Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

[Eug]

To my surprise, apparently Martin Luther King Jr. Day was observed in Toronto last year at this time:

http://www.webcitation.org/5vnpGaDSS

I, Mayor David Miller, on behalf of Toronto City Council do hereby proclaim January 18, 2010 as "Martin Luther King Jr. Day" in the City of Toronto.

Maybe I was just hiding under a rock, but I have no recollection of this whatsoever. Was this a one-off thing, or is Martin Luther King Jr. Day now observed yearly in Toronto? If yes, does anyone get the day off?

 

[Peepers]

I find it surprising also that David Miller last year proclaimed MLK day in Toronto since MLK has no significance to Canadian history. Sure he was an icon of the American civil rights movement but I don't see any reason for Canadians to celebrate his birthday.

 

[nfitz]

We also proclaimed February 6 as Bob Marley Day last year.

And I'm not sure what Miller has to do with this. Lastman proclaimed Martin Luther King Jr. Day in both 2000 and 2001.

And Rob Ford declared it in 2011.

 

[Eug]

So it is a yearly thing then.

Weird. I had never heard of it until today. Nothing wrong with it I supposed, but it seems a bit odd to me.

 

[adma]

Wait 'til the end of the month, then

 

[DTowner]

Goes to show how powerful the media (U.S. media) is. King hasn't anything directly to do with Black Canadian history. It would be nice to see a Canadian civil rights leader be recognised in Canada. And February as Black History Month is ridiculous (regardless of the historial reasons behind it; historical reasons that are also American). In Canada it should be during the summer.

 

[Aldrich]

Shockingly I didn't heard about this day from any channel, media or from my community.
King Martin Luther was my ideal.
He struggled a lot for his people.

 

[doady]

He has was American, so screw him. He has nothing to do with us or Canadian values or Canadian culture. People should stop trying to Americanize Canada.

 

[GenerationW]

He has was American, so screw him. He has nothing to do with us or Canadian values or Canadian culture. People should stop trying to Americanize Canada.

Equality and fighting poverty are not Canadian values?