Thank you, Chair.
Division 7 of part 3 would amend part II and part III of the Canada Labour Code in order to protect interns in the federal jurisdiction.
Currently there are no specific provisions in the Canada Labour Code related to interns. The policy intent of the amendments is to ensure all interns in the federal jurisdiction receive full occupational health and safety protections under part II of the code as well as appropriate labour standard protections under part III.
Under the proposed amendments, an intern is considered to be a person who is not an employee, but who performs activities for an employer, the primary purpose of which is to enable the person to acquire knowledge and experience.
The proposed amendments would do three things.
First, they would amend part II of the code to ensure all interns in the federal jurisdiction are entitled to full occupational safety and health protections, including the right to refuse dangerous work.
Second, the amendments would clarify that part III of the code applies to interns, subject to specific exceptions. The amendments would specify two exceptions when part III protections, such as minimum wage, do not apply to interns. In practice, this would establish when an intern can be unpaid. The first exception would be if the internship is formally part of an educational program. The second exception would be if the internship meets all of six specific criteria.
Last, the amendments would permit regulations to be made to apply and adapt part III labour standard protections to interns who could be unpaid because their internship meets one of the two exceptions I've noted. It's expected that labour standard protections related to maximum hours of work and sexual harassment at a minimum would be provided to unpaid interns through these regulations. The regulations would be put in place as quickly as possible following consultations with stakeholders as part of a normal regulatory process.