What are Canada's main national holidays?

Canada's main national holidays are Canada Day on July 1, Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October, Remembrance Day on November 11, Christmas Day on December 25, and New Year's Day on January 1. The federal Holidays Act and provincial employment standards legislation make these statutory holidays for federally regulated workers and for most provincial workers, with paid time off and a premium for those who work the day.

Canada Day marks Confederation on July 1, 1867, when the Constitution Act (then the British North America Act) joined the colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick into the Dominion of Canada. The day was called Dominion Day until October 27, 1982, when Parliament renamed it Canada Day shortly after the Constitution was patriated. Thanksgiving was set on the second Monday in October by Parliament in 1957 and is rooted in Indigenous harvest traditions and seventeenth-century explorer Martin Frobisher's 1578 ceremony of thanks in what is now Nunavut.

Remembrance Day on November 11 honours those who served and died in war, observed at 11:00 a.m. with a two-minute silence. Christmas Day and New Year's Day reflect the Christian and civic calendars used in Canadian common law and are statutory across all jurisdictions. Good Friday, Victoria Day on the Monday before May 25 (also called the Sovereign's Birthday), Labour Day on the first Monday of September, and Boxing Day round out the federal calendar, with provincial variations including Family Day in February and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30, made a federal holiday in 2021.

These dates structure Canadian working life and citizenship ceremonies are often timed to coincide with Canada Day, when many new Canadians take their oath at federal buildings or community events.