At least two Rogers-owned publications have dropped their internship programs, the Star has learned.

In a pre-emptive move, interns at Flare and Chatelaine who were either unpaid or receiving a $400 monthly honorarium were let go Tuesday.

The Ministry of Labour said it has received no complaints and issued no compliance notices for those magazines or others owned by Rogers Communications Inc., one of Canada’s largest corporations.

“Moving forward, we want all our internships to be associated with an educational institution or to be paid,” Rogers spokeswoman Louise Leger said in an emailed statement.

As for whether paid internships will be created, the company was “evaluating” its program, she said.

At Chatelaine, interns received $400 monthly, or “transportation and lunch money,” said Diana Duong, who had been an editing intern at Chatelaine for about a month and was let go Tuesday with at least two others.

That works out to around $2.50 per hour for a 40-hour work week, far below the minimum wage. The Flare internships were unpaid.

Unless they are part of a school program where an intern receives a course credit in exchange for labour, most unpaid internships are not legal under the provincial Employment Standards Act.

Still, Duong, 22, said she wishes she had been able to stay at Chatelaine, and blames the Labour Ministry, not Rogers.

“This law is made with good intentions and in the end it’s going to be good for all of us, but for the interns in the middle of a contract, we were really happy,” she said. “I learned a lot. The meetings were inspiring. . . . I grew to forget about the money, but I’m lucky because I don’t have to pay for rent.”

Last week, the ministry cracked down on magazine publishing, an industry that has operated unpaid internships for years.

The Walrus, Toronto Life, Fashion Magazine and Quill & Quire were affected. The Walrus, run by a non-profit agency, and Toronto Life both said paying their interns was not possible given current budgets.

Five unpaid interns were also let go last week from The Grid, owned by Torstar.

Sabina Sohail, 23, was on her fourth internship when she was let go from Flare, along with an estimated 10 others, she said. She has an interview Thursday for yet another unpaid position, this time in retail.

“I get it. We should be paid. But at the same time, it’s like school . . . you’re getting that experience and it’s more real in a workplace setting,” Sohail said.

“I’ve been applying everywhere, but even for entry-level jobs you need five years of experience.”

Toronto labour lawyer Andrew Langille said the cancellation by Rogers “raises questions about why some of Canada’s leading companies are refusing to make minimal investments in young workers.”

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At Canadian Business, also owned by Rogers, interns receive around $2,000 per month, which works out to $12.50 per hour for a 40-hour week.

Rogers Media, which includes its magazines division, made $161 million in adjusted profits during the last fiscal year.