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
• Lower Saint Lawrence and North Shore
• 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 26, 2024, 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

Apply for EI benefits