Time to make Orange Shirt Day official in MB By: Editorial Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Thursday, Mar. 30, 2023

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/03/2023 (891 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There comes a time in the consideration of every issue when saying the right thing is no longer adequate and doing the right thing is the required next step.

Manitoba’s provincial government has reached that point in its discussion of whether to officially proclaim Sept. 30 — recognized by the federal government as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and observed more colloquially as Orange Shirt Day — as a statutory holiday in this province.

The date was first proclaimed by the federal government in 2021, in the aftermath of the discovery of presumed unmarked graves on the sites of former residential schools, as a way of honouring residential school survivors and ensuring public recognition of the history and legacy of residential schools. The designation responds to call to action No. 80 in the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

For the past two years, Manitoba’s current government has expressed support and has issued statements recognizing Sept. 30 as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, but has yet to enact legislation formalizing the date as a statutory holiday.

As a result, Sept. 30 is a statutory holiday for federal-government employees and federally regulated workplaces. For the past two years, Manitoba’s current government has expressed support and has issued statements recognizing Sept. 30 as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, but has yet to enact legislation formalizing the date as a statutory holiday.

When asked last August why formal recognition had yet to be advanced, then-minister of labour Reg Helwer said more consultation was required and that “it would be very disrespectful of everybody to introduce something at this point.”

At the time, the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce cited a survey that showed 70 per cent of its members favoured the move.

NDP MLA Ian Bushie last year introduced a private member’s bill calling for the recognition of Orange Shirt Day as a statutory holiday. The Progressive Conservative government voiced general support, but the bill didn’t survive second reading and was voted down by the Tories last September.

Mr. Bushie has introduced a new version of his bill, the Orange Shirt Day Statutory Holiday Act (Bill 23), calling for Sept. 30 to be listed as a general holiday in Manitoba’s Employment Standards Code. This iteration has advanced one step beyond where its predecessor faltered, having passed second reading on March 16.

Again, the Tories have voiced support. “This government has demonstrated it significantly supports the principle of recognition when it comes to Orange Shirt Day,” said government house leader Kelvin Goertzen. But again, the PCs seem reluctant to allow themselves to be pinned down when it comes to formal, enshrined-in-law endorsement.

The time for talk, quite frankly, is over. With plenty of time having passed for due diligence and consultation with labour experts, the business community and Indigenous leadership, what’s needed is for this important symbolic gesture to be brought into force.

The time for talk, quite frankly, is over. With plenty of time having passed for due diligence and consultation with labour experts, the business community and Indigenous leadership, what’s needed is for this important symbolic gesture to be brought into force.

The province with the largest per-capita Indigenous population and the largest urban Indigenous population in Canada should be an out-front leader when it comes to responding to the TRCC report’s calls to action — including No. 80, which demands “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.”

If the impediment in the current Manitoba process is a reluctance on the Tories’ part to support a bill that might give the NDP credit for advancing the concept, the ruling party should move with all due haste to create a bill of its own to get the job done.

Current polling suggests it’s only a few months until this Tory government is history. Formal recognition of Sept. 30 is one way the PCs could put themselves on the right side of it.