Labour Law in Canada

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Constitutional Division of Powers

Labour law in Canada is uniquely shaped by the constitutional division of powers under the Constitution Act, 1867. Section 92(13) assigns property and civil rights to provincial legislatures, granting them primary jurisdiction over labour relations within their borders. By contrast, s. 91(29) read with s. 91(10) confers federal jurisdiction over navigation and shipping, and s. 91(29) more broadly empowers Parliament over works and undertakings that are federal in nature — interprovincial railways, airlines, telecommunications, banking, and crown corporations. This dual framework produces two parallel regimes: the Canada Labour Code, RSC 1985, c L-2, governing federally regulated workplaces, and separate labour relations codes in each province and territory, such as Ontario’s Labour Relations Act, 1995, SO 1995, c 1, Sch A, and British Columbia’s Labour Relations Code, RSBC 1996, c 244. The constitutional boundary is not always clear; the courts have developed a functional test to determine whether an operation constitutes a “federal work or undertaking,” looking to the nature of its activities and its operational integration with a federal enterprise (Northern Telecom Canada Ltd v. Communication Workers of Canada, [1980] 1 SCR 115; Construction Montcalm Inc v. Minimum Wage Commission, [1979] 1 SCR 754).

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Labour Law in Canada

Constitutional Division of Powers