There has been talk this week that the federal government is looking at creating a new federal statutory holiday in order to mark the legacy of the residential school system, and in doing so, fulfilling one of the recommendations by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. While they say that they continue to consult with Indigenous communities about how to go about this, I am filled with a certain amount of scepticism that a statutory holiday is really the best way to go about fostering a sense of remembrance, or of addressing the legacy of our treatment of Indigenous peoples in this country. Not that we shouldn't mark it we absolutely should, but in a more thoughtful capacity.
There have been two dates floated regarding this one of them is June 21st, which is National Indigenous People's Day, which falls on the summer solstice by design; the other date is September 30th, which is known in some circles as "Orange Shirt Day," named for the bright orange shirt given to First Nations girl Phyllis Webstad by her grandmother in 1973, which was confiscated when she arrived at the residential school she attended. Of the two dates, June 21st is clearly more problematic many people feel that National Indigenous People's Day should be one of celebration rather than marking a tragedy, and it's also very close to both St. Jean Baptiste, which a holiday in Quebec, as well as Canada Day.
NDP MP Georgina Jolibois currently has a private members' bill on the Order Paper that would make June 21st a statutory holiday, which is separate and apart from the desire for a holiday to mark the legacy of residential schools. While government officials are reportedly balking at using that date, there has been some mixed messaging as to whether or not the government plans to support her bill, but one imagines that the government line will simply be that they're consulting. As they always are. Implementing any date as a statutory holiday is also a constitutional challenge because it would need to be enacted both federally and provincially, and it's why some national days are not considered statutory holidays in some provinces.
Regardless of which date ends up being chosen, my own reservations about creating it as a statutory holiday are because of the experience with Remembrance Day in my lifetime. While it's a national holiday that is enacted provincially, some provinces don't treat it as a statutory holiday, most notably Ontario and Quebec. Growing up in Alberta, it was a statutory holiday, which meant it was a day off of school. This was the 1980s, however, and the attention of the nation on the history and significance of the date were starting to fade in the public consciousness, the further away the Second World War and the Korean War got in people's minds. Even after the first Gulf War, it wasn't really until the war in Afghanistan that the public mood turned, and we started really marking Remembrance Day again in a significant way.
The Royal Canadian Legion has long resisted making Remembrance Day a national statutory holiday for the very reason that it becomes an excuse for a day off. While it's less likely in November that it will be an excuse for people to head out of town to the cottage (or equivalent terminology in provinces outside of Ontario), it's still not something where there is impetus for the younger generation to mark the occasion with much reverence, particularly if it precedes a day off of school. While we did have school assemblies to mark the date (that wasn't on the actual day of), it wasn't always held with much gravity a few trite phrases about "fighting for our freedom" without really explaining what it means, and in one year that still makes me angry to this day, some thirty years later, the school assembly was marked by a rendition of Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" from Top Gun as part of Remembrance Day festivities. I was upset about it then, and when I think about it now, it still upsets me.
I have this deep suspicion that simply creating a statutory holiday will quickly render the date meaningless, particularly if it's either June 21st, where the temptation will be to take the time off between then and Canada Day, or even September 30th, when people will treat it as an excuse to get back to the cottage one last time before they have to close it up for the winter. After all, how many people mark Victoria Day as the official birthday of the Queen of Canada, let alone the birthday of our founding Queen, and in whose name many of the treaties that we have with the First Nations people were signed and a relationship forged? Vanishingly few it's become "May 24 weekend," which is about opening up the cottage with a case of beer in tow. In fact, when you tell people that it's the official birthday of the current Queen, people start talking about her actual birthday in April, or that the official birthday of the Queen of the United Kingdom is celebrated in June (never mind that we are celebrating the Queen of Canada and not the Queen of the UK). Now apply that same lesson to another statutory holiday that is supposed to mark either the celebration of Indigenous peoples, or the legacy of the cultural genocide perpetrated against them. I can't see how this will promote understanding in any meaningful sense.
While I think that both National Indigenous People's Day and whichever date is chosen to commemorate the legacy of residential schools (though "Orange Shirt Day" does seem very appropriate) are important, I think we as Canadians would be better served as having these be days that observed while kids are in school, so that there can be structured activities to mark the occasions, and to facilitate discussions around them and why they're important. With not enough people currently understanding or appreciating the gravity of the living legacy of residential schools, simply giving them a day off without that structure won't impart the lessons and the reconciliation that we want to see with the next generation, where it matters the most. If anything, a day off will simply cheapen what it is intended to mark.
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