Ontario set to introduce legislation allowing delivery workers to access bathrooms at businesses
The Ontario government will be introducing legislation that would allow delivery workers to access bathrooms at businesses where they are delivering or picking up items.
The legislation, if passed, will apply to couriers, truck drivers, and food delivery workers.
“This is something most people in Ontario take for granted but access to washrooms is a matter of common decency currently being denied to hundreds of thousands of workers in this province,” Minister of Labour Monte McNaughton said in a statement.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday morning, McNaughton said that some businesses have failed to recognize delivery workers as “heroes” amid the pandemic and that drivers often have to plan their day around where they can get access to a bathroom.
“They stepped up when the demand for deliveries increased with more people shopping online when we couldn't go into stores, and more families ordering food from their favorite restaurants when we couldn't go out to eat. You should be treated as heroes for all that you do,” he said.
“Unfortunately, some businesses while trying to keep their operations running haven't been treating you as heroes. Some failed to recognize that you were vital to their success. Instead, some put up signs that were shameful. ‘No washroom access,’ ‘no drivers beyond this point,’ ‘washrooms for team members only.’”
"You worked over the past 19 months to get through to our apartments, homes and places of work. You deserve to be treated better.”
Officials say the proposed legislation will only apply to businesses where workers are picking up or delivering items, and is not applicable to private residences.
The measures came after consultations through the government’s Ontario Workforce Recovery Advisory Committee, in which officials say they learned that delivery workers, including those who work for online platforms such as Uber Eats, are often denied use of washrooms at businesses.
The Ontario Trucking Association said in a statement that they are “thankful” for the proposed legislation.
Officials say that on average 203,700 people in Ontario were working as transport, bus, taxi and delivery drivers in 2020. During that same year, on average 30,800 people in the province worked as mail, couriers, messengers and door-to-door distributors.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.