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About 50 federal employees have been assigned to the project.

The sample of 1,200 EI recipients has been randomly selected from across the country, according to the government.

One of the people who received a personal visit was a seasonal worker in New Brunswick. The woman, who has worked for 35 years in a fish factory, agreed to speak with The Canadian Press on condition of anonymity.

She said that as she was getting home from running errands on Feb. 5, a civil servant arrived at her house.

“It surprised me when she asked for me. It kind of stunned me,” the woman said.

“She told me: ’I came to bring you a form. You fill it out, and then I want to have an interview with you on Wednesday.’ I told her, ’I’ll be there.”’

As with everyone else receiving seasonal benefits, she is being asked to actively seek work in her off-months while awaiting the return to the fish factory.

“All I can do is work in a factory,” she said.

“I’m going everywhere to look for work… There is none.”

A New Brunswick group has taken up the cause of workers like her.

It says these visits from the feds are only adding fuel in a volatile climate, given the government’s EI reforms.

“It’s abusive,” said Alma Breau-Thibodeau, of the Employment Insurance Action Committee In Defence of Workers.

“They’re abusing us like crazy. We all feel targeted by this law. . . You know it’s gone too far when you’re being checked upon at home.

“We have telephones, you know. And post offices.”