After N.B. law, all 10 provinces now have job protection for long-term sick leave

FREDERICTON — Natalie Lipschultz, who was fired from her job six and a half years ago while battling cancer, is applauding what she says are long-overdue safeguards now in place across the country designed to prevent other Canadians from experiencing the same fate.

Lipschultz, of Burnaby, B.C., was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer in late 2019. She continued working for her insurance company, balancing the demands of her workplace with gruelling chemotherapy sessions.

But in January 2020, she had a severe drug reaction to her treatment that sent her to the emergency room. A day later, she was fired.

In the years since, Lipschultz joined an advocacy campaign by the Canadian Cancer Society to encourage governments across the country to increase job protections for people who need extended time off due to severe illness.

The culmination of those efforts occurred this spring, when New Brunswick adopted a law letting workers take up to 27 weeks of unpaid sick leave without fear of losing their job. New Brunswick was the last province to extend protections to roughly half a year, reflecting a wave of change that began in 2024 for most parts of Canada.

For cancer patients, Lipschultz said, knowing they can count on keeping their job as they take on exhausting rounds of chemotherapy can help reduce emotional and financial pressure.

“It would definitely be a huge comfort and potentially very life saving to some people that really need to have that support, and have that in the back of their minds that they do have something to go back to,” she said in a recent interview.

Cancer costs the average Canadian patient nearly $33,000 in their lifetime, according to a 2024 report from the cancer society.

Quebec has offered workers up to 26 weeks of long-term unpaid sick leave for more than two decades, but many other provinces have only introduced similar measures in the last two years. Before 2024, some provinces, like New Brunswick, only had a few days of protected sick leave. Others, like Saskatchewan, had a few weeks.

Then in 2022 the federal government extended unpaid medical leave for federally regulated workers to 27 weeks, up from 17 weeks, and increased employment insurance sickness benefits to 26 weeks from 15 weeks.

That decision set off series of changes at the provincial level, with Newfoundland and Labrador increasing unpaid, job-protected sick leave in March 2024 from a few days to 27 weeks. Manitoba followed in November of that year by extending long-term leave to 27 weeks of job protection from 17 weeks.

Ontario, Nova Scotia, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island followed suit in 2025 with the same 27 weeks of protected leave. Both Alberta and Saskatchewan’s extensions to 27 weeks were law as of Jan. 1.

Eric Tucker, a retired Osgoode Hall Law School professor who taught employment law, called it a step forward for Canadian labour rights.

“Just think in terms of a sort of a common sense of justice, the idea that workers could be terminated from their jobs because they have a long-term illness seems really quite unfair and unreasonable,” Tucker said.

The federal EI benefit program provides those who can’t work for medical reasons up to 55 per cent of their average weekly earnings. Now, Tucker pointed out, provincial labour laws line up squarely with federal EI timelines.

“So, for as long at least as you have the employment insurance entitlement, you also have a right to come back to your job if you’re able to at the end of that period.”

Andrea Seale, CEO of the Canadian Cancer Society, said the changes came after years of advocacy by patients, survivors, caregivers, partners and supporters across the country.

“It shows what is possible when people raise their voices together for better health outcomes,” Seale said in a statement.

There’s more to be done, the society says, as the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut have not made similar moves to extend long-term illness leave.

Jennifer Robson, an associate professor of political management at Carleton University, says protected leave can benefit employers, too.

“When you have these leave arrangements, it creates a greater predictability … that employers can count on the fact that their experienced worker is expected to be back,” she said.

“And that’s important for maintaining that relationship between employers and employees.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 30, 2026.

Eli Ridder, The Canadian Press