Remembrance Day Observance Act announced during throne speech
The Saskatchewan government has released plans to prohibit bans on poppy-wearing in the workplace, by proposing the Saskatchewan Remembrance Day Observance Act ahead of this year’s Remembrance Day.
The proposed bill was announced during Lt.-Gov. Russ Mirasty’s throne speech last week, when he outlined Saskatchewan’ policy schedule for the province’s fall legislative session. It echoes the law Ontario passed in 2021, after U.S.-owned Whole Foods Market stopped its employees from wearing poppies on their uniforms in 2020.
“While no one is required to wear a poppy,” Mirasty said during his throne speech, “no one should be prevented from doing so. That is why my government will introduce a Saskatchewan Remembrance Day Observance Act to protect individuals’ rights to wear a poppy in all Saskatchewan workplaces.”
According to premier Scott Moe, the act was proposed in response to complaints from employees – some from the public sector – who said their employers had forbidden them from wearing poppies at work.
The government however has not specified which employers were reported.
Back in 2021, Ontario passed legislation that gave workers the right to wear a poppy in the workplace.
Saskatchewan government hopes to have law in place for Remembrance Day
“Honouring our veterans and what they have done – in giving us the opportunity to A, have a democracy, B, the opportunity to wear any other pin on at all – that should be recognized and honoured each and every day,” Moe said to reporters after the throne speech.
“Wearing a poppy and having the right to wear a poppy at your place of work, or anywhere you choose in this province, most certainly, I would say, is significant.”
The Saskatchewan government plans to table the bill in the next weeks, with the hopes of it receiving Royal Assent in time for this year’s Remembrance Day.
Moe told reporters that the consequences for employers who disobey the law has not yet been stated by the government.
