People dressed in orange outside Vernon City Hall for a National Day of Truth and Reconciliation flag raising event in 2022 (Liam Verster/Vernon Matters Staff)

By Liam Verster

Orange Shirt Day

B.C. to establish stat holiday for Truth and Reconciliation Day

Feb 7, 2023 | 1:03 PM

The B.C. government has introduced a bill to establish a provincial paid statutory holiday to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

If the bill passes, it will be held every Sept. 30.

Marking the day as one of commemoration, builds off the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Action Number 80, which called on the federal government to establish a holiday to honour residential school survivors, their families and communities.

“I can say that we all will recall the shock, the sadness, the anger that followed the findings at the Kamloops Residential School,” Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Murray Rankin told a news conference Tuesday, Feb. 7.

“That residential school and others in the residential school system attempted to assimilate B.C.’s Indigenous Peoples by stripping them of their culture, their language, their connection to their family and community and to the land. Many Indigenous children suffered physical, emotional, psychological and sexual abuse at these institutions and sadly many Indigenous children died at them.”

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Rankin added this is the “heavy truth” of B.C. and Canada’s history that must be confronted in order to address past harms while also commemorating and honouring the victims.

“As a government we have a platform to engage and educate British Columbians about our history. It is important that non-Indigenous know that history so we can better build relations with Indigenous People from a place of humility, empathy and respect,” Rankin said.

“As a province we must built a culture of commemoration and remembrance so that future generations know this history.”

If passed, B.C. would join Canada, Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Yukon as jurisdictions that have designated September 30, or Orange Shirt Day, as a statutory holiday.

“This day provides an annual opportunity for people to learn about our colonial history and how it has impacted Indigenous communities and to participate in commemorative events in a similar way to Remembrance Day,” Minister of Labour Harry Bains said.

Bains added consultations were held with employers and workers across the province over the past month to understand the impact of establishing the statutory holiday in September.

“We learned that [British Columbians] recognize the significant importance of September 30 and the value of providing their employees with this opportunity because reconciliation is about each and everyone of us: all British Columbians, all Canadians have a role to play.”

Phyllis Webstad of the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem (Canoe Creek – Dog Creek) First Nation and Orange Shirt Day Society, after telling her story of having her orange shirt confiscated on her first day in a residential school, said Sept. 30 is a “symbol for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to have conversations, honour survivors, and remember those that never made it home.”

If passed, every worker in B.C. covered under the Employment Standard Act would be entitled to a day off with pay to mark Sept. 30 as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation holiday.

“This is not a day, we hope, that will simply be a day off: it’s a day for commemoration and reflection and humility and learning,” Rankin stated.

“We think September 30 will be a day all Canadians, certainly all British Columbians, can use to try to figure out what a better future might look like, having understood better the past.”