Finance committee  One of the consultations, regional round tables, that I mentioned was specifically done with indigenous people from indigenous communities, employers who had indigenous employees, chambers of commerce in the north, and things like that. A telecommunication company, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, was the one that was done by video conference just because it was easier to do it that way.

Finance committee  In the proposed legislation, it indicates that the leave would be to participate in traditional indigenous or aboriginal practices including hunting, fishing, and harvesting. That's a suggestive list. These three things were things that were clearly identified for us as practices.

Finance committee  In fact, one of the employers we spoke with described a similar situation. What they told us was that they, as an employer, took quite significant efforts to make sure that people were flown in to the town to be able to keep operations going, or work was adjusted in terms of when it got done.

Finance committee  I just want to be certain. We are talking about the right for the employer to refuse a request for flexible work arrangements? Yes. It's proposed that there would be three reasons for which an employer could turn down a request for flexible work arrangements. The first is if it would cause additional costs that are burdensome for the employer or have a detrimental impact on the business.

Finance committee  I actually have it here, in front of me.

Finance committee  The Arthurs report is obviously a touchstone for federal labour law and federal labour reform. The report in 2006 is linked to several of the ministers' mandate letter commitments. In the particular case of these sets of amendments, the right to request flexible work arrangements was one of the recommendations, and there was also a recommendation from Dr.

Finance committee  This new leave would provide up to 10 days of leave per calendar year for victims of family violence and parents of a child who is a victim of family violence.

Finance committee  We're actually going to talk about unpaid internships in the next division.

Finance committee  Indeed, Dr. Arthurs recommended 10 days. As I said just a few moments ago, since 2006 the code has been amended to provide a number of new leaves related to caring for family members. For instance, there is now a 28-week compassionate care leave, 37 weeks for which employees are entitled to provide care for a critically ill child, and a new leave for employees who experience the death or disappearance of a child, of 104 weeks and 52 weeks respectively.

Finance committee  Part of our due diligence as public servants is to look at comparable leaves and, in fact, different kinds of leaves that are offered in jurisdictions across Canada, but also internationally. Sometimes it's a question of the federal private sector being quite laggard compared with other jurisdictions.

Finance committee  Extensive consultations were held in 2016. More than 1,000 Canadians and stakeholders participated. The previous minister held round tables in five locations across the country, one of them by video conference. We also ran a survey, which was open to all Canadians, all associations, all organizations, to get their views on what flexible work arrangements the federal government should move forward on.

Finance committee  Yes, certainly the Public Service Alliance of Canada was involved. I would note that these changes to part III do not apply to the federal public service. But yes, they were involved and they were very helpful.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will begin. Division 8 of part 5 of the budget implementation act is focused on proposed changes to part III of the Canada Labour Code, and the need in particular to provide greater flexibility for employees to give them more ways to balance the demands they face at work and outside of work.

Finance committee  Thanks, Andrew. I'll speak briefly to the amendments proposed in the bill, to part III of the Canada Labour Code. Part III of the code, as you may know, establishes minimum working conditions in federally regulated sectors such as hours of work, annual vacations, and statutory leaves.

Finance committee  As he said, interns who do not meet the two criteria to be excepted all receive part III protection under legislation, including maximum hours of work and protection against sexual harassment. The only labour standard protections that would be identified through regulations are those related to unpaid interns who meet either of the two circumstances.