Yes, for a limited time, through Employment Insurance (EI). If your parent is critically ill or needs end-of-life care, EI caregiving benefits pay 55% of your earnings, up to $729 a week in 2026. They last up to 15 or 26 weeks (canada.ca, checked October 14, 2026).
Your province protects your job while you are away, but that leave is unpaid. EI is what replaces part of your pay.
The money matters. A report by the financial firm Edward Jones was covered by Global News on October 14, 2026. It found that caregivers who are not paid back spend an average of $10,190 a year out of their own pockets. In that report, the person receiving care was most often a parent (63% of the time).
Below: the two EI benefits side by side, what they pay, who qualifies and how to apply. Then how long your job is protected in four provinces, and the few provincial programs that pay family caregivers directly.
Which "caregiver benefit" do you mean?
In Canada, "caregiver benefit" usually means one of three things. The EI caregiving benefits replace part of your pay while you take time off work. A few provinces, such as Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, have their own caregiver benefits. And the Canada caregiver credit is a tax credit, not a payment.
This post is about the first two. If you were looking for the tax credit, we explain how the Canada caregiver credit works and who can claim it in a separate guide.
The EI benefits are for people who work and have paid into EI. They are temporary: they cover a crisis, such as a serious diagnosis, a stroke, a serious injury or the last months of life. They are not a wage for ongoing care of a parent whose health is stable.
The two EI caregiving benefits for a parent, compared
For a parent or any other adult, EI has two caregiving benefits. The family caregiver benefit for adults pays up to 15 weeks when the person is critically ill or injured. Compassionate care benefits pay up to 26 weeks when the person needs end-of-life care. Both pay the same rate.
| Family caregiver benefit for adults | Compassionate care benefits | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it is for | A critically ill or injured person 18 or older | A person of any age who needs end-of-life care |
| Most weeks you can get | 15 weeks | 26 weeks |
| Pay in 2026 | 55% of your earnings, up to $729 a week | 55% of your earnings, up to $729 a week |
| What the medical certificate must say | The person is critically ill or injured and needs care or support | The person has a serious medical condition with a significant risk of death within 26 weeks |
| Who signs the certificate | A medical doctor or nurse practitioner | A medical doctor or nurse practitioner |
| Time to use the weeks | 52 weeks from the certificate | 52 weeks from the certificate |
| Can family members share the weeks? | Yes, at the same time or one after another | Yes, at the same time or one after another |
| Must you live with the person? | No | No |
Source: canada.ca EI caregiving benefits pages, checked October 14, 2026. A third benefit covers critically ill children under 18.
EI caregiving benefits pay 55% of your earnings, up to $729 a week in 2026, for up to 15 weeks for a critically ill adult or 26 weeks for end-of-life care.
If your parent's situation changes, for example a critical illness becomes end-of-life care, the certificate is what decides which benefit applies. Ask the doctor or nurse practitioner which form fits.
How much is the caregiver benefit in 2026?
EI caregiving benefits pay 55% of your earnings, up to a maximum of $729 a week in 2026. If you earned $1,000 a week, you would get about $550 a week before tax. Earnings count up to $68,900 a year, so anyone earning about $1,325 a week or more gets the $729 maximum.
The $729 figure comes from the federal government's 2026 benefit page, and the $68,900 cap from Employment and Social Development Canada's 2026 maximum insurable earnings. Both were checked on canada.ca on October 14, 2026.
Three timing details catch people:
- The first week. Normally the first week of a claim is unpaid. A temporary measure waives that week for all new EI claims that start between March 30, 2025, and October 9, 2027. Confirm with Service Canada how it applies to your claim.
- The first payment. If you qualify and everything is in order, the first payment usually arrives about 28 days after you apply.
- The 52-week window. You have 52 weeks from the date on the medical certificate to use your weeks. Weeks you do not use in that window are lost.
Who qualifies for the caregiver benefit?
You qualify if you worked at least 600 insured hours in the 52 weeks before your claim. Your regular weekly earnings must also drop by more than 40% for at least one week because you are giving care. And a doctor or nurse practitioner must certify that your parent is critically ill, injured, or needs end-of-life care.
You do not have to live with your parent to get EI caregiving benefits. Your parent can be across town or in another province.
Family is defined broadly. It includes immediate family, other relatives, and people who are considered like family. A close friend or neighbour can qualify if the person needing care, or their legal representative, signs an attestation form saying so.
A long-standing condition on its own does not qualify. Say your parent already lives with a chronic condition, such as dementia or heart disease. The benefits then apply only when a new, acute, life-threatening event changes their health significantly. A stroke or another sudden, life-threatening turn for the worse is the kind of event that can open the door. Day-to-day help with a stable condition does not.
Self-employed people can qualify too, but only if they registered with EI in advance. The details are in the questions at the end.
How to apply for the caregiver benefit
Apply online through Service Canada as soon as you stop working or your hours drop. You can send the medical certificate after you apply. Service Canada warns that applying more than 4 weeks after your last day of work may cost you benefits, so do not wait for every form before you start.
What you need before you apply:
- Your Social Insurance Number, mailing address and home address.
- Your banking details for direct deposit.
- The names and addresses of your employers in the last 52 weeks, with your dates of work and why each job ended.
- Your Record of Employment from each employer.
- Your parent's name, date of birth and home address, and your relationship to them.
- The medical certificate, signed by your parent's doctor or nurse practitioner.
- The medical information release form.
- If you are not related, the attestation form saying you are considered like family.
Items 6 to 8 are completed and signed by someone other than you, which is why they can follow later. You can stop and come back, but an application you have not submitted within 72 hours is deleted and you start again.
If you and a brother or sister both plan to take time, each of you applies separately. You can split the weeks however works for your family: one after the other, or both at once.
Is your job protected while you care for a parent?
Yes. Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec and federal labour law all give employees job-protected leave to care for a seriously ill family member, so you can return afterward. The leave itself is unpaid. EI is what pays you during it, so most people use the two together: the leave keeps the job, EI replaces part of the pay.
How long you can be away depends on where you work and how ill your parent is. Here is the current rule in four provinces and for federally regulated workplaces, such as banks and airlines. If you work elsewhere, check your province's employment standards office.
| Where you work | Critically ill adult | End of life (risk of death within 26 weeks) | Shorter leave for family needs | Time on the job first |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ontario | Up to 17 weeks in 52 (critical illness leave) | Up to 28 weeks in 52 (family medical leave) | Up to 8 weeks a year per family member with a serious condition (family caregiver leave) | 6 months for critical illness leave; none for the others |
| British Columbia | Up to 16 weeks (family member over 19) | Up to 27 weeks in 52 (compassionate care leave) | Up to 5 days a year (family responsibility leave) | None in most cases |
| Alberta | Up to 16 weeks (critical illness leave) | Up to 27 weeks (compassionate care leave) | Up to 5 days a year (personal and family responsibility leave) | 90 days with the same employer |
| Quebec | Up to 16 weeks in 12 months (serious illness or accident) | Up to 27 weeks in 12 months (serious, potentially fatal illness) | 10 days a year for family obligations, 2 of them paid after 3 months of service | None |
| Federally regulated | Up to 17 weeks in 52 | Up to 28 weeks in 52 (compassionate care leave) | Not covered here | None stated |
Sources: Ontario Ministry of Labour (updated February 5, 2026), Government of British Columbia (updated August 13, 2026), alberta.ca, CNESST (Quebec) and canada.ca federal labour standards, all checked October 14, 2026.
Notice that the leave lengths run a week or two longer than the EI weeks. That is deliberate in some provinces. Alberta, for example, sets its critical illness leave one week longer than the EI benefit, to allow for the EI waiting week.
Tell your employer as early as you can, in writing if possible. Alberta asks for 2 weeks' written notice before compassionate care leave where that is possible. Most leaves also need a medical certificate, and the same one you get for EI often works. If you would rather keep working with changed hours, our guide to balancing a career with caregiving in Canada covers flexible arrangements to ask about.
Can you get paid to care for a parent in Canada?
There is no national program that pays you a wage to care for a parent. EI pays for a limited time during a crisis. Beyond that, a few provinces pay family caregivers directly, mostly when a parent has high care needs, and the amounts are modest. Here are the ones confirmed on provincial government pages in October 2026.
Nova Scotia: Caregiver Benefit. Pays the caregiver $400 a month. Your parent must be 19 or older and meet the income limit in the province's home care income table (category A). A Nova Scotia Health care coordinator must also assess them as needing a high level of care. You must be 19 or older, give at least 20 hours of help a week, and not already be paid for it. Call Continuing Care at 1-800-225-7225.
Prince Edward Island: At Home Caregiver Benefit. Pays $250 to $1,500 a month, depending on household income: $1,500 under $50,000, $1,000 from $50,000 to $100,000, and $250 over $100,000. Your parent must normally be 65 or older and assessed by Home Care as eligible for long-term care, while choosing to stay home. The money goes to your parent, who passes it to you as the main unpaid caregiver. Call 1-800-371-8245.
Newfoundland and Labrador: Paid Family Caregiving Option. A senior who qualifies for subsidized home support can use it to pay a family member, including an adult child, to give that support. Spouses and common-law partners cannot be paid. Contact your regional health authority.
Manitoba: Primary Caregiver Tax Credit. This is a refundable tax credit of $1,400 a year, not a monthly payment. It goes to the unpaid primary caregiver of someone assessed at home care level 2, 3 or 4, after more than 90 days of care.
Some provinces also let people with assessed home care needs manage their own home support funding, such as British Columbia's Choice in Supports for Independent Living (CSIL). Whether that money can pay a relative depends on the province and your relationship, so ask your parent's home care coordinator before you count on it.
If what you need is a break rather than a paycheque, our guide on how to find respite care in Canada lists where to start.
Where the caregiver tax credit fits
The Canada caregiver credit does not pay you while you are off work. The Canada Revenue Agency describes it as a non-refundable tax credit for people who support family members with a mental or physical infirmity. It can lower the tax you owe. You can use EI during a crisis and still check the credit at tax time.
We cover the credit in its own guide, so we will not repeat it here. For everything else that can help, from provincial programs to home care costs, see our complete guide to financial support for Canadian caregivers.
When you go back to work
EI weeks run out, and most caregivers return to their jobs while their parent is still recovering at home. That shift is often the harder part: your parent may be alone for most of the day for the first time since the crisis.
It helps to plan the return before your last week of leave. Line up who checks in and when, whether home care hours can start, and what your parent will do if they need help while you are at work. Weighing ways to keep in touch from a distance? Our comparison of senior monitoring devices in Canada explains what cameras, sensors, check-in calls and wearable help buttons each tell you, and what they do not.
Frequently asked questions
What is compassionate care leave?
Compassionate care leave is unpaid, job-protected time off to care for a family member who has a serious medical condition and a significant risk of death within 26 weeks. Your province sets the length: 27 or 28 weeks in the places covered above. EI compassionate care benefits can replace part of your pay for up to 26 of those weeks.
How long is compassionate care leave in Ontario?
In Ontario it is called family medical leave, and it lasts up to 28 weeks in a 52-week period. Any length of employment qualifies. A qualified health practitioner must certify a serious medical condition with a significant risk of death within 26 weeks. The leave is unpaid, so most people pair it with EI compassionate care benefits.
Can self-employed people get EI caregiving benefits?
Yes, but only if you registered for EI special benefits at least 12 months before you apply. To claim in 2026 you also need at least $9,254 in net self-employment earnings in 2025. The time you spend on your business must drop by more than 40% for at least one week.
When do EI compassionate care benefits end?
They end when you have used your weeks, up to 26 for compassionate care, or when the 52-week window from the medical certificate closes, whichever comes first. If other family members share the weeks, the 26 is a total for everyone. Tell Service Canada if you return to work or start earning money.
One step at a time
If your parent has just had a crisis, start with two things this week. Ask their doctor or nurse practitioner for the EI medical certificate. Then apply online, even if a form is still missing. Then tell your employer which leave you are taking. The rest can follow.
