Normally, independent contractors are not entitled to benefits; only employees are. However, employers can provide benefits to independent contractors if they choose to. In addition, note that any time you hire an independent contractor, you run the risk of having the arrangement recharacterized as an employment agreement, subject to CPP, EI, income tax and other withholdings. It’s not what you call the arrangement but its substantive terms that dictates whether it’s an employment or independent contractor relationship.
There’s a lot of materials on the HR Insider website that talk about Employee/Independent Contractor issues. Here’s one to start with. https://hrinsider.ca/you-make-the-call-employee-or-independent-contractor/