Bill regulating child labour in Quebec to be tabled Tuesday

Quebec Labour Minister Jean Boulet is expected to table Tuesday in the National Assembly a bill to limit the presence of children in the labour market.

The bill will likely be based largely on the report submitted to Boulet by the Advisory Committee on Labor and Manpower (CCTM), according to information gathered by The Canadian Press.

The group of unions and employer associations unanimously recommended last December that the general age for employment be set at 14 years old.

This would mean that Quebecers aged 11, 12 or 13 years old could no longer work; there would be exceptions that would be provided for by regulation.

The CCTM also recommended prohibiting young people between the ages of 14 and 16 from working more than 17 hours per week (including weekends) during the school year.

From Monday to Friday there would be a maximum of 10 hours. Those two restrictions would not apply during holidays and spring breaks.

This limit would come into effect on September 1.

In the midst of a labour shortage, more and more children are entering the workforce, with all the risks that this entails.

Their increased presence in the workplace raises not only health and safety issues, but also school dropouts.

From 2017 to 2021, the number of occupational injuries recognized by the CNESST increased from 10 to 64 per year for children 14 and under, an increase of 540 per cent.

For all children 16 and under, the number increased from 278 to 447 during the same period, an increase of 60.8 per cent.

The place of a child, “clearly, for me, is on the school benches, and then (…) in extracurricular activities,” said Minister Boulet at a press conference.

“His primary job is to be a student,” he added.

The impact on the restaurant, lodging and retail sectors will be “very marginal,” he said. For example, in the restaurant industry, the under-14s represent 0.48 per cent of the time worked.

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Unions and employers applaud

In the National Assembly, the labour critic for Québec solidaire (QS), Alexandre Leduc, was the first to applaud the measures contained in the bill.

“We did well to stay with the Minister of Labour so that the bill does not include unacceptable exceptions for child labour,” he said.

Labour organizations also congratulated Minister Boulet for respecting the unanimous opinion of the MTCC. The committee includes unions and employer associations.

“Finally, Quebec will have guidelines for the work of young people. This is important for their educational success and their physical and psychological health,” said Éric Gingras, president of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ).

“We have a social responsibility to control the use of youth work, especially in the current context of labour shortage,” he added.

The Centrale des syndicats démocratiques (CSD) for its part stressed that “contrary to what some people claim”, for a child, “work is not the place to blossom”.

“It’s not normal for children to get hurt and even die at work. We must let our young people develop before they get to the workplace,” said CSD President Luc Vachon.

The Quebec Employers’ Council echoed this sentiment. Its president, Karl Blackburn, said he wanted to strengthen the balance between the academic success of young people and their involvement in the labour market.

“We must also pay attention to the concerns expressed by sectors such as restaurants, retail and tourism,” he warned.

Currently, in Quebec, there is no minimum age to work, unlike in the rest of Canada.

—This report from La Presse Canadienne was published in French and translated by CityNews