the wildfires, the Canada Employment Insurance Commission (CEIC) approved temporary special measures to the Work-Sharing program to make the agreements easier to access for employers and workers in Jasper and Bunibonibee Cree Nation. These special measures are expected to further help impacted employers avoid layoffs as they recover over the next critical seasons.

• The temporary changes are largely aligned with previous flexibilities to Work-Sharing agreements introduced, such as for the 2023 wildfires and will be in place until August 3, 2025.

• Work-Sharing Special Measures flexibilities attributable to the 2024 wildfires in Jasper, Alberta or Bunibonibee Cree Nation, Manitoba include:
o waiving the mandatory cooling-off period between Work-Sharing agreements
o not requiring employers to demonstrate a recent decrease in business activity of at least 10%
o allowing a reduction of work and business activities greater than 60%
o focusing recovery measures on supporting the business' ability to maintain its viability in the face of impacts related to the 2024 wildfires in Jasper, Alberta or Bunibonibee Cree Nation, Manitoba
o allowing cyclical or seasonal employers to apply and seasonal employees to participate.

If pressed on eligibility of workers impacted by other natural disasters:
• The government continues to closely monitor the impact that natural disasters are having on Canadians and stands ready to respond and support impacted workers. The EI program continues to support workers from all communities impacted by natural disasters, including those facing evacuations this fire season. Well-established procedures are in place to support these workers in applying for EI.