Heritage Day in Canada

Mastigouche - Reserve in QuebecHeritage Day is celebrated in Canada on the third Monday in February. In some provinces, Heritage Day is celebrated as an additional civic holiday. In Alberta, where the third Sunday of February is occupied by the celebration of Family Day, Heritage Day is celebrated on the first Monday of August, Yukon celebrates Heritage Day on the Friday before the last Sunday of February, and the province of Saskatchewan on February 17.

As the name suggests, this is the day of all that is included in the Canadian national heritage. Heritage scholars define it as the totality of all physical and cultural resources (such as archaeological and historical sites and sites) that have received public recognition, confirmed by national identities and political ideologies. It is a difficult definition, but the concept itself is not easy.

Heritage attracts public attention because it creates a sense of place, a sense of difference, uniqueness for each local community or territory. Of course, it is not limited to studying only the recent past within the lifetime of one or two generations. Collective identity is often based on the legacy of a distant past. Many researchers believe that heritage sites and other reminders of the past create, maintain, and enhance the cultural identities of groups of people at the local, regional, national, supranational, or even global level.

The memory of the past, the heritage is a very important part in the self-consciousness of each person as a seed of his nation. Canadian researcher C. Cameron, who wrote about national heritage, expressed this idea well: “Canadian historical sites contain the spirit of the nation.” They are the fabric that binds us together as Canadians. Our relationships with historical sites help us define who we are. They are as important to our identity, our sense of devotion and our sense of country as the maple leaf, the wide expanses of the prairies or the Rocky Mountains. They involve physical contact with the past, which improves our understanding of where we have been.

The presence of Heritage Day in the Canadian calendar is a reminder to people around the country to study its history to be proud of its heritage. Although there are currently attempts to make this holiday a national holiday, it is not so far, which does not prevent Canadians from realizing the importance of this day and celebrating it. (citd.scar.utoronto.ca, dissertation2.narod.ru)