Faith groups take note of new internship guidelines
OTTAWA, ON - Unpaid interns must receive vocational training, shouldn't do the work of employees and can't be promised future employment.
Those are some of the recent stipulations issued by the Ontario Ministry of Labour on the legality of using unpaid interns. The new guidelines, "Internships in Ontario: What you need to know, stress unpaid internships are intended to exchange time for on the job training.
Last year, Crossroads Christian Communications launched an internship program with a strong training component, aimed at helping recent graduates.
"It's very individualized," says Melissa McEachern, internship coordinator. "Each internship is highly suited to that individual and what their goals are.
"The key thing for us is the interns aren't replacing staff members. They are joining production teams which are already working, and which are already in place with the people we need. Then they're getting hands-on work experience by learning from that team."
She adds that Crossroads internships are also "values based" and include weekly sessions on character and leadership development.
"Our interns are growing in their personal and spiritual life as well," she says, "from what it means to be an honest person to how we do time management."
The new guidelines do not apply to unpaid interns who are receiving university or college credit for their work. But the government does stress that in such cases it is the responsibility of the educational facility to approve the work that is being done.
Faye Sonier, legal counsel for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, completed four internships for credit while she was in law school. She says sometimes students need to be proactive in approaching businesses they want to intern for, and making sure their professors will credit the work.
"Sometimes you have to do that extra legwork," she says, "to make sure your internship is as valuable as possible."
EFC accepts interns from the Laurentian Leadership Centre through Trinity Western University, all of whom receive accreditation for their work.
"We think it's a great relationship," she says. "They are really contributing to the ministry, and we really appreciate the opportunity to prove this educational forum for them.
"They have opportunities to participate in strategic meetings and prepare submissions to parliamentarians. They come to court with us and get to walk through the whole process with us. They get to see what the whole aspect of integrating faith with work looks like."
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