Pretty much everyone I grew up with was born, and most of them were raised, by a mother and/or father, despite the best efforts of brothers, sisters, grandparents and semi-homicidal cousins.

We call this group of benignly scarring relatives “family,” and generally agree not to call in lawyers, what with us all being adults now and also because the party of the second part still has incriminating photos and other physical evidence of the party of the first part’s whereabouts, state of mind and blood-alcohol level back in the day.

Notwithstanding decades of being yelled at, bitten, lied to and having all your stuff wrecked and/or stolen, many people are nostalgic about family, and happy to celebrate it, especially if that means a day off work in February.

“Family Day” is a very important holiday in Canada, except for the provinces where it isn’t, which is not just the one with the cheese and smokers, like you’re thinking.

Those that do it (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and New Brunswick) describe Family Day along the lines of “a time to focus on getting closer to your loved ones.”

A little-known fact about Family Day is that these provinces are being TOTALLY SERIOUS. It’s not just a day off work to make an early start on your income taxes — which you won’t do because spring is coming soon and you need........

© Times Colonist