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61,000 Canadians members of the Royal Canadian Legion.
Almost 61,000 Canadians died during the First World “November 11 is and should be the most solemn day
War. on our calendar,” writes Canadian veteran J.L.
Granatstein in the Legion’s most recent magazine
It’s a sacrifice we honour nationwide every 11th day
issue. And no place is more likely to get you in the
of the 11th month as the clock strikes the 11th hour,
solemn spirit than work or school.
a time that marked the formal end of hostilities in
1918. Canada’s commitment to wars since are now Jokes aside, there’s a compelling argument against
part of the commemoration too, of course. making Remembrance Day a holiday.
It is the greatest expression of respect during the “If Remembrance Day were to become a statutory
calendar year, so why isn’t Remembrance Day a holiday, schools might discard even the perfunctory
statutory holiday in Ontario? observances many do now,” writes Granatstein, who
believes the occasion should be used as an important
(Quebec, Nova Scotia and Manitoba also don’t teaching moment.
recognize it as such).
“November 11 can never be allowed to become
We honour considerably less significant days with a merely another day off work.”
day off from work here in Ontario. Victoria Day
celebrates a monarch who never even visited Canada,
Boxing Day literally honours boxes, and Family Day is
a weak attempt to convince us winter isn’t all that
bad.
User comment on an article by the National Post
Let’s think about what we do on those days, Rob Larman, a director with the War Amps of Canada,
respectively: eat and drink ourselves to oblivion,
shares that opinion. “Our stance is that it should
celebrate capitalism’s grip on Christmas, and
never be a holiday; you take away the uniqueness of
probably nothing, because we only remember Family being able to educate the younger generation of the
Day is a thing when it’s too late to plan something.
horrors of war,” he says.
Remembrance Day is meant to spur respect and
gratitude on a national level, which is something a
holiday doesn’t achieve. We don’t for a second
commemorate the achievements of workers on
Labour Day, nor do we express thanks for the
season’s harvest on Thanksgiving. They’re merely
days off; a chance to go shopping at a more
Poppies, a symbol of remembrance. opportune hour.
If Remembrance Day were a paid holiday, most Life should come to a two-minute standstill at 11am
Canadians would treat it as just another recreational every November 11th – no children laughing in the
escape. Would parents take their children to the schoolyard, no sound of keys entering data into a
cenotaph as teachers do? We wouldn’t dare stop spreadsheet, no high-pitch squeal from the Bambi
arranging our chia seed pudding on a late, hungover snapchat filter.
morning to bow for a moment of silence.
And that act of remembrance is significantly less
Hell, would we even be awake by the time the powerful when the whole day is a standstill.
bagpipes play?
A current private member’s bill drafted by Liberal MP
Colin Fraser seeks to make November 11 a legal
holiday across the country, an initiative opposed by
