Whereas Section 1257 of the Community Charter only exempts elected officials from disqualification due to absences of 60 consecutive days or 4 consecutive regular scheduled board or council meetings if the absence is due to illness or injury or is with the leave of the council or board, but does not consider diverse realities or lived-experiences such as providing caregiving or compassionate care for loved ones, or parental leave for new parents; And whereas it is recognized that the current language in the Community Charter and the Local Government Act do not protect leave rights for elected officials and require local governments to renew leave policies pertaining to elected officials after every new council composition; And whereas it is recognized that reducing barriers to inclusion in civic governance requires intentional action to recognize diverse lived-experiences: Therefore be it resolved that the UBCM encourage the provincial government to amend the Community Charter and Local Government Act to guarantee caregiver, compassionate care, and parental leave provisions that would grant elected officials, who must provide support to loved ones or are new parents, an exemption from being disqualified from office for absences of 60 consecutive days or 4 consecutive regular scheduled council or board meetings.
Ministry of Municipal Affairs The province recognizes that personal leave is an important action to support diversity and gender equity in local governments. The legislative framework set out under section 1257 of the Community Charter provides flexibility for elected official needs by authorizing council to approve leave for its members for any matter it deems appropriate. The province is not aware of any elected official being denied leave for a reasonable leave request. The province continues to favour an approach that allows individual communities to determine policies related to various types of leave under the existing legislation, just as local governments determine remuneration and other benefits for local elected officials. In that way, local governments can continue to develop policies that best account for circumstances in their communities. The Province is aware of numerous local governments that have implemented personal leave policies that include accommodation for maternity and parental leave. These policies could be expanded upon to include leave for caregiving or other personalfamily matters. Given the complexities of determining all the possible leave categories at the provincial level, and the existing authority of local governments to determine their own policies, the province is currently not considering establishing statutory minimum entitlements for personal leave for local elected officials.