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The third Monday in February, 16 February 2026, is a statutory holiday in eight of thirteen provinces and territories. Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut do not observe it. Neither does the Canada Labour Code, so federally regulated work has no February holiday anywhere in the country. In the eight that do observe it, the statutes use four different names for the same Monday — and Nova Scotia's use none, calling it only "the third Monday in February".
A statutory holiday in 8 of 13 provinces and territories.
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| Jurisdiction | Statutory holiday | |
|---|---|---|
| AlbertaAlberta Family Daypay formula → | Yes | Alberta Family Day |
| British ColumbiaFamily Daypay formula → | Yes | Family Day |
| ManitobaLouis Riel Day (third Monday in February)pay formula → | Yes | Louis Riel Day (third Monday in February) |
| New BrunswickFamily Daypay formula → | Yes | Family Day |
| Newfoundland and Labrador—pay formula → | No | — |
| Northwest Territories—pay formula → | No | — |
| Nova ScotiaNova Scotia Heritage Day (the third Monday in February)pay formula → | Yes | Nova Scotia Heritage Day (the third Monday in February) |
| Nunavut—pay formula → | No | — |
| OntarioFamily Daypay formula → | Yes | Family Day |
| Prince Edward IslandIslander Daypay formula → | Yes | Islander Day |
| Quebec—pay formula → | No | — |
| SaskatchewanFamily Daypay formula → | Yes | Family Day |
| Yukon—pay formula → | No | — |
There is no national list of statutory holidays. Thirteen legislatures write their own, and Parliament writes a fourteenth in the Canada Labour Code for federally regulated work. The February holiday was the newest entry on most of those lists until the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation started arriving in 2021, and like that day it came one jurisdiction at a time: first observed in Alberta in 1990, Saskatchewan in 2007, Manitoba and Ontario in 2008, Prince Edward Island in 2009, British Columbia in 2013, Nova Scotia in 2015, New Brunswick in 2018. Each legislature named its own day, which is why the names are local rather than shared.
The date is not always fixed in the employment standards statute either. British Columbia's Employment Standards Act names Family Day in its list of statutory holidays but sets no date; the third Monday comes from the Family Day Regulation under the Family Day Act, S.B.C. 2012, c. 24, and B.C. Reg. 75/2018 moved it there from the second Monday. Prince Edward Island moved its date too, but by statute: the Islander Day Act created the day in 2008 and was amended in 2009 to the third Monday.
None of the eight sets a special rate for February. It is paid the way that jurisdiction pays any of its holidays, and those rules differ. Ontario divides the four work weeks before the holiday week by twenty (Employment Standards Act, 2000, s. 24(1)). British Columbia spreads the last 30 calendar days over the days you actually worked. Nova Scotia pays a regular day's pay at your regular rate — and where hours or wages vary, averages the 30 calendar days before the holiday to find what a regular day is. Same Monday, three different numbers.
Where the February Monday is not statutory, no employment standards law makes it paid. If the workplace closes anyway, that is employer policy or a collective agreement, and those set the terms: whether the day is paid, at what rate, and who qualifies. Yukon is the clearest case. Heritage Day exists there and is widely taken off, but the Employment Standards Act lists eleven general holidays and Heritage Day is not among them.
Questions people actually ask
No. Quebec has seven paid holidays under the Loi sur les normes du travail, plus the Fête nationale on 24 June under its own statute — eight in all, and none of them falls in February. An employer in Quebec can close on the third Monday and pay for it, but that comes from a contract or a collective agreement rather than from the Act.
No. Section 166 of the Canada Labour Code lists ten general holidays, and none is in February. A bank teller in Toronto, an airline crew member in Calgary and an interprovincial truck driver in Vancouver are all federally regulated, so the provincial February holiday does not reach them. Where they do get the day off, it comes from the employer or the collective agreement.
Each legislature picked its own name. Manitoba passed the legislation in 2007 and first observed the day in February 2008, with the name chosen through a competition among school children. What entered the Labour Standards Code on 1 January 2015 was "the third Monday in February" — the February Holiday Act left the name to the Governor in Council, which chose Nova Scotia Heritage Day. The practical consequence is in your contract: wording that promises Family Day does not obviously cover a day the statute calls something else.
It was on the second Monday in February from 2013, out of step with the rest of the country. B.C. Reg. 75/2018 amended the Family Day Regulation to the third Monday, effective for 2019 onward. Because the date sits in a regulation rather than in the Employment Standards Act, the change did not require amending the Act itself.
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