Bowlin_family

Growing up in BC, we didn’t have any real holidays between New Year’s Day in January and Easter long weekend in April. This isn’t really a big deal, but that is some three months that people could go without taking a public holiday. To this end, Christy Clark proposed establishing a Family Day holiday when she was running for the leadership of the BC Liberal Party in 2011. She became premier later that year and the first ever Family Day in British Columbia was observed last year on February 11.

Celebrating Across Canada

And here we are, one year later, observing the second ever Family Day in British Columbia. It’s something of a curious decision, though, as the other provinces in Canada will be celebrating their respective Family Days next week on February 17. In Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan, they have Family Day on the third Monday in February. This was originally going to be the case here too, but changed after some public consultation in 2012. As an aside, Manitoba has Louis Riel Day and PEI has Islander Day on the third Monday in February too. It is not a federal statutory holiday.

As you can probably imagine, most of us should probably be taking “Family Day” as a day to celebrate our loving families and spend some quality time with them. There are all sorts of family events happening in and around the Vancouver area today and I’m sure many parents will be taking their children to said events. Everyone needs a day off now and then.

The Life of the Online Entrepreneur

Speaking for myself as a freelance writer, though, I’ve always had a more complex relationship with statutory holidays. There are certain days that might have more meaning, like Remembrance Day or Christmas, but there are other holidays like Victoria Day that don’t mean much to me at all. They’re just another work day for me, because I have work and clients outside of BC and Canada. They say that time is money, but there is also something to be said about life-work balance.

And to this end, while I do plan to get some work done today, I also plan on taking a little time off for a nice family dinner. How are you spending Family Day? Do you have a similar holiday if you live outside of Canada?