By Pamela Minns
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and his government have done a very good job each February of recognizing Black History Month and the Family Day the government established as a new civic holiday in the province on the third Monday of the month.
The Maplehurst mansion, now the popular Keefer Inn Mansion & Restaurant in Thorold, Ont., is one of many designated heritage sites in the Niagara region. Photo by Doug Draper
But whatever happened to Heritage Day?
The Heritage Canada Foundation first established Heritage Day (also set for the third Monday of February) in 1974. In fact, the entire third week in February each year is devoted to the recognition of our common heritage, and to paying tribute to our land and landmarks, our nation’s history, and our diverse cultures and traditions.
With this being the year of the Winter Olympics in Canada, the Heritage Canada Foundation will be celebrating “The Heritage of Sport and Recreation” across the council, while this year’s theme for the Ontario Heritage Trust is “Our Changing Landscape.”
Unfortunately in Ontario, the relatively new celebration of what the province’s government calls “Family Day” has knocked Heritage Day right off the calendar.
To most Canadians, our heritage is extremely important and it would be helpful if the Ontario government would show it more support by recognizing the fact that we do have a day set aside to celebrate it.
(Pamela Minns is a longtime Thorold resident and member of Thorold Heritage LACAC, dedicated to protecting and preserving heritage sites, and has also continued to serve on regional committees devoted to heritage issues. She has recently sent a letter to Premier Dalton McGuinty urging him to give more recognition to Heritage Day.)
You can send your concerns to the premier on this topic by emailing him at dmcguinty@premier.gov.on.ca.
Visit Thorold Heritage’s website at www.heritagethorold.com.
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I agree utterly that this family day is just a waste of time. All volunteers who have worked for Canada’s heritage, at whatever level of government, knows this day was always designated as Heritage Day. What happened? Family sounds better than Heritage. A committee must have come up with that one. I don’t know. It’s just foolish, family day.
Hard-working young families now have to figure out how to take care of the kids as school is closed, yet maybe their part-time jobs are still on. It causes more problems and was not at all well thought through.
G. B.
I have been notified that Premier McGuinty would like feedback through his web site at:
http://www.premier.gov.on.ca/feedback/
Thanks for your comments Gail – I knew I would have your support on this one !
I’m with Pamela and Gail on this one. The mention of Black History Month, though, triggered a thought. A few weeks ago, on a genealogy site I frequent, a participant in Toronto, I believe, asked the group for a St. Catharines address to which she could make a charitable donation at Christmas to help with the less fortunate among us. I sent her the proper name and address of Community Care at 12 North Street here. She soon replied with a polite note of thanks. Five minutes later I got another, this time less formal. “Wow. I was addressing the envelope when I realized my grandmother grew up at 10 North Street. She used to walk down to the church at the corner of Geneva Street.” This is one of those things Doug couldn’t write without people saying “C’mon Doug, you don’t expect us to believe that, do you?”