St. Albert residents might have the opportunity to mourn the Queen on the day of her funeral as the prime minister has declared Monday a federal holiday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Monday, Sept. 19 will be a holiday and national day of mourning for Queen Elizabeth ll.
Monday marks the Queen’s state funeral, which will take place at Westminster Abbey at 11 a.m. BST.
“Declaring an opportunity for Canadians to mourn on Monday is going to be important. For our part, we will be letting federal employees know that Monday will be a day of mourning where they will not work,” said Trudeau during a Sept. 13 press conference on affordability measures in New Brunswick.
Trudeau said the federal government will be working with the provinces and the territories to see if there is alignment on the federal holiday.
“There are still a few details to be worked out,” he said.
The Government of Alberta could not be reached for comment on provincial plans for the national holiday by The Gazette's press deadline on Tuesday.
The City of St. Albert was also unable to comment by The Gazette's press deadline.
As of publication time Tuesday afternoon, a spokesperson for the Provincial Court of Alberta said St. Albert Provincial docket court will run as scheduled.
Shanlyn Cunningham, spokesperson for Greater St. Albert Catholic School Division, said Tuesday afternoon GSACRD didn't have any additional information about whether the schools would be acknowledging the day of mourning and that GSACRD was waiting for to learn more from the province.
St. Albert-Edmonton MP Michael Cooper said the Queen leaves an important legacy.
“I think it is appropriate all Canadians take a day to reflect on her years of service, her many contributions to Canada, and to collectively pay our respects to her,” he said, adding this is something that has happened once in 70 years, and it isn’t a permanent holiday.
When asked if he thought employers will honour the national day of mourning and whether employers had been given enough time to prepare to give their employees time off, Cooper said he hopes everyone takes time to pay their respects.
“The timing is not ideal. There hasn't been a lot of notice. But at the same time, this is not something anyone could have planned for,” he said.
