This year, for the first time, Thursday Sept. 30th will be observed as a statutory holiday to commemorate the horrific legacy of residential schools in Canada. Here’s what you need to know and the meaning behind it.
The new stat holiday is called the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It is meant to be a day for Canadians to spread awareness of and reflect on the tragedies experienced by Indigenous people as a result of the country’s former residential school system. The federal government, in collaboration with Aboriginal peoples, established a statutory holiday, a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to honour Survivors, their families, and communities. Since 2013, Sept. 30 has been observed as Orange Shirt Day across Canada. The colour orange is significant because it was the colour of Webstad’s shirt on her first day of residential school in 1973, a shirt that was taken away from her once she arrived.
Who gets the day off? Sept. 30th is a statutory holiday and will operate the same way as other statutory holidays in the country: a paid day off. Federal offices, as well as banks, will be closed on this day……Ed
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