It would be discrimination if only Christians got December 25 and 26 off. But that’s not the case, is it?
In terms of Indigenous people getting extra holidays… well they get that because of residential schools and even worse things done by the Canadian government. I dunno, it’s a whole emotional thing, there’s not much logic to why 5 days off helps with all that. The government generally just does stuff like this so Indigenous people don’t go to the UN and embarrass the country.
But arguing against Christmas being a holiday means the “War on Christmas” crowd won’t go along with you, and arguing against Indigenous rights gets the left against you. So it’s a politcal non-starter.
One religious group gets to have all its holidays off by default
One ethnic group gets to have an extra five days off to participate in traditional activities
All people who aren’t part of those two groups are dependent on the goodwill of their employer to have days off for their religious holidays and traditional activities
How is that not discrimination?
If the CHRC agrees I think there must be something there, right?
Discrimination against religious minorities in Canada is grounded in Canada’s history of colonialism. This history manifests itself in present-day systemic religious discrimination. An obvious example is statutory holidays in Canada. Statutory holidays related to Christianity, including Christmas and Easter, are the only Canadian statutory holidays linked to religious holy days. As a result, non-Christians may need to request special accommodations to observe their holy days and other timesoftheyearwhere their religion requires them to abstain from work.Footnote4
But religious accommodations for other groups do exist.
Edit: sorry, this was meant for another comment. People in this thread seem to be missing the fact that non-christians and non-native people may be able to ask for religious accommodations from their workplace.
It would be discrimination if only Christians got December 25 and 26 off. But that’s not the case, is it?
In terms of Indigenous people getting extra holidays… well they get that because of residential schools and even worse things done by the Canadian government. I dunno, it’s a whole emotional thing, there’s not much logic to why 5 days off helps with all that. The government generally just does stuff like this so Indigenous people don’t go to the UN and embarrass the country.
But arguing against Christmas being a holiday means the “War on Christmas” crowd won’t go along with you, and arguing against Indigenous rights gets the left against you. So it’s a politcal non-starter.
One religious group gets to have all its holidays off by default
One ethnic group gets to have an extra five days off to participate in traditional activities
All people who aren’t part of those two groups are dependent on the goodwill of their employer to have days off for their religious holidays and traditional activities
How is that not discrimination?
If the CHRC agrees I think there must be something there, right?
https://www.chrc-ccdp.gc.ca/en/resources/publications/discussion-paper-religious-intolerance
Discrimination against religious minorities in Canada is grounded in Canada’s history of colonialism. This history manifests itself in present-day systemic religious discrimination. An obvious example is statutory holidays in Canada. Statutory holidays related to Christianity, including Christmas and Easter, are the only Canadian statutory holidays linked to religious holy days. As a result, non-Christians may need to request special accommodations to observe their holy days and other times of the year where their religion requires them to abstain from work.Footnote4But religious accommodations for other groups do exist.
Edit: sorry, this was meant for another comment. People in this thread seem to be missing the fact that non-christians and non-native people may be able to ask for religious accommodations from their workplace.