February Family Day: Tips for a New Ontario Holiday
It's official. With the introduction of "Family Day" on the third Monday of February, Ontario joins Alberta and Saskatchewan (and possible Manitoba) in celebration. But this is an entire new concept for us Ontario folk. What are we do to on this special day?
Here are some suggestions of things to do on the inaugural and all subsequent Family Day long weekends in the upcoming years.
If you happen to like your family (and they like you):
- Make hot chocolate and play board games. Clue and Monopoly come to mind. And Charades.
- Watch Family Ties, Swiss Family Robinson, and other retro sitcoms on DVD.
- Tell the same stories that come up at every family-oriented holiday.
- Make up an elaborate meal, but not turkey. I nominate pizza. Each family member decorates and eats a section of the pie.
- Go through old photo albums and reminisce about the good times you've had in the past.
- Build a snowman together, or better yet a snowfamily that mirrors your own family.
--
If you don't like your family, don't have one, or have an odd one:
- Head down to Buffalo to take advantage of the most excellent President's Day sales.
- Locate and hang out with a much better family.
- Walk around the neighbourhood looking like a sad puppy and see how many families invite you in. Sniffling and whimpering helps.
- Convince the family to do a polar bear dip in Lake Ontario. Count down from ten, run as a group, and bail just before you hit the water. Laugh at them as they shiver with hypothermia.
- Do what they've been doing out in the prairies provinces since Family Day began there in 1990 - make out.
- In the cover of darkness, hunt down and destroy snowfamilies.
Whatever you choose to do on Family Day, we hope you enjoy the new February long weekend (one of 9 we get each year)!
Feel free to share more ideas by commenting below.
UPDATE (January 7th, 2008):
Results of our reader poll show that a large majority welcome this new holiday, despite the inherent problems some employees will experience.
(Photo: Duane_Brown)
Comments (62)
Valentine's Day ... Family Day ... what's up with February and holidays that remind you how sad and abandoned and afraid of dying alone you are? WHAT?
- Play with a U of T student, who has always had the third Monday of February off :)
I dig the photo - didn't know there were some of the 14th St./8th Ave. NYC subway creatures in Toronto!
FYI, those NYC subway creatures are outside of 18 Yonge - a brand new condo building just north of the Gardiner. I think the statue is called 'new immigrants' or something like that...
Or how about some festivus inspired activities such as the airing of grievances: How you've disappointed me this past year.
FAMILY DAY????? Give me a friggin break!!! We don't need another holiday so that gov employees can find another excuse not to work. Do you know who suffers from this? Private industry and businesses who have to pay their employees for the day off & zero profit that they will make that day. All the little businesses will suffer a little more; yet, big commercial chains will have another excuse to profit in some way. Since when have holidays in recent times involved family orientation anyways?? Christmas is commercialized, we have Labour Day blowout sales; who actually thinks that a whole family is going to happily crowd around the fireplace on this day and play monopoly and watch Family Ties?? Geez Dalton, you make me sick.
There goes our taxpayer money once again, going to pay gov employees for yet another day off. Don't they already get every second friday off?? Oh what a wonderful world, wonderful Canada, wonderful Liberals once again.... Oyyyyy
Rent a cozy cottage - walk across a frozen lake; cross country ski; sit in a hot tub while it snows!
I think this is a fantastic holiday. Everyone enjoys days off. I will be spending time with my family in deed.
Thanks Dalton
Awesome.
In answer to Adrian's comments, private industry and businesses won't die by adding one holiday in the year. Give it rest.
I think it is a wownderful time of year to do the winter activities that we never seem to have time for. I'm planning on spending the day with my family at either Loch Lomond or Mount Baldy ski hills here in Thunder Bay - Land of the Sleeping Giant!!
I'm more than happy to welcome another holiday into my life - North Americans, as compared to Europeans, have much less time off work. So, I thoroughly disagree with what Adrian said - there are plenty of thriving small business in Europe and the UK - not only do they have more holidays, but they have much more paid vacation than us North Americans (they get 20 days to start, not our measly 2 weeks!)... So I say... BRING ON FAMILY DAY!
Response to Barold: I'm actually a government employee and I do not like this holiday. I get 3 float days which I can take whenever I want to but because of this holiday I will be losing one of them and so I'm actually forced to take this "Family Day" off. So you see we do not benefit from this. Even nurses are in the same boat. But I agree with you that nobody's going to spend time with their families on this holiday and Dalton sucks **s.
my employer Rogers is forcing me to use one of my floater days as family day..so yes its now a stat holiday but now i have 1 less floater day and i can't choose to come in and take another time....that sucks!!
In response to all those negative to Family Day - remember those that are less fortunate. Employees who do not receive "floater days" or extra benefits are usually those who fall in the lowest wage brackets and are expected to work traditional holidays. What better way is there for Ontarians to express moral values than to promote a day that signifies it is "reserved" for family time whether it is used for it or not.
i think that this is great, i think that we shoul donly work 4 days a week and the rest of the week days off. now that would be really , really great.
i'm taking my kids to the wings of paradise butterfly conservation in cambridge. we have always wanted to go as a family and now i have the time off to do it. thanks dalton!
Are we ever happy? Take the holiday and enjoy. Do what ever, relax, chill. It's a long time from Christmas to Easter, this will give us a break.
WoW.. that Adrien guy must be a small business owner. I think it's great! How man PA days do your kids (and mine)spend at a daycare or sitters house because you can't afford the day off? I get to spend a day with my kids without having to pay a sitter or lose a days pay! And let's be honest.. what's paying employees for a holiday day? A big ole write off.. that's what! I can't wait and i'm looking forward to an extra long weekend to hang out with my kids!
I think it's rediculous... I don't see why we need another day off. It's one more day lost for the school year, another day the government workers don't have to work and one more holiday that businesses must pay employees not to work.
What is wrong with actually working and earning an honest pay?!
the people who are all upset about this holiday are truly INSANE!!! how can you be mad at having an extra day off? do you honestly think that the country is going to go into shambles because of the holiday? chances are, employees are going to work harder during the week leading up to the holiday, to prepare for the short week, thus resulting in no loss of work.
as for those that have floater days that they now have to give up, cry me a river. i'm definitely not in the lower end of the pay bracket, but i don't get 'floater' days to use. i get my standard 3 weeks of vacation, that seem to go VERY quickly. this additional holiday will surely help tie me over between Christmas/New Years, until Easter. now i won't have to burn one of my 15 vacation days, to get a day of much needed rest.
as for earning an honest pay? what the hell does that have to do with anything? if you work 365 days a year, you're CRAZY!!! and i can't be responsible for that. that's your own perogative. if you only work monday-friday, why don't you work on the weekends? what's wrong with you? aren't you a hard worker?
please!
The old notion of the 'Christian work ethic' combined with the new culture of sky's-the-limit obsessive consumerism transforms it into something much less honourably selfless and much more suicidally selfish. If you really think you need to work that much, go ahead, but I really don't think most people actually do merely because they're capable of spending it in the end.
The people who are that desperate for money probably would've appreciated something like a raise in the minimum wage more than a Family Board Game Day, though.
I don't see why we need an extra day labeled as a 'family day', isn't that what Sunday's use to be until our society deemed it necessary for stores and businesses to be open 7 days a week?! If I want a day to spend with my family I plan special days on the weekend.
As for the comment that small businesses won't suffer, I beg to disagree. Unless you are a small business owner / manager you have no idea what the actual impact of another day they are being forced to be closed AND pay their full time staff wages and salaries.
Why don't we just take back the 'old ways' and close up shop on the weekends?! Because we are all too busy on the weekends to spend any quality time with our families? Why do so many people over schedule their lives that they need a day off work to relax?!
The majority of our clients are with the Federal Government, and since they are not eligible for the new Family Day Holiday, my company has decided to observe the Federal Government practice and will not include Family Day as a paid holiday.
SO, even though some of the work force will be home and perhaps spending time with family, I will be here working AND I will have to pay our day care provider for the day off, I will also have to find someone else to care for my children and pay them as well.
So not only will I be away from my family, I'll be spending even more to have someone else care for them...
Is this a Stat holiday or not!?!?
Well, Thanks Dalton! You forgot to mention that this Family Day is not for Federal Employees. I work for transportation company and we are open 7 days a week. I think we deserve this day more that your lazy gov.employees who already have the most days off, best benefits, highest pay etc. I might fall under Federal Law but i'm hard working Ontarian and I do have a family same as those people who get this day off. Why don't we treat all employees the same? Chris I agree with your comment 100% we are the ones who will be away from home and have to pay for child care. Dalton you suck!
I don't understand why you are so upset about the holiday. I have two small kids and only get ONE week vacation a year!!!! Do you think I would trade a day off with my children for a few dollars? The answer is NO. Thank you, Liberals!!!
This is rediculous, as a business owner the Liberals have just reached in my pocket and distributed my money without me having anything to say about it and no return on the expense. Consider it your campaign contributions for the rest of my life.
I am a business owner with 18 employees, construction based,relatively seasonal but keep our staff yearly because they are good. We have a small yearly profit margin and share this with our employees at Christmas. It will take me 2 weeks profit just to pay for this day. Now add the lost profit of that 2 weeks=4 weeks lost profit. 1/12 of our yearly profit which I can guarantee will be reflected in our employees profit share...You just don't get it Dalton
While I will enjoy getting a day off, I remember a time when every Sunday was considered "Family Day" Maybe we should just all give up Sunday shopping and give retail employees a break for once!
Marsh,
I totally agree with you. What is wrong with people today that makes us feel the need to have businesses open 24/7 just for our convenience?! Let people have one day a week that no one has to do anything.
I work in a call center in Ontario and my employer does observe Stat Holidays. We got an e-mail this week saying we have to work Family day its work as usual. They do not have to give us the day off with pay or pay us more to work that day. They say its because its has something to do with the labour board. Can anyone explain this to me. Is this really a Stat Holiday or not
In response to Adrian and Christine, maybe you should research before complaining about the government. I work for the federal government and we do not get the day off, it is business as usual. Though my sitter gets the day off paid, so I have to pay double to get her to babysit, find another sitter to pay or take the day off. And if I take the day off, I loose one of my vacation days. So non-government workers are not being penalties more than government workers since this holiday is actually costing me time and money. I would prefer spending my vacation days when I want, with my husband and son rather than having to spend them when the province decided I should because I actually haven't found a sitter for that day. On top of that, my husband won't be with us because he works on contracts and will not be getting the day off nor getting paid surplus time for his work that day. Also, just look on here, many employees will not be getting the day off because of contracts in which this day is not included.
So some will win and some will loose, there are pros and cons to this, so stop being martyrs. Suck it up and live with the consequences some people imposed when they voted liberal. It sucks that I do not get to choose my day off, but I certainly will still enjoy the time (though not extra time since it's time I'd usually get off elsewhere) with my son.
As for the commercial aspect, yes, they are too commercialised, but you have the choice as an idividual to play into it or not. If you don't want it to be commercialised, just don't go shopping or spend money for anything special that day, what is wrong with spending a little quiet time at home?
I really do not like the spend n'tax Liberals. BUT I think this Holiday is a good thing.
Families need to spend more time together. Sure there will be a cost associated with it...however, I think that it is money well spent.
I agree with others here say that stores should go back to being closed on Sundays. Stores would be more profitable, and would be able to make up the cost for additional stat holidays.
Happy Family Day
Somebody tell me if this is right for a small business owner.. I HAVE to work on every holiday by myself in order to pay for a holiday that I cannot enjoy personally..... or not work and lose on at least 2-3 days profit... FU Dalton!!
So I just got this memo from my employer today regarding Family Day. Excerpts are posted on my blog: http://fromshoelevel.com/blog/index.php?id=25
Apparently, if you get more than 9 Stat Holidays, Family Day is not mandatory.
Thank you Dalton McSquinty. /sarcasm
Bonjour,
J'aimerais savoir si ce jour f?ri? sera dans les convension gouvernementale dans les ann?es avenir si oui ou je pourrais trouver l'information ? ce sujet?
Merci
Bonjour Pierrette ...
Mon francais n'est pas bien, mais je pense que tu veux l'information du "Family Day" ... (et ton accents n'ont pas la.)
Il'y a beaucoup d'information si to vas a Google, et cherchez (Seacrch in english) pour Family Day Ontario .
De Rien
Derek
Well, our employer just announced that Family Day is a work day just like any other work day and all staff are expected to report for duty on this day. Also - to offset the extra cost of this "holiday" all staff are being cut by one hour a day for the month of February. It's the joy of working in the retail industry I suppose when all those big retailers will be open on Family Day - frankly I hope all people stay away and boycott any business that opens on Family Day especially a certain big Canadian retailer...
Who gets a day off? My fellow employees and I certainly do not. Government workers certainly will. They have enough, certainly more than the common working person. I am nonplussed.
We just found out that our company is not honoring Family Day. I think this is absolutely ridiculous!!! I'm sorry, but I work hard and the blahs that this weather brings needs a holiday thrown in. I think the biggest issue is companies were not prepared for this as it was a holiday that was kind of sprung on them. I do beleive that next year it will be better as companies can better prepare for it and incorporate it into their protocols. One thing to remember is that if you have happy employees you have productive employees, I can tell you that I am not too happy to be working on that day and not only working, not having the choice not to work! How am I supposed to respect my employer if they don't respect that we need those holidays to keep our sanity. I find it unfair that both my employers take off all Jewish Holidays, but yet will not budge on giving us this Family Day off, they also never gave us a half day for Christmas or New Years Eve, we all worked full days....all I'm saying is that employers need to be sympathetic to their employees and realize that this time of the year needs a holiday, it's one day, not a week, it's for Family, let us have that day!!!
i think family day is an ok idea. my kids have laready missed a number of days of school, due to the inclement weathee, so having family day, takes time of school work
i support it, but at the same time dont.
I think the Family Day is a great idea. You get to spend time with your family!
Even though i hatethe lieberal party, i support the idea. :) Thankyou Ontario, we live in a wonderful counrty! GOD BLESS CANADA!!
I think family day it the best thing to have a extra
day in a year to your family.specially now a days kids they growing paster.
Hello! One quick question .. are gov employees off on Feb 18th ?! .. Plz i need a quick reply thanks to all and i hope we all enjoy this day off! :)
I think it is a ridiculous idea!!!!!! Pathetic. The lIberals have horrible ideas! I hate the Liberals. The conservative, should not only be democcratic, but provencial!! Family day is pure stupidity! Not a good choice dalton!!! i do not suppport ur cheap party at ALLL!!!!!
I work for a major grocery store. We are closed, but we do not get paid for Civic holiday. Good choice or not, we will see how it works for 2008. Enjoy this holiday, people always wanted Heritage holiday, so now we have a holiday in February. I am sure in 2009, it will be straighten out and more people will have it off.
I think family date was very misleading to the Ontario People, alot of comments I look at were saying I was just informed I have to work...etc alot of people are working and some have to use float days, and some people are getting "layed off" papers for one day. Some people in Ontario raising families can not afford to lose a days pay. If told this is a new stat holiday it should follow the rules as other stat holiday. I love spending time with my family but at the same time I provide for them. There are so many loop holes with this day, it really needs to be fixed. It seems to me that the average joe always has to pay the price in this provice.
Dalton, I hope you have a wonderful Family Day and we know that you will not have to worry about being paid.
I was excited about this new holiday until I realized that I lose a 'floater' day at work during Christmas. Now I wish we didn't have it.
May I suggest coming to Winterlude in Ottawa-Gatineau.
Sun Life Snowflake Kingdom and Rogers Crystal Garden will be open on February 16, 2009. We will even have a special viewing of the New Winterlude Sound and Light Show.
Family Day in Canada's Capital Region during Winterlude, Canada's winter celebration.
Visit Winterlude.gc.ca
This is a public holiday under the ESA and as such, employers must pay you 1.5 times your regular rate of pay if you work on that day, in addition to receiving your public holiday pay for the holiday. If you do not work on that day, you are still entitled to your public holiday pay.
In addition, someone commented about only having one week of vacation ("July" January 16, 2008) and this is against the law. Employers must give you minimally 4% of your wages, or two weeks of vacation per year.
Also with respect to the person commenting on their employer, Rogers, forcing them to use a float day on Family Day, I am uncertain if they are allowed to do this. I would be contacting the Ministry of Labour 416-326-7160 or 1-800-531-5551 and asking them directly.
Addendum to my last posting: I didn't mention the part about the holiday being a provincial not federal holiday because I thought that was a given (so banks, postal workers etc., work on that day) and also if your employer provides an employee with 10 or more paid public holidays, the employee may not be entitled to family day. If this applies to any of you reading it, then this means you have another day off during the year that the rest of us don't (i.e. Easter Monday, Remembrance Day). Personally, I think the Family Day is a great day and people really should stop complaining and just enjoy it.
What penalties could an employer face if s/he refuses to give an employee Family Day off?
The Ministry of Labour has a number of options to enforce the ESA, including requesting voluntary compliance, issuing an order to pay wages, an order to reinstate and/or compensate, a notice of contravention, or issuing a ticket or otherwise prosecuting the employer under the Provincial Offences Act (POA).
In the case of prosecutions that are commenced through the issuance of a ticket, the set fine on conviction is $295.
In the case of prosecutions other than those commenced with a ticket, the maximum penalty, if an individual is convicted, is $50,000 or imprisonment for a term of not more than 12 months or both. If a corporation is convicted, the maximum fine is $100,000 for a first offence, $250,000 if the corporation has one previous conviction and $500,000 if the corporation has more than one previous conviction.
or:
http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/es/family/index.html
Don't be affraid to stand up to your "Boss"...
I am employed with a large school bus company as a school bus driver. Last year was the first year that we received Family Day off with pay. At first there were a lot of memos and useless meetings and then we were told that since we already received Easter Monday we would not be receiving Family Day too and then that Family Day would be honoured on the first Monday of August (very funny since the schools are all closed anyways). The company realized that there would be no point of us driving our school buses if the schools would be closed and there would be no students to pick up and drop off so we finally received the day off with pay. And, this year it was not an issue because we just did the same thing that we did last year. I will be spending time "at home" with my family and will not be going to the mall, or the movies or out to eat. We will just stay in and enjoy our time together otherwise Family Day will just feel like another regular Saturday. If everyone else did the same thing and stayed home and saved their money then the people who work in retail and the food industry could also get a day off to spend with their families. So everyone, stay home, save your money and enjoy your day together.
i think the most confusing word ever invented is the word family!
the emotional impact and the power of that word and concept boggles the mind because family means something different to each one of us nowadays!
i have a long distance family and sometimes it's lonely without them but it is also peaceful and liberating without them too!
i have a welcome mat that says: friends welcome; family by appointment only!
Doesn't matter - majority of Ontarians (60%) don't get the day off as a Holiday anyhow - be it premium pay or the day off. All it serves is a benefit for 40% of the population.
As it was explained by my Professor in college many years back, only the federal government can proclaim statutory holidays. The federal government allows the provinces one day to proclaim as their provincial day that would be recognized as a statutory holiday.
Since Ontario, Saskatchewan and Manitoba (along with 5 other provinces) have the first monday in August as that "special statutory holiday", other provincial holidays have no force in effect. In other words, it is up to businesses (not provincially controlled) to decide whether or not to give the day off to employees. By the way, in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, who have had this Family Day before Ontario got into the act, saw a majority of their citizens report to work as "business as usual".
It is an empty holiday - has no force to be recognized. If you want a stat holiday, ask the Federal Government to fully proclaim Heritage Day (same day as the pseudo Family Day). Heritage Day would be a federal government holiday and therefore, a stat holiday.
Sorry, government employees do not get the day off, get no premium pay. It is another work day.
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