With only 29 days before Canada’s inaugural National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, New Brunswick has decided not to make it a provincial holiday.
That means employers are not obligated to give the day off.
All provincial services, including schools, will be business as usual on Sept. 30, while all private companies will have to decide whether to close and give employees the day off.
In making the announcement Tuesday, Premier Blaine Higgs urged New Brunswickers to take time to reflect.
“Our government encourages everyone to use this day as an opportunity to consider what each of us can do as individuals to advance reconciliation and help to create a better, more inclusive province” he said in the statement emailed to CBC. “While September 30th will be observed in New Brunswick, it will not be a statutory holiday.”
In June, the federal government passed legislation to make Sept. 30 a federal statutory holiday, which was one of the 94 calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
In June, Federal Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault told the Senate the objective of the new holiday is to create an opportunity for Canadians to learn about and reflect on a dark chapter in their country’s history and to commemorate the survivors, their families and their communities — as called for by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Indigenous leaders. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
The decision means all federally regulated employees will be entitled to a paid day off.
Everyone else is governed by provincial employment laws, so by failing to make it a provincial holiday, New Brunswick has left the decision to individual employers, according to Fredericton employment lawyer Jessica Bungay.
“There is no legal requirement for it to be a holiday for employers that are provincially regulated, and that would be most employers in New Brunswick or in Atlantic Canada,” she said.
“I know that some businesses are making the choice to close their businesses on Sept. 30, despite the fact that they are provincially regulated and it is not a required holiday for them.”
The president of the largest union within New Brunswick’s civil service said they had been waiting for official word from the province.
“We have brought it up to government, but we have not been given official word on whether or not they will honour the day,” Susie Proulx-Daigle said in a statement emailed Tuesday before the premier’s announcement.
“Given that it is recognized as a national holiday and the significance behind the day, we expect it to be honoured at a provincial level.”
Business owners have been waiting
Private businesses were also waiting for direction from the province, said John Wishart, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton.
“The federal government has recognized it and declared it a federal statutory holiday, but that does not imply that you need to observe it in New Brunswick.”
He said businesses are now left with the decision of how to observe the day — “whether you observe it with a workplace moment of silence or recognition ceremony or that sort of thing, or whether you decide to close your doors.”
Individual municipalities to make the call
St. George had already decided to observe the holiday officially, explained chief administrative officer Jason Gaudet. All town offices will be closed and employees will be paid for the day off.
Fredericton and Moncton, meanwhile, aren’t publicly saying what they plan to do, while Saint John officials did not acknowledge the request for information emailed on Monday.
Shasta Stairs, the communications co-ordinator for Fredericton, said, “We’re currently reviewing future policies around the new federal holiday on Sept. 30 with the intent to bring forward a recommendation to council in the coming weeks.”
Moncton will be informing its employees “shortly,” according to Isabelle LeBlanc, the director of communications for the City of Moncton.
“It would not be appropriate to discuss this topic without having informed them first,” LeBlanc wrote in an email.
A day to reflect
Whether you get the day off or not, the executive director of the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs Secretariat said he’d like people to take time to commemorate the day as it was intended — an opportunity to reflect on truth and reconciliation and the legacy of residential schools.
“It’s a day to reflect, basically, and even if you don’t have the day off, you just reflect about why the holiday was created,” said John G. Paul.
John G. Paul, the executive director of the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs Secretariat, would eventually like to see Sept. 30 become a paid holiday for all employees, not just federally regulated ones. (Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs Secretariat)
He said he hopes the day evolves into an opportunity to remember, similar to Remembrance Day for veterans. And eventually, he said he’d like the day to be a paid holiday for all workers, not just federally regulated ones.
“I’m hoping this day becomes a sombre memory of what occurred to Indigenous people across Canada,” said Paul.
Schools open for Orange Shirt Day
Schools will remain open, providing “the education system an additional opportunity for students and teachers to have open discussions about First Nations history and realities,” said Education Department spokesperson Danielle Elliott.
Sept. 30 has become Orange Shirt day in recent years, and “we’ve been pleased with the high rates of participation across the school system, including outstanding projects and discussions about Orange Shirt Day,” Elliott said.
“We strongly encourage students and educators across the province to participate in Orange Shirt Day and promote an understanding of the immense impact these schools continue to have on First Nation peoples and work to promote inclusion and diversity across the education system.”
TORONTO – Roots Corp. may have built its brand on all things comfy and cosy, but its CEO says activewear is now “really becoming a core part” of the brand.
The category, which at Roots spans leggings, tracksuits, sports bras and bike shorts, has seen such sustained double-digit growth that Meghan Roach plans to make it a key part of the business’ future.
“It’s an area … you will see us continue to expand upon,” she told analysts on a Friday call.
The Toronto-based retailer’s push into activewear has taken shape over many years and included several turns as the official designer and supplier of Team Canada’s Olympic uniform.
But consumers have had plenty of choice when it comes to workout gear and other apparel suited to their sporting needs. On top of the slew of athletic brands like Nike and Adidas, shoppers have also gravitated toward Lululemon Athletica Inc., Alo and Vuori, ramping up competition in the activewear category.
Roach feels Roots’ toehold in the category stems from the fit, feel and following its merchandise has cultivated.
“Our product really resonates with (shoppers) because you can wear it through multiple different use cases and occasions,” she said.
“We’ve been seeing customers come back again and again for some of these core products in our activewear collection.”
Her remarks came the same day as Roots revealed it lost $5.2 million in its latest quarter compared with a loss of $5.3 million in the same quarter last year.
The company said the second-quarter loss amounted to 13 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Aug. 3, the same as a year earlier.
In presenting the results, Roach reminded analysts that the first half of the year is usually “seasonally small,” representing just 30 per cent of the company’s annual sales.
Sales for the second quarter totalled $47.7 million, down from $49.4 million in the same quarter last year.
The move lower came as direct-to-consumer sales amounted to $36.4 million, down from $37.1 million a year earlier, as comparable sales edged down 0.2 per cent.
The numbers reflect the fact that Roots continued to grapple with inventory challenges in the company’s Cooper fleece line that first cropped up in its previous quarter.
Roots recently began to use artificial intelligence to assist with daily inventory replenishments and said more tools helping with allocation will go live in the next quarter.
Beyond that time period, the company intends to keep exploring AI and renovate more of its stores.
It will also re-evaluate its design ranks.
Roots announced Friday that chief product officer Karuna Scheinfeld has stepped down.
Rather than fill the role, the company plans to hire senior level design talent with international experience in the outdoor and activewear sectors who will take on tasks previously done by the chief product officer.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, are set to resume today as a strike that has stopped most services drags into a second week.
No timeline has been set for the length of the negotiations, but Joe McCann, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they are willing to stay there as long as it takes, even if talks drag on all night.
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people unable to navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last Tuesday, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
Hundreds of drivers rallied outside TransLink’s head office earlier this week, calling for the transportation provider to intervene in the dispute with Transdev, which was contracted to oversee HandyDART service.
Transdev said earlier this week that it will provide a reply to the union’s latest proposal on Thursday.
A statement from the company said it “strongly believes” that their employees deserve fair wages, and that a fair contract “must balance the needs of their employees, clients and taxpayers.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.
The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.
The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
