UTGB Vol 5.pdf - Robson Hall Faculty of Law

that their initial experiences with the working world are regulated according to
acceptable standards, and that these standards are followed.m
H. Unpaid Leaves and Work.-Life Balance
It is important that issues related to leaves and "work... life balance" be
considered in their social and economic context, namely that women continue
to do the vast majority of unpaid care work, including child care and the care of
family members who are elderly or have disabilities. In light of the
constitutional reality that the federal government has jurisdiction over income
replacement through the Employment Insurance Act ("EIA") 113 and that the
provinces have jurisdiction over employment standards, the issue of "unpaid
leaves" is really one of job protection for leaves required by employees.
As described earlier in this submission, the feminization of the Canadian
workforce has meant a double-bind for women: they are participating in the
paid labour market in greater numbers {although often in low-wage, part-time
and other precarious employment), while still performing a disproportionate
share of unpaid care work in the home. 114 Thus, until the division of unpaid
labour becomes more equal between men and women, the failure to provide job
protection for necessary leaves to care for family members will continue to
affect women more than men. As such, the way the law does or does not
accommodate the realities of (predominantly women's) unpaid care work is a
gender equality issue. Fulfilling the substantive equality guarantees enshrined
in the Charter-as well as international and domestic human rights lawrequires
meaningful and substantive recognition of the work of mothering,
parenting and caring for children and other family members, work that benefits
society as a whole. As recognized by Dickson C.J., writing for the unanimous
Supreme Court in Brooks v. Canada Safeway Ltd. 115 in the context of maternity
leave: ·
Combining paid work with motherhood and accommodating the child bearing needs of
working women are ever-increasing imperatives. That those who bear children and
benefit society as a whole thereby should not be economically or socially disadvantaged
seems to bespeak the obvious. Ic is only women who bear children; no man can become
pregnant. As I argued earlier, it is unfair to impose all the costs of pregnancy upon onehalf
of the population.
Unfortunately, Manitoba has not kept up with the trend in other Canadian
jurisdictions with regard to job protection for leaves md removing eligibility
thresholds for leaves.
112
Ibid. at 32.
113
S.C. 1996, c. 23.
114
See generally, Lorna Turnbull, Double Jeopardy: Motherwork and the Law (Toronto: Sumach
Press, 2001).
115
[1989]1 S.C.R. 1219 at 1243-1244.