These Are Canada's Stat Holidays This Summer & How You Can Maximize Your Time Off

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Creator
​Parliament in Ottawa. Right: A person waves a Canadian flag.

Parliament in Ottawa. Right: A person waves a Canadian flag.

Summer 2023 won't just bring warm weather — there will also be a bunch of stat holidays in Canada to look forward to.

These include national holidays observed Canadawide and days only celebrated in certain provinces, you'll want to take note of these upcoming statutory holidays so you can maximize your time off.

The coming months will bring holidays that nearly the whole country can look forward to, including Victoria Day and Canada Day 2023.

There will be six statutory holidays in total coming up for Canadians across the country, and residents will want to make the most of them. According to a recent report from Expedia, nearly half of Canadians didn't use all their vacation days in 2022.

To keep you from making the same mistake this year, here are the stat holidays coming up and when to book time off to maximize your vacation days.

What days are stat holidays in Canada? 

Here's the full list of holidays that Canadians can look forward to in 2023:

  • Victoria Day: May 22
  • National Indigenous Peoples Day: June 21
  • St. Jean Baptiste Day: June 24
  • Canada Day: July 1
  • Civic Holiday: August 7
  • Labour Day: September 4
The next stat holiday in Canada is Victoria Day, making the May 20-22 weekend a long weekend. The holiday is observed nationwide except in the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, P.E.I and Newfoundland & Labrador — each of these provinces has there own specifications about who gets a holiday long weekend or not.
Since the holiday falls on a Monday, to maximize your vacation days, you may want to book Friday, May 19, off to turn your three-day weekend into a four-day weekend.

This year, Canada Day will fall on Saturday, July 1. Since Saturday will be a day of rest for many workers, the holiday will be observed on either the Friday or the following Monday, depending on your employer.

Canada Day is celebrated nationwide, so Canadians across the country will get another nice long weekend. However, once again, you may want to use your vacation days around this time to get a longer break out of it.

Between Victoria Day and Canada Day, the Northwest Territories will observe National Indigenous Peoples Day on Wednesday, June 21, while Quebec will see a stat holiday for St. Jean Baptiste Day on Saturday, June 24.

On August 7, some provinces will get a civic holiday. Unfortunately, the day isn't observed nationwide.

While many provinces will observe the day, it's known as a different holiday across regions.

The provinces that observe the Monday, August 7 civic holiday are Ontario, New Brunswick (New Brunswick Day), Nova Scotia (Natal Day), B.C. (British Columbia Day), Manitoba (Terry Fox Day), Saskatchewan (Saskatchewan Day), the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

Finally, at the tail end of the season, all of Canada will see a statutory Labour Day holiday on Monday, September 4.

How many statutory days are there in Canada? 

Canada gets a total of 12 statutory holidays in 2023, although many have already passed.

After the summer, these are other statutory holidays in Canada that will offer Canadians a day off:

  • National Day for Truth and Reconciliation: September 30
  • Thanksgiving Day: October 9
  • Remembrance Day: November 11
  • Christmas Day: December 25
  • Boxing Day: December 26
It's worth noting that National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which falls on Saturday, September 30, is a federal statutory holiday, meaning that federal employees are the only ones guaranteed to get a day off.

Provinces may choose to recognize the holiday on a provincial level, and your employer may recognize the day and give you the day off.

Remembrance Day is also not observed all over Canada. Essentially, the day is a statutory holiday in every province and territory except for Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. This year, it will fall on Saturday, November 11.

Boxing Day, which falls on Tuesday, December 26, is also only observed as a stat holiday in Ontario.

Enjoy your holiday!
Katherine Caspersz
Creator
Katherine Caspersz is a Creator for Narcity Media focused on evergreen travel and things to do, and is based in the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario.
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