Updated from the original article published in the NSAdvocate 29 July 2021 here.

KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – On Monday 4 Aug. Nova Scotia celebrates Natal Day – a day off with pay for the lucky 25% of workers who are represented by a trade union. But it’s likely a normal workday for people who work in retail, food service, tourism and accommodation. 

Retail workers, shop assistants, grocery clerks, gas station attendants, are among the many low paid workers who must work on Natal Day.  If your workplace be it an office, a warehouse, a garage, or florist is closed you get the day off, but the employer is not obliged to pay you for your day off.

Natal Day is a “civic” rather than a public holiday and it does not have to be paid, or even observed. There are only 6 statutory holidays (or paid public holidays) in Nova Scotia each year – we tie with Newfoundland and Labrador for the lowest number of paid days off work. 

Almost every store and business will be open on Natal Day, some at reduced hours.  But it is not a retail closing day, so any store or shop is entitled to choose whether or not to be open. And if you work on Monday, you will work for your regular pay; there is usually no premium paid for work on Natal Day (unless you are in a union). This is another “punishing” holiday from the NS government.

For the next paid holiday (public holiday), you will have to wait until Labour Day, Monday 1 September.

If you want to get a paid holiday on Natal Day next year, please contact me to find out how to organize a union. You deserve the day off with pay.

Statutory holiday provision in Canadian provinces:

Image at the top & below: Joyce Wieland, Cooling Room II, 1964 (Canadian): metal toy airplane, cloth, metal wire, plastic boat, paper collage, ceramic cups with lipstick, and spoon, mounted in painted wooden case, 114.4 x 94 x 18.3 cm. (Photo: National Gallery of Canada)