On September 21st, NDP MPP Michael Mantha tabled the bill – Indigenous Day Act: A Path to Truth and Reconciliation at Queen’s Park. The act would designate a special day of recognition for Ontario in the spirit of Recommendation 80 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report that, “in collaboration with Aboriginal peoples, establish, as a statutory holiday, a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.”
“It is with great pride, with my tobacco in hand and my friends from the Indigenous Circle, along with OPSEU and Smokey here that have joined us, that June 21 in each year be proclaimed as Indigenous Day.
Indigenous Day will be a public holiday under the Employment Standards Act, 2000. It will be a holiday under the Retail Business Holidays Act. It will be a school holiday under the Education Act. It will be a holiday under the acts and regulations that rely on a definition of holiday in the Legislation Act, 2006. It will be a holiday under regulations that have a provision setting out what a holiday is.”
– Michael Mantha, LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO
A Pow Wow was held on the grounds of Queen’s Park as the legislation was tabled.
Press release from OPSEU, who supported the bill and helped organize the Pow Wow at Queen’s Park
Aanii Indigenous Day Act path2 #TruthReconciliation #QueensPark #PowWow wt @OntarioNDP colleagues @OPSEU IndigenousCircle @ChiefsofOntario pic.twitter.com/YwHvKSu6JT
— Michael Mantha (@M_Mantha) September 23, 2017