Some students at Thompson Rivers University (TRU) will be holding a rally on campus tomorrow, November 21, to protest unpaid internships.
Nearly 55,000 students are on strike in Quebec this week.
“Our advocacy is in solidarity with Quebec students trying to change Quebec law,” said Rob Long with the TRU Student Association. “As well as trying to raise awareness over B.C. laws that allow unpaid academic internships.”
Long says laws are stricter in B.C. than in Quebec around internships, but he says in some fields students aren’t getting paid when they should be.
“Unpaid academic internships are the norm in areas like social work, nursing, and education even though these interns are doing hundreds of hours of work, equivalent to employees who are getting paid,” Long added.
In B.C., Long says laws are stricter but still allow unpaid in some areas where he says they shouldn’t.