Summary:
On June 3, 2021, a bill to establish Sept. 30 as a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation statutory holiday received royal assent.
The Call to Action:
We call upon the federal government, in collaboration with Aboriginal Peoples, to establish, as a statutory holiday, a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to honour Survivors, their families and communities, and ensure that public commemoration of the history and legacy of residential schools remains a vital component of the reconciliation process.
Analysis:
On June 3, 2021, a bill to establish Sept. 30 as a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation statutory holiday received royal assent.
Bill C5 was fast-tracked through the Senate in the first week of June after passing third reading in the House of Commons at the end of May. The bill was first tabled in September 2020.
As a federal statutory holiday, it applied to employees in federally regulated workplaces and those who have collective bargaining agreements that observe federal holidays.
Several provinces and territories also made the day a statutory holiday, including Yukon, N.W.T., Manitoba, P.E.I., Nova Scotia and N.L., as well as many municipalities.
A previous private member’s bill to declare the holiday had been brought forward by Georgina Jolibois, the NDP MP for Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River in Saskatchewan and passed third reading in the House of Commons in March 2019 but had only passed first reading in the Senate before the 42nd Parliament ended.
In August 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his government would declare a federal statutory holiday to fulfil this call to action and that the process was underway. Dates being considered were June 21 (National Indigenous Peoples Day) and Sept. 30, observed as Orange Shirt Day.
National Indigenous Peoples Day is already a statutory holiday in N.W.T. and Yukon.