RDN to explore parental leave options for directors

Rachelle Stein-Wotten

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder

How Regional District of Nanaimo directors could be supported with parental leave will be the subject of a report following the unanimous passing of a motion at the RDN’s Feb. 13 board meeting.

The motion from Lauren Melanson, director for Electoral Area C, who is pregnant with her second child, directs staff to bring forward a report with “policy options for parental leave provisions” for RDN directors.

“The current legislation falls short of supporting new parents and it lacks the clarity and flexibility for pragmatic family planning,” Melanson said, adding that other local governments in B.C. have parental leave policies and implementing one for the RDN could “remove barriers for expectant parents and women in particular in becoming engaged in local politics.

“I have a second job right now which I won’t be able to attend after giving birth, but I will still be technically employed [by the RDN], which prevents me from taking federal maternity leave,” Melanson said. “It places individual directors where they have to make really difficult decisions around whether they have to recuse their position.”

The report from staff is expected to include details on policies in other jurisdictions.

A 2022 policy briefing note from the Union of BC Municipalities entitled Maternity and Parental Leave Policy for City Councillors in Northwestern British Columbia highlights policies adopted by the districts of Squamish and North Saanich in 2019 and 2021, respectively.

“While mandates in provinces such as Ontario and Nova Scotia have already led to the province-wide adoption of parental leave policies within municipalities, the government of British Columbia has yet to institute such a requirement by amendment of the Community Charter,” which applies to municipalities but not regional districts, the policy note says.

In 2016, UBCM endorsed a resolution that the provincial government amend the Local Government Act and the Community Charter to guarantee maternity and parental leave for elected officials to be consistent with the Employment Standards Act provisions following the birth or adoption of a child.