Family Day costs small businesses

It's Family Day in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta today, which means a day at home for most. But plenty of others can't take the day off and that's hard on small businesses, some critics say.

The three provinces have the day off, while Manitobans are marking Louis Riel Day. Last Monday was Islander Day in Prince Edward Island.

Family Day was first celebrated in Alberta, in 1990. Saskatchewan decided to offer its workers a mid-winter break in 2007, while Ontario's Family Day began in 2008. All three provinces mark the day on the third Monday in February.

In Ontario, those who have the day off include provincial employees, and workers at schools, banks, libraries, liquor and beer stores, as well as those at the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Under the Retail Business Holidays Act, most Ontario retailers cannot be open today, except those designated as tourist attractions, such the Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto.

Federal employees and those in federally regulated sectors will remain in the office. So will most unionized workers, since they already have more than nine paid holidays as part of their contracts.

Holiday costs

While many welcome having a day off in the middle of the long winter, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says the holiday costs small business money - to the tune of $2 billion.

Businesses that close still have to pay their usual costs for a day without any productivity. Those that choose to remain open, such as retailers, restaurants and others in the hospitality industry, are required to pay premium wages.

Judith Andrew, who represents 42,000 members in the Ontario wing of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, says those kinds of extra costs are hard for businesses already struggling to get by during an economic slowdown.

"Whenever government adds more costs and burden on business, they often do that in good times, because they figure: 'Oh, business can take it, they can shoulder it, they can handle it,"' Andrew said.

"And it made for a very nice announcement from the premier, it made him sound generous. But he was being generous with other people's money."

In a survey conducted by the federation, 58 per cent of members said they didn't like having a statutory holiday in February.

Worth the sacrifice

The province says on its website that Ontario's economy is strong enough to accommodate an extra public holiday.

It adds that while there may be some initial impact on productivity, it will likely be made up when employees return to work.

Employees who get time off may work even harder when they are back on the job, because they feel rejuvenated. And, they argue, a mid-winter holiday may spark an increase in industries such as tourism and entertainment/leisure.

Ontario's labour minister said Monday that Family Day is worth the sacrifice.

"We see this as a way to make our province more productive," said Minister Peter Fonseca. "We understand we all work together and we all get a chance to play together, to visit families and loved ones."

For those who do have the day off, it didn't take much for them to get into the spirit of Family Day.

In Ontario, the lineup started early outside the Royal Ontario Museum and other attractions in Toronto. Hundreds of people were lined up around the block before 11 a.m.

"I was trying to find something that wasn't really expensive and kept the kids happy," said one mother who brought her children to Casa Loma, Toronto's own castle.

"I'm really looking forward to Family Day every year," said one woman who is spending the holiday at the Ontario Science Centre. "It's fun for all of us, being off work and spending quality time with the kids."

So, What's closed today?

- banks
- provincial offices
- schools
- liquor and beer stores
- public libraries
- The Toronto Stock Exchange
- most grocery stores
- most daycare centres
- most shopping malls (except those designated as tourist attractions)

What's open?

- federal government offices
- public transit (though on holiday schedules)
- major shopping centres, such as the Rideau Centre and the Eaton Centre

Happy Kwanzaa!!

10 Things you didn't know about Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa was conceived in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, who launched the holiday in the midst of the Black Power Movement and a year after the Watts riots tore open the wounds of racial division in Los Angeles. (Karenga later served time in prison in an assault case related to his opposition to the Black Panthers. After being released from prison, Karenga became an Africana studies professor at California State University at Long Beach.) According to The Complete Kwanzaa by Dorothy Winbush Riley, Karenga said he started Kwanzaa as "a necessary minimum set of principles by which Black people must live in order to begin to rescue and reconstruct our history and lives." The holiday is celebrated from Dec. 26-Jan. 1 every year. Estimates about the number of Americans who celebrate Kwanzaa vary widely, with some figures in the millions.

First Fruits
Kwanzaa is not a religious holiday. It is a cultural holiday based on African harvest festivals and the word "Kwanzaa" is based on a Swahili phrase "matunda ya kwanza" (“first fruits”). It's most popular among African Americans, but has also been embraced by black Caribbeans and other subsets of the African diaspora as a way to celebrate Pan-African history and encourage pride in the black community.


Seven Principles
The celebration of Kwanzaa is organized around the number 7. There are Seven Principles of Kwanzaa, each celebrated on a different day. The principles, in order, are unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, faith. There are also seven symbols: fruits/nuts/vegetables, place mats, ears of corn, candles, candle holders, communal cups, and gifts. These seven symbols are arranged on a table at the beginning of Kwanzaa. On each day, members of celebrating households gather together to discuss the principles and sometimes read poems or perform music or dance.


On the Calendar
By the 1990s, Kwanzaa was being celebrated alongside Christmas and Hanukkah as a mainstream national holiday, with Hallmark creating Kwanzaa cards and the U.S. Postal Service introducing an official Kwanzaa stamp in 1997. The stamp has been reissued in various denominations four times.



"What's Up?" Swahili Style
Each day of Kwanzaa, participants greet each other with the phrase "Habari Gani", which translates to "What's the News?" in Swahili. The answer, that day’s Kwanzaa Principle.

It's the thought that counts

Expensive gift giving is not a major tenet of the holiday. Although the seventh symbol of Kwanzaa is "gifts," exchanges mostly happen between immediate family members, and often include handmade gifts or books that celebrate African culture. According to The Complete Kwanzaa, the purpose of this modest gift giving is "to avoid the chaos of shopping and conspicuous consumption during the December holiday season."

Colorful symbols

The official colors of Kwanzaa are red, symbolizing the struggles of the African people; black, symbolizing Earth and the African people; and green, symbolizing hope and the future. The Kwanzaa candles are arranged in a holder with a black candle in the middle and red and green candles on the sides. One candle is lit each day of Kwanzaa.

Merry Christmas Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa and other December holidays, including Christmas, are not mutually exclusive. Kwanzaa's official edicts say that it was specifically created as a cultural, and not a religious, holiday, although the holiday's official web site states that "one can accept and revere the religious message and meaning [of Christmas] but reject its European cultural accretions of Santa Claus, reindeer, mistletoe, frantic shopping, alienated gift-giving, etc." Most early practitioners of Kwanzaa did not celebrate Christmas, but the division between the two holidays has faded in recent decade.


A Marketing Opportunity
Despite its organizers' best efforts, Kwanzaa has verged into commercialized territory long occupied by Christmas, with annual marketing campaigns geared specifically for the Kwanzaa holiday. Every year, various "Kwanzaa Expos" are held in cities all over the country. Dancers and musicians perform at the events, while vendors sell Kwanzaa and African-related merchandise.


Fit For A Poet
In 2008, Maya Angelou narrated a documentary called The Black Candle, the first full-length film to be made about Kwanzaa. Directed by M.K. Asante, Jr., the film includes interviews with rapper Chuck D., Kwanzaa founder Maulana Karenga, and NFL star Jim Brown.