This enactment amends the Criminal Code to, among other things,

It also amends the Canada Labour Code to, among other things,

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

• (lxxi.‍1) section 423.‍2 (intimidation — health services),

Intimidation — health services

423.‍2 (1) Every person commits an offence who engages in any conduct with the intent to provoke a state of fear in

• (a) a person in order to impede them from obtaining health services from a health professional;

• (b) a health professional in order to impede them in the performance of their duties; or

• (c) a person, whose functions are to assist a health professional in the performance of the health professional’s duties, in order to impede that person in the performance of those functions.

Obstruction or interference with access

(2) Every person commits an offence who, without lawful authority, intentionally obstructs or interferes with another person’s lawful access to a place at which health services are provided by a health professional.

Punishment

(3) Every person who commits an offence under subsection (1) or (2) is

• (a) guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 10 years; or

• (b) guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

Defence

(4) No person is guilty of an offence under subsection (2) by reason only that they attend at or near, or approach, a place referred to in that subsection for the purpose only of obtaining or communicating information.

Definition of health professional

(5) In this section, health professional means a person who is entitled under the laws of a province to provide health services.

• (xi.‍01) subsection 423.‍2(1) (intimidation — health services),

•  

  (b.‍11) an offence under subsection 423.‍2(1) (intimidation — health services),

• (b) an offence described in section 264 or 423.‍1 or subsection 423.‍2(1);

• (iii.‍2) evidence that the offence was committed against a person who, in the performance of their duties and functions, was providing health services, including personal care services,

• (vii) evidence that the commission of the offence had the effect of impeding another person from obtaining health services, including personal care services,

Leave with pay

(1.‍2) An employee earns, after completing Insertion start 30 days Insertion end of continuous employment with an employer, one day of medical leave of absence with pay, up to a maximum of 10 days in a calendar year.

Rate of wages

(1.‍3) Each day of medical leave of absence with pay that an employee takes must be paid at their regular rate of wages for their normal hours of work, and that pay is for all purposes considered to be wages.

Annual carry forward

(1.‍4) Each day of medical leave of absence with pay that an employee does not take in a calendar year is to be carried forward to January 1 of the following calendar year and decreases, by one, the maximum number of days that can be earned in that calendar year under subsection (1.‍2).

Division of leave with pay

(1.‍5) The medical leave of absence with pay may be taken in one or more periods. The employer may require that each period of leave be of not less than one day’s duration.

Certificate — leave with pay

(1.‍6) The employer may, in writing and no later than 15 days after the return to work of an employee who has taken a medical leave of absence with pay Insertion start of at least five consecutive days Insertion end , require the employee to provide a certificate issued by a health care practitioner certifying that the employee was incapable of working for the period of their medical leave of absence with pay.

Certificate — leave without pay

(2) If a medical leave of absence without pay is three days or longer, the employer may require that the employee provide a certificate issued by a health care practitioner certifying that the employee was incapable of working for the period of their medical leave of absence without pay.

Regulations

(13) The Governor in Council may make regulations

• (a) defining terms for the purposes of this Division, including “regular rate of wages” and “normal hours of work”; and

• (b) modifying any provision of this Division respecting the medical leave of absence with pay for the purposes of applying this Division to any class of employees if, in the opinion of the Governor in Council,

  • (i) the application of the provision without the modification would be unreasonable or inequitable in respect of the employees in that class or their employers, due to the work practices of that class, and

  • (ii) those employees will, despite the modification, earn periods of medical leave of absence with pay at a rate that is substantially equivalent to the rate provided for in subsection (1.‍2).