Canada Just Revealed How Many Canadians Have Been Claiming COVID-19 Benefits
If you’ve ever wondered how many Canadians have claimed COVID-19 benefits since the start of the pandemic, the federal government has got answers!
In a new statement, Employment and Social Development Canada confirmed statistics related to all of Canada’s new recovery benefits, as well as Employment Insurance (EI).
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2,441,130
Total claimants of Canada's recovery benefits
Per the government’s data, 1,715,090 Canadians applied for the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) between October 12, 2020 and February 14, 2021.
As for the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB), there were 392,280 “unique applicants” between the same dates.
Less Canadians applied for the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB), but the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) still processed 333,760 claims for this support.
This means 2,441,130 Canadians accessed one of Canada’s new recovery benefits during a period of less than six months.
When it comes to EI, there were 2,045,250 active regular benefit claimants as of February 14, 2021.
This comes as the government announced their intention to extend these benefits further, allowing Canadians to access the support for a longer amount of time during the ongoing pandemic.