A federal bill which proposes to create a national statutory holiday recognizing residential school survivors and their families is making its way through Parliament.
Bill C-5 is currently in Second Reading. It would make September 30 a holiday a response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action 80.
Former northern Sask. MP Georgina Jolibois first proposed the holiday for June 21, National Indigenous Peoples Day, but the new bill would place the holiday on Orange Shirt Day, a grassroots movement named after BC residential school survivor Phyllis Webstad, who was not allowed to wear an orange shirt her grandmother gave her for her first day of residential school.
This day is to also foster dialogue on the impacts of residential schools and its ongoing effects.
“We are saying here that we need to have a statutory holiday to recognize the true value of what has taken place in order for us to move forward and be part of reconciliation in a positive way, to reflect on the many speeches in which we talk about Canada’s great diversity, and to understand and appreciate the value of what Bill C-5 is offering all of us. Today is an opportunity to send a strong, powerful message to our indigenous peoples,” explained Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux in debate Friday.
The Conservative appear to support the legislation, as too do the New Democrats.
“I wish to honour the important work of sister Georgina Jolibois that initiated the development of the bill, and to commend the government’s effort to ensure that this legislation is realized. This is a critical piece of legislation: a small piece of justice as we begin to move forward learning about the true history of Canada. These are stories I also possess as somebody who has had to work through her own intergenerational impacts,” explained NDP MP Leah Gazan.