Nova Scotia Heritage Day to be celebrated each February
Posted Jun 26, 2014 02:41:25 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotians can officially mark their calendars for Feb. 16, 2015.
Starting next year, the third Monday in February will be known as Nova Scotia Heritage Day.
The new holiday will provide an opportunity to recognize a different significant figure or event in Nova Scotia’s culture and history every year.
The first holiday will celebrate human rights pioneer Viola Desmond, while future Heritage Days will honour Africville in Halifax, the Mi’kmaq, politician Joseph Howe and artist Maud Lewis, among others.
The new holiday, announced earlier this year, was named by students from schools across the province as part of a naming campaign.
Heritage Day was among the submitted ideas, which were reviewed by a three-member panel that included high school teacher Lucille Comeau-Livingstone.
“We were very diligent in making sure that everyone was represented,” Comeau said after the holiday was announced Thursday morning at Brookhouse Elementary School in Dartmouth, N.S.
“We tried to choose people that made [a] big and significant difference, however may not be well-recognized in the media.”
The panel then made recommendations to Labour and Advanced Education Minister Kelly Regan, who chose the title Nova Scotia Heritage Day based on their suggestion.
The panel chose 12 honorees, to be celebrated each year in no particular order. Regan said it will be up to future governments to decide whether to continue with a new honoree each year.
