In Committee Room 2 on Parliament Hill, Chair Robert Morrissey brought the gavel down as Line Sirois, CEO of Action-Chômage Côte-Nord, finished her testimony in late 2024. Lobster boats sat idle in the frozen harbours of Atlantic Canada and Quebec’s Upper North Shore. Hotel doors closed for the winter.

The testimony painted a consistent picture across five meetings and 13 witnesses. To qualify for regular EI benefits, workers must log between 420 and 700 insurable hours, depending on regional unemployment rates. Once approved, earnings are divided by a factor of up to 22 weeks. Many who work only 15 weeks see weekly benefits shrink to just $150 or $200.

Benefits themselves last between 14 and 45 weeks. For thousands in fishing, tourism and agriculture, this creates the EI black hole: gaps of up to 18 weeks with no income at all. Families turn to food banks. Young people leave. Communities shrink.

The committee’s March 2026 report responds with six targeted recommendations. These include studying a lower hours threshold for seasonal industries, adopting a standard divisor, adding a seasonal flag to Records of Employment, making temporary extra weeks permanent, improving off-season work incentives, and pursuing full EI reform.

For the workers who pack away their gear each winter, the coming months will decide whether the next season starts with enough hands on deck. Or whether another gap simply swallows another year of rural livelihoods.