CHAPTER IX ABOLITION OF CHILD LABOR "The abolition of child labor and the imposition of such limitations on the labour of young persons as shall permit the continuation of their education and assure their proper physical development." (Treaty of Peace: Article 427, 6.) Children under fourteen shall not be employed in agriculture during hours fixed for school attendance (1921 convention), nor in industrial undertakings (1919 convention), nor on ships (1920 convention). Every employer in an industrial undertaking must keep a register of all persons under sixteen employed by him and of the dates of their births (1919 convention). Children under fourteen engaged in agricultural night work must be allowed at least ten consecutive hours' rest and young persons between fourteen and eighteen at least nine consecutive hours (1921 recommendation). In industrial undertakings young persons under eighteen shall not be employed during the night except that in continuous processes those over sixteen may be employed (1919 convention). Young persons under eighteen shall be excluded from employment in certain specified processes involving the use of white lead and may be employed in processes involving the use of lead compounds only under certain conditions (1919 recommendation). The employment of males under eighteen and of all females is prohibited in painting work of an industrial character involving the use of white lead (1921 convention). Employment of young persons under eighteen on ships is conditioned on an annual medical certificate of fitness (1921 convention) and with certain exceptions they must not be employed as trimmers or stokers on vessels (1921 convention). The first child-labor legislation of Canada was passed in Nova Scotia in 1873, when the employment of boys under ten years in mines was prohibited and the hours of work for boys of ten and under twelve years were limited to ten for the day and sixty for the week. Now British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and Saskatchewan have prohibited the employment of women and girls in mines and these provinces, together with Nova Scotia and the Yukon, have fixed a minimum age for boys employed as mine workers. In the eighties Canada seems to have first discovered the deplorable conditions under which children were employed in industrial establishments,' just as England did a halfcentury before, and today all the provinces have placed some restrictions upon the employment of children. The influence of the Trades and Labor Congress has been strongly in favor of child-labor legislation and its strict enforcement. In the Platform of Principles adopted in 1898 the Congress favored the abolition of child labor for children under fourteen years and in 1915 the Congress held that no children under sixteen years should be employed. CHILD LABOR IN MINES Nova Scotia The regulation of child labor in mines first appeared in the legislation of Nova Scotia in the revision and consolidation of the statutes, Fourth Series, 1873 (c. 10). This law, the Mines Regulation Chapter, forbade the employment of boys under ten years of age above or below ground. The employment of boys of ten years and under twelve years underground was not to exceed ten hours in the day. or sixty hours in the week, these hours being counted from the time of leaving the surface to the time of returning to the surface. The act required that every person in charge of an engine, windlass or gin for the transporting of persons up or down a shaft or along a level and every person in charge of the machinery or tackle in connection therewith 1 Cf. Report of the Royal Commission on the Relations of Labor and Capital, 1889, especially the paragraphs on 'Employment of Children" and "Child-Beating," p. 10; " Child and Female Labor," p. 36; “Fining of Employees," p. 91; and references in the index under Child Labor" in the volumes of evidence for the different provinces. 66 should be a male of not less than eighteen years. The law stated that when such machinery was worked by an animal the driver should not be under twelve years of age and that the person having direction of the driver should be a male of at least eighteen years. Penalties were imposed on mine operators for contravention of these regulations and it was provided that if a child under age were employed in good faith by the management on misrepresentation of his age by the parent or guardian the penalty should be imposed upon the parent or guardian. This act was amended in 1891 (c. 9) when the minimum age for boys employed above or below ground was advanced from ten years to twelve and it was required that after one year had passed every boy under eighteen years of age employed for the first time should be able to read, write and have learned the rudiments of arithmetic and should furnish a certificate to that effect from a duly licensed teacher. The maximum hours for the week were reduced from 60 to 54 for boys of twelve and under sixteen years instead of ten and under twelve years, as before, but longer hours could be worked in case of emergency. The amendment provided also that when an engine, windlass or gin was worked by an animal the driver should be at least fourteen years of age, rather than twelve years, as in the earlier law. In the revision of 1900 separate laws for coal mines (c. 19) and metalliferous mines (c. 20) were included and the text was such as to permit the employment of boys under twelve years, the section reading: "No boy of or above the age of twelve years and under the age of sixteen years shall be employed. . . . ..." This was rectified in 1902 (c. 5), when it was explicitly stated that no boy under twelve years should be employed below or above ground. The child-labor provisions, identical in the two laws, were the same as in the act of 1891. The provisions as to metalliferous mines were in 1911 (c. 16) extended to quarries and in the consolidating act of 1913 (c. 15) boys from twelve to sixteen were required to have passed grade seven, rather than to know "the three R's ", before being employed. There was no further change in the minimum age of employment in coal mines until 1923 (c. 54), when it was advanced to sixteen years. In metal mines the minimum age for boys is still twelve. British Columbia Legislation for the regulation of child labor in British Columbia mines began with the Coal Mines Regulation Act of 1877 (no. 15), which forbade the employment of boys under twelve years in or about any mine to which the act applied and also the employment of girls or women below ground. Boys of thirteen and under fourteen years might be employed below ground in mines in which their employment was considered necessary by the Minister of Mines because of the thinness of the seams, but in any such case the employment was limited to five days a week and six hours a day. Boys of twelve and under thirteen years and male young persons under sixteen years were permitted to work underground thirty hours in a week but not more than six hours in any one day. It was required that boys and male young persons employed below ground should be allowed an interval of not less than eight hours between the period of employment on Friday and that on the following Saturday, and in other cases not less than sixteen hours between each period. The period of employment was deemed to begin at the time of leaving the surface and to end at the time of returning to the surface. The employment of children under twelve years above ground was prohibited and the hours for children under fourteen years working above ground were the same as for boys working underground, and young persons working on the surface were given the same hours as those for male young persons under sixteen as indicated above. The employment of young persons or children between nine o'clock and five on the following morning or on Sunday or after two on Saturday afternoon was forbidden, but the Minister of Mines was empowered to grant exemption from the provision forbidding the employment of young persons and children after two o'clock on Saturday afternoon. Young persons and children were allowed not less than half an hour for meals during each period of employment in excess of five hours and not less than one and a half hours during each period in excess of six hours. The act required that a record should be kept in the office of the mine of the name, age, residence and date of first employment of all boys of twelve years and under thirteen and of all male young persons under sixteen years employed below ground, and also of all young persons and children employed above ground. It was provided that no person could have charge of an engine, windlass or gin for hoisting or lowering persons or transporting them along a shaft or level unless he were a male of not less than eighteen years of age. When the engine, windlass or gin was worked by an animal, the driver could not be under twelve years of age and the person under whose direction he worked had to be a male of at least eighteen years. Mine operators were exempted from any penalty under the act when a person under the legal age was employed on the representation of his parent or guardian that he was of the age required, but in that case the parent or guardian was deemed guilty of an offence under the act. The immediate employer of every boy or male young person below ground in a mine was required to report to the manager or a person appointed for the purpose the fact that he was about to employ such a worker in the mine. |