Quebec introduces new exception to child labour laws

Quebec Labour Minister Jean Boulet has amended his law project, Bill 19, regulating youth employment in the province to allow children under 14 to work in agriculture, provided the business have a maximum of 10 employees.

Quebec Labour Minister Jean Boulet has amended his law project, Bill 19, regulating youth employment in the province to allow children under 14 to work in agriculture, provided the business have a maximum of 10 employees.

The proposed law, tabled in March, would limit the number of weekly hours Quebecers 16 and under can work during the school year to 17. It also sets the minimum legal working age at 14 — with some exceptions for jobs like babysitting or tutoring.

But Boulet's amendment would allow small agricultural businesses to be exempt from the new minimum working age and employ children as young as twelve.

The children might "do light manual labor to harvest fruits or vegetables, take care of animals, or tend the soil," according to the amendment.