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The Ontario Ministry of Labour has begun cracking down on unpaid internships at magazines, prompting both the publisher of Toronto Life and The Walrus to shut down their programs.

St. Joseph’s Media, the publisher of Toronto Life and Fashion Magazine, says it is shutting down its long-running unpaid internship program this Friday after an inspector from the Ontario Ministry of Labour said they were in violation of the province’s Employment Standards Act.

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The inspector, who checked the Toronto Life newsroom twice in the last seven weeks, said the company did not satisfy the criteria required to take on unpaid interns, said Doug Knight, president of St. Joseph’s Media.

As well, the ministry inspector told St. Joseph’s Media the Ontario government would be targeting all the magazines in Ontario starting April 1, he added.

Mr. Knight decided to shut down their internship program across all their publications on March 31, eliminating between five to seven positions at Toronto Life and 20 to 30 company-wide, he said.