This is an op-ed piece that appears in today's Toronto Star. I wrote the piece with Claire Seaborn, President of the Canadian Intern Association, and Joshua Mandryk, Co-Founder of Students Against Unpaid Internship Scams. For some of my earlier articles about work-integrated learning, see: here; and here.
Two weeks ago 17-year-old Adam Keunen was killed in an accident while on a high-school co-op placement. Adam’s death marks the third death of a student engaged in work-integrated learning in the last 10 months in Ontario. Like the deaths of Aaron Murray and Wayne Affleck, this situation raises serious questions about workplace protections for students who are increasingly participating in work-integrated learning programs at high schools, colleges and universities.
Over the past decade work-integrated learning has emerged as a key part of Ontario’s secondary and post-secondary education system. While co-operative education, internships, and other training programs for students have enormous advantages, they lack appropriate oversight and regulation by our provincial government and educational institutions. The Courts, academic researchers, and the Ministry of Labour have all recognized that students and young workers are particularly vulnerable in the workplace. Young people at the start of their careers often do not have the experience or knowledge to identify or avoid potentially hazardous situations.
In Ontario, students engaged in unpaid work-integrated learning programs are not covered under the Occupational Health and Safety Act or the Employment Standards Act, 2000. Under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act students receive protections only in certain circumstances. This lack of regulatory protection may have contributed to the deaths of these young men, and closing these loopholes could help prevent similar accidents in the future.
Premier Kathleen Wynne should address this situation by taking the following steps.
First, she should appoint an independent third party to conduct a full review of work-integrated learning programs in Ontario at the secondary and post-secondary levels. This review must critically assess the appropriateness of the work being performed by co-op students, whether these programs have sufficient oversight, and whether or not students are being given sufficient training in preparation for their placements. This type of review is not without precedence in Canada; the Alberta government launched a similar review in the wake of death of Andy Ferguson, who died while completing an academic internship at a radio station.
Second, students need to be treated as de facto employees and extended greater protections with respect to employment standards, occupational health and safety, and workers’ compensation. The Ontario government has introduced the Stronger Workplaces for a Stronger Economy Act. This bill would give co-op students the protections under the health and safety act that other workers already enjoy. The government should move quickly to pass this bill, along with MPP Peggy Sattler’s Greater Protection for Interns and Vulnerable Employees Act, which would grant co-op students basic protections under the Employment Standards Act, 2000. If Ontario is going to continue to expand work-integrated learning programs then students and their parents need to be confident that they possess some modicum of protection while in the workplace.
Third, the Ministry of Labour must begin proactive inspections of workplaces where students are engaged in work-integrated learning programs. The Ministry of Labour needs to work with other ministries, secondary and post-secondary institutions, organized labour, and student groups to develop an inspection program that ensures that employers are taking the necessary precautions to protect students who are in the workplace.
We hope that if these recommendations are implemented we will see a reduction in the number of tragic deaths that have become all too common in this province.
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