Pay Equity and Community Based Organizations in Saskatchewan: Paradoxes and Challenges

Abstract

Despite clear evidence of the wage gap and the prevalence of systemic wage discrimination, Saskatchewan does not have provincial pay equity legislation. The analysis put forward in this paper will focus on the inequities experienced by community based organizations in Saskatchewan. This sector provides a salient example of the urgent need for provincial legislation to address pay inequity in Saskatchewan particularly in light of contemporary changes to the provision of social services associated with rise of the “New Economy”. The experiences of community based organizations demonstrate that the current regime for addressing pay inequity in Saskatchewan is inadequate. The institutional and legal framework available is incapable of achieving pay equity in anything more than a token, piecemeal, ad hoc fashion. Pay equity is a fundamental human right and pro-active pay equity legislation is essential to its achievement.6 As such, the Saskatchewan government must take its obligations to promote substantive equality seriously and implement stand-alone, proactive pay equity legislation, covering all workers in every economic sector. As a latecomer to the Canadian pay equity statutory scene, Saskatchewan could benefit from the lessons learned in other jurisdictions in the development of its own provincial pay equity legislation.

Keywords: Pay Equity, Community Based Organizations, Saskatchewan