A new federal statutory holiday is coming

Canada is mulling over giving us a new statutory holiday for the remembrance of the residential school system and the damage it did to indigenous people.

One date being considered is June 21.

We have no stat holiday between New Year’s and Easter, a long stretch of time especially when Easter comes late (April 21 next year). We have no stat holiday in November – between Thanksgiving and Christmas – so there’s no break as the year gets darker and colder, and no break through the grim stretch of January to March.

In Quebec, we already have June 24 off, followed in short order by July 1. So if this plan goes through, we’d have a two-week block with three stat holidays.

The other date being mentioned is September 30, which would insert an additional long weekend between Labour Day and Thanksgiving. I’d vote for this one over June 21, but even more, I’d vote for a long weekend on the second or third weekend of February, when we’re all crazed with cabin fever and wondering if it will ever end.