Regulations Amending the Employment Insurance Regulations (Pilot Project No. 23): SOR/2025-10
Canada Gazette, Part II, Volume 159, Number 4
Registration
SOR/2025-10 January 31, 2025
EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE ACT
P.C. 2025-52 January 31, 2025
The Canada Employment Insurance Commission makes the annexed Regulations Amending the Employment Insurance Regulations (Pilot Project No. 23) under section 109 of the Employment Insurance Act footnote a.
January 10, 2025
Paul Thompson
Chairperson
Canada Employment Insurance Commission
Pierre Laliberté
Commissioner (Workers)
Canada Employment Insurance Commission
Nancy Healey
Commissioner (Employers)
Canada Employment Insurance Commission
Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Employment and Social Development, under section 109 of the Employment Insurance Act footnote a, approves the annexed Regulations Amending the Employment Insurance Regulations (Pilot Project No. 23), made by the Canada Employment Insurance Commission.
Regulations Amending the Employment Insurance Regulations (Pilot Project No. 23)
Amendment
1 The Employment Insurance Regulations footnote 1 are amended by adding the following after section 77.993:
Pilot Project to Provide Additional Hours of Insurable Employment to Claimants in Areas Affected by Natural Disasters
77.994 (1) Pilot Project No. 23 is established for the purpose of testing
- (a) the effectiveness of a one-time credit of additional hours of insurable employment in mitigating the impact of evacuations due to natural disasters on the benefits payable to claimants under Part I of the Act; and
- (b) the effectiveness of using postal codes to identify the claimants to whom that credit should apply.
(2) Pilot Project No. 23 applies in respect of every claimant who, at the time of making an initial claim for benefits under Part I of the Act, is ordinarily resident in an area with the postal code T0E 1E0, T0E 0C0 or R0B 1C0 if
- (a) a benefit period beginning no earlier than July 21, 2024 and no later than the day before the day on which this section comes into force is established in respect of the claim and does not end in accordance with paragraph 10(8)(d) of the Act before the day on which this section comes into force; or
- (b) the claim is made during the period beginning on the day on which this section comes into force and ending on July 19, 2025.
(3) A claimant referred to in paragraph (2)(a) is deemed to have an additional 300 hours of insurable employment in their qualifying period for the benefit period referred to in that paragraph.
(4) A claimant referred to in paragraph (2)(b) is deemed to have an additional 300 hours of insurable employment in their qualifying period in relation to the claim referred to in that paragraph unless
- (a) a benefit period was established for the claimant in respect of a previous claim referred to in that paragraph; or
- (b) the claimant made a previous claim in respect of which a benefit period referred to in paragraph (2)(a) was established.
(5) The additional hours of insurable employment that a claimant is deemed under subsection (3) or (4) to have in their qualifying period are also to be considered hours of insurable employment for the purposes of subsection 28(4) and paragraphs 30(1)(a), 31(c) and 32(2)(c) of the Act and subsection 35(3) and subparagraph 35(7)(e)(ii) of these Regulations.
Coming into Force
2 These Regulations come into force on the Sunday after the day on which they are registered.
REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT
(This statement is not part of the Regulations.)
Issues
The frequency and severity of natural disasters in Canada are increasing, with recent events including floods, wildfires, hurricanes and other extreme weather. These events can impact the employment of workers, including those laid off because their employer is temporarily shut down, those who work fewer hours, or those who are temporarily displaced from their employment. While Employment Insurance (EI) regular benefits provide temporary income support to individuals who lose their jobs through no fault of their own, workers impacted by disasters may not have accumulated enough hours of insurable employment to qualify for EI benefits. Those who do qualify, especially in the case of seasonal workers, may be entitled to fewer weeks of EI benefits compared to previous periods of unemployment.
The Employment Insurance Act (the EI Act) allows for regulations to be made to introduce pilot projects to test whether possible amendments to the EI Act or the related regulations would make them more consistent with current industry employment practices, trends or patterns, or would improve service to the public. This pilot project responds to two specific disasters that occurred in the summer of 2024. It will also provide the opportunity to test the effectiveness of an approach for responding to major disasters, the results of which may be used to inform future policy development.
Background
Section 109 of the EI Act provides the Canada Employment Insurance Commission with the authority to make regulations to introduce pilot projects of up to three years. Such pilots test whether potential changes to the EI Act or related regulations would make them more consistent with current industry employment practices, trends or patterns, or would improve service to the public. This allows the impacts of new approaches to be tested before permanent changes to the EI program are considered. Since 1996, 22 pilot projects have been introduced under this authority. These pilot projects have tested, among other things, adjustments to the rules for claimants who work while they are on claim, alternative approaches to calculating a claimant’s benefit rate, options for access to EI for new entrants and re-entrants to the labour market, and approaches to providing additional weeks of benefits to seasonal claimants to address income gaps they may face between work seasons.
The frequency and severity of major natural disasters in Canada has increased significantly, with 9 of the 10 most expensive insurance payments from natural disasters in Canadian history occurring since 2011.footnote 2 With climate change, natural disasters are expected to become a new reality.
In particular, the impacts of climate change are causing longer and more intense fire seasons.footnote 3 The 2024 wildfire season was the second worst in terms of area burned since 1995.footnote 4 following the 2023 wildfire season. The majority of Canada’s wildfires in 2024 were in Western Canada (i.e. British Columbia, Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan).footnote 5
Evacuation orders may be issued by municipal, provincial/territorial, First Nations, or federal governments to tell people to leave immediately because of the emergency. Such evacuations may disrupt employment, sometimes for several weeks. While their places of work are closed, workers, including those evacuated from their homes, may rely on EI to provide income support.
To support impacted individuals, Service Canada has put in place a series of measures since 2016 aimed at facilitating the application process for EI benefits when a significant disaster occurs. For example, during defined support periods, Service Canada prioritizes application processing for claims from an area affected by an emergency and initiates interim Records of Employment without waiting for employers to issue them. However, EI legislative and regulatory requirements, including those determining the number of hours of insurable employment required to qualify for benefits and the duration of EI benefits, cannot be waived or altered:
- EI regular benefits, under Part I of the EI Act, provide temporary income support to eligible unemployed workers while they look for employment. To qualify, workers require between 420 and 700 hours of insurable employment during the preceding 52 weeks or since the beginning of their last EI claim, whichever is shorter (i.e. the qualifying period). Eligible individuals are entitled to receive between 14 and 45 weeks of EI regular benefits. The Employment Insurance Regulations (the EI Regulations) divide the country into 62 EI economic regions, and the number of weeks of benefits depends on the unemployment rate in their region at the time of their application for benefits and the number of hours of insurable employment in their qualifying period.
- EI special benefits, also under Part I of the EI Act, provide temporary income support to eligible unemployed workers to help them balance work and life responsibilities when they are unable to work because of illness, pregnancy, caring for a newborn or newly adopted child, or supporting a gravely or critically ill family member. Workers require 600 hours of insurable employment during their qualifying period to qualify for EI special benefits, and the number of weeks of entitlement depends on the type of special benefit claimed (e.g. 15 weeks for maternity benefits, 26 weeks for sickness benefits).
As a result, EI claimants may be negatively impacted as a result of evacuations in two key ways:
- First, it may be more difficult for some workers to qualify for EI due to the evacuation’s impact on the hours of insurable employment they were able to work. This impact can occur immediately after the evacuation, when those who are expected to be most acutely affected include seasonal workers who have not completed their work season, individuals who have recently rejoined the labour market or were on leave from their insurable employment (e.g. those who recently came back from a parental leave), part-time workers and new entrants to the labour force. This impact on access to benefits can affect any EI claimant who experienced an evacuation-related disruption to employment during their qualifying period, whether the evacuation occurred right before their EI claim or if the claim is established in the months that follow. For example, while a seasonal worker may not submit a claim for EI benefits at the time of an evacuation, the hours of insurable employment lost due to that evacuation may have an impact on their ability to qualify for EI months later, at the end of their work season.
- Second, those who do qualify for EI regular benefits may face reduced entitlement (i.e. fewer weeks of EI regular benefits) because of the reduced hours worked. These claimants are at increased risk of exhausting their benefits before returning to employment. This impact is exacerbated for workers whose industry or employer faces long-term recovery from the effects of the disaster.
The longer an evacuation, the greater the impact on workers, since ineligible workers will be without income support and those with reduced entitlement will be at greater risk of exhausting their benefits.
Two factors that signal the severity of a disaster, which influences the potential for significant disruptions to local employment and the risk it will impact access and entitlement to EI benefits, are 1) a request for federal assistance, and 2) the duration of evacuation.
- Request for Federal Assistance: When a province or territory determines that an emergency has escalated beyond their capacity for an effective response, they may formally request support from the federal government in their emergency response efforts. These requests, which are managed by Public Safety Canada, can include support for operational coordination, emergency evacuation, transportation and logistics, specialized response resources, and emergency public health, medical and social services. Requests are often made in the immediate aftermath of an emergency and can range from straightforward to complex needs requiring significant and sustained responses. These requests are an indication of the severity of the emergency.
- Duration of evacuation: Long evacuations create employment disruptions where workers are most likely to face significant impacts (e.g. full pay periods without any income, recurring monthly bills to be paid, diminished savings). These workers have a heightened need for income support and are more likely to benefit from EI. For example, claimants who are unable to work for a short period of time may not apply for EI due to the requirement to serve a one-week waiting period during which benefits are not payable.
During summer 2024, only Jasper, Alberta, and Bunibonibee Cree Nation, Manitoba, experienced wildfires which resulted in evacuations that lasted longer than three weeks and prompted a formal request by a provincial or territorial government for federal assistance. On this basis, they were identified as communities in which a temporary EI disaster pilot project should be first tested. While the individual contexts of the communities are very different, there is a need for support in both.
Jasper
- Following an evacuation order by the Municipality of Jasper and Parks Canada on July 22, 2024, more than 20,000 people were evacuated from Jasper National Park and the town of Jasper due to wildfires. Almost four weeks later, the evacuation order was lifted on August 17, 2024, and residents were allowed to begin returning home. Jasper has confirmed that 358 of the community’s 1 113 structures (30%) have been destroyed.footnote 6 While critical infrastructure was protected, damage this significant means that recovery is expected to take many months and rebuilding even longer.footnote 7
- The need for income support in Jasper is clearly demonstrated by the volume of EI applications from Jasper during the weeks surrounding the evacuation, which represent about half of all EI applications from disaster-impacted postal codes nationally during the summer 2024 support periods.
- The EI application data also indicates an acute need among foreign workers,footnote 8 with approximately 40% of the claims during Jasper’s support period coming from 900 series Social Insurance Numbers, which are associated with temporary foreign workers, new immigrants, student work visas, etc.
- The unemployment rate in the EI economic region of Southern Alberta, where Jasper is located, has ranged between 6.1% and 6.4% since the date the evacuation order was issued, meaning 665 hours of insurable employment is required to qualify for EI regular benefits, with entitlement between 15 and 38 weeks. There are several scenarios in which workers would not be able to qualify for EI due to the employment disruption caused by the evacuation. For example, a seasonal worker who typically works about 40 hours/week from mid-May to September would have accumulated 365 hours in the nine weeks before the evacuation, 300 less than required to qualify for EI regular benefits.
- Jasper’s highly seasonal economy is heavily dependent on tourism, with a quarter of employment concentrated in accommodation and food services.footnote 9 The evacuation order during the busiest part of tourist season and the time needed to rebuild are expected to have a prolonged and significant impact on seasonal workers who may have difficulties making up the hours lost during the evacuation, particularly given the shortages of short-term housing and the significant loss of overnight accommodations being reported.footnote 10
Bunibonibee Cree Nation
- Following an evacuation order issued by the Bunibonibee Cree Nation leadership on August 13, 2024, approximately 2 400 people were evacuated from the fly-in community of Bunibonibee Cree Nation due to a wildfire. The evacuation order was lifted and residents started returning home on August 31, 2024, with the entire community returned by September 12, 2024 (just under four weeks after the evacuation order was put in place). As a remote community with no reliable road access in the summer months, all residents had to exit the community via airlift support from the Canadian Armed Forces. However, the return to the community once the fire was under control was done through scheduled aircraft and smaller charter flights, and the limited capacity and availability of such flights prevented immediate return of the entire population once the evacuation order was lifted. While the fire got as close as 10 km to the community, it was eventually contained before damage to structures occurred.
- A small volume of EI applications was received during the weeks surrounding the evacuation.
- Since the date the evacuation order was issued, the unemployment rate in the EI economic region of Northern Manitoba, where Bunibonibee Cree Nation is located, has ranged between 33.6% and 34.8%. This unemployment rate results in access to EI regular benefits with 420 hours of insurable employment and entitlement of 32 to 45 weeks. However, negative impacts on EI claimants are still expected as a result of the wildfire evacuation. In a high unemployment region, there may be limited opportunities to make up the hours lost during the evacuation, exacerbated by the fly-in nature of the community. Despite high EI entitlement, more than 60% of the EI claims established in Bunibonibee Cree Nation in 2023 exhausted their entitlement. This is substantially higher than the national exhaustion rate (40% in 2022–2023), suggesting that the majority of claimants whose EI entitlement is reduced as a result of the evacuation’s impact on their employment would be negatively affected.
Objective
The Regulations Amending the Employment Insurance Regulations (Pilot Project No. 23) [the amendments to the EI Regulations] seek to test the effectiveness of 1) an hours credit at mitigating the impact of evacuations due to natural disasters on the EI benefits payable to claimants, and 2) using postal codes to identify claimants eligible for such an hours credit. While the pilot project only applies to two communities, the results of this pilot project may be used to inform future policy development.
Description
The amendments to the EI Regulations introduce a pilot project that provides a one-time credit of 300 hours of insurable employment to claimants in Jasper and Bunibonibee Cree Nation, ordinarily residing in the areas defined by postal codes T0E 1E0, T0E 0C0 or R0B 1C0, who establish a benefit period beginning between July 21, 2024, and July 19, 2025. The credit will increase the number of hours of insurable employment in a claimant’s qualifying period by 300. As a result, some workers who previously had insufficient hours to qualify may gain access to EI benefits. These workers will have to reapply and submit a new claim for benefits after the coming into force date of the amendments to the EI Regulations. For claimants who are able to establish a claim without the credit, the hours credit will be automatically applied to the qualifying period and may increase the number of weeks of regular benefit entitlement available. The credit applies to a claimant’s first regular or special benefit claim with a benefit period beginning between July 21, 2024, and July 19, 2025, unless that claim ended prior to the coming into force date. The maximum number of weeks of EI regular benefit entitlement, which is based on the regional unemployment rate and the number of hours of insurable employment, remains unchanged.
Regulatory development
Consultation
This proposal follows two years of extensive consultation on EI modernization starting in 2021 that was conducted through a phased approach and included over 35 stakeholder roundtables with organized labour and employer groups, community organizations, academics, and other experts. During these consultations, some stakeholders indicated the need for a support program during emergencies. While other stakeholders had concerns with EI being the primary funding source for all emergency-related support programs, this does not preclude introducing flexibilities within the EI program to make it more responsive to emergency situations.
Consultations have also been held with Public Safety Canada to better understand emergency management supports in times of disasters, including the criteria and processes for requests for federal assistance. Consultations were also held with Prairies Economic Development Canada and with Indigenous Services Canada to understand impacts on local communities.
This pilot project will provide the opportunity to test an approach for responding to future major disasters. The amendments seek to provide EI income support for a targeted group of workers impacted by the 2024 wildfires in Jasper and Bunibonibee Cree Nation, will have little impact on other workers, and have no negative impacts on claimants nor impose new requirements on businesses. As a result, the amendments were exempted from prepublication in the Canada Gazette, Part I.
Modern treaty obligations and Indigenous engagement and consultation
In accordance with the Cabinet Directive on the Federal Approach to Modern Treaty Implementation, an assessment of modern treaty implications on the Regulations was conducted in support of the proposal. There are no implications for modern treaty obligations or Indigenous engagement in these Regulations. No Indigenous groups were engaged in designing this pilot project.
Instrument choice
The EI Act provides the Canada Employment Insurance Commission with the authority to make regulations to introduce pilot projects of up to a three-year duration, to test possible amendments to the Act or the Regulations to make them more consistent with current industry employment practices, trends or patterns or to improve service to the public.
Introducing this temporary EI measure as a pilot project enables the provision of timely support to workers in Jasper and Bunibonibee Cree Nation impacted by 2024 wildfires while testing the effectiveness of an hours credit as a mechanism to mitigate the impact of evacuations due to natural disasters on the EI benefits payable to claimants before considering making changes to the program. At the same time, the pilot project will test the effectiveness of using postal codes as a means of identifying claimants eligible for a specific EI measure.
Regulatory analysis
Benefits and costs
The provision of a credit of 300 hours of insurable employment to claimants in Jasper and Bunibonibee Cree Nation, following lengthy evacuation-related wildfires in summer 2024 may make some claimants newly eligible for EI benefits and increase the EI regular benefit entitlement of others. One benefit of the measure will be the information collected and lessons learned, which may be used to inform future policy development. Although this cannot be quantified and is not included in the analysis, it is acknowledged qualitatively. The additional EI benefits payments are expected to be the principal quantitative benefit of these Regulations.
The costs to previously ineligible EI claimants who must reapply under the pilot project to benefit from the hours credit, the costs to administer the program, and the additional EI benefit payments resulting from this pilot project are the principal costs associated with the regulations. It should be noted that this pilot project is not expected to result in an increase in the EI premium rate, as the costs associated with this measure are too small to have a meaningful impact on EI premiums. Therefore, it is estimated that there will be no incremental costs to workers or their employers in additional EI premiums.
While Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) will incur costs to administer the program, these costs will be fully reimbursed by the EI Operating Account. Covering ESDC operating expenses is attributed as a cost to the EI Operating Account, as shown in the analysis presented below.
Benefits
Benefit: Expected additional EI benefit payments
Stakeholder: EI claimants
In order to receive the hours credit, a claimant must ordinarily reside within one of the targeted postal codes at the time of their initial claim for benefits, and have a benefit period beginning between July 21, 2024, and July 19, 2025.
Based on EI administrative data, it is estimated that 1 030 claims will benefit from the hours credit. This includes claims that could be established without the credit but may be entitled to additional weeks of regular benefits once the credit is added (“existing claims”) and claims resulting from those who could newly qualify for EI as a result of the credit (“new claims”). An estimated 660 existing claims are expected to exhaust their entitlement and use at least one week of additional entitlement of EI regular benefits resulting from the hours credit. An estimated 370 new claims will be established as a result of the hours credit.
It is estimated that existing claims will be paid an average of four additional weeks of EI regular benefits and that new claims will be paid an average of 17 weeks of EI regular benefits. These are weighted averages based on estimated numbers of claimants from Jasper and Bunibonibee Cree Nation, and the respective weeks of entitlement in the EI economic region for Jasper (Southern Alberta) and for Bunibonibee Cree Nation (Northern Manitoba). Existing claims are estimated to have an average weekly benefit rate of $592, based on benefit rates of claims with lower number of hours of insurable employment from the Southern Alberta and Northern Manitoba EI economic regions. New claims are estimated to have an average weekly benefit rate of $417, based on benefit rates of claims that qualify with a corresponding number of hours of insurable employment from the same two EI economic regions. Using these benefit rates, the measure is expected to provide $3.8 million Present Value (PV) ($4.3 million, undiscounted) in additional EI benefits payments to eligible claimants.
Table 1 below summarizes, by community, the expected number of beneficiaries, expected total additional weeks of benefits used, and the expected amount of EI benefits to be paid from the pilot project.
| Community | Claimants expected to benefit from the pilot project | Expected number of additional weeks to be used | Total expected amount of EI benefits, undiscounted (millions) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jasper | New Claims | 334 | 5 000 | $2.3 |
| Existing Claims | 592 | 2 500 | $1.5 | |
| Total Claims | 926 | 7 500 | $3.8 | |
| Bunibonibee Cree Nation | New Claims | 37 | 1 200 | $0.3 |
| Existing Claims | 66 | 300 | $0.2 | |
| Total Claims | 103 | 1 500 | $0.5 | |
| Total | New Claims | 371 | 6 200 | $2.6 |
| Existing Claims | 658 | 2 800 | $1.7 | |
| Total Claims | 1 029 | 9 000 | $4.3 | |
Table 2 provides the expected distribution of additional EI benefits by fiscal year. Although the measure will apply to claims established over a one-year period, the additional EI benefits provided by the measure are expected to be paid out over three fiscal years (2024–2025 to 2026–2027). The hours credit will be available to any eligible claimant in Jasper and Bunibonibee Cree Nation whose benefit period begins between July 21, 2024, and July 19, 2025. The benefit period during which a claimant can receive benefits is usually 52 weeks following the beginning of their claim. Thus, some claimants who begin their claim in 2025 could receive the additional weeks of EI benefits in the 2026–2027 fiscal year.
| (millions) | 2024–2025 | 2025–2026 | 2026–2027 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Stakeholder: EI claimants Benefit: Expected additional EI benefit payments |
$1.3 | $2.1 | $0.9 | $4.3 |
Costs
Cost 1: The cost associated with the time required to reapply for EI benefits for previously ineligible EI claimants who may now qualify with the hours credit
Stakeholder: EI claimants
EI claimants who applied in the aftermath of the evacuation due to the disaster and who did not qualify for EI benefits at that time due to missing between one and 300 hours of insurable employment will have to reapply to benefit from the hours credit. Only claimants who tried to access EI prior to the coming into force of the Regulations may be in this situation, as after the coming into force of the Regulations, the hours credit will apply automatically to an eligible claimant’s first claim. Therefore, these costs can only occur in 2024–2025.
An opportunity cost of $3,308 in 2024–2025 was estimated using the average time required to fill out an EI application form, gather the necessary information, and submit an EI claim and the average hourly wage in the two communities. The average time to complete an EI application form is estimated at 30 minutes based on internal analytic data from Service Canada.footnote 11 The hourly average wage of $21 per hour is based on EI administrative data used to estimate expected amount of EI benefits to be paid under the pilot project. The average weekly benefit rate of new claims is estimated at $417. Assuming that $417 represents 55% of a claimant’s weekly earnings, and an average of 36.1 hours worked weekly,footnote 12 an hourly wage of $21 per hour was determined. Three hundred and fifteen new claims were estimated before the coming-into-force date meaning that, should the measure have been in place in July 2024, these claimants would have had their benefit period beginning between July and December 2024.
Cost 2: ESDC operating costs
Stakeholder: EI Operating Account
ESDC estimates the total incremental operating costs for the measure to be $1.8 million (undiscounted). This cost is estimated based on the expected claimant volume and the manual nature of the service delivery work. These costs will be reimbursed by the EI Operating Account over three fiscal years ($1.2 million in 2024–2025, $0.6 million in 2025–2026, and $0.02 million in 2026–2027 [undiscounted]).
Cost 3: Expected additional EI benefit payments made to claimants
Stakeholder: EI Operating Account
The additional EI benefit payment costs to the EI Operating Account are estimated to be $4.3 million (undiscounted), equivalent to the total amount of additional EI benefits that will be received by claimants under the pilot project. These costs will occur over three fiscal years (2024–2025 to 2026–2027).
As per section 77 of the EI Act, both ESDC operating costs and expected additional EI benefit payments will be charged to the EI Operating Account and recovered through future EI premiums. Workers in insurable employment and their employers pay premiums on insurable earnings, up to a maximum income threshold. The EI premium rate is set annually and calculated based on a seven-year break-even rate. An analysis was undertaken based on the 2025 Actuarial report on the Employment Insurance Premium Rate to determine the increase in premiums that will be needed to ensure a balance in the EI Operating Account over a seven-year period, taking into account inflation. This analysis concluded that due to its low cost, this pilot project will not result in any meaningful upward pressure on EI premiums, and will not result in any premium rate increase for 2026 or future years. Therefore, it is assumed that there will be no costs to workers in insurable employment or their employers for increased premiums.
Results
The total costs are the value of additional EI benefit payments paid from the EI Operating Account, ESDC operating costs which are charged to the EI Operating Account, and the cost to claimants who must reapply to qualify for EI once the hours credit is in place. The benefits are the value of the additional EI benefit payments received by claimants. Total costs are $5,432,277 PV, total benefits are $3,809,172 PV and the net cost is $1,623,105 PV over three fiscal years.
Cost-benefit statement
- Number of years: 3 (2024–2025 to 2026–2027)
- Price year: 2024
- Present value base year: Year 1
- Discount rate: 7%
| Impacted stakeholder | Description of benefit | Year 1 (2024–2025) | Year 2 (2025–2026) | Year 3 (2026–2027) | Total (present value) | Annualized value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EI claimants | Expected additional EI benefit payments | $1,300,000 | $2,129,000 | $900,000 | $3,809,172 | $1,451,491 |
| Impacted stakeholder | Description of cost | Year 1 (2024–2025) | Year 2 (2025–2026) | Year 3 (2026–2027) | Total (present value) | Annualized value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EI claimants | Reapply to benefit from the pilot project | $3,308 | $0 | $0 | $3,091 | $1,178 |
| EI Operating Account | ESDC operating costs | $1,164,275 | $587,858 | $22,600 | $1,620,014 | $617,309 |
| EI Operating Account | Expected additional EI benefit payments | $1,300,000 | $2,129,000 | $900,000 | $3,809,172 | $1,451,491 |
| All stakeholders | Total costs | $2,467,583 | $2,716,858 | $922,600 | $5,432,277 | $2,069,978 |
| Impacts | Year 1 (2024–2025) | Year 2 (2025–2026) | Year 3 (2026–2027) | Total (present value) | Annualized value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total benefits | $1,300,000 | $2,129,000 | $900,000 | $3,809,172 | $1,451,491 |
| Total costs | $2,467,583 | $2,716,858 | $922,600 | $5,432,277 | $2,069,978 |
| Net cost | $1,167,583 | $587,858 | $22,600 | $1,623,105 | $618,487 |
Small business lens
Analysis under the small business lens concluded that the Regulations do not impact Canadian small businesses. No regulatory administrative or compliance burden on small businesses has been identified. As per standard processes currently in place for businesses to comply with the EI program, businesses will continue to be required to provide a Record of Employment when there is a termination, without any change in the form or frequency as a result of this pilot project.
One-for-one rule
The one-for-one rule does not apply, as there is no incremental change in administrative burden on business and no regulatory titles are repealed or introduced.
The Regulations do not add any new burden on employers. The credit of hours of insurable employment will be added to the qualifying period of eligible claimants by Service Canada. No additional action is required on behalf of the employer.
Regulatory cooperation and alignment
The Regulations do not have implications for international agreements (trade, environmental, human rights, etc.) obligations, or voluntary standards. They are not aimed at minimizing or reducing regulatory differences, nor at increasing regulatory compatibility with another jurisdiction. They do not introduce specific Canadian requirements that differ from existing regulations in other jurisdictions for an international program.
The EI program is a federal program that applies across Canada.
Effects on the environment
In accordance with the Cabinet Directive on Strategic Environmental and Economic Assessment (SEEA Directive), a comprehensive SEEA has been conducted. Regulatory proposals subject to the Cabinet Directive on Regulation are exempted from the economic analysis elements of the SEEA Directive. Analysis done to complete the Climate, Nature and Economy Lens found that these Regulations contribute to the “Economy and workers” section of the Canada’s National Adaptation Strategy, as they support the efforts of the EI program to better facilitate economic resiliency for workers who are facing a temporary job loss due to natural disasters, which are increasing in frequency and severity as a result of climate change.
Gender-based analysis plus
​​This analysis uses data from the annual EI Monitoring and Assessment Report and EI Administrative data, along with Statistics Canada survey data. EI administrative data provides information on the gender of claimants and has some information on claimants’ racialized, Indigenous and disability statuses; however, this information is provided on a voluntary basis which severely limits any potential analysis. The EI program does not collect data on health characteristics, education, ethnicity, socio-economic, cultural, or familial characteristics of EI claimants. No data for additional gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) groups is available currently.
The target population for these Regulations is workers in Jasper and Bunibonibee Cree Nation who may face difficulty qualifying for EI or qualifying for enough weeks of EI regular benefits as a result of lengthy evacuations from their communities related to wildfires.
The measure is expected to particularly benefit seasonal workers whose work season was interrupted, including foreign workers; individuals who had recently returned to work after a leave; those who qualify for EI with fewer hours, such as part-time workers; and new entrants to the labour force.
The majority of those benefitting would be core-aged workers (i.e., those 25 to 44 years old). The majority would also be lower income, with over 70% earning $40,000 or less, including a quarter of claimants earning below $20,000 a year. Based on data from EI applications, about a third of those benefitting are expected to be those with a 900 series social insurance number (e.g. temporary foreign workers, new immigrants, student work visas).
Women are expected to represent about 40% of the claimants who would benefit from additional weeks of benefits due to the hours credit and a higher share (about half) of those expected to gain access to EI due to the hours credit. The greater impact on women’s access to EI benefits rather than weeks of entitlement reflects the fact that women are more likely than men to work part-time, putting them at greater risk of not having enough hours to qualify for EI, and are more likely than men to take parental, compassionate care, and sick leaves for which the weeks of entitlement are fixed. For example, based on the EI Monitoring and Assessment Report, in 2022–2023, women established 70.7% of new parental claims, 57.7% of EI sickness claims, and received 65.9% of the total amount of compassionate care benefits paid.
According to 2016 Census data, 98% of the residents of Bunibonibee Cree Nation are of Cree ancestry. Consequently, those benefitting from the pilot project in Bunibonibee Cree Nation are expected to be predominantly Indigenous.
Reflecting the highly seasonal nature of Jasper’s economy, those benefitting from the pilot project are expected to have been employed in the accommodation and food services; arts, entertainment and recreation; and retail trade sectors.
Implementation, compliance and enforcement, and service standards
Implementation
A dedicated team within Service Canada will process eligible claims manually for the duration of the measure. A manual approach is required given the eligibility based on targeted postal codes and the compressed time frame within which the measure was established. This work includes identifying individuals who are eligible for the measure, communicating with and encouraging them to reapply for EI if they did not qualify in the weeks immediately following the Jasper and Bunibonibee Cree Nation evacuations. This work also includes updating eligible existing claims with the hours credit; and when this results in additional weeks of entitlement, informing claimants. Implementation also includes adjustments to procedures and reference documents to reflect the manual process, public-facing content, and internal communication.
Service delivery considerations associated with this implementation include the impact of a manual solution that may not integrate smoothly with automation of claims. While efforts will be made to minimize any impacts, manual processing could impact the client experience (e.g., claimants may not have access to claim status in My Service Canada Account).
Compliance and enforcement
As this initiative is undertaken within the EI program, the same compliance and enforcement authorities as currently found in the EI Act apply. Compliance reviews consist of ensuring compliance with applicable legislation, regulations, and policies, including identification of cases of error, misrepresentation and abuse. Enforcement investigations occur when there are reasonable grounds to suspect that an offence against the EI Act has occurred and, where supported by the evidence, a prosecution may be pursued.
Service standards
Service Canada provides clients with a single point of access to a wide range of government services and benefits, including the processing and payment of EI claims. Regarding service standards, the department’s objective is to issue a payment or notice of non-eligibility within 28 days from the date on which the EI application is received, 80% of the time.
Contact
Benoit Cadieux
Director
Employment Insurance Policy
Skills and Employment Branch
Employment and Social Development Canada
140 Promenade du Portage, Phase IV
Gatineau, Quebec
K1A 0J9
Email: benoit.cadieux@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca