This year, the Ontario government has announced that the National Day of Reconciliation and truth will not be considered a provincial holiday.
In June of this year, the house of commons supported naming September 30th the National Day of Reconciliation and Truth, but unfortunately, the Ontario government has decided to not participate in it this year.
On the government website, they stated “The Government of Canada is committed to reconciliation and ensuring that the tragic history and ongoing legacy of residential schools is never forgotten.”
The reason the House of Commons declared this day a national holiday is because it will be used to recognize the harm that was caused by the residential school system.
This year, the residential school systems and the government had uncovered over 1,300 bodies and counting of unmarked graves in places like British Columbia and other Canadian provinces.
St Francis
The holiday was created to give Canadians a day to recognize the harm, and a day to reflect in silence about what the residential schools did to the lives of indigenous in Canada. The paid day off is considered to be for federal workers, but provinces like Ontario and New Brunswick have opted to not make it a holiday this year.
The Ontario Government has opted out of this holiday creating a lot of backlash for the province, a representative states, “Ontario is working in collaboration with Indigenous partners, survivors and affected families to ensure the respectful commemoration of this day within the province, similar to Remembrance Day.”
This statement alone does nothing to help out or put Ontario in a correct space for representation among indigenous. Ontario wants citizens to reflect on the events that lead to this day but does not want to make it a stat holiday.
Article published by HOLR Magazine