Nova Scotia students submit names for new holiday
Posted May 8, 2014 07:38:39 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
More than 70 suggestions on what to name the province’s new February holiday have been submitted by students in Nova Scotia.
Primary to Grade 12 classes were invited to submit ideas for the name, as well as suggestions for significant cultural and historic events that will be recognized each year.
Advanced Education Minister Kelly Regan told News 95.7 she was surprised by some of the submissions.
“We kind of sat up and went, ‘Oh, of course, we forgot about that person,’ so it was a learning experience for everybody involved,” said Regan.
The first February holiday in 2015 will recognize human rights pioneer Viola Desmond, a black woman who was jailed and fined in 1946 for refusing to give up her seat in the whites-only section of a New Glasgow theatre.
The holiday will have a permanent name, but each year will celebrate somebody or something different.
“The submissions go to our three panelists and they will review and they’ll come back with 12 names of people, places, events in Nova Scotia,” said Regan.
The permanent name for the holiday will be announced by the three member panel at the end of the school year.
