You do not need to be employed to receive the travel benefit. This benefit is available to anyone, either employed or not.

 

As per the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA):

 

You can claim a travel deduction if you have lived, on a permanent basis, in one or more prescribed zones for a continuous period of at least six consecutive months. That period can begin or end in the tax year for which you are filing a tax return. You can claim a travel deduction for trips for which you or a member of your household (or, under proposed changes, an eligible family member) incurred travel expenses.

Generally, you can only claim this deduction for a trip taken for vacation, family, or medical reasons and that started from a prescribed zone. Under proposed changes, you can claim this deduction only for yourself and an eligible family member.

For each trip, you can now use either a portion of a $1,200 standard amount per person or the value of the taxable travel benefit received from employment (if any) for that trip to calculate your travel deduction.

 

For more information please refer to the following CRA article:

Northern Residents Deductions for 2021

 

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