HOLIDAY MUST BE A STARTING POINT ONLY
The holidays Canadians observe include days of religious import such as Christmas and Good Friday to Victoria Day, whose meaning other than a day off work to hit the malls or parks has been lost to the ages.
Then there are those days which evoke genuine emotion and reflection among many Canadians such as Remembrance Day or Canada Day.
In moving to declare a new statutory holiday dedicated to truth and reconciliation, it’s the laudable intention of the Liberal government that the day falls into the last category. While a date hasn’t been set for the holiday, the day is meant to mark the tragic legacy of the residential school system.
Just how the holiday will be framed and on what date it should be marked will be determined in consultation with First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities, as it must.
Creating the federal holiday would fulfil one of 94 recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation commission, to set aside a national day to honour the survivors and victims of residential schools.
That alone is reason enough to move ahead with the idea of a solemn annual reminder that for more than a century, governments tore tens of thousands of Indigenous children from their families and sent them to church-run schools that robbed them of their culture, abused and starved them. By commemorating and raising awareness of what happened, we may learn from our past and never allow anything resembling it to happen again.
But, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggests, the day should also be used to reflect on how Canada and its Indigenous peoples can move toward reconciliation.
If Parliament approved such a federal holiday, it would only apply to federally regulated workers. It’s up to provinces and territories to adopt holidays or not. But since dozens of the 140 residential schools were located in Alberta, more than in any other province, it would be difficult to justify not recognizing the day here.
Honouring the survivors and reflecting on reconciliation with a day is a worthy symbolic gesture. It will encourage Canadians to confront and learn about a dark chapter of our history.
A national holiday, however, won’t absolve Canada from tackling problems that still afflict Indigenous communities today such as ongoing inequalities in education, justice, health care and the child welfare system.