NDP MP Georgina Jolibois' bill to create new holiday passes final reading. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

Federal Holiday

Bill to make Orange Shirt Day a federal holiday passes third reading

Mar 21, 2019 | 12:18 PM

A new statutory holiday could be announced soon as Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River NDP MP Georgina Jolibois’s private member bill passed a third and final reading.

That means the bill is now headed to the Senate for the last time, and if it’s approved, it will be given to the Governor General for Royal Ascent to become law. The bill will ultimately make Sept. 30, which is currently known as Orange Shirt Day, a federal holiday to be known as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Prior to an amendment made to the bill last month, the holiday would have landed on June 21 in honour of National Indigenous Peoples Day.

“Thank you so much to everyone who helped make this happen,” Jolibois posted on Facebook after the vote. “I had a moment with Phyllis Webstad following the vote and we’re still trying to find the words to describe what this means to us, to survivors, and to all those affected by residential schools in Canada.”

Orange Shirt Day was inspired by Webstad who, on her first day of residential school, had a new orange shirt from her grandmother taken away from her. She was only six years old at the time and the day is observed in remembrance of the experience students faced at residential school.

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Jolibois is hopeful the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation will be announced as a federal holiday before Canada Day. In the federal budget delivered earlier this week by the Liberals, it included $10 million for the implementation of the new holiday. Jolibois told larongeNOW last year’s budget included $10 million as well.

“That is a bonus and that is exciting to have that support,” she said.

Jolibois reacts to federal budget

As for the 2019-2020 federal budget overall, Jolibois stated there were some positives, but also some missed opportunities and disappointments. Some of the highlights in this year’s budget included assistance for first-time home buyers, a lowered floating interest rate with Canada Student Loans, incentives to purchase zero-emission vehicles or retrofits to make houses more energy efficient, the creation of a Canadian Drug Agency for bulk-buying of drugs and a promise of access to high-speed Internet for all Canadians by 2030.

An additional $4.7 billion for Indigenous services was also promised over five years, which includes $1.4 billion for Indigenous children, $1.4 billion to cover land claims and $1 billion to improve water, emergency response and long-term care services on First Nations reserves. An additional $333 million was allotted for promoting and revitalizing Indigenous languages.

“The missed opportunity is when the witnesses through the heritage committee I was involved in were suggesting $1 billion to retain and to strengthen and to make sure the language is well protected,” Jolibois said. “The witnesses made some great suggestions and one of them suggested the language commissioner should be Indigenous and the Liberal government did not support that.”

Jolibois was also concerned with no new spending to build homes for people living in northern Saskatchewan and other northern regions in Canada. She was also uneasy about Canada’s growing deficits as the Liberals project a $15 billion deficit this year and a $19.8 billion deficit in 2020.

One of the positives to come out of the budget, Jolibois added, was the promise of high-speed access for all Canadians by 2030. She said the Saskatchewan government is also onboard with the initiative and wants to make upgrades to SaskTel’s existing network.

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno