Hello.

My name is Line Sirois and I am the CEO of Action-Chômage Côte-Nord.

Action-Chômage Côte-Nord is a grassroots organization that was founded in November 2003. Its purpose is to defend the rights of workers on the north shore. For a variety of reasons, these people need the social safety net that employment insurance provides in order to meet their basic needs. Over the last 20 years, our organization has therefore worked to organize jobless workers on the north shore, especially seasonal industry workers. I am referring particularly to the commercial fishing, forestry, peat bog, bioresources, recreation and tourism, accommodation, and food and beverage sectors and to outfitters and excursion operators. Our objective is to provide them with assistance and support in their dealings with Service Canada, to inform them of their rights, and to support them in making claims.

We have to stop talking about seasonal workers, since the people we are talking about are workers in seasonal industry. The government needs to adopt a vision that focuses on the business as a seasonal employer. We have to stop thinking about the employee as a seasonal worker. It is the worker's job that is seasonal, not the worker.

Particularly considering the variations in climate across our huge country, seasonal industry is an inherent aspect of the Canadian economy. The seasonal nature of employment is a characteristic feature of certain industries, such as forestry, agriculture and tourism.

According to a study done by Segma Recherche at the request of Action-Chômage, approximately one quarter of the labour force on the upper north shore works in one of the various seasonal sectors or another. In some regions of the country, it is thought that more than a third of the available jobs are seasonal jobs.

Segma also reports that 21.5% of those seasonal jobs are part-time and a majority of them are held by women. That situation means that the women are markedly more susceptible than the men to being affected by the well-known black hole of employment insurance: a period without benefits that can be as long as 18 weeks.

The employment insurance scheme is in a constant struggle to adapt to these facts. Year after year, thousands of workers have to deal with the black hole. Every year, some workers return to the same seasonal job, but the number of hours they need to qualify for employment insurance and the number of weeks of benefits they are entitled to vary based on the unemployment rate.

The unemployment rate, and thus the benefit rate, is calculated based on the number of hours worked in a particular region. While some regions have major industrial, mining or hydroelectric operations that provide many jobs, seasonal industry workers have to work more hours than people who live in a region where there are few or no big industries. The seasonal unemployment rate on the upper north shore is therefore similar to the rate in the Gaspé, while the benefit level is lower than in the Gaspé, given that it has major industrial operations, as in the case of Fermont.

As things stand now, people will need to have worked more hours to qualify for employment insurance in some regions even though they are similar in socio-economic or demographic terms. Seasonal jobs, however, are time-limited. This is the very picture of a vicious circle.

In light of what we have said, it seems clear that the regional unemployment rate does not in any way reflect the situation of seasonal industry workers. We can also conclude from this that the principle of redrawing the employment insurance administrative regions is itself not working. The scheme should reflect the situation in the regions, but that is not what it does. The result is that people are leaving.

On this point, do you know that the north shore is the only region in Quebec where the population is declining? The flaws in the employment insurance scheme are not unrelated to this situation. The seasonal industry issue is an illustration of the incongruity in the act and the fact that the various pilot projects that have been adopted, modified or revoked by the federal government in recent years have not succeeded in solving the problem.

There are numerous administrative tangles and traps hidden in this clumsy, ill-adapted scheme that seems to be designed to deter claimants. It means that in Minganie, not only do people have to have worked more hours to qualify for benefits, but they also have to prove, for example, that they have made three claims in a row, to be recognized as seasonal workers.

They must never have left, however justified, urgent or unforeseeable the situation. In its present form, the scheme does not promote social justice. It is unjust and biased and it seems to want to punish workers who work in remote places in sectors like food and beverage and commercial fisheries, and for outfitters.

The approach is so brutal that last year, three workers went down with their ship and lost their lives on the lower north shore. According to Andrew Etheridge, the former mayor of Blanc-Sablon, these fishers had braved the poor sailing conditions to achieve their quota and thus hope to be eligible for employment insurance.

Action‑Chômage Côte‑Nord and its allies have known for years what the solutions are that would enable workers to get through periods of unemployment with dignity. The government has all the tools that it needs for improving—