The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was created as a Federal statutory holiday on June 3, 2021, leaving many communities wondering if the statutory holiday applied to municipalities or not. 

This was the discussion at the regular meeting of City Council on Monday, July 25. 

City Manager Joe Day, explained his reasoning behind allowing city workers to have September 30 as a paid day off. 

“A number of communities across the country did adopt it as a statutory holiday. Cities normally are governed by provincial regulations, not federal regulations. I think that it could be justified that the City of Humboldt recognizes September 30th as a paid day off for municipal employees.”

Mayor Micheal Behiel agreed with the statement made. 

“I think in the spirit of reconciliation and working to achieve those goals, this is a recognizable statutory holiday, and our collective agreement does suggest that this would be an acceptable, City-wide statutory holiday. I certainly am in favour of it.”

The recommendation to make September 30 a statutory holiday was passed unanimously.