At the time this article was written Gary
Levy was a member of the Research Branch of the Library of Parliament in Ottawa
For many years after Confederation it was
customary for the House of Commons to choose boys, often as young as eleven
years old, from the Ottawa-Hull region to perform the traditional page services
of carrying messages and running errands for Members of Parliament. The boys
were often school dropouts whose families needed the money and their job as
pages prevented them from continuing their education. Once they reached sixteen
or seventeen years old they were no longer suitable as page boys and many had
difficulty finding other work although a large number were hired in some other
capacity by the House of Commons.
From time to time this system was criticised
by members who felt Parliament had some obligation to assist these boys with
their education. In 1968 a minimum age of 16 was established for pages but they
were still drawn from the local area and they still were all male. In 1971 some
members inquired about the possibility of hiring female pages but no change in
the recruitment system was made at that time.
After the Hon. James Jerome became Speaker
in 1974 he asked the Clerk of the House to prepare a report on the page system
used in the United States Congress. The report was referred to the Standing
Committee on Members Services which concluded that the Canadian system was
unsatisfactory for a number of reasons. It said an adequate page system should
achieve the following objectives:
- symbolize the national character of
parliament;
- increase the public's knowledge of
parliamentary proceedings;
- ensure a high quality of service in the
chamber to members;
- provide opportunities to young people with
no discrimination on the basis of sex.
The Committee considered the United States
model, the essence of which is the provision by Congress of a school in the
Library of Congress through which the pages continue their regular education
during their months of page service, but decided not to recommend a similar
system. With the smaller number of pages needed in Canada and the necessity
that would arise of providing schooling in both official languages and probably
in at least two provincial school systems (Quebec and Ontario), the idea seemed
impracticable.
The Committee then considered holding an
annual national competition open to students in their final year of high
school. Such a competition would have been very costly and as a compromise it
was decided to limit the applicants to undergraduate university students who
attend or were planning to attend one of the post secondary institutions in the
national capital region. In this way it was hoped to achieve as broad a
representation as possible, assist students with their education costs and
attain the other objectives outlined by the committee.
The first group of pages consisted of 22
girls and 14 boys chosen from the ten provinces and two territories. They began
work in October 1978. Each page works a 21 hour shift with a total of 11-13
hours a week. Their duties are basically the same as the former pages,
delivering messages and running errands within the confines of the Centre
Block. Pages receive $6,000 a year and they work under the jurisdiction of the
Sergeant-at-Arms The Chief Page, Mr. Robertson, is himself a former page.
On the matter of hiring female pages the
Senate preceded the Commons by nearly seven years. On June 2, 1971 Senator
Muriel Fergusson noted that the United States Senate had broken with tradition
by appointing female pages and the Ontario Legislature also had four girl
pages. She asked if consideration could be given to hiring female pages in the
Upper House and on September 14 of that year Speaker Deschatelets announced the
appointment of two female pages in the Senate. Both girls were university
students; one was studying geography at Carleton University, the other was
enrolled in psychology at Ottawa University.
At present the Senate employs eight pages,
four male and four female. Each page is assigned to approximately thirteen
Senators and is responsible for making sure that Senators receive all the
documents of the Senate relating to each day's debate. One Senate page operates
the electronic console which opens the microphone of the Senator who has the
floor.
The basic requirement in selecting Senate
pages is that they must be at university and require financial assistance to
continue their studies. The salary of Senate pages ranges from $5,402$6,156.
They sign yearly contracts which are renewable and may be terminated by either
party.
Provincial Legislatures
In 1972 a survey on the use of pages in
provincial legislatures was published in The Parliamentarian which
summarised the information as follows:
"Manitoba's Legislative Assembly now
hires two boys and two girls, chosen from among the most successful students in
metropolitan Winnipeg. They serve for one session only, receiving a lump sum of
$300 and $2.06 an hour for evening sittings. ...
Saskatchewan similarly employs two boys and
two girls as pages in the Legislative Assembly. They are in their late teens,
having finished school, and are paid an hourly wage with overtime. The pages
work from eight to twelve hours daily during the sessions which usually last
eight weeks.
The Alberta Legislative Assembly has six
page boys, aged between 15 and 19, who arrange their school curriculum so as to
leave them free to work in the Assembly between 2 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. They
receive $1.75 hourly and a uniform.
Ontario employs four girls and eighteen
boys, of 12 and 13 years of age, as pages in the Legislative Assembly. When not
working in the Chamber they attend special classes in order to keep up with
their education. . . .
Both New Brunswick and Nova Scotia employ
youths in their late teens or early 20s as legislature pages. Some have
completed high school and are attending or expecting to enter university. ...
The Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward
Island appoints four high school boys as pages. They serve in pairs on
alternate days so that their schooling does not suffer during the short
legislature sessions.
The pages of the National Assembly in Quebec
attend school within the legislative building, the curriculum being the same as
that followed by other students aged 15 to 18. They make up for time lost by
going to extra classes during holiday periods." (1)
In March 1979 the Clerks of each provincial
legislature were asked to update this information and their replies are shown
in the following chart. It will be seen that the only major change is in Quebec
where pages have been fully integrated into the regular messenger service.
Table
1
Pages
in the Provincial Legislatures (as of March 1979)
|
Province
|
No. of
Pages
|
Age
Requirement
|
Salary
|
Education
Provisions
|
BC
|
14
|
13-15
|
$3.00 per
hour
|
Pages
selected by their teachers based on scholastic standing and general
deportment. The schools which provide pages are selected by the local school
boards and different schools are chosen each year.
Pages work on alternate
days so as not be absent from school on a regular basis.
|
Sask
|
5
|
18-22
|
$5.10 per
hour plus 4% holiday pay on anything over 40 hours per week
|
Full-time positions
from November to May. No special arrangements for education
|
Man
|
4
|
Senior
high school
|
$485 per
year but with overtime for evening and Saturday can earn about $1,000.
|
Pages
selected by school principals from top students in their schools. The schools
are chosen each year by the Speaker.
|
Alta
|
6
|
Senior
high school
|
$4.35 -
4.55 per hour
|
Chosen
from students with high scholastic performance and upon recommendation of
school principal and consent of parents
|
Quebec
|
10
|
18-65 as
for public service
|
$7,590 -
$8,300
|
The page
service is fully integrated with the messenger service. During a session
certain messengers carry out the traditional role of pages in the Assembly.
|
Ont
|
*
|
11-14 **
|
***
|
****
|
Nfld
|
4
|
University
students
|
$631.52
per month
|
-
|
NS
|
6
|
High
School or college
|
$16.50 per
day
|
-
|
NB
|
6
|
17-21
|
99-$104
per week for 4 day week. Overtime for additional days.
|
The people
hired are usually looking for a permanent job
|
PEI
|
6
|
No age
requirement but usually 17-18
|
$61-67 per
week
|
No special
educational arrangements. Given the short session (normally 8 weeks) with
pages working an average of one full day per week, various principals have indicated
that the time lost does not impair their studies. All pages must be first
class honour students.
|
Note: All provinces listed permit girls to
work as pages although the ratio may change from time to time depending on the
applications.
* In Ontario Five groups of pages are
selected – three groups during the spring session and two groups for the fall
session with 22 pages in each group
** Ontario pages are selected from all 125
ridings; minimum average of 80%; Grade VII or Grade VIII student (11-14 years
of age); residence in Toronto during term of duty; principal’s consent to be
absent from school for approximately 6 weeks.
*** An honorarium of $10.00 per day plus $3.75
for each evening worked; $1.00 per day for transportation allowance, $3.00 for
dinner allowance for evenings worked; for pages living more than 100 miles from
Toronto a return rail or bus travel allowance is provided to come in for a
uniform fitting; for pages living more than 300 miles from Toronto 80% of
return air fare home is provided during term of duty.
**** Pages are tutored in English, History
and Mathematics for a total of 5 hours per week and are also provided with
French instruction 3 mornings per week. This is an educational programme which
provides a unique opportunity for Ontario’s bright Grade VII and VIII students
to watch first-hand the workings of the Provincial Government.
Notes
(1) Anthony Wright, "Pages in the
Canadian Parliament and Legislatures", The Parliamentarian, Vol. 53
(January 1972).