Support for Orange Shirt Day stat holiday high in Manitoba: poll

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This article was published 26/06/2023 (881 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Three-quarters of Manitobans who were polled say they agree Orange Shirt Day should be made a statutory holiday, while 12 per cent strongly oppose the measure.

A Free Press-Probe Research poll of 1,000 Manitoba adults found 49 per cent strongly support the idea of making the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, every Sept. 30, also known as Orange Shirt Day, a statutory holiday in this province. Twenty-six per cent say they somewhat support it.

“It is not surprising to me as grand chief that the vast majority of Manitobans want to work towards meaningful reconciliation in this province,” said Grand Chief Garrison Settee of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak.

“I hope that provincial members of the legislative assembly take heed of this powerful message.”

Grand Chief Jerry Daniels, of the Southern Chiefs’ Organization, also wants to see the day become a statutory holiday.

“It’s the right thing to do,” Daniels said. “To acknowledge the truth of the history of Canada, it has to be a recognition of how the country was built. We are still on the margins of society.”

Daniels said he hopes recognizing the day doesn’t get hung up on politics.

“You can’t make this about populist voting,” he said. “The parties have to do the right thing and acknowledge what happened to our children.”

However, 25 per cent of Manitobans polled said they are against the idea, including 12 per cent who strongly oppose it.

Earlier this year, Premier Heather Stefanson said Sept. 30 would not be a statutory holiday, for a second year in a row, because there must be more consultation with Indigenous leaders. Instead, the province will close non-essential government services and offices, and K-12 schools will not open.

The Tory government did vote in favour of listing Sept. 30 as a general holiday, alongside New Year’s Day and Louis Riel Day, but it didn’t pass enabling legislation before the legislature rose for the summer, ahead of the October election.

Probe’s Curtis Brown said the poll carries a strong message since half of the Manitobans surveyed were strongly in favour of it.

Brown noted that even while Tory supporters represent one of the largest blocs against the idea, even that’s not universal.

“More than half of the Tories (52 per cent) agree with it, so that’s still quite a few people,” he said.

“There’s pretty broad agreement here this should be a statutory holiday.”

Loren Remillard, president and CEO of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, said a survey of its membership found seven out of 10 favour making the day a statutory holiday.

“For the poll, when you see three-quarters of Manitobans, 75 per cent of Manitobans, are moving in this direction, it is rare to find any issue where you can say three out of four people agree,” Remillard said.

Remillard cautioned that doesn’t mean they support having a third statutory holiday within a five-week period in the fall (Labour Day, Sept. 30 and Thanksgiving).

“We’re trying to find that balance, to do the right thing Manitoba says, but also not to be a hardship on business,” he said. “If not additive, maybe replace another holiday.

“If the intent of recognizing that day is to observe reconciliation, maybe we should replace Victoria Day with it. She represents colonization, yet we celebrate it every year.

“That would be powerful in its message. These are the kinds of conversations we can have.”

Daniels said he hadn’t thought about replacing Victoria Day with Truth and Reconciliation Day.

“I think, why not?” he said. “I don’t think we have to ponder colonization history. Canadians need to acknowledge we are in a new time.

“I wouldn’t push it, but I wouldn’t be opposed to it.”

Chuck Davidson, president and CEO of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, also thinks three statutory holidays in close succession would be hard on businesses, but his group is not opposed to it.

“We said treat it like Remembrance Day,” he said, a day which, for retail, enables businesses to open at noon.

“Staff could come in, but it could be a training day. Maybe a professional development day rather than give a day off. Are we actually moving the dial on reconciliation? Why not have a day where you learn about it? That would be more meaningful.”

Ian Bushie, deputy house leader for the NDP, who is the former chief of the Hollow Water First Nation, and the MLA who introduced legislation to mark Orange Shirt Day as a statutory holiday, said he still wants to see the day marked as a holiday.

“Making Truth and Reconciliation Day a stat for all families should be a no-brainer,” Bushie said. “It’s supported by the business community, by front-line workers and by families. The only person who wants to block it is Premier Heather Stefanson. She even voted against it.”

A government spokesperson could not be reached for comment.

The poll of 1,000 Manitoba adults was conducted from May 31 to June 13, and is considered accurate within plus or minus 3.1 per cent 95 per cent of the time.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca