The very least the federal government can do is change the law already determined by the Tribunal to be contrary to the Charter.

“The Vilven and Kelly case provides the right backdrop for government leadership.” Said Susan Eng, CARP VP of Advocacy.

And in fact, shortly after the Vilven and Kelly ruling, two politicians answered CARP’s call to end mandatory retirement. The Hon. Judy Sgro, National Liberal Critic for Veterans Affairs, Seniors and Pensions as well as the Hon. Raymonde Folco, Official Opposition Critic for La Francophonie both expressed support for the initiative. For more on this, please click here.

Ms. Folco took her support one step further by drafting a Private Member’s Bill to end Mandatory Retirement in federally regulated industries. Bill C-481 has passed first reading and fortunately, since it is a Private Member’s Bill, it did not die on the order paper when the Prime Minister decided to prorogue Parliement. To see the text of the bill, click here

Although bill C-481 would do the job, it is unlikely it will see the light of day unless it can garner cross-party support. If you want to help put an end to mandatory retirement you can write to your MP as well as the Prime Minister to ask them to make bill C-481 a priority and start the process of ending age discrimination once and for all. As always, you can use CARP E-Voice. http://www.carp.ca/evoice/

Let us show the Members of Parliament that inaction is not an option!

“Making the courts shoot down each case one by one shows a lack of political leadership on one of the final frontiers of discrimination” Eng says.

Keywords: mandatory retirement, ageism, seniors