First published in the NS Advocate today here: https://nsadvocate.org/2021/05/20/victoria-day-not-a-paid-holiday-in-nova-scotia/

By Judy Haiven – May 20, 2021 0

KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – The good news is that the annual May Two-Four weekend, a.k.a. the Victoria Day weekend,  is coming up.  The bad news is, unless you are covered by a collective agreement at your workplace, you will not get the Monday off with pay.  More bad news — if you do work that day, you earn only straight time: there is no holiday pay.

This is because Victoria Day, which is celebrated on Monday, May 24 this year, is not one of the six paid holidays in Nova Scotia.  

Despite the lockdown many garden centres, restaurant take-outs, grocery stores, hardware stores and so forth will be open on Victoria Day. As open as they can be with Covid restrictions. That is because Victoria Day is not one of the nine days that the provincial government declares a retail closing day, as per the Retail Business Designated Day Closing Act.

top: sculpture The Coming Spring, by Can. artist Gordon Reeve in Victoria Park, Saskatoon, project of the Saskatoon Tribal Council and the city; flowers in Victoria Park, Regina; 100 Faces of the Great War sculpture by Morgan MacDonald in Victoria Park, St John’s NF; Gates at Victoria Park, London, Ont; Niagara Falls vista from Victoria Park. toria Park.

If you get the day off with pay, thank your union –- better still get actively involved in your union. If you don’t get the day off as a paid holiday, consider asking a union to represent you and your fellow workers. That way the union can negotiate for you to get the Monday of the May Two-Four  weekend as a paid holiday.

Judy Haiven is on the steering committee of Equity Watch, an organization that fights discrimination, bullying and racism in the workplace.  Contact her at equitywatchns@gmail.com

Featured Image: Queen Victoria’s Garden Party, at Buckingham Palace, London UK