Montreal School Board Loses 150 Workers Under Secularism Law
Montreal’s largest school service centre, the Centre de services scolaire de Montréal, has terminated roughly 150 support staff who refused to remove religious symbols under Quebec’s new Bill 94. The law, adopted in October 2025, widens the province’s secularism ban from teachers and principals to all employees who interact with students, and offers only a narrow grandfathering clause for existing staff. Employees hired or transferred after March 2025 must comply or leave, forcing many long‑serving workers into an ultimatum. The dismissals add pressure to a system already reporting over 1,000 vacant support positions province‑wide.
Turn Tax Time Into a Wellness Win: A Simple Toolkit to Help Meet Employee Needs
HR leaders in Canada are turning tax season into a wellness opportunity by integrating financial health into employee benefits. A new toolkit from Intuit TurboTax Canada shows how digital tax‑filing software can be added to Lifestyle Spending Accounts, making tax...
Roundtable: Recruiting in a Challenging Labour Market
HR leaders from Walmart, McCarthy Tetrault and Wajax convened to address recruitment challenges in today’s tight labour market. They highlighted the growing demand for pay transparency, flexible work arrangements, and the integration of AI tools into hiring processes. The executives noted...
Collective Agreement: Sobeys
Sobeys' Unifor Local 1090 collective agreement runs March 1, 2026‑Feb 28, 2031, signed Dec 15, 2025. It adds a slate of paid holidays, tiered vacation accrual up to six weeks, and personal sick days crediting one per month. Overtime is paid at 1.5× regular wage, shift...
Ottawa Tables Draft Regulatons Around French Language in Federally Regulated Workplaces
The Canadian government has tabled draft regulations to enforce the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act. The rules will initially apply to Quebec and, two years later, to other regions with significant Francophone populations. They set employee...
How to Avoid Claims of Ageism Amid Restructuring
An Ontario Superior Court ruling in Dunlop v. Interspec Systems Ltd. ordered the manufacturer and its owner to pay roughly $704,000 USD in damages after a plant relocation was deemed an age‑based termination of senior staff. The judgment includes unpaid wages,...
Is a Vague Medical Note Enough to Prove Discrimination?
The Alberta King’s Bench ruled that a psychologist’s vague note recommending exemption from a COVID‑19 vaccine policy did not prove a disability‑based discrimination claim. The note lacked a clear statement that the teacher was medically unable to be vaccinated or...
Collective Agreement: Northland Power, Kirkland Lake Power
Northland Power and United Steelworkers Local 2020 signed a three‑year collective agreement covering March 1, 2026 through February 28, 2029. The contract provides wage increases of 3.25% in 2026 and 3% in each of the following two years, alongside a tiered vacation schedule that reaches...
Did ‘Disgusting’ Tattoo at Work Add up to Discrimination?
The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal dismissed a discrimination complaint filed by a camera assistant against the International Cinematographers Guild (IATSE 669/ICG). The assistant alleged the union failed to address sexualized imagery on set and a coworker’s offensive tattoo, claiming sex‑based...
Ontario Moves to Ban Uniform Fees
Ontario is proposing amendments to the Employment Standards Act to ban mandatory, employer‑specific uniform fees for large employers, targeting sectors like restaurants, hotels and retail where workers can pay $50 or more for branded apparel. The proposal also introduces the...
How Smart Employers Treat Summer Hires Like Future Employees
Employers such as Fairmont Hotels, Canada’s Wonderland and Peel Region are treating summer hires with the same rigor as permanent staff, starting recruitment in late fall and offering contracts before students return to school. They use a mix of early...
Professor Sues University of Winnipeg, Faculty over Student’s Complaint
Psychology professor Jeremy Frimer, a tenured faculty member at the University of Winnipeg, has filed a civil lawsuit against the university and its faculty association after a student complaint alleged he presented data linking genetics to lower Black IQ scores...
GenAI Favours Senior Staff at Expense of New Talent: Research
New European research shows generative AI is reshaping hiring by favoring senior employees, while entry‑level roles for 22‑ to 25‑year‑olds fell 5.5% after ChatGPT’s launch. Older workers benefit because they can contextualize AI‑generated drafts using organizational knowledge, leading firms to...
Should HR Worry About Lost Productivity During the World Cup?
The 2026 World Cup will be staged across the United States, Canada and Mexico, bringing matches into North American work hours for the first time. FinanceBuzz estimates on‑the‑clock viewing could cost roughly $4.5 billion in lost productivity, with about 25% of...
Does a Vaccine Mandate Make Sense for an Empty Office?
An Ontario arbitrator ruled that MPAC’s decision to place 39 unvaccinated employees on six months of unpaid leave was reasonable, even after the organization made office attendance optional and halted field work. The grievance, filed by the Ontario Public Service...