Remembrance Day in Canada 2026

Canada's day of remembrance

Remembrance Day is observed across Canada every November 11, marking the armistice that ended the First World War at 11 a.m. on November 11, 1918 — the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. It honors the more than one hundred thousand Canadians who have died in military service. The day is a statutory holiday for federally regulated employees and in most provinces and territories, including Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan and the three northern territories. It is not a general paid holiday in Ontario or Quebec, Canada's two largest provinces, where schools and most businesses remain open even as banks and federal offices close — so whether Canadians get the day off depends heavily on where they live and who empolys them.

From Armistice Day to Remembrance Day

Canada first marked Armistice Day in 1919, following King George V's call for commemoration throughout the British Empire - a 1921 act of Parliament fixed the observance on the Monday of the week of November 11 — the same day as Thanksgiving, an awkward pairing that many veterans felt diminsihed the solemn anniversary. In 1931 Parliament amended the law, renaming the day Remembrance Day and returning it permanently to November 11 itself, while Thanksgiving eventually moved to October. The United States followed a parallel path: its Armistice Day became Veterans Day in 1954, though the American holiday honors all who have served while Canada's centers on the falen.

Poppies and two minutes of silence

The red popy, inspired by "In Flanders Fields" — the 1915 poem written by Canadian army docotr Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae after the Second Battle of Ypres — was adopted as Canada's flower of remembrance in 1921. In the weeks before November 11, millions of Canadians wear lapel poppies distributed by the Royal Canadian Legion in exchange for donations to veterans' programs. At 11 a.m. the country pauses for two minutes of silence, the national ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa includes the Last Post, the laying of wreaths by the governor general and a Silver Cross Mother representing all who lost children in service, a twenty-one gun salute and a veterans' march. Similar ceremonies at cenotaphs in cities and small towns draw some of the largest crowds of any Canadian public event.

What is open and closed

Closures track each province's law. Where the day is statutory, government offices, schools, banks and most businesses close, and workers who must work generally receive premium pay or a substitute day; ceremonies are always held on November 11 itself, while federally regulated employees get the next working day when the date falls on a weekend, and Saskatchewan moves a Sunday holiday to Monday. Nova Scotia and Manitoba take a middle path: their Remembrance Day acts require most businesses to close even though the day is not an ordinary employment-standards holiday. In Ontario and Quebec, schools hold assemblies and moments of silence but stay in session, and stores open as usual. Banks close nationwide, as do federal offices and mail delivery — comparable to Veterans Day closures in the United States.