I would go along with it IF Remembrance Day is made a mandatory Stat. Holiday before it.
Remember our Warriers. The F.N. people that I know (who admittedly are all Mohawk) would agree with that. I can't put words in the their mouths but I do know that the Warrier is a central part of their culture and they proudly serve in disproportionately large numbers on both sides of the border.
Honour our Warriors, first.
The Liberals never will, of course.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but some veterans stood against the last attempt to make Remembrance Day a statutory holiday out of a concern that people would trivialize that day.
I just watched a CBC video on Youtube in which the AFN leader likewise is not necessarily pushing for it to be a statutory day off. This raises the question of what kind of holiday it might look like if not a statutory holiday.
I actually just sent the following e-mail to my MP which would let those who do want to take Remembrance Day as a statutory holiday the do so. I'll quote a part of it here:
I would like to propose an alternative to a National Day of Reconciliation: a total of nine statutory personal holidays per year that a worker could choose, in consultation with his employer, from among the Holy Days of the religion that he professes and any of the following state holidays:
1. World Religion Day (on the 3rd Sunday in January, in recognition of Canada’s indigenous religions),
2. New Year’s Day (on 1 January),
3. Louis Riel Day (on the 3rd Monday of February),
4. International Mother Language Day (on 21 February, in recognition of Canada’s indigenous languages),
5. Good Friday (2 days before Easter Sunday),
6. Easter Monday
7. Victoria Day [on the Monday preceding May 24th, in celebration of Queen Victoria (whom the Ojibwa referred to as the Great White Mother) and the relationship between the Canadian Crown and the indigenous peoples of Canada],
8. National Indigenous Peoples Day (on the summer solstice),
9. Canada Day (on 1 July),
10. The Civic Holiday (on the first Monday in August)
11. Labour Day (on the 1st Monday of September),
12. Thanksgiving Day (on the 2nd Monday of October),
13. United Nations Day [on 24 October, which the United Nations (which adopted the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007) recommended in 1971 that member states observe as a public holiday],
14. Remembrance Day (on 11 November),
15. Zamenhof Day (on 15 December, to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Zamenhof who was born in 1859 and who demonstrated a remarkable sense of universal justice and brotherhood for his time),
16. Christmas Day (on 25 December), and
17. Boxing day (on 26 December).
Even if a person does not profess any religion, he could still choose nine out of the above seventeen state holidays from in consultation with his employer.
