You need to have an approved I-140 immigrant petition for your spouse to qualify for H-4 based employment authorization. However, if your or your spouse's coun

You need to have an approved I-140 immigrant petition for your spouse to qualify for H-4 based employment authorization. However, if your or your spouse's country of birth is also Canada, then at the present time you and your spouse can file for green cards concurrently with the I-140. Both of you will receive work authorization via these pending green card applications. So the H-4 employment case wouldn't be really relevant to you. That program exists for people born in countries whose green card lines are backlogged, and who can't file for green card with their I-140.