A family is trying to elicit some good from a tragedy by bringing about change for how hours are counted for interns or students on practicums, with the help of St. Albert’s MP.
On Nov. 1, 2011, Andy Ferguson of Bon Accord, a 22-year-old broadcasting student at NAIT and an amateur comedian, crossed the centre line on his way home from working two shifts at the radio station where he was both completing a student practicum for graduation credit and a paid worker. He hit an oncoming gravel truck and passed away in the early morning hours.
Matthew Ferguson, Andy’s brother, went to see his federal representative, Edmonton-St. Albert MP Brent Rathgeber. He wasn’t looking to pursue a lawsuit, and a federal labour investigation found there was no complaint. So Matthew and his family are pursuing change in the labour code so that all hours worked – not just paid ones, but unpaid hours being worked by students on their practicum like Andy or interns – are counted as part of maximum hours someone can work, as the suspicion is Andy was so fatigued as a result of working recent double shifts he ended up crossing that centre line.
“The primary goal is to encourage and promote legislative change, particularly at the federal level,” Matthew said. The ideal result, he said, would be to see changes in the Canada Labour Code that have a maximum number of hours worked and a minimum rest period between shifts applying to all workers – not just paid ones.
The reason for seeking federal change is because broadcasting falls under federal regulations rather than provincial ones, and Andy was doing some paid work for the station. Rathgeber said because Andy was also doing an unpaid student practicum – and post-secondary students fall under provincial jurisdiction instead of federal – this meant there was a gap in jurisdiction. He wants to help Matthew fix that.
Both Rathgeber and Matthew were in touch with the previous labour minister Lisa Raitt, who was shuffled to a different ministry in the July cabinet switch-up. They will be approaching new Minister of Labour Kellie Leitch, who Rathgeber is hoping will be sympathetic and he plans to lobby her about the issue when he returns to Ottawa.
Rathgeber said there are really two ways student and intern hours could be regulated – either by getting provinces to force employers to pay those workers minimum wage, or by approaching the federal labour code. Rathgeber said the former is probably not the way to go because paying minimum wage would make it harder for those students and interns to find positions and it would be tough to get all the provinces on board.
“I think the simpler way, at no cost to the employer, is to make all hours subject to the federal regulation standards,” Rathgeber said.
Matthew said based on the evidence they were able to piece together, Andy worked two shifts on Oct. 28, 2011, one from they think about 9 a.m. to 3:42 p.m., and a second from 7 p.m. to at least 1:30 a.m. On Oct. 31, 2011, he worked another two shifts, one from 6:45 a.m. to 11 a.m. and then again from 6 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. on Nov. 1. Andy died when he hit the gravel truck just after 6 a.m. on his way home from that shift. It was the combination of unpaid practicum work and paid promotions work that resulted in Andy working so many hours, Matthew said.
There’s allegations around what Andy was told would happen if he didn’t work the last shift, Matthew said, but they can’t be sure what occurred. “We do know he wasn’t happy to work that shift,” Matthew said.
Next steps will to be to continue to raise awareness and pressing the federal government for regulatory change while the issue is still in the public eye. “We have received a lot of support,” Matthew.
