GOVERNMENT OF CANADA ANNOUNCES REVIEW OF PAY EQUITY LEGISLATION

OTTAWA, June 19, 2001 --The Honourable Anne McLellan, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and the Honourable Claudette Bradshaw, Minister of Labour, announced today the establishment of a Task Force to review pay equity legislation.

Dr. Beth Bilson, Dean, College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan will chair the Task Force. She will be assisted by Professor Marie-Thérèse Chicha, School of Industrial Relations, Université de Montréal, and Charles Taccone, Senior Consulting Associate, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The Task Force will undertake a comprehensive review of section 11 of the Canadian Human Rights Act which makes it a discriminatory practice to pay men and women differently for performing work of equal value. The section has not been amended or subjected to a comprehensive review since receiving Royal Assent in 1977.

"A thorough review of Section 11 of the Canadian Human Rights Act and the 1986 Equal Wages Guidelines is needed," said Minister McLellan. "I'm looking forward to receiving the Task Force's work and recommendations on providing clarity in the way in which pay equity should be implemented in a modern society," she added.

The Task Force, as part of its mandate, will :

• conduct a comparative review and analysis of the "equal pay for work of equal value" and pay equity experiences in provincial and territorial jurisdictions in Canada, as well as other relevant international experience;
  
  
• examine and assess various models and best practices for implementing the principles of equal pay for work of equal value; and
  
  
• develop a series of options and recommendations to improve the legislative framework for dealing with pay equity matters.
  
  

"The Government of Canada is strongly committed to the principle of fair pay," said Minister Bradshaw. "This Task Force is a product of that commitment and will help ensure that pay equity will be implemented more effectively and efficiently."

Consultations across the country with interested government and non-government stakeholders will begin in the fall of 2001. The Task Force will submit a report to the Ministers of Justice and Labour with recommendations for improving section 11 of the Canadian Human Rights Act at the latest by the fall of 2002.

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Ref.:

Farah Mohamed
Minister's office
Justice Canada
(613) 992-4621

David Klug
Office of the Minister of Labour
(819) 953-5646

Elizabeth Sanderson
Senior General Counsel
Justice Canada
(613) 957-3555

Beth Bilson
Chair, Pay Equity Task Force
(306) 966-5910