The Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) has issued a statement supporting the federal government’s action to strike down mandatory retirement.
The government has repealed sections of the Canadian Human Rights Act and Canada Labour Code that permit employers to force employees to retire once they reach 65, regardless of their ability to do the job.
The repeal of those provisions was contained in the Budget Implementation Act, which has now received royal assent.
“We’re not born with date stamps saying our fitness for work expires at 65,” David Langtry, acting chief commissioner of the CHRC, Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia in a statement. “Age discrimination is discrimination, pure and simple.”
The CHRC has called for the repeal of mandatory retirement provisions of the Canadian Human Rights Act since 1979.
All Canadian jurisdictions, with the exception of the federal government and New Brunswick, have since abolished mandatory retirement. Many federally regulated employers as well as the federal public service abolished it on their own initiative.
David Gollob, CHRC’s director of communications, told Business in Vancouver that the changes will eliminate mandatory retirement for employees in:
- banks;
- marine, ferry, shipping and port services;
- air transportation, railway and road transportation;
- canals, pipelines, tunnels and bridges;
- telephone, telegraph and cable;
- radio and television;
- grain elevators, feed and seed mills;
- uranium mining;
- business dealing with protection of fisheries as a national resource;
- most federal Crown corporations; and
- private businesses necessary to the operation of a federal act, such as NavCanada.
Gollobsaid the legislative change applies to 12,000 enterprises and 820,000 workers, but noted that many of the organizations have already eliminated mandatory retirement.
“But there are a few that have not,” he added.
Jenny Wagler
@JennyWagler_BIV