𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐝𝐚 𝐄𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭  

The Canada Emergency Response Benefit has drastically evolved since its initial launch back in March.  Employment Insurance is no longer the program you apply for if you cannot work due to COVID 19.  EI  has been replaced by Canada Emergency Response Benefit, commonly known as CERB.  

This benefit is applicable for both employees and those who are self-employed and never having paid into Employment Insurance.  The criteria to be eligible for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit has evolved over several weeks.  

The government of Canada has expanded and changes who is can be paid to and what the criteria is.  Huge advancements were made for Canadians on April 15 was the inclusion of Seasonal workers as well as those whose EI benefits have run out since the start of 2020.   Also, now allowing people to earn up to $1,000 month and still be able to qualify for the benefit.  

𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗶𝘀 𝗘𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲?

The current eligibility criteria is:

- 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘥𝘢-𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 $5,000 𝘪𝘯 2019 𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 12 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.

-𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘖𝘝𝘐𝘋-19, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘌𝘐 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘌𝘐 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘋𝘦𝘤 29, 2019, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 -𝘖𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘣𝘦𝘳 3, 2020, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘣.

-𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 $1,000 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 14 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 4 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘥?  𝘈𝘭𝘴𝘰, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘥.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭?

𝘊𝘌𝘙𝘉 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨: 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑧𝑒𝑟𝑜 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑦𝑒𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑔𝑜 𝑜𝑟 𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝐼𝑛 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝐶𝑂𝑉𝐼𝐷-19𝐴𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑒𝐴𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭`𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐀𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭?

The benefit amount is a taxable benefit of $500 week for up to 16 weeks and Canadians can expect to receive their income within 10 days of application.  The benefit is eligible to be paid from March 15, 2020, until October 3, 2020.  The benefit amount is paid in blocks of four week periods.

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲

𝑂𝑛𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝐴𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑙 6, 2020𝐴𝑢𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑇𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝐿𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑇𝑜𝑙𝑙-𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝐶𝑅𝐴 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑖𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑤.

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If you are eligible for Employment Insurance, you should apply.  Those who have applied for EI on March 15, 2020, or after, your application will automatically be processed through the Canada Emergency Response Benefit.  

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐄𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞

If you are still able to perform your work from home and can earn an income of $1,000 or more per month this benefit will not be available.  If you did not have a job prior to COVID-19 and were planning on working beginning now, the Government of Canada is indicating that you are not eligible for this benefit.

https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/cerb-application.html