Maternity leave in Canada lasts up to 15 weeks, and a birth parent can add either 35 or 61 weeks of parental leave on top of that, for a combined total of 50 weeks under the standard option or 76 weeks under the extended option. In months, that’s roughly 12 to 18. Employment Insurance pays a percentage of your earnings across that time, and where you live shapes both your job protection and, in Quebec, the benefit program itself.
The 15 Weeks of Maternity Leave
Maternity benefits are reserved for the person who is pregnant or has recently given birth. The maximum is 15 weeks, and they cannot be shared with the other parent.1Government of Canada. EI Maternity and Parental Benefits: What These Benefits Offer
You can begin maternity benefits as early as 12 weeks before your due date, which gives you room to stop working sooner if pregnancy makes that necessary.2Canada.ca. EI Maternity and Parental Benefits: Eligibility You don’t have to start that early, but any unused maternity weeks disappear once 17 weeks have passed after the birth.
Parental Leave: 35 Weeks or 61 Weeks
Parental leave follows maternity leave, or acts as the starting point for a non-birth parent. It comes in two options, and you pick one when you apply. Once benefits start, you cannot switch.
- Standard parental benefits. Up to 40 weeks total, shareable between two parents, with a cap of 35 weeks for any single parent. Payments run at 55% of average insurable earnings, up to $729 per week.
- Extended parental benefits. Up to 69 weeks total, shareable between two parents, with a cap of 61 weeks for any single parent. Payments run at 33% of average insurable earnings, up to $437 per week.
Combining maternity and parental leave, a birth parent taking the standard option reaches up to 50 weeks (15 + 35). Taking the extended option, that stretches to 76 weeks (15 + 61).1Government of Canada. EI Maternity and Parental Benefits: What These Benefits Offer
The extended path gives you nearly twice as long at home. Across the full claim, the total dollar amount is roughly the same either way; the extended plan spreads it thinner over more weeks. The choice usually comes down to whether your household can absorb 18 months at a lower weekly income or prefers a higher weekly payment across a shorter stretch.
Extra Weeks When Both Parents Take Leave
When the second parent also claims parental benefits, the couple unlocks additional weeks on a use-it-or-lose-it basis: 5 more weeks under the standard option or 8 more weeks under the extended option. If the second parent doesn’t claim, those weeks simply disappear.3Government of Canada. EI Maternity and Parental Benefits: Apply
Both parents have to choose the same option, and each submits a separate application. If the two applications name different options, Service Canada goes with whichever it receives first.3Government of Canada. EI Maternity and Parental Benefits: Apply
What You’ll Be Paid Across Those Weeks
EI maternity and standard parental benefits replace 55% of your average insurable weekly earnings, capped at $729 per week in 2026. Extended parental benefits replace 33%, capped at $437 per week.4Government of Canada. EI Maternity and Parental Benefits: How Much You Could Receive
Low-income families may qualify for the EI Family Supplement, which can raise the replacement rate to 80%. To qualify, your net family income must be below $25,921 per year, you must have children, and you or your spouse must receive the Canada Child Benefit. If both parents are on EI at the same time, only one can receive the supplement.5Canada.ca. EI Regular Benefits: How Much You Could Receive
Some employers voluntarily top up EI benefits closer to your regular salary through a supplemental payment plan. Whether you get one depends on your employer or your collective agreement. When the plan is structured correctly, the top-up doesn’t reduce your EI payment, as long as the combined amount stays at or below 100% of your normal weekly earnings.6Government of Canada. Supplementing Maternity, Parental, Compassionate Care or Family Caregiver Benefits
One week of your claim is unpaid: the standard one-week waiting period. If you take maternity and parental benefits back to back, you serve it only once. When two parents share parental benefits for the same child, only one of them serves it.7Government of Canada. EI Maternity and Parental Benefits: After You Apply
How Long Your Job Is Protected
The weeks of EI benefits and the weeks your job is legally protected are two different things. EI is federal money. Job protection comes from labour standards legislation, which depends on whether your employer is federally or provincially regulated.
Federally Regulated Workplaces
In federally regulated industries such as banking, telecommunications, and interprovincial transportation, the Canada Labour Code provides up to 17 weeks of unpaid maternity leave and up to 63 weeks of unpaid parental leave. When both parents work for federal employers and share parental leave, they can access up to 71 weeks combined. Maternity and parental leave together cannot exceed 78 weeks for one parent.8Government of Canada. Types of Leaves You Can Receive as an Employee Working in a Federally Regulated Workplace
Provincially Regulated Workplaces
Most workers in Canada fall under provincial or territorial labour standards. Job-protected maternity leave ranges from 16 weeks in Alberta and Nova Scotia to 19 weeks in Saskatchewan, with most provinces landing at 17. Parental leave protections generally run from 61 to 63 weeks, and some jurisdictions cap the combined maternity-and-parental total at 78 weeks.
Whatever the jurisdiction, your employer must return you to your former position or a comparable one at equivalent pay and benefits. Pension contributions and seniority keep accumulating during your leave, as long as you keep paying any employee-side contributions you would ordinarily owe.9Canada.ca. Maternity-Related Reassignment and Leave, Maternity Leave and Parental Leave
If You Work in Quebec
Quebec runs its own program, the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP), instead of using federal EI for maternity and parental benefits. Your employer deducts QPIP premiums rather than EI maternity/parental premiums, and you apply through QPIP rather than Service Canada. The length and pay of leave differ from the rest of Canada.
- Basic plan. 18 weeks of maternity benefits at 70% of earnings, 5 weeks of paternity benefits at 70%, and 32 weeks of parental benefits (7 weeks at 70%, then 25 weeks at 55%).
- Special plan. 15 weeks of maternity benefits at 75%, 3 weeks of paternity benefits at 75%, and 25 weeks of parental benefits at 75%.
QPIP has no minimum-hours requirement; you qualify based on insurable earnings. Self-employed workers in Quebec are covered automatically, unlike self-employed workers in the rest of the country, who have to opt in to federal EI special benefits.
When the Length Changes: Complications and Loss
If health complications arise during pregnancy, you may qualify for EI sickness benefits or start maternity benefits earlier than you planned. If your child is hospitalized after birth, the window in which you can receive maternity or parental benefits can be extended. You may also qualify for caregiving benefits if your child becomes critically ill or injured.11Canada.ca. EI Maternity and Parental Benefits: Special Circumstances
After a pregnancy loss, what’s available depends on timing:
- Before week 20: you may be eligible for sickness benefits, but not maternity benefits.
- At week 20 or later: you may be eligible for maternity benefits, up to 15 weeks.
- Parental benefits are not available following a pregnancy loss or the death of a child. If parental benefits are already being paid when the loss occurs, eligibility ends the following week.
Contact Service Canada as soon as any of these situations arise so your file can be adjusted and the right benefits applied.