Ice Assistance Emergency Program

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) will provide financial assistance, through the Ice Assistance Emergency Program, to eligible fishers in affected areas of Newfoundland and Labrador, and Quebec, who have been prevented or delayed from fishing because of severe ice conditions in their fishing areas. On behalf of DFO, assistance payments will be issued by Service Canada to eligible recipients.

In most years, ice conditions are not a cause for concern.  However, this year the conditions have been extreme. As a result, affected fishers whose EI Fishing Benefits have ended may experience a significant period of time without any source of income because they could not safely fish.

Location:

To be eligible for assistance, applicants must fish on a vessel operating predominantly in one of the ice‑affected areas. These areas are noted below.    

The Ice Assistance Emergency Program was created to help alleviate the financial hardships faced by fishers who have been prevented from fishing due to ice conditions and whose EI Fishing Benefits have ended. This is not an extension of EI benefits but rather a special grant program provided by DFO in consideration of the exceptional ice conditions.

In order to be eligible, applicants need to work in ice-affected areas; must have received EI Fishing Benefits in the previous year (2016); and their 2017 EI Fishing claim must have ended.  There is a two-week non-payable period following the end of the applicant’s EI Fishing claim.

Amount:

Fishers will be eligible for $508/week. Eligible fishers may become payable for the grant two weeks following their 2017 EI Fishing Benefits end date (but not before the start of the program period in their affected area).

Beginning with the week in which fishers start earning fishing income, the grant payment for the remaining weeks will be reduced dollar-for-dollar by the cumulative amount they earned from fishing (including sealing). 

Application forms:

The Ice Assistance Emergency Program application form will be available on the DFO website, and at DFO and Service Canada offices in the ice-affected areas, as of June 23, 2017.