Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 04/02) - If humans are beholden to one thing, it is custom. Fearing the unknown, fearing that which is different and untested, we tend to shy away from wholesale changes to the status quo.

Louise Charbonneau sips a cup of coffee in her Justice Canada office. Charbonneau says she likes the quiet of working during the holidays. - Nathan VanderKlippe/NNSL photo

So when a premier comes and tries to impose some completely new regime, we naturally balk.

That happened when in 1996 Don Morin tried to cut costs by dictating five days without pay during the holidays for territorial employees.

A public outcry naturally erupted, and the days were labelled "Donny Days" to ensure his name was permanently ensconced as the harbinger of this terrible work stoppage.

But we humans are a remarkably adaptable sort, and if the change doesn't lead to some huge lifestyle degradation, we usually manage to grin and bear it. Sometimes, we even grow to like it.

And for many, that's what has happened with Donny Days. Employee pay years are a week shorter, but the losses are spread across each paycheque.

The plus is, Donny Days mean more holiday time away from work, which means time to spend with the kids or on a decent vacation to the South.

"When it first came out, it was rather a drastic measure," said an employee at Fisheries and Ocean who recently left the territorial government for a job with the feds.

"The time off lets you keep up different family traditions.

For a lot of people it probably is really nice to have that extra break if it didn't cause a very strenuous financial crunch."

So wouldn't other government employees be jealous, say at the federal level? Wouldn't they want a piece of the pie?

The answer, it would appear, is a resounding no.

"I work enough without getting paid anyways," said one man who then added curtly "not interested at all" before hanging up the phone.

To set the record straight, federal offices aren't particularly full during the holidays. At Fisheries and Oceans during Christmas week, only three of the office's 20 employees were actually in. Many people shift annual vacation days to take time off during the holidays.

But for those that stay, the days surrounding Christmas and Boxing Day are the perfect time to come in and work.

"It's pretty quiet around here, which makes for a good time to get the filing done," said Judy Cozzetto, an administrative officer with Parks Canada.

"Any day that I'm working I'm jealous of someone who's not," said prosecutor Louise Charbonneau.

And at the end of the day, even if there was a movement supporting Donny Days at the federal level -- Jeanny days, perhaps -- they wouldn't find a listening ear from their local member of Parliament during the holidays. Ethel Blondin-Andrew's office was closed from Dec. 24 to Jan. 2.