When did the federal government introduce unemployment insurance (now called employment insurance)?

Discover Canada records this in one direct sentence. The guide writes: Unemployment insurance (now called "employment insurance") was introduced by the federal government in 1940. The year the test wants is therefore 1940.

The phrase has changed; the program continues. Discover Canada notes that the original program was named "unemployment insurance," and is now called "employment insurance." So when the test asks about the introduction date, the same program is meant under both names — the federal scheme that protects workers between jobs.

1940 fits the broader pattern of Canadian social-program creation. Discover Canada writes that "Old Age Security was devised as early as 1927," and "the Canada and Quebec Pension Plans" followed "in 1965." So 1940's unemployment insurance sits in the middle of a multi-decade build-up of Canadian social programs — older than CPP/QPP, younger than Old Age Security planning.

Unemployment insurance grew out of post-1929 prosperity-and-need balancing. Discover Canada writes: "As prosperity grew, so did the ability to support social assistance programs." Earlier in the century, the country had not yet had the public infrastructure to fund such schemes; by 1940, with World War II beginning and the Great Depression's lessons fresh, the federal government created the program. The Canada Health Act "ensures common elements and a basic standard of coverage," and "publicly funded education is provided by the provinces and territories." So the 1940 unemployment-insurance program forms part of a wider Canadian social-protection network rooted in the principle that working Canadians need a safety net.

Some additional context fixes the 1940 in time. Discover Canada dates Canadian women's right to vote to 1918 federally, and notes that "Quebec granted women the vote in 1940" — the same year as the unemployment-insurance launch. So 1940 was a year of major federal policy moves, with social-insurance and democratic-rights expansions running in parallel.

The question is testing whether new citizens know when the federal government introduced unemployment insurance. Discover Canada commits to one year: 1940. The right test answer matches that.

The wrong answer choices each pick a different decade. an earlier-decade answer would be too early — Discover Canada places the program in 1940, after the Great Depression's worst years. 1950 is too late. 1960 is also too late — the Canada and Quebec Pension Plans came in 1965, separate from unemployment insurance. Only 1940 matches the source.