Talk:Public holidays in Canada/Archive 1

Pay for stat holiday
This sentence "usually 1½ (known as "time and a half") or 2 times the regular pay" looks wrong. If you read the far right hand column here it indicates that most places pay 1½ plus the regular days wages. That would be 2½ times the regular pay. That's what we get and it's usually called double time and a half. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 07:32, 10 December 2005 (UTC)

Merges with Statutory holiday and Civic holiday pages
I support merging all of these pages into Holidays in Canada, as long as the merged article clearly -- yet succinctly -- recites and lists the differences between this and that. E Pluribus Anthony 03:59, 19 September 2005 (UTC)


 * Good idea. HistoryBA 15:12, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
 * I did a merge with basic edits. We should consider improving the overall format. Shawnc 06:32, 10 October 2005 (UTC)
 * I agree, the format needs some improvements; I found the existing format confusing. Country Wife 04:51, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

Newfoundland
Newfoundland DOES observe the Federal Civic Holiday on the first Monday in August. We have Federal Government departments here so we have to. Federal Government workers in St. John's were asked whether they wanted to have the holiday on the first Monday in August or on Regatta Day (which by the way is a St. John's holiday only--not a Newfoundland one), and they chose the first Monday in August in order to get the long holiday weekend. You guys should check out your facts before you post information that is not correct. Just because Newfoundland does not have a specific name assigned to the holiday that doesn't mean that Federal Government workers don't get it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by NewfieIdol (talk • contribs) 02:26, 10 July 2006
 * According to this Government of Canada site "Regatta Day / Civic Holiday" is "fixed by municipal council orders". Sounds to me like it's decided by each municipality.  This website reads, "Newfoundland and Labrador: There is no holiday on the first Monday in August in Newfoundland and Labrador although there is Regatta Day, often held on the first Wednesday in August. From the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Labour: Indeed, the first Monday in August is not an official holiday in Newfoundland and Labrador."  And finally, this Newfoundland government website reads "one civic holiday, at a time to be determined by the Employer, in the area in which employees reside", implying it's actually the employer (in your case, the Government) who decides. It all seems like an administrative mess to me, but it's your province.  :P - BalthCat 03:44, 10 July 2006 (UTC)
 * We need to distinguish between statutory holidays, which are holidays which must be granted by all employers (e.g. Christmas), and any additional holidays which are granted by the provincial government to its employees as part of the collective agreement (e.g. Orangemen's Day). (Newfoundland is unusual, I think, in having such a large number of additional holidays given to provincial employees.) How can we reflect this clearly & concisely in the list of Newfoundland holidays? --Country Wife 16:13, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

"Construction Day?"
There is simply no official provincial holiday on the first Monday of August in Quebec, least of all a "Construction Day". The construction holidays refer to a practice formalized since 1971, when a governmental decree granted the unions in the construction industry the power to request in their collective agreement a 2-week period of compulsory paid holidays during the last two weeks of July. The province-wide industry also benefits from a similar 2-week period overlapping Christmas and New Year (typically Dec. 24-Jan. 6). See the details posted at: http://www.ccq.org/M_RegimeRelationsTravail/M3_ConventionsCollectives/M3_2_CongeVacances.aspx?lang=en&profil=Travailleur


 * That came from a confused anonymous edit, which I reverted. David 17:23, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

table
The table with all the exceptions is totally confusing. Why not include only the 5 holidays that apply across the country -- New Year's Day, Good Friday (or Easter Monday in Québec), Canada Day (Memorial Day in Newfoundland), Labour Day, and Christmas Day -- and leave the exceptions and additions for the individual provinces? - 70.71.154.237 23:39, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

Canada Day
As far as I know, the definition of Canada Day is July 1st, except when July 1st falls on a Sunday, in which case Canada Day takes place on July 2nd. Could someone correct/confirm this? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 142.59.91.49 (talk • contribs) 20:11, December 20, 2006 (UTC)

Untrue. Canada Day is always on July1st. However, salaried employees are entitled to a paid day off, so if it falls on a Saturday or Sunday, then the adjoining Friday or Monday is given off.208.113.16.125 18:42, 1 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Actually, Mr. Fortynine is correct: see Holidays Act. (1) July 1, not being a Sunday, is a legal holiday and shall be kept and observed as such throughout Canada under the name of "Canada Day". (2) When July 1 is a Sunday, July 2 is a legal holiday and shall be kept and observed as such throughout Canada under the name of "Canada Day". Indefatigable 22:27, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

untitled
IMPORTANT POINT: Canada is *not* the only country with statutory holidays. Why on earth does 'statutory holiday' only show Canada's? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.97.214.3 (talk) 09:14, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Easter Monday
I don't know why Easter Monday is on the list. I've checked the provincial websites for BC through to Ontario, and none give Easter Monday as a statutory holiday. In fact, only Ontario's website even gives it a mention; there it says that employers may voluntarily give Easter Monday as a day off with pay, although they are not legally required to do so. I haven't yet checked out Quebec and the Atlantic provinces. Country Wife 04:58, 12 July 2006 (UTC) I think that many places still give that date as a day off - at least many schools do so (maybe the infleuence of Catholic school boards?) j-beda 20:35, 12 July 2006 (UTC)
 * I've checked the websites for all provinces, and only Quebec gives Easter Monday any status; this Quebec government website says that employers can give Good Friday off, or Easter Monday, and it's up to the employer to decide which day will be the holiday for their employees. See my comments under the What is a Holiday in Canada section; perhaps we need to add school holidays to that list?--Country Wife 05:33, 14 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Deleted Easter Monday from list at beginning of article. For Christians, it is not as significant as Easter Sunday, Good Friday, or Christmas. No other religious holidays are included in this first list, unless they are also statutory holidays. Easter Monday is only a statutory holiday (i.e. a day off required to be granted by all employers) in Quebec, and only if Good Friday is not given as a day off instead. Added a comment to that effect in Quebec section.--Country Wife 15:54, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

Check out http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/jfa-ha/index_e.cfm. We should put Easter Monday back in. 142.103.207.10 19:07, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

Rememberance Day in Nova Scotia is not statutory
Nova Scotia only has 5 Stat holidays, New Year's Day, Good Friday, Canada Day, Labour Day and Christmas. Remembrance Day is not one of them. For the past few years the Provincial and Federal government has promised to grant statutory status to November 11th, but it has not been implemented. However, there are several provisions to Remembrance Day that make it similar to a stat holiday. []

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.167.202.169 (talk • contribs) August 16, 2007


 * I've made the correction. Perhaps somebody who is a bit more linguistically inclined can look at it and make sure it makes sense :D --hfx_chris 18:27, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

Monday'izing and legislative definitions of holiday
Sources:
 * Interpretation Act R.S.O., see section 29
 * Interpretation Act R.S.C., see section 23 and 35

-- Robocoder ( t|c ) 20:23, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

Public Holidays in NB
Since someone erroneously changed the list of public holidays in NB, I felt it worthwhile to post this link here to document my revision back: http://www.gnb.ca/0308/FactSheets/04.pdf

From the Govt. of NB's Post-Secondary Education, Labour, and Training Employment Standards Branch:


 * The paid public holidays are New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Canada Day, New Brunswick Day, Labour Day, Remembrance Day and Christmas Day. When Canada Day falls on a Sunday, the Monday following shall be observed as a public holiday.

-- 156.34.64.199 (talk) 16:57, 24 May 2008 (UTC)

Christmas
The article states that Christmas "celebrates the birth of Jesus". Then somebody put a [neutrality disputed] tag on it. So if Christmas is not a celebration of Jesus's birthday, what is it? How much more 'neutral' can one describe Christmas? 70.55.80.137 (talk) 16:08, 24 June 2009 (UTC)
 * The fact is that many or even most people who celebrate Christmas are not "celebrating the birth of Jesus" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.203.1.164 (talk) 18:33, 17 June 2010 (UTC)

The fact is Christmas has been appropriated by Christianity to the extent that wikipedia must say "celebrates the birth of Jesus". Look at the Christmas page if you are interested. Protectthehuman (talk) 17:13, 3 August 2010 (UTC)

Newfoundland Holidays
From what I have heard from other divisions of the Federal Government different departments take the holiday at different times. CRA takes the holiday the first Monday in August, DFO takes it in July, and some in Corner Brook take it in February so they can have a holiday during their Winter Carnival week. As for the Regatta Day in August only St. John's gets that holiday and it has been like that for the 100 some odd years that the Regatta has been running.

We get Easter Monday here in Newfoundland too. I work with the Federal Government seasonal and we get Good Friday and Easter Monday.

Easter Monday is a stat holiday for Federal Government workers only--not for the rest of NL. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.163.159.47 (talk) 14:46, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

Are we being really strict about the term "statutory" holiday? In Newfoundland, there are days that no shops are allowed to open, period. Victoria Day and Thanksgiving are two of them, from here: http://www.assembly.nl.ca/legislation/sr/annualstatutes/RSN1990/S15.c90.htm#4 WPaulB (talk) 17:53, 4 January 2010 (UTC)

Natal Day
Can someone tell me what Natal Day is, and why the eponymous link at the top of this article redirects to itself?--dragfyre 04:31, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Natal Day is just the name for the civic holiday on the first Monday of August for those provinces. I'm not sure why it's listed seperately than the rest.

I've never heard of this. In BC it is called BC Day, when I lived in Ottawa it was Colonel By Day. It is popularly known as the August long weekend. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.1.192.102 (talk) 20:59, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

Internal inconsistency on Victoria Day in the provinces
The [en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Public_holidays_in_Canada&oldid=492103627 current version] of the article specifically says Victoria Day is “not a statutory holiday in the eastern maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island or in Newfoundland & Labrador” but further down the article does list Victoria under "Provincial Statutory" for PEI. In fact, section 26 of the province's Interpretation Act does include Victoria Day in the definition of "holiday", but for purposes of provincial employment standards law Victoria Day is not designated as a day off with pay. The article ought to adopt a consistent definition of "statutory holiday"; the present inconsistency is unacceptable. Mathew5000 (talk) 22:51, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Banks cannot be closed for more than three days
Added a citation required. I cannot find proof of this anywhere. A press release from RBC indicated that all banks in Nunavut would be closed on Good Friday and Easter Monday in 2008, which would imply there was a possibility of the branch being closed for four days.

It is also quite possible for branches to be open on the Saturday or Sunday. The note about legality can just be removed. Jvincep (talk) 17:55, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

Federal cf. National Government
Administratively, there are two basic types of nation state - the unitary state and the federation.

Unitary states have national governments, which have unlimited jurisdiction over the entire country - except for limits that the national government imposes upon itself (which it can also un-impose).

South Africa is a unitary state. The national government has unlimited jurisdiction over the entire country. Certain powers are delegated to the nine provincial governments; and, within each province, certain powers are delegated to municipal and rural jurisdictions. But the national government has power to control and direct those delegated powers, whereas if South Africa were a federation it would not.

Federations have federal governments, whose jurisdiction is limited to the federal state. Canada and the United States are two classic examples of federations (or 'confederations'). Federations are nation states comprised of other, smaller nation states that, through their confederation, have transferred some of their sovereign powers to the federal state.

The federal state and the individual states (called 'provinces' in Canada) that comprise it thus are co-equal, with the federal state holding the position of first among equals, because they are all sovereign entities *within* confederation. Outside of confederation, in most federations, only the federal state speaks on the international stage.

Within confederation, there are constitutionally drawn boundaries that limit the power of the federal and state/provincial governments to certain spheres of activity. One of the interesting contrasts between the American and Canadian constitutions is that, under the Canadian constitution, powers that are not explicitly or implicitly assigned to the provinces are presumed to be reserved to the federal state; while the US Constitution provides that powers which are not explicitly or implicitly assigned to the federal state are reserved to the 50 unitary states, or to the people.

This is one of several ways that American and Canadian federalism operate more or less inversely to each other. The most noticeable difference, of course, is the fact that the federal head of state, the Queen, is also head of state for each of the provinces (notwithstanding she is separately represented to each of the 11 sovereign entities in Canadian confederation). Barack Obama, on the other hand, is only head of state for the federal United States. He is not "President of Ohio" (or "President in Ohio") or of any other state. Thus, in the United States, there are 51 heads of state - the federal president and the 50 unitary state governors; whereas in Canada, there is just the one head of state at both sovereign levels of government.

Thus, the term "national government" is correctly used only with unitary states like South Africa, France, and Spain; and semi-federal/semi-unitary states like the United Kingdom. For federal states like the United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, and so on, the proper term is "federal government." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.162.218.153 (talk) 03:39, 10 February 2015 (UTC)

Fête de la famille
What do the French-speakers call it when refering to Louis Riel Day or Islander Day? Quebec doesn't celebrate Family Day, so there is no official designation in that province, and how does the news speak of celebrations in places where it is not known as "Family Day" I find it interesting that the August Civic Holiday translation is literally the "First Monday in August". Are these the official French phrases for the holiday names, or just simple translations? WPaulB (talk) 18:03, 13 December 2011 (UTC)


 * New Brunswick and Manitoba publish all their legislation and regulations in both English and French, so you should try searching there. Ontario might do so as well, but I'm not sure. But this won't help with "Islander Day". Indefatigable (talk) 15:10, 14 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Islander Day is translated by the Prince Edward Island government (for tourism and other purposes) as "Fête des Insulaires".  198.167.100.43 (talk) 15:33, 7 May 2015 (UTC) Hannah the unlikely Islander

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Thanksgiving
Is Thanksgiving a national holiday? It is not listed under Nationwide statutory holidays in Canada and the remark in Statutory holidays for federal employees says it's only a "[s]tatutory holiday in most jurisdictions of Canada," but the table under Provincial and territorial holidays lists it as national. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bse3 (talk • contribs) 03:19, 23 November 2017 (UTC)
 * No. It's not a federal holiday, it's a provincial one, and not celebrated by every province: (NB, NL, NS and PEI do not observe it https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/canada/ ) although https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/public-holidays.html contradicts that. Walter Görlitz (talk) 05:16, 23 November 2017 (UTC)

What is a Holiday in Canada
This page has a major problem in that it talks about Canadian Holidays and in reality there is no such thing as the Canadian Constitution says that labour is governed by the provinces and therefore it is up to the provinces to designate the holidays. I have fixed up Canadian Statutory Holiday to more properly reflect that. This should probably be fixed up to, or simply be an overview and then point to both the Canadian Statutory Holiday page and the civic holiday page and perhaps other pages as well. -- Webgeer 07:35, May 18, 2005 (UTC)
 * I think I've put my finger on why this page is so confusing. It's because it is lumping together several different kinds of holidays: Statutory holidays (also called public holidays) are days where all employers in a province are required to give employees time off, or give them some additional compensation for it (the compensation differs by province); shop closing holidays are holidays which affect certain retail stores, because they are required by law to close; there are days when provincial or federal government offices are closed, because there is an agreement with the provincial or federal government employees' unions to close on that day; there are special days where employers voluntarily grant employees a day off with pay, even though they don't legally have to; and finally, there are traditional holidays like Valentine's Day which are celebrated outside of working hours, without any time off work at all. The confusion over the whole Newfoundland situation started because the government of Newfoundland page consulted for information on Newfoundland holidays was not a description of Newfoundland statutory holidays; it was a page out of the Newfoundland Government's Human Resources manual, which lists all the days which government employees get off from work. There is a list of statutory holidays for all Newfoundlanders under the government's Labour Standards Agency; it consists of New Year's Day, Good Friday, Memorial/Canada Day, Labour Day, Remembrance Day, and Christmas Day. --Country Wife 16:24, 12 July 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree that there is a problem with different types of "holidays". Victoria Day eg might be a holiday for federal employees in Quebec but the government of Quebec nowhere calls that holiday Victoria Day.  Richardson mcphillips (talk) 13:52, 18 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Yeah, the table of holidays lists general holidays (paid holidays) as well as "optional" holidays. However, optional holidays don't mean the same thing to people because they aren't mandatory. Can we find another symbol instead of a checkmark for "optional" holidays? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pcraig3 (talk • contribs) 02:02, 25 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Well, the table uses y and there are additional options listed below that. The fact that none are sourced is a problem though. Walter Görlitz (talk) 02:16, 25 September 2019 (UTC)

Early comments
Okay. I lived in Ottawa for six years, and never once heard the term "Colonel By Day" for the August long weekend; I always heard it referred to as either "Simcoe Day" or "Civic Holiday". Is there a reference to confirm Colonel By Day? Bearcat 06:44, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)

It's official. City Council declared the Civic Holiday Colonel By Day in 1996

council minutes

Actually, I think this is a later resolution confirming an earlier one. Still, you get the idea. --Dhodges 20:32, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I've lived in Ottawa for 25 years and have never heard it called "Colonel By Day" (or even "Simcoe Day" for that matter) It may be official, but is not in common use. -Guest 6 August, 2006

St. Patricks Day
I should also say I have never heard of a serious proposal to make St Patricks Day a national holiday. I have heard of proposals for Chinese New Year, Flag Day, First Monday in August, A June Holiday, A Prime Ministers Day and others. However, the only references I have heard to St Patricks Day as a National Holiday were clearly jokes. -- Webgeer 07:35, May 18, 2005 (UTC)

Labour Day
Thanks to whomever fixed the statement that "...although not official holidays, ... Labour Day ... are traditionally celebrated by Canadians." To satisfy my own curiosity, I checked the official government web sites for the federal government, each of the ten provinces, and each of the three territories. Except for Nunavut, Labour Day is a "general holiday" or "statutory holiday" in all jurisdictions. All I could confirm for Nunavut is that it's a "government holiday" - presumably it's a holiday for those employed by the government of Nunavut, if not for everybody. -- BCRCornet 00:00, 2005 August 4 (UTC)

Easter Sunday?
How is Easter Sunday addressed insofar as being a public holiday in Canada? I know it isn't listed as an "official" holiday in many sources since it's on a Sunday which is a day of rest anyway and is never a working day for government, schools, etc. in the first place. BUT - many grocery stores that normally close on national holidays (but otherwise open on Sundays) will always close on Easter Sunday, so how does that fit into things? Do these stores just voluntarily close on Easter Sunday and it's not considered a paid holiday for their staff? Are there any sources on this? I'm guessing that when the public holidays were first instituted in Canada, nothing was ever open on Sunday anyway, so that's why Easter Sunday was never identified as an official public holiday? 96.44.112.133 (talk) 00:35, 17 April 2022 (UTC)