A new private members bill was introduced this month in the House of Commons with the hopes of recognizing Remembrance Day as a legal holiday under the federal Holidays act.
Nova Scotia MP Colin Fraser introduced Bill C-311 a few weeks ago, “What it speaks to do is, elevate Remembrance Day to place it on an equal footing with Canada Day and hopefully encourage the provinces who don’t already do so to put their own legislation in place to make it a statutory holiday.”
Fraser says it’s important that we teach the next generation about this important day, “We must teach them the history and the sacrifice that has been made and do our best to ensure that everyone has the chance to attend Remembrance day ceremonies.. It is losing significance in places that don’t allow people to have time off to attend the ceremonies. I think it works very well in the places that do have Remembrance day as a stat holiday, and I believe in places like Ontario and Quebec there would be an increase in attendance.”
Remembrance Day is currently a federal statutory in most provinces, with the exception of Ontario, Quebec. Manitoba and Nova Scotia.
