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Media reports yesterday stated that, in a recent poll, the majority of Canadians think November 11th should be a national statutory holiday.

The National Council of Veteran Associations (56 member associations), of which I am Chair, affirmed at its annual meeting yesterday that it remains opposed to this suggestion.

I have explained this position previously in a special report.  Due to the recent interest, I am copying it below:

NOTES ON REMEMBRANCE DAY

INTRODUCTION:  At first blush, the obvious answer if we are to pay a proper tribute to the war dead and disabled (and mothers and widows) there seems to be no argument that November 11th should be a statutory holiday.  This problem has been under consideration by the National Council of Veteran Associations for some time.  As Chairman I was requested to produce a report which took some 6 months of investigation.  The undeniable conclusion, however, is that there are major objections to a legislated national holiday.  The report which follows was produced for the annual meeting on November 2nd of this year.  A précis of the findings follows:

Our investigation was carried out on our behalf in Manitoba and Ontario.  November 11th is a statutory holiday in all provinces except Ontario and Quebec.  This could be challenged on the grounds of lack of uniformity.  The investigation had to take into account, however, that the economic climate in Ontario, as an example, is different from those provinces which have declared a statutory holiday.  The findings are summarized below:

POPULAR CONCEPTION: Making November 11th a national holiday sounds great, but is not practical in view of the activities in today’s workplace.

COMPUTER SYSTEMS: For example, programmers set out their requirements in a five-workday sequence. This would involve graphic artists, script writers, access to web sites and other areas for research, interviews, etc. It is just not possible to interrupt the activities in a normal computer program in the middle of a work week.

MANUFACTURING PLANTS: Same for manufacturing, which is computer-driven. It would mean that, on the day before November 11th, the programmers in a computer-aided manufacturing facility would have to stand down. In the day after November 11th, they would have to boot up once more and in the meantime all the machinery, including mailing facilities, pickups from couriers, etc. would all be suspended. In fact, to declare a national holiday in mid-week could easily set back a manufacturing process as long as two weeks.

SCHOOLS: A national holiday would mean closing of the schools. We have evidence from Manitoba, for example, where media people have traced the activities of school children when November 11th is a holiday. They are usually found in the shopping malls, theatres, hockey rinks, bowling alleys … you name it. On the other hand, in Ontario we are making great progress in working with the schools by providing them with material (videos, visits by veterans, etc.). This has resulted in a major development where the schools have become hands-on and active in designing their own Remembrance programs. We would lose all of this if a national holiday were called.

TWO-MINUTES OF SILENCE: At the moment, people in a workplace are practicing a moment’s silence. Last year, I was at the headquarters of a major life insurance company. It was dramatic indeed to see the entire staff sit, many of them with their heads bowed. Incidentally, it had a great effect on immigrants in the workplace.

NCVA: Veterans may well be divided on this but, at the recent meeting of NCVA (delegates from 49 organizations representing 240,000 veterans), a unanimous resolution was adopted in two parts:

One: November 11th should never be a national holiday or should not be named as a holiday at all.

Two: Veterans’ organizations should make a maximum effort to work with their communities to develop special services at and  around 11:00 a.m.

WORKING HOURS: Must be considered. Statistics available to us indicate that as high as 40 percent of the workforce is engaged in other than the nine-to-five normal business hours. This is particularly true of those working on computers.

INTERNATIONAL CONTACTS: Much of our industry today is developed in liaison with plants, programmers, etc. in other countries. Many of these countries are not in our time zone (Japan, Poland, Italy, etc.). These countries work on the basis of U.S. hours and it would be extremely disturbing to the normal flow of business if they could not contact the Canadian representatives who would be absent from their offices if a national holiday were declared.

CHRISTMAS: Surveys taken in Manitoba and Saskatchewan both indicate that families tend to use November 11th to get a leg up on Christmas shopping. This goes with the extremely busy lives of many families where both parents work and it is understandable that they would want to shop. If some stores observed the closing in connection with a national holiday, this would certainly not be the case, where shopping centres are in rural areas.

COMMERCIAL APPEALS: Veterans have done a great deal in developing programs around schools, shopping centres, etc. where poppies are sold. A national holiday would obviously put people in a mood not conducive to Remembrance, but rather the activities would be commercialized.

HOURLY PAID WORKERS: Generally the rule is that employees on ‘piece work’ or those paid by the hour receive remuneration only if they work.  Presumably a National Holiday would mean that such employees lose one days’ pay.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT JURISDICTION ON A NON-EFFECTIVE: In that the declaration of National Holiday is within provincial jurisdiction, the Federal Government does not have the power to declare a statutory holiday.  Accordingly, to achieve this objective would require negotiation between the Provincial Governments in Ontario and Quebec.  Preliminary and cursory research indicates this would be difficult to resolve.

YEAR-ROUND VERSUS ONE DAY: it must be considered that the declaration of a National Holiday for Remembrance Day might result in creating a ‘one-day’ observance.  This is contrary to the Federal Governments’ declaration of Veterans Week. 

FORMER MPs: A research of Hansard indicates that in the past the Honourable Barney Danson had introduced the matter into the House of Commons but withdrew his proposal after discussion with the leaders of some veterans’ organizations.   The Honourable Stanley Knowles made a proposal which was supported by editorial opinions in the media; that is, that in addition to November 11th, the Federal Government should make a declaration that on the nearest Sunday to November 11th churches and other civic and patriotic organizations should be urged to develop remembrance in their activities.  He noted in various statements to the House that this was being done now in many jurisdictions.

VETERANS WEEK:  it is believed that the Federal Governments’ declaration of Veterans Week was intended, at least in part, to leave November 11th to be marked in any way possible without attempting to further the idea of a National Holiday.  In response, the Department of Veterans Affairs has produced materials for use in the schools and ‘nursing homes’ and has established COMMEMORATIVE COMMITTEES INVOLVING VETERANS AND OTHER LIKE-MINDED ORGANIZATIONS TO DEVELOP PROGRAMS WHICH COULD BE FEATURED THROUGHOUT VETERANS WEEK. (This has been viewed as successful)

WEB SITES: Based on the assumption that many students make use of the Internet, many Web sites have already prepared, or have in production, special sites dedicated to the remembrance theme.

SHIPPERS OF GOODS AND SIMILAR EMPLOYERS:  A special survey was taken in this regard.  Many employers who count on daily shipping within the five days in which statutory holidays do not fall at present expressed alarm as it would mean that they would have to hold onto goods for an extra day.  Such would pile up and might put the employer to the possibility of having to rent or build additional storage space.  This would apply, of course, to large shippers.

SMALLER EMPLOYERS: special concern was evident in discussions with smaller employers who suggested that they could ill-afford an extra days’ pay for their workers if they are operating on a marginal income.

SCHOOL TEACHERS:  perhaps surprisingly, many schoolteachers were abhorrent at the idea of taking the children from school, particularly when they worked hard to develop special programs within the school involving plays, essay competitions, visitation by veterans, peacekeepers and persons with a special interest in veterans.

LOST PRODUCTIVITY:  the Treasury Board of the Canadian Government has said “the addition of a new national holiday would cost billions of dollars in lost productivity and would likely raise the wrath of business interests across the country.”

Sheila Copps, the former Heritage Minister, has stated: “I would be widely criticized for honouring Remembrance Day without requisite provincial consultation.  I was informed that if one province was opposed, the recognition would be impossible.”

CONCLUSION:  the survey, which took some months to develop, indicated clearly that the declaration of another National Holiday could be disastrous.  Some employers indicated that, in provinces where a statutory holiday has been legislated, plans for computer-driven production take into account the existing statutory holidays (Christmas, Labour Day, etc.).  Particularly in highly industrialized provinces the addition of another statutory holiday could cause serious disruption in the work place.  It was evident that, in the moderately small polling which we did, the initial reaction was that the failure to close down business in commercial activities for Remembrance Day might indicate a lack of respect for the tribute to those who paid the supreme sacrifice and other veterans who suffered severe wounds; and for the families of such persons.  Our survey indicated, quite clearly, that there are, however, serious questions to be addressed and any ‘snap judgement’ might well be overcome by detailed investigation of the effect upon many employees and employers.  It would also reverse the growing tendency to develop special programs within the schools. 

Rather than a Government-approved holiday, NCVA strongly supported the need to continue to build on the resurgence of Remembrance activities, without resorting to a legislative holiday.  This would include:

* Assistance to schools and other organizations,
* Further development of web sites
* Further encouragement of a two-minute (or similar) silence at 11:00 a.m.
* A national proposal from the Federal Government that we investigate the system in vogue in many other countries which is to hold  candlelight vigils outdoors when the weather permits and indoors in other locations.
* Also, as is the custom in some areas, further consideration be given to ‘stand to,’ and special Remembrance Day lunches or  dinners.