Canadian retail legislation dictates that when Canada Day – which is traditionally observed on July 1 – falls on a Sunday, stores must close the following Monday. Jim Cormier, Atlantic director of the Retail Council of Canada, noted that this encourages retailers to stay open on Sunday.
However, the federal Holidays Act provision has been circumvented by eight provinces. The provincial Canadian retail compliance laws allow retailers to close their doors on Canada Day and open for business as usual on Monday.
As The Chronicle Herald explains, only Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have not made changes to the federal legislation. This means that at the beginning of the month, retail employees in the two provinces had to work on Canada Day.
The situation was unprecedented for Nova Scotians, as this year was the first time July 1 fell on a Sunday since the provincial government officially sanctioned Sunday shopping in October 2006, the Cape Breton Post reports. The change left those in the retail industry struggling to balance traditional Canada Day festivities with their work schedules.
“I’ve been in retail for years, and I’ve never been open on Canada Day, so this was actually a huge shock for me,” Katie Hodder, a veteran retail employee who works at the Sydney-based Mayflower Mall, told the news source.
Hodder planned to fit a morning parade and an evening of fireworks around her shift, but some workers had to miss out on the festivities altogether. According to Alan Nathanson, coordinator of the Canada Day celebrations at a park in the Cape Breton neighborhood of Whitney Pier, event attendance took a hit this year.
“I’ve seen a number of people already today say, ‘Wish I could be there but I’m working,’” Nathanson told the news source.
The issue has not gone unnoticed by the provincial government, although it’s unclear what the next step will be.
“I think the government is going to do the right thing and do some consultation, and if they need to have the rules changed, change them to make it easier for people to have weekends or time off with their families,” said House Speaker Gordie Gosse, a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Cape Breton Nova, as quoted by the media outlet.
