Mr. John Arkins:

My understanding is that every piece of employment legislation gives a definition of an employee. It states that "employee" means a person who has entered into or works under or, where the employment has ceased, entered into or worked under, a contract of employment and that references, in relation to an employer, to an employee shall be construed as references to an employee employed by that employer.

If a person is an employee, he or she is an employee; if a person is freelance, he or she is freelance. The legislation is quite specific. If a person is on a contract of service, he or she is an employee; if a person is on a contract for service, he or she is not. Perhaps the legislation the Senator is referring to was brought in primarily for voice-over actors and actors. When I was a shop steward in SIPTU, and president of the branch, I raised these issues. I have emails relating to these issues and these contracts going back to 2011. I have raised all these issues and concerns. I am a supervising stagehand and I am not paid for doing what I am doing here today, but my understanding is that as an employee, one is on a contract of service. If someone is on a contract for service, he or she is a contractor and the appropriate legislation applies.

I suggest to the Chairman that the committee gets clarity on that matter when it is putting its report together on the issue.