Thank you very much, Chair.
I'll deal with the responses from the government in the order that Mr. Rankin brought them forward so I'll address NDP-7 first.
Clearly, this motion should be rejected. The legislation already clearly sets out two exceptions in part III protections, such as minimum wages do not apply to interns. In practice, this would establish when an intern could be unpaid.
The legislation is focused on protecting interns, or as they are described in the legislation, persons who are not employees but who perform activities for employers where the primary purpose of those activities is to acquire knowledge and experience.
The legislation is not intended to cover other individuals who are unpaid, such as volunteers who are different from interns. The primary purpose of a volunteer is to give their time, energy, and skills for public benefit of their own free will without monetary compensation. This amendment could have the unintended consequence of prohibiting volunteers in the federal jurisdiction.
With respect to NDP-3, we believe this motion should also be rejected. The proposed amendments to part III will allow an appropriate set of labour standards for interns who could be unpaid to be specified collectively in regulations following consultations with stakeholders. To provide some labour standards for unpaid interns through legislation, others through regulations, would be fragmented and incoherent and result in confusion for interns, employers, and educational institutions.
The rationale for setting protections for unpaid interns in regulations is that many part III protections are wage-related, for example, paid overtime or paid holidays, and would therefore be impossible to apply to interns who are unpaid. Setting labour standard protections for unpaid interns through regulations following consultations with stakeholders will ensure an appropriate and coherent set of labour standards is provided and that these labour standards can be adapted to the unique circumstances of unpaid interns.
It is expected that labour standard protections related to sexual harassment and maximum hours of work, at a minimum, will be provided to unpaid interns through these regulations. The regulations will be put in place as quickly as possible. In the event of sexual harassment, the option of filing a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission is always available.
Thank you, Chair.