Minister of Labour Naqvi Yasir announced legislation extending protection to co-op students and unpaid interns.

Anqi Shen
CUP Ontario Bureau Chief

HAMILTON (CUP) — A bill tabled just before the start of 2014 outlines potential protections for co-op students and unpaid interns in Ontario.

The province’s minister of labour, Yasir Naqvi, introduced the “Stronger Workplaces for a Stronger Economy Act,” in December 2013. The bill seeks to amend five statutes affecting temporary and precarious workers. It would broaden the definition of ‘worker’ in the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) so that co-op students and unpaid interns would have the same protections under the act, such as the right to refuse unsafe work, as paid employees.

An internal memo from the Ministry of Labour’s office surfaced in November 2013, stating that workers not receiving monetary compensation are not covered under the OHSA. In his speech introducing the bill, Naqvi addressed the health and safety issue and said the government would work to raise awareness of internship regulations.

Unpaid internships are illegal in Ontario unless they meet six criteria under the Employment Standards Act (ESA), which exempts co-op placements for university and college.

“What we’ve said is, we have strong rules in place no matter what your job title is. But it seems what we need now is to find better ways to reach employers, students and young workers,” said Jonathan Rose, communications director for the ministry of labour. “We’re also going to be doing an enforcement blitz during the summer targeting unpaid internships.”

Other proposed amendments include increasing the amount of time to file an unpaid-wages complaint from six months to two years and removing the $10,000 cap on unpaid wages that can be claimed.

Lobbying groups including the Canadian Intern Association, the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance and the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario, welcomed the bill as a step in the right direction but continue to advocate for a crackdown on unpaid internships.

Joel Duff, spokesperson for the Ontario Federation of Labour, said that while bill may improve conditions for unpaid interns, it doesn’t tackle the root of the problem.

“In many places, students see internships predominantly as a step to a career. They’re going to be very unlikely to file a complaint under the ESA because they wouldn’t want to jeopardize their chances of getting hired by that company. That leaves them particularly vulnerable.”

Duff also said co-op placements hosted by postsecondary institutions should be evaluated based on their academic and experiential value to students.

“The government should strike a community consultation with stakeholder groups—students unions, intern associations, the labour movement and employers. [These groups] should be around the table to give input about how to fix the legislation to better protect interns from exploitation.”

In Canada, unpaid internships are largely undocumented and are not federally regulated. Estimates suggest there are between 100,000 and 300,000 unpaid internships across the country.