This week, an estimated 500,000 Canadians have applied for employment insurance due to the coronavirus. Here’s a cross-section of some of the workers who’ve been affected.

Grace Richards, 55 | Heavy equipment operator (Conklin, Alta.)
Grace Richards.
Courtesy of family
Ms. Richards has been running graders, bulldozers and backhoes in the oil sands for more than two decades. Most recently, shes helping build a badly needed water and sewer system for her home community. Construction was set to restart in May.
Im used to making good money, but now Ive been trying to call about my employment insurance. Ive been trying to call my bank about my vehicle payment. Ive been trying to call my insurance company, and I cant get through to anybody. Im kind of getting anxiety over this. I believe a lot of people will go back to the old ways. For a lot of us in Indigenous communities, a lot of them are going out and hunting to provide for people in their communities. And theyre waiting for the snow to start to melt, so we can go out and pick our medicinal plants.
Joel Martell | Barbershop owner (Halifax)
Joel Martell.
Courtesy of family
Mr. Martell decided to close his shop on Monday, before such businesses were mandated to shut down. Now he and his four employees are out of work.
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Its me, my puggle and my partner he works in IT, so hes very busy working from home. In barbering, if you dont cut hair, you dont make money. Everything is commission-based. The tricky part is your rent as a small business and all the bills youre paying, even if youre not operating. Without any hope of opening again soon, after a month is when things will get scary for me. Im still going in every day. We have an apprentice, and his schools been cancelled, so I have a lot of free time to train him. Im cleaning every day. Im making sure that when we open back up, everything will look brand new.
Hans Obas, 38 | Commercial airline pilot (Montreal)
Hans Obas.
Courtesy of family
Mr. Obas was still working as of Thursday, though his employer, Air Transat, announced this week it would gradually suspend flights. Hes also the co-ordinator of civil aviation at the University of Montreal.
So far, things havent changed for me. Is it coming? Its possible. Sunwing is doing layoffs. Porter Airlines is doing layoffs. Things have changed for a lot of other people. Im trying to live my life day to day and not speculate on things I cant control. Ive always been someone whos meticulous and prepared to face adversity. But right now, the question is, what is this adversity exactly and how long will it last? I have no idea.
Joe Lumley, 41 | Manufacturing worker (Novar, Ont.)
Joe Lumley.
Courtesy of family
Mr. Lumleys employer is laying him off for two weeks without pay starting at the end of March, owing to worsening demand. The company plans to bring him back if economic conditions allow.
Im just not the guy whos going to sit on his couch and collect EI, you know? Im going to try to find different avenues to obtain income. I was laid off for two years in the last recession, and I swam. I worked my butt off. I dont know if youve ever been a well drillers greenhorn I did that. It aint no easy job. I got a two-year-old, and I got more to think about than myself. If I can find a cash job for 16 bucks an hour, why wouldnt I take it? Im fairly tight with my money. Im going to phone my insurance company Monday and ask, whats the best deal we can get? Ill go down the list like that, until Ive shaved everywhere I can.
Grace Onasanya | Cook (Toronto)
Grace Onasanya.
Courtesy of family
Ms. Osananya was laid off last week after a slow February, and on Monday, the restaurant closed temporarily, as did almost every other establishment in the city, leaving her with few job options.
SARS hit the service industry really hard. It took years for it to recover. This is 10 times worse than that. One of my concerns is whether there will be an industry for me to go back to. This is already my second career. I left my nine-to-five cubicle job, went back to school and lived off my savings. I also had a fiancé who passed away in 2018. It was devastating. My world turned upside down. Money-wise, too I had to go into debt to keep myself on my feet. I worked 60, 70 hours a week to get out of debt. But a lot of restaurant workers live paycheque to paycheque. Rents here are awful, and I cant afford to move. I know people are getting mortgage breaks, but what about the renters?
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Paul Thompson, 47 | Mechanic (Montreal)
Paul Thompson.
Christinne Muschi/The Globe and Mail
Mr. Thompson hasnt lost his auto-shop job yet, but hes bracing himself just in case.
Everyone is worried about losing their job at a time like this. Its the uncertainty the things we dont know about and that we have to worry about. Family is a lot more important than anything material, but still, weve got bills to pay, food to buy. Nobody wants to be on the street its a good thing summers coming, so its not freezing out right now. As for my job, Im pretty sure being a mechanic is one of the things that will always be around. But the thought of starting over from scratch and not knowing where youre going is making me nervous.
Geneviève Farley-Tremblay, 32 | Tattoo artist (Montreal)
Ms. Farley-Tremblay and her two partners decided to close their tattoo shop, Studio Équinoxe, this week for everyones safety.
The thing about creating tattoos is you have a lot of close contact with people. Theres blood. Tattoos also trigger the immune system temporarily. Closing just seemed like the right thing to do. It was particularly hard because business is always quiet after Christmas and picks up in the spring. But now we find ourselves with no income, while we have about $2,000 in fixed costs every month. None of the government programs Ive seen so far really cover our situation. We might be able to last two months before we have to close our studio permanently.
Janelle Wimperis, 35 | Daycare operator (Calgary)
Janelle Wimperis.
Courtesy of family
Ms. Wimperis and her husband, Don, started the Right Start Daycare, last year; on Monday, it was ordered to close, forcing them to temporarily lay off 14 workers.
Its not easy to tell people that we dont have work for them indefinitely. And it wasnt fun for us to have to communicate that to the families, either, because people use our service for a reason even if theyre able to work from home, you cant really do that efficiently with young children. At least this is a common situation were all in, so people have more empathy and understanding.
Maddie Rollins, 24 | Line cook (Toronto)
Maddie Rollins.
Courtesy of family
On Monday, Ms. Rollinss boss texted to say shed been laid off. Her family, with whom she lives, is now in self-quarantine after returning from an overseas holiday.
Im running out of groceries to feed my brother. Ive been borrowing money from everyone to stay afloat. At work, we were just all talking about how long this would last and how were going to pick up business once this blows over, because its going to be devastating. The service industry is already a very difficult occupation to work in, mentally and physically, and we already struggle to get by.
Molly Kuzyk, 46 | WestJet flight attendant (Calgary)
Molly Kuzyk.
TODD KOROL/The Globe and Mail
Ms. Kuzyk, a single mom of Max, 4, got back to flying a year ago after recovering from breast cancer. Now, with WestJet laying off up to half its flight attendants, shes hoping her 18 years at the airline help her hold onto her job.
I want to go to work. Obviously I dont want to get the virus. But I want to make hay while the sun shines. For me, going back to work is still my new normal. I missed it so much going through all the stuff I went through the past few years. I just feel like things change, and people have to change. Going through cancer doesnt take away the sickness you feel in your stomach. But it makes you realize you cant control everything and that you have to focus on whats right in front of you and how to get around it the best you can.
Rachel Iwaasa | Musician and co-founder of the Queer Arts Festival (Vancouver)
Rachel Iwaasa.
Courtesy of family
Ms. Iwaasa, a pianist, is scheduled to record an album at the Banff Centre in early April. She lives with and is the sole caregiver for her 90-year-old mother.
Like most musicians, my income is cobbled together. I teach piano, and all my students cancelled at once. My performances have been cancelled, too. Im lucky the Queer Arts Festival has committed to paying staff in full for as long as it can. So Im not hurting the way some of my peers are. But my mental health isnt great. My mum has early-stage dementia, and Im worried about what the isolation is doing to her. Thats been the hardest part of all of this: having to face that this is probably the way that she is going to die. Not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But more than likely.
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Elizabeth Vu | Manager of La Vie en Rose (Pointe-Claire, Que.)
All 10 employees at Ms. Vus store have been laid off temporarily. She also has a side gig as a manicurist out of her home, but has paused appointments because of COVID-19.
On Saturday, we barely had any customers. Other stores in the mall had already started to close. Im relieved for the safety of my staff, but concerned about how long this epidemic will last. My husband is self-employed he works with up-and-coming artists and musicians. Ive applied for EI. My mother, who used to come to watch my son, isnt coming by. She travels on the Métro and by bus, so its good that she can stay home. I know I have a job to go back to, so Im hanging in there.
Simone Orlando | Artistic director, Ballet Kelowna (Kelowna, B.C.)
Simone Orlando.
Courtesy of family
The former ballerina took over in 2014 and brought the company back from the brink of death. It was in the midst of creating its first full-length commissioned work, Macbeth, when rehearsals were suspended Monday.
The likelihood of us being able to perform this work publicly its probably not going to happen. Weve looked at five different scenarios of how we can keep our doors open, but its going to take government support and support from our community. Our board, our staff, our dancers weve worked so hard to develop some national and international recognition. Ive doubled our revenue, and things have been looking so positive. Ill do everything I can to get us through this, which might mean volunteering my time so we can keep going. Maybe it is going to beat us, but Im going to put up a really big fight.
Jordan Canning | Film and TV director (Toronto)
Jordan Canning.
Courtesy of family
Ms. Canning spent seven weeks in Vancouver shooting a new show for Global TV. With four days left on the shoot, it shut down on Monday, and other projects are on hold. Plus, most people in her line of work dont qualify for EI
I thought I knew exactly what I was doing until mid-August, and now all of that is thrown into question. My boyfriend is a film and TV writer and standup comedian. He had a bunch of shows cancelled. Are we going to have to plan for neither of us working for the rest of the year? We have savings we can rely on for a while, but rent is not cheap. Working in the film industry can be quite gruelling. I work straight 16-hour days. But its feast or famine. Its not only the money I might lose this year: my savings are in investments, which are taking a hit. What was all this hard work for?
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Vincent Lavoie, 27 | Acrobat and circus performer (Drummondville, Que.)
Vincent Lavoie.
Courtesy of family
Mr. Lavoie was working on Cirque du Soleils Alegria show in Houston when he got word the entertainment company would suspend its North American shows. He flew back to his parents home, where hes now in self-isolation.
All the artists are trying to stay active and healthy, whether its going outside to run or doing an at-home workout. Im going up and down the staircase. Im on the elliptical. Ive got my moms little weights five- and seven-pounders and Im trying to get creative to get my muscles to work. Its definitely a mental game, too, but most of our artists come from sort of high-level competition, so we have that strength in our wheelhouse to look at the situation and head straight to something thats productive, rather than dwelling on our misfortune.
These interviews have been edited and condensed.
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