Laurin Liu introduced Bill C-620 to the House of Commons on June 16.

On June 16, New Democrat Member of Parliament Laurin Liu tabled Bill C-620, The Intern Protection Act, in the House of Commons. The bill is scheduled for debate this fall.

The enactment would amend the definition of “employee” in the Canada Labour Code to include unpaid interns, thus extending the same workplace protections that cover paid employees to interns who do not receive a wage.

“Currently in Canadian law, there is no reference to interns whatsoever, so right now there’s sort of a ‘wild west’ situation for interns in which no federal law protects them against abuse,” Liu said. “The bill would essentially offer all interns, both paid and unpaid, the same protections that paid employees receive.”

Liu and the NDP are hoping to end the exploitation of unpaid interns by placing a cap on the number of hours an intern can work. The bill would also grant interns the right to refuse dangerous work and offer them protection from sexual harassment.

“The standard hours of work are eight hours in a day and 40 hours in a week and that would mean interns would be entitled to one full day of rest per week and to nine annual statutory holidays,” Liu said. “Moreover, rights to health and safety are included in the bill, so the right to know of any hazards that are present in the workplace, the right to receive proper training and the right to participate in identifying work-related health and safety concerns.”

The bill was inspired by the death of 22-year-old Andy Ferguson in Novermber 2011. A practicum student at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in Edmonton, Ferguson died after working a 16-hour day at a radio station where he was doing an unpaid internship. While driving home, Ferguson’s vehicle crossed the centre line and struck a gravel truck head-on.

“He fell asleep at the wheel… his employer refused to sign his practicum if he didn’t complete the shift,” Liu said. “These are the kinds of abuses that we see elsewhere as well, and unfortunately Andy didn’t benefit from the protections contained in the bill… we’re hoping that interns and future interns in Canada will benefit from certain minimum protections.”

The second part of the bill deals with the fact that interns are considered to be free labour by many employers. Liu hopes that the introduction of Bill C-620 will prevent companies from turning paid jobs into unpaid internships.

“What’s happening to them across Canada is that, unfortunately, employers are taking advantage of interns by replacing paid positions with unpaid internships,” Liu said. “First of all, that’s abusive. But it also obviously leads to races to the bottom in which unpaid interns are working in jobs previously occupied by paid employees.

The bill would force internships to be educational and to provide training equal to that offered in a post-secondary institution. Additionally, the bill would ensure that internships primarily benefit the intern and offer tangible training opportunities to the intern.

Youth unemployment is currently double the national average and many university graduates are having a hard time finding work after earning their degree. As a result, young workers must often resort to taking unpaid internships to start their careers.

“They’re faced with a very difficult labor market. For many people it’s not a choice, it’s one of the only options that they have,” Liu said. “It’s a difficult economic period. If we look at youth unemployment, it’s been at a record high over the past few years, and it actually peaked at 14 per cent and right now it’s just a bit lower than 14 per cent.”

Currently, the bill is operating on a complaint-based system where interns would be responsible to report abuses.

“What this bill would do is it would provide the courts a new tool to examine whether or not the internship is legal,” Liu said.

According to Liu, the response from the other MPs has been positive overall.

“It’s part of an ongoing discussion in my caucus and my colleagues are really supportive of the bill… I’ve been working with Andrew Cash on this issue, who is an MP from the Toronto area, along with an urban worker strategy he’s been working on,” Liu said. “Unfortunately, the Conservatives have been pretty silent on the issue and we haven’t heard much from their side. As you know, we have a majority Conservative government so it’s essential to get support from the Conservatives in order for this bill to move forward in the House.”

So far, the Bill has been endorsed by the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, the Canadian Federation of Students, the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec, the Regroupement Étudiant Franco-Ontarien as well as the Canadian Intern Association.

“Over the summer we’ve been talking to student associations and other stakeholders and encouraging them to write to their members of parliament,” Liu said. “I would encourage the students and the University of Saskatchewan to write to Mr. Brad Trost on this issue.”

Liu and the NDP have been trying to raise the pressure on Conservative MPs to support bill C-620.

“This affects people all across the country and these are very basic protections,” Liu said. “It’s a question of fairness and safety.”

The bill is limited to federally-regulated workplaces and would not affect interns working in businesses or government institutions regulated by the provinces.

But it’s better than having no protections at all, which is what currently exists, Liu said.

“I think MPs are hearing more and more from their constituents about this issue, especially high-profile cases like Andrew’s,” Liu said. “There has been an increasing number of high-profile cases concerning companies abusing their interns so there’s definitely a lot of mobilization across the country. College students and young workers are writing to their MPs but there’s definitely a momentum in favour of offering these basic protections to interns.”

Liu is optimistic that her bill will become legislation.

“This bill was written with the goal of getting support from Conservative members because we do see an urgency to get this passed as soon as possible,” Liu said. “It’s really important that this be a non-partisan issue. When we look at the number of interns working across Canada today, which is up to 300,000 interns, it’s a national problem that we need to deal with, and hopefully we can work together to get this bill through the house.

“It’s really important to write to your MP to support this bill. These are very basic protections that offer basic health and safety protections, basic protections against workplace sexual harassment, and I think everyone should benefit from those kinds of protections whether they’re interns or employees. I think those are protections that we owe to every worker.”

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Photo: Supplied/House of Commons