Is Remembrance Day a Stat Holiday in Canada? Province by Province

Remembrance Day is a paid statutory holiday in most of Canada, including British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, the federal Canada Labour Code, and every territory researched. It is not statutory in Ontario or Quebec, and Manitoba and Nova Scotia handle it through a separate act rather than their main list of general holidays.

Information last verified on 2026-09-24. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

This article covers whether Remembrance Day is a paid statutory holiday under the employment standards laws of Canada's provinces and territories and under the federal Canada Labour Code. It addresses the employment law question only, not the separate question of whether schools, government offices, or courts close for the day. For the full picture of which days are statutory in each jurisdiction, see Statutory Holidays in Canada.

Where Remembrance Day Is a Paid Statutory Holiday

Remembrance Day is statutory in more jurisdictions than not. British Columbia's dated table of statutory holidays lists Remembrance Day (November 11) among its 11 holidays. Alberta's list of 9 general holidays likewise includes Remembrance Day (November 11), alongside days such as New Year's Day and Christmas Day. Saskatchewan's list of 10 public holidays also includes it.

New Brunswick's Employment Standards Act defines its 8 public holidays to include Remembrance Day by name, and Newfoundland and Labrador's Labour Standards Act, section 14, lists Remembrance Day among its 6 public holidays. Prince Edward Island's new Employment Standards Act, in force by June 30, 2026, lists Remembrance Day among its 8 paid holidays.

Federally, section 166(1) of the Canada Labour Code defines a general holiday to include Remembrance Day, binding banks, telecommunications carriers, interprovincial transportation companies, and other federally regulated employers regardless of the province where the work is performed. Yukon's 11 general holidays, the Northwest Territories' 11 statutory holidays, and Nunavut's 11 general holidays all include Remembrance Day as well.

Where Remembrance Day Is Not a Statutory Holiday

Ontario's Employment Standards Act does not require Remembrance Day as a paid holiday. The Ministry of Labour's own guide states it directly: while some employers give a holiday on Remembrance Day, among other days, the employer is not required to do so under the Act.

Quebec's Act respecting labour standards sets out 7 paid holidays at article 60, and Remembrance Day is not one of them. It is also absent from the separately legislated Fête nationale (June 24), which is Quebec's only other statutory paid holiday.

Manitoba and Nova Scotia: A Separate Act, Not a Simple No

Manitoba and Nova Scotia deserve their own explanation because the answer for each is not a plain yes or no.

Manitoba's list of 9 general holidays under its Employment Standards Code does not include Remembrance Day. Manitoba instead addresses Remembrance Day through its own separate legislation, with its own pay and closing rules distinct from the general-holidays framework that covers days like New Year's Day and Labour Day.

Nova Scotia's Labour Standards Code lists only 6 paid general holidays, and Remembrance Day is not among them. Like Manitoba, Nova Scotia governs Remembrance Day through its own dedicated Remembrance Day Act rather than folding it into the Labour Standards Code's main holiday list.

Manitoba's government sets out the rules directly. An employee who does not work Remembrance Day does not have to be paid for it. An employee who works it is paid for at least half of a normal work day at 1.5 times regular wages, or 1.5 times for all hours worked if they work more than half their normal hours, plus a regular day's pay, or 5% of gross earnings in the 28 days before Remembrance Day if their hours vary. Unlike a general holiday, Remembrance Day cannot be substituted for another day.

Most industries in Manitoba are not allowed to operate on November 11, although listed exceptions such as hospitals, hotels, and restaurants may. Retail businesses may open but cannot be open between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., and retail employees have the right to refuse to work Remembrance Day if they give their employer 14 days' notice.

Nova Scotia's government states that employees who do not work November 11 are not paid for it unless the employer offers pay as a benefit. An employee of a business permitted to open, outside farming, fishing, aquaculture, Christmas tree operations, forestry, and industrial undertakings, who works November 11 and was entitled to wages for at least 15 of the 30 calendar days before it, earns another day off with pay. That benefit does not apply to employees whose employers are exempt from the requirement to close, and the Act provides no premium pay, such as time and a half, for working the day. Most grocery stores, big box stores, and retail malls must close on November 11.

How Working the Holiday Is Paid Where It Is Statutory

The premium for working a statutory Remembrance Day is not the same everywhere it applies. British Columbia pays time and a half for hours worked, rising to double time for hours worked over 12, stacked on top of statutory holiday pay rather than replacing it. Saskatchewan and the Canada Labour Code also stack a time-and-a-half premium on top of holiday pay, although a federal employee in a continuous operation may instead be given a paid holiday at another time. Manitoba's Remembrance Day rule also pays a premium: 1.5 times regular wages plus a regular day's pay for an employee who works the day. Alberta instead lets the employer choose between paying time and a half plus the average daily wage, or paying regular wages for the hours worked plus a future paid day off at the average daily wage.

Newfoundland and Labrador is the outlier: where the employer and employee agree that the holiday will be a working day, the employee chooses between double the wages properly earned for that day, a day off within 30 days at holiday pay, or an extra vacation day. That double-wages option does not appear in any other jurisdiction researched for this article, so it should not be assumed to apply outside Newfoundland and Labrador.

What This Means If You Are Scheduled to Work Remembrance Day

If your employment is governed by British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, the Canada Labour Code, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, or Nunavut, you may be entitled to holiday pay, a premium for hours worked, or both, subject to that jurisdiction's own qualifying rule. If you work in Ontario or Quebec, the day is not statutory, and any pay or time off for it comes only from your employer's own policy or a collective agreement. If you work in Manitoba or Nova Scotia, the rules come from that province's separate Remembrance Day Act, summarized above: no pay for not working the day, and for working it, a premium in Manitoba or, for some employees, a later day off with pay in Nova Scotia.

For the qualifying rules, pay formulas, and premium structures in more depth for a specific province, see Statutory Holidays in Ontario, Statutory Holidays in British Columbia, and Statutory Holidays in Alberta. For the federally regulated workforce, see Federally Regulated Employees and the Canada Labour Code. For the full comparison table across all 13 jurisdictions, see Statutory Holidays in Canada.

Disclaimer: This article provides general information about whether Remembrance Day is a paid statutory holiday under Canadian federal and provincial or territorial employment standards laws, current as of September 2026. It is not legal advice, and its summary of Manitoba's and Nova Scotia's separate Remembrance Day legislation relies on each government's own guidance rather than every provision of those Acts. Employment standards change by legislative amendment, and an employer's own policy or a collective agreement may provide more generous terms than the legal minimum described here. Consult the relevant government employment standards office or a lawyer licensed in your province or territory for advice on your specific situation.