Abstract
The main goal of this paper is provide a baseline analysis of the regulatory protections that youths receive, or don’t receive, during the school-to-labour market transition. This paper is divided into two sections. The first section overviews the current regulatory environment in Ontario pertaining to the unpaid labour that youths undertake as part of the school-to-labour market transition. This section examines the exclusions, under statutes and policy, which deny youths critical protections under employment standards, occupational health and safety, workers’ compensation, and human rights laws. The second section analyzes the current regulatory environment and argues that Ontario’s regulatory approach is largely little more than a series of statutory exclusions which deny youths key protections during the school-to-labour market transition, which is arguably the most critical phase in any person’s working life.