Last week, BC’s Minister of Labour introduced Bill 8 in the legislature that will amend the Employment Standards Act to provide better protections for children and adolescents who are working. This Bill modernizes BC’s employment laws and brings us into compliance with international standards, specifically the International Labour Organization’s Convention 138 on MORE
Do you know of a youth willing to share their story about working in BC? First Call is gathering the work experiences of young people who were 15 or under when they started working. If you are interested or know someone who might be interested, please contact us at 604-709-6970 MORE
BC Federation of Labour launched a campaign calling for strong action from the provincial government as they look to revise our province’s labour and employment laws. The campaign specifically calls on the Green Party MLAs who hold the balance of power in the Legislature. The letter notes that the law MORE
The Ministry of Labour’s Employment Standards Act consultation is open until March 31, 2019. They are seeking input on their new consultation paper that identifies six key areas. The first question asks for input on child employment standards by asking, “What is your view on increasing protections for child workers? Should government MORE
CBC Early Edition: Is 12 too young to work? Youth advocacy group pushing for changes to B.C.’s labour laws CBC News: Is 12 too young to work? Youth advocates slam B.C.’s lax child-labour laws Prince George Matters: City to study what poverty looks like in Prince George Burnaby Now: Good Girls Don’t celebrates kids MORE
Last week, First Call sent an open letter to Minister Bains urging him to table legislation at the next sitting of BC’s Legislative Assembly aimed at protecting children and youth from employment-related injury and exploitation. In BC, children as young as 12 years old can legally work at virtually any MORE
Last Friday, First Call submitted recommendations to the Ministry of Labour and The Law Institute of B.C. calling for better government protection for children who are working. First Call’s recommendations provide a framework for the B.C. government to develop employment standards consistent with Canada’s commitment to establish 16 as the age for MORE
Find our most recent article on child labour on the Columbia Institute’s Centre for Civic Governance blog. We provide an overview of child employment standards in the province and discuss the findings from our injury claims research and public opinion survey in June. The article contains a quick overview of what MORE
Media Release For immediate release July 6, 2018 Opinion Survey Finds Most British Columbians Unaware That Children Allowed to Work at 12 Years of Age Vancouver – A June public opinion survey commissioned by First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition found that only 6% of British Columbians could MORE
The BC Employment Standards Coalition released a report on Labour Day titled Workers’ Stories of Exploitation & Abuse: Why BC Employment Standards Need to Change that cites previous research and reports by First Call on the deregulation of child labour in BC and its impact on children and youth (pages 32-33). The MORE
The Honourable Shane Simpson, Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, has reached out to both the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition and First Call for preliminary consultations on a poverty reduction plan for BC. The PRC met with the Minister and staff on August 10, and First Call conducted a MORE
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, adopted in 2016, set ambitious targets that apply to rich countries as well as poor. The most telling sign of a nation’s progress towards meeting those goals will be how well it meets the needs of its children. The June 2017 UNICEF report card, Building the Future: MORE
WorkSafeBC has two campaigns to try to prevent youth workers from injury this year. Listen to Your Gut, is aimed at young workers, and What I Know Now targets their employers. According to WorkSafeBC, more than 32,000 workers aged 15 to 24 were hurt on the job between 2012 and 2016, and of these, 3,600 were injured seriously. MORE
First Call congratulates all new ministers on their appointments, and we look forward to educating key ministers about the work of First Call and addressing issues and recommendations related to our 4 Keys to Success. The First Call BC Election Toolkit addressed key policy areas, noted below, which we look MORE
Due to lack of data, Canada is not ranked on three key indicators in the index of countries in Stolen Childhoods, End of Childhood, a new report from Save the Children: Malnourishment and the percentage of stunting among children under 5, the percentage of school-age children out of school, and MORE