During the month of September, my daughter only had one five-day school week.
There was a stat almost every week of the month.
In the beginning of the month, (Labour Day) it is planned way in advance, and it is a nice slow, easy way to get back into the swing of things. But this year, without a lot of notice, the schools closed for the Queen of the United Kingdom’s funeral on Sept. 19.
I know a lot of people had to scramble to find childcare because it was so last minute. And on Sept. 30, the schools were closed for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It is a day that schools are closed but most businesses are still open meaning parents needed to find childcare, work from home once again or take time off.
When I was in school and a major world event happened, we went to school and learned about that event. Or we had an assembly and watched the event happen. We would then go back to our classrooms and discuss it. It was a learning moment.
This could have, and should have happened with the queen’s funeral. If my daughter went to school, she could have watched some of the funeral, learned more about the monarchy, and had thoughtful discussions with her peers about it.
Instead she went to her grandma’s house because I had to work. She didn’t watch the funeral or learn about it. We discussed it a little over dinner that night but nothing in-depth. She was upset that we now have ‘a boy queen.’ Maybe I should have taught her more about the monarchy but it is always so busy after dinner and bedtime with three little ones is exhausting enough.
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National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is also an important day in Canada. But should it be a statuary holiday? It should be recognized. There should be mourning. There should be learning. And we should be growing.
It is a day to acknowledge our history, understand our mistakes, learn how we can do better and mourn with our Indigenous friends. Not a day to sleep in. The queen’s funeral and National Day for Truth and Reconciliation are learning opportunities, not excuses to skip out on work or school.
Don’t get me wrong, we need holidays. We all work too much and our kids are overstimulated with school and all the after-school activities we sign them up for. They need days off, we all need days off. But these are not reasons to take days off.
Most people only get two weeks off from work for holidays, and a lot of people don’t even take those weeks off. We need to relax, slow down and enjoy life more. We should have more statutory holidays like Family Day. But they should be planned way in advance and they should be actual holidays for all people.
The stat holiday in May, for example, marks the birthday of Queen Victoria, who was the ruling monarch at the time of Canada’s birth as a country in 1867. It is now usually just called the May long weekend and the unofficial start of summer. Not many people know about Queen Victoria or why we have that Monday off.
I hope that Sept. 30 doesn’t become just another stat holiday in Canada or just another long weekend.
I really hope it can be and continue to be a day of discovering the truth about a dark time in our country’s history and a day of trying to reconcile those mistakes.
@MariscaDekkema
marisca.bakker@interior-news.com
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