Unpaid internships have been a hot topic lately in the news. The purpose of these internships is to provide secondary and post-secondary students with real-world experience. The problem, according to many advocacy groups, is the vagueness of federal legislation meant to protect interns from exploitation.
The law regarding unpaid internships under the new Budget Implementation Act (BIA) is being debated in the House of Commons.
As long as the employer provides proof of supervised educational training, and that they are not replacing a paid entry-level job by hiring the intern, an unpaid internship would be deemed legal up to a period of a year if this bill is passed.
On Parliament Hill, a stakeholder consultation will be held the first of week of June to decide how federal workplace legislation should be reformed to best protect unpaid interns.
The law, Bill C-636, is also known as the Intern Protection Act. Andrew Cash, an NDP MP from the Toronto area who co-sponsored the bill, said he is hopeful the support means a real change of heart in the Conservative caucus, who has so far stalled action on Bill C-36.
Cash said he does not condemn the use of unpaid internships, and nor would the Intern Protection Act. “It is not a question of being not okay with unpaid internships, but let’s make sure we are limiting their use to those programs that are around training and . . . hands-on workplace experience,” he said.
But what does this mean for students?
Kirsten Fenn, a fourth-year journalism student at Carleton University, just completed an unpaid internship with CBC Manitoba in Winnipeg for three weeks. Most of her daily activities involved shadowing senior reporters and covering stories of her own.
When asked what stood out to her the most about her internship, she spoke about the opportunity. “The most important thing I can take away from this internship was the fact that it was so hands-on . . . it was the 24/7 journalism experience you don’t get in classes,” Fenn said.
She said it was a nice change from the day-to-day routine of university.
“In school . . . it’s not really the same as how the journalism world works,” she said. “You’re doing journalism for a full 8 hours a day, every day of the week, and I thought that was a really great aspect of the internship.”
Fenn said she applauded the CBC’s effort in making her feel valued as a member of the news team.
Although Fenn said pay would not change her opinion about her internship, it would allow more students to have these crucial experiences in their field.
“I think it’s super important that we aren’t taking advantage of students, as that’s not only a turn-off for wanting to get the experience you need to get a job but also it’s not safe,” she said.
Fenn voiced concern over the alleged “hiring for free” trend being practiced by some federally-regulated companies in order to balance their bottom lines, especially since the 2008-2009 recession.
“I can understand offering unpaid internships through a school and not providing compensation if the purpose is to provide you with some sort of learning experience,” she said, “but I think it would be good if we had some sort of minimum wage too.”
Fenn stressed the advantages of an internship at the end of any degree. “Take advantage of these opportunities because they are not offered to everybody,” she said. “I probably learned more in the last three weeks than I would in a whole year.”
The question of unpaid internships remains a balancing act between worker’s rights and access to on-the-job training.
