Canada federal holidays are the ten paid general holidays set out in the Canada Labour Code for people who work in federally regulated industries. Every eligible employee is entitled to the day off with holiday pay, or a premium wage plus holiday pay if they end up working. The rules on how that pay is calculated, what happens when a holiday lands on a weekend, and whether your job is even covered are more specific than most workers assume.
The Ten General Holidays and 2026 Dates
The Canada Labour Code recognizes ten general holidays each year.1Government of Canada. Annual Vacations and General Holidays for Employees Working for Federally Regulated Employers For 2026, they fall on:2Government of Canada. Public Holidays
- New Year’s Day: Thursday, January 1
- Good Friday: Friday, April 3
- Victoria Day: Monday, May 18
- Canada Day: Wednesday, July 1
- Labour Day: Monday, September 7
- National Day for Truth and Reconciliation: Wednesday, September 30
- Thanksgiving Day: Monday, October 12
- Remembrance Day: Wednesday, November 11
- Christmas Day: Friday, December 25
- Boxing Day: Saturday, December 26
Because Boxing Day falls on a Saturday in 2026, employees whose regular schedule does not include Saturdays are entitled to a substitute day off on the working day immediately before or after December 26.3Justice Laws Website. Canada Labour Code RSC 1985 c L-2 – Section 193
Who Is Actually Covered
These rules only apply to employees in federally regulated industries, which is roughly 6 percent of the Canadian workforce. Everyone else falls under provincial employment standards, and provincial holiday lists and pay rules are different.
Federally regulated sectors include banking; telecommunications, broadcasting, and cable; air transportation; interprovincial and international rail, trucking, bus, ferry, and shipping services; postal and courier services; oil and gas pipelines that cross provincial or international borders; port services, canals, tunnels, and bridges; grain elevators and feed and seed mills; uranium mining and processing; most federal Crown corporations such as Canada Post; and First Nations band councils and Indigenous self-governments for certain activities. Any business integral to one of those operations is also covered.4Government of Canada. List of Federally Regulated Industries and Workplaces
Private-sector employers and municipalities in Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut also fall under Part I of the Canada Labour Code.4Government of Canada. List of Federally Regulated Industries and Workplaces If your workplace is not on this list and you work in one of the ten provinces, check your provincial employment standards instead.
How Holiday Pay Is Calculated
Every employee in a federally regulated workplace is entitled to paid time off on each general holiday, with no minimum length of service required. You qualify from your first week.5Justice Laws Website. Canada Labour Code RSC 1985 c L-2 – Entitlement to Holidays
Your holiday pay equals at least one-twentieth of the wages you earned in the four weeks immediately before the week containing the holiday. Overtime is excluded.6Justice Laws Website. Canada Labour Code RSC 1985 c L-2 – Section 196 Add up your regular earnings over the previous 28 days, divide by 20, and that’s the amount owed for the holiday. Someone earning a steady $1,000 per week would receive $200.
If your pay is based in whole or in part on commissions, and you have completed at least 12 weeks of continuous employment, a longer lookback applies: your holiday pay is one-sixtieth of the wages (again excluding overtime) earned in the 12-week period before the holiday week.6Justice Laws Website. Canada Labour Code RSC 1985 c L-2 – Section 196 The wider window smooths out the swings that commission earners see week to week.
Pay for Working on a Holiday
If your employer requires you to work on a general holiday, you receive your regular holiday pay plus a premium of at least one and one-half times your regular hourly rate for every hour you actually work that day.7Justice Laws Website. Canada Labour Code RSC 1985 c L-2 – Section 197 The two amounts stack, so the day pays substantially more than a normal shift.
Continuous Operations
Employees in continuous operations like railways, airlines, and shipping face slightly different rules. When required to work on a holiday, the employer must do one of three things: pay the 1.5x premium described above, give you a substitute holiday with pay at another time, or, where a collective agreement provides for it, pay you holiday pay for the first day you are next off work.7Justice Laws Website. Canada Labour Code RSC 1985 c L-2 – Section 197
There is an important catch. Continuous-operation employees can lose their holiday pay entirely if they fail to report for work after being called in on a holiday, or if they make themselves unavailable when their employment conditions require them to be on call.8Justice Laws Website. Canada Labour Code RSC 1985 c L-2 – Section 196 This is one of the few situations where the entitlement can be forfeited outright.
When a Holiday Falls on a Weekend
Not every holiday lands on a weekday, and the Code handles that in two ways depending on the holiday.
Six holidays trigger a mandatory substitute day: New Year’s Day, Canada Day, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Remembrance Day, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. When any of these fall on a Saturday or Sunday that is not part of your regular schedule, your employer must give you the working day immediately before or after the holiday as a paid substitute.3Justice Laws Website. Canada Labour Code RSC 1985 c L-2 – Section 193 There is no discretion; the substitute has to be one of the adjacent working days.
For Good Friday, Victoria Day, Labour Day, and Thanksgiving, if one falls on a non-working day the substitution is more flexible. The employer can grant the day at any time convenient for both parties, or add it to your annual vacation.3Justice Laws Website. Canada Labour Code RSC 1985 c L-2 – Section 193 In practice this rarely comes up, because those four holidays always fall on a Monday or Friday by definition.
Swapping a Holiday for a Different Day
Separate from the weekend rules, employers can replace any general holiday with a different day, but only with proper consent. In unionized workplaces, the employer and union can agree in writing to swap any general holiday for another day. In non-unionized workplaces, the employer needs written approval from the individual employee, or approval from at least 70 percent of the affected employees if the swap covers a group.9Justice Laws Website. Canada Labour Code RSC 1985 c L-2 – Substitution
Once substituted, the new day becomes the general holiday for every purpose under the Code. Pay rules, premium rates, and entitlements all move with it. A holiday cannot simply be cancelled.
If Your Employer Doesn’t Pay
Employers who fail to provide holiday pay or time off face administrative monetary penalties under the Canada Labour Code, scaled to both the size of the employer and the severity of the violation. Fines range from $200 for an individual committing a minor violation up to $50,000 for a large business committing the most serious category, and an employer with a history of non-compliance within the previous five years can see the baseline penalty roughly tripled.10Government of Canada. Administrative Monetary Penalties (Canada Labour Code) Regulations If you believe your employer has denied holiday pay you’re owed, you can file a complaint with the federal Labour Program.