[8] Getty faced considerable criticism at the time; many employers felt an additional statutory holiday was an unnecessary financial burden.
[10] The bill for the Labour Standards Amendment Act, 2006, was introduced in the legislature on November 1, 2006, and received Royal Assent on December 6.
[14] In British Columbia, a private member's bill to establish Family Day on the third Monday in February was introduced in the BC Legislature by Liberal MLA Bob Chisholm in 1994 but failed to pass.
[16][17] On January 10, 2011, while running for the leadership of the BC Liberal Party, Christy Clark proposed establishing a Family Day holiday on the third Monday of February.
Clark subsequently became premier; the Speech from the Throne, delivered on October 3, 2011, said that BC would observe its first Family Day on February 18, 2013.
[18] In 2012, a two-week consultation process was held in order to determine if British Columbians preferred the holiday to fall on the second or third Monday in February.
[22] On April 26, 2017, Premier Brian Gallant announced that New Brunswick would become the newest province to observe Family Day, beginning on February 19, 2018.
[31] The name is in honour of Louis Riel, the Métis leader who led the fight to maintain aboriginal and francophone rights.
This incongruity effected much controversy, as businesses suffered as a result of being out of sync with their partners in other provinces, as well as the United States, which celebrates Presidents Day on the third Monday of February.
[citation needed] After the provincial Liberal Party was elected in 2013, its leader Stephen McNeil said that he planned to create a February statutory holiday in Nova Scotia.
[38][39] The permanent name for the holiday, Nova Scotia Heritage Day (French: Jour du patrimoine de la Nouvelle-Écosse), was announced on June 26, 2014.
[41] The first twelve, covering 2015 to 2026, were chosen by a three-member government appointed panel from suggestions offered by Nova Scotian school children.
[42] Other days have or will recognize Mi'kmaq heritage, Africville, Joseph Howe, Edward Francis Arab, Nora Bernard, Carrie Best, J. Willie Comeau, Grand-Pré National Historic Site, William Hall, Rita Joe, Maud Lewis, and Mona Louise Parsons.
[43] Civic Holiday is marked by the city of Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, to coincide with the first weekend of its annual ten-day Winter Carnival.
Ontario's enactment of Family Day has meant the Canadian financial sector, including the Toronto Stock Exchange, largely shuts down on this date.