Back to Child Labor in North America by Bill Tielman
Believe it or not, Premier Gordon Campbell and the B.C. Liberals are about to bring child labour back to British Columbia after it had been banned by the province since the Depression years of the 1930s.
In early December, the Liberals will put in place regulations filling in the details of Bill 37, legislation passed in October that amends the Employment Standards Act to allow children as young as 12 years to work full-time.
These regulations are, appropriately, being implemented as our thoughts turn back to the time of Charles Dickens, who not only penned A Christmas Carol but also wrote about the terrible conditions of child labour in the time of the Industrial Revolution in England.