Celebrating Family Day

by Sophia Han

A new holiday tradition 

B.C. Family Day takes place on Monday, February 20. It is a provincial holiday that is also celebrated in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and New Brunswick. Around the world, the holiday takes place in Australia, South Africa, Thailand and Vietnam but at different times of the year.

Family Day in Canada originated in Alberta in 1990. It became an official holiday in B.C. in 2019. Since it is a fairly new holiday, there are not many traditions. Many Canadians simply enjoy a day off from work and spend quality time with family and loved ones.

If you are looking for fun things to do on this day, bring your family to the Renfrew Park Community Centre at 2929 East 22nd Avenue for an afternoon of face painting, balloon animals, arts and crafts.

What is an average family, anyways? 

Family Day is a time to appreciate the close bonds we share with people we consider “family.”

In fact, families today look very different than they did in the past. According to a 2016 census, the number of non-traditional families has risen in Renfrew-Collingwood. There are far fewer nuclear families – families consisting of a father, a mother and two children. There are more adult children living at home and the number of single-parent families has increased to 30% of all families with children. Increasingly, households consist of multiple generations.

While there are many reasons for these trends, the definition of a family remains the same – any close-knit group of people who support one another through good times and bad. Happy Family Day!

Vocabulary

provincial holiday – a holiday only celebrated in certain places, depending on the province originated – started fairly new – when something is new to some degree but not very new simply – to do things in an uncomplicated way appreciate – when you like and are grateful for something close bonds – strong feelings of friendship or love non-traditional – something that wasn’t typical in the past has risen – to go up consisting of – made up of increasingly – when something continues to grow larger or more common household – all the people living under one roof who are related to one another and share costs generations – the members of a group that are of a similar age trends – a change that is new remains the same – when something does not change close-knit – a group of people who have strong bonds

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