Whereas current provincial legislation does not adequately protect the parental leave rights of local government elected officials, requiring local governments to adopt their own policies for approving leaves for elected officials who become parents; And whereas the Province of BC collectively, and through its various ministries, recognizes that parental leave for elected officials is an important issue and that it is important for new parents to have adequate time and energy to spend with their child: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM call on the Province of BC to amend all relevant pieces of provincial legislation, such as the Community Charter, the Vancouver Charter, and the Local Government Act, in order to establish common, province-wide minimum entitlements for parental leave for locally elected officials following the birth or adoption of a child, consistent with the Employment Standards Act provisions following the birth or adoption of a child, and inclusive of leave provisions that would grant an elected official an exemption from any disqualification from office for absences of sixty consecutive days or four consecutive regularly scheduled council or board meetings.
Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs The Province recognizes that parental leave is an important action to support gender inclusion and diversity in local governments and has been actively monitoring the issue for several years now. There has been an increase in the number of local governments that have adopted their own specific policies to allow elected officials to go on maternity or parental leave making use of the authorities granted under existing legislation. In previous responses to similar resolutions in 2016 2016-B99, 2021 2021-NR1, and 2022 2022-EB79 the Province set out the complex policy considerations in relation to establishing provincially legislated statutory minimum maternity and parental leave for local elected officials. Under current legislation, local governments have full authority to grant leave for a wide variety of reasons to elected officials seeking this option. This authority includes the establishment of policies for such leave including handling of appointments such as to boards and committees, and other duties during the leave and upon return. Furthermore, council members who have received approval for their absence from council attendance will not be at risk of disqualification for non-attendance at council meetings. The Province continues to favour an approach that allows individual communities to determine policies related to various types of leave under existing local government legislation, just as local governments determine remuneration and other benefits for local elected officials. Local governments are best placed to continue to develop policies that best account for circumstances in their communities.