Thanks to those working Family Day
DEAR EDITOR:
With Family Day fast approaching, I’m learning more about what is a provincial statutory holiday and what is a federal government statutory holiday. And I’m confused.
In June 2021, the Government of Canada passed Bill C-5 to make Sept. 30 a federal statutory holiday we now call the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. I believe that this is a small, and important, token to acknowledge the lasting impact of colonialism on the First Peoples of this country we call Canada and the relationship between indigenous peoples and non-indigenous people of Canada. As a federal holiday, it means it only applies to federal employees and federally-regulated businesses such as banks.
However, on Feb. 7, 2023, the B.C. government introduced legislation to make it a B.C. statutory holiday. I’m still confused as to what are federal or provincial “public” holidays. However, days like Christmas and New Year’s Day are pretty much guaranteed to be both, unless you work for a business that stays open on these days.
Then I spoke with someone who works for the federal government and federal workers don’t have Family Day off as a holiday because it’s a provincially-regulated holiday. This includes Canada Post, so the mail will be delivered on Monday. Even Canada Revenue Agency workers, I was told, will be at work on Family Day, Feb. 20. With Monday being the first day people can electronically file tax returns, calling CRA for help on Monday “should” work. Then there’s the fact that several provinces call the day by a different name. For Manitoba, it’s Louis Riel Day, Prince Edward Island has Islander Day, while several provinces call it Heritage Day.
So if you have Family Day off as a paid holiday, please remember the workers who don’t have such a luxury (which it is). Remember too, the thousands who’ve come before us, including our grandparents and their grandparents, who worked six to seven days a week, 12-plus hour days, for centuries, and the thought of a day off, or even what we call a weekend, would have been as alien as my celebrating Family Day on Mars.
In the meantime, I’ll settle for the Family Day celebrations at Gyro Park and say thanks to the bus drivers on Monday. According to my OXFAM calendar, Monday is also World Day of Social Justice, which gives us more reasons to celebrate the day. We need social justice 365 days a year.
Brigid Kemp Penticton