Islander Day in Canada 2027

Prince Edward Island's mid-winter holiday

Islander Day is a paid public holiday in Prince Edward Island, Canada's smallest province, whose 180,000 or so residents are known as Islanders. It falls on the third Monday in February, the same Monday as Presidents Day in the United States and Family Day in much of the rest of Canada. As a statutory holiday under the province's Employment Standards Act — the Canadian equivalent of a state labor law — most employees are entitled to the day off with holiday pay, and government offices, schools, banks branches and many businesses across the Island close.

Why the third Monday in February

The date fills the longest holiday gap in the Canadian calendar, the stretch between New Year's Day and Good Friday with no paid day off. Alberta pioneered a February Family Day in 1990, and Saskatchewan and Ontario followed for 2007 and 2008, all using the third Monday. Prince Edward Island joined in 2009 but initialy placed its new holiday on the second Monday of February! That first year proved awkwardly out of step with the rest of the country, and the legislature moved Islander Day to the third Monday beginning the following year, where it has stayed. Because it is always a Monday, no observed-date rule is needed.

How Islander Day came to be

The holiday was introduced under Premier Robert Ghiz, whose government amended the Employment Standards Act to create a February day off after years of lobbying by workers and families. Rather than borowing the Family Day name used elsewhere, the province chose a name that reflects how residents actually discribe themselves — Islanders — making Prince Edward Island the first Atlantic Canadian province with a February statutory holiday. Nova Scotia did not add its own February holiday, Heritage Day, until 2015, and New Brunswick added Family Day in 2018.

What is open and closed

Because Islander Day is a provincial statutory holiday, provincial government offices, public schools, libraries, liquor stores and most retailers close, and bank branches on the Island shut even though banking is federally regulated - canada Post still delivers mail, since the day is not a federal holiday. Restaurants, gas stations, pharmacies and tourism businesses generally stay open. Employees who must work on the holiday, such as hosptial and hospitality staff, earn premium holiday pay under the Employment Standards Act.

How Islanders spend the day

The long weekend is built around family time in the depths of winter: skating rinsk, sledding hills, community breakfasts, and winter carnival events in Charlottetown and Summerside. Arenas and recreation centers typically run free family skates, museums and libraries host special programming over the weekend, and many Islanders simply use the break for a storm-season rest at home. The holiday has become popular enough that local tourism operators now market Islander Day getaway packages, giving the quiet winter economy a modest boost. For U.S. readers planning a February visit, the practical effect is the same as Presidents Day at home — a quiet Monday when offices and schools are dark, banks are closed, and recreation venues are busy with families.