Thank you for the question. I think it's a valid question.
I too have worked here in our community for the last 23 years. At one point, I was the executive director of our Indian friendship centre. We too, just like my colleague who is sitting at the table talking about her community in Alberta, would look to offer celebrations on June 21 and make them open to the whole community so that everybody could come and experience a bit of our first nations culture. That day is definitely a day of celebration.
Now, if you look at September 30, which is known across the land as Orange Shirt Day and is a movement that is newer or more recent, we are still seeing people who are becoming educated and aware. It's important to note that the young ones at school are bringing that message home.
I had one of my colleagues talk about when her child came home from school last year with a calendar, and on September 30, it said, “Orange Shirt Day”. She didn't realize that Orange Shirt Day was dedicated to remembering our residential school students, all of them, the ones who made it home and the ones who didn't. She thought, out of ignorance, that it had something to do with getting ready for the month of October, which is the very next day, and the celebration of Halloween.
Because of cross-cultural education and awareness that happens in our communities, and now that we see September 30 being talked about in the media and on social media, people like my colleague are now informed.
That day, on the Friday previous to the weekend, we had our different school boards acknowledging and putting messages out on media about September 30 and what it was about. We had our local post-secondary institutions acknowledging and putting forth action so that community members, both indigenous and non-indigenous, could come together to acknowledge, pay respect, and make a stand on the commitment to recognizing and remembering the legacy of residential schools.
I agree that it is a challenge. Do we put everything into June 21? Do we acknowledge September 30? Which day do we pick? That remains certainly a challenge that you at your table will have to think about, but I know that people are going to move ahead regardless. Those of us who are interested in making sure that we are moving forward in our relationships are going to be doing things regardless.
If we have the support of the federal government in acknowledging a national day, then we hope that it allows Canadians the opportunity to not worry about, “Do I go and attend this event and lose pay if I go on June 21 because it's a work day and I have to take a vacation day for it, or will I have that opportunity to be paid?”