When will casual employment be engaged in?

In Canada Employment and Immigration Commission v. Roy, [1986] 1 F.C. 193, our court dealt with three claimants who had stopped working due to a labour dispute at a steel plant. The first, a stockroom clerk, was hired by his brother for a period of a little more than a week to do work on a shelter used by the latter in the summer to sell ice cream to passers-by. The work involved "doing painting, repairing the roof and making shelves". Both knew the work would be of a short duration but they did not know at the outset how long it would last. The second, an engine driver, was hired for 17 days as a truckman by a small soft drink distribution company. He worked for a total of 65 hours, spread evenly over three weeks. The third, a locksmith, found work as a labourer in a packing plant where he worked regularly from July 28, 1982 to October 6, 1982, until the end of the annual harvest and the shutdown of the company's packing operations. A majority of our court concluded that all three held "regular" employment since what was important was not the duration of the employment, but its continuity, and the regularity of the work schedule imposed on the employee. Pratte J.A. stated at p. 197: Someone who has casual employment is therefore not engaged in it on a regular basis. When will casual employment be engaged in? — In my opinion, when a person is hired for so short a time that it is actually impossible to determine the regularity of the work schedule. (My emphasis.)