Emergency Care Benefit / Emergency Support Benefit

March 20, 2020

To all members who may be eligible for the new Emergency Care Benefit and/or the Emergency Support Benefit:

Earlier this week the Government of Canada announced that it was creating two benefits for those who are not otherwise eligible for EI to access: the Emergency Care Benefit and the Emergency Support Benefit.

There is no information yet as to the exact date when these benefits will be up and running and we do not yet know the way you will apply for these benefits.

Our understanding is, however, that these benefits will be provided through CRA and applications will likely be made through the CRA platform. Even though the new programs are not yet up and running, we are urging our members who may wish to access these benefits to be proactive and create a “My CRA Account” if you do not already have one.

This can be done at the CRA website (https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/e-services/e-services-individuals/account-individuals.html).

The Union maintains its commitment to keep you up-to-date on any developments and will update this information when we have more details.