British Columbia, Canada public holidays 2026

2026 at a glance

• In 2026, public holidays fall on 11 weekdays in British Columbia, the same as in 2025.

In British Columbia, a holiday that falls on a Saturday or Sunday is not moved to a fixed weekday: an eligible employee gets statutory holiday pay, and the employer does not have to give another day off. These counts therefore subtract no substitute weekday; if your employer gives you one, count one working day fewer. The moves fixed by law are counted: Canada Day moves to 2 July when 1 July is a Sunday.

Public holidays in 2026

11 dates are counted as non-working in British Columbia in 2026; 11 of them fall on a weekday.

• not counted some employers only

Also observed by some

1 more day is a holiday only for some employers, sectors or areas in 2026. It is not counted as a non-working day here.

Working days and hours by month

Working days are Monday to Friday minus the counted holidays. Hours are shown for a 7.5-hour and an 8-hour working day.

• Jan 21 working days in January, 1 holiday
• Feb 19 working days in February, 1 holiday
• Mar 22 working days in March
• Apr 21 working days in April, 1 holiday
• May 20 working days in May, 1 holiday
• Jun 22 working days in June
• Jul 22 working days in July, 1 holiday
• Aug 20 working days in August, 1 holiday
• Sep 20 working days in September, 2 holidays
• Oct 21 working days in October, 1 holiday
• Nov 20 working days in November, 1 holiday
• Dec 22 working days in December, 1 holiday

Compare with the rest of Canada

Long weekends in 2026

Runs of three or more days off in a row without taking leave.

• 3 days Saturday 14 February 2026 to Monday 16 February 2026
• 3 days Friday 3 April 2026 to Sunday 5 April 2026
• 3 days Saturday 16 May 2026 to Monday 18 May 2026
• 3 days Saturday 1 August 2026 to Monday 3 August 2026
• 3 days Saturday 5 September 2026 to Monday 7 September 2026
• 3 days Saturday 10 October 2026 to Monday 12 October 2026
• 3 days Friday 25 December 2026 to Sunday 27 December 2026

Best days to take leave in 2026

The longest single break for each number of leave days, built around a public holiday.

Leave plans for the whole year

Non-overlapping breaks that give the most days off for a given number of leave days.

Try any budget from 1 to 30 days in the leave planner

Countdown

The days to the next holiday appear here when JavaScript is on.

The working days left this month and this year appear here when JavaScript is on.

Count working days between two dates

Calendar and data downloads

The subscription works in Google Calendar, Outlook and Apple Calendar. The CSV file also lists the days observed by some.

About public holidays in British Columbia

In British Columbia, statutory holidays are set by the Employment Standards Act, Part 5, sections 44 to 48. The provincial government's employment standards pages list the holidays and explain the rules. Employees of federally regulated employers follow the Canada Labour Code instead; their list is on the Canada (federal) page of this site.

British Columbia has eleven statutory holidays: New Year's Day, Family Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, B.C. Day, Labour Day, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Thanksgiving Day, Remembrance Day and Christmas Day. In 2027 they fall on Friday 1 January, Monday 15 February, Friday 26 March, Monday 24 May, Thursday 1 July, Monday 2 August, Monday 6 September, Thursday 30 September, Monday 11 October, Thursday 11 November and Saturday 25 December.

The list differs from the federal one. Family Day and B.C. Day (Monday 2 August in 2027) are provincial holidays that the Canada Labour Code does not include. Boxing Day is a general holiday under the Code but not in British Columbia: the province states that Easter Sunday, Easter Monday and Boxing Day are not statutory holidays in B.C.

The Act does not move a holiday that falls on a weekend. The government's interpretation of section 45 states that statutory holiday pay applies whether or not the holiday falls on the employee's regularly scheduled day off, and that if the holiday falls on an employee's day off, the employer is not required to give another day off. In 2027 Christmas Day is a Saturday; under the Act, 25 December remains the statutory holiday.

Under section 48, an employer and an employee may agree in writing to substitute another day for a statutory holiday. The substitute day is then treated in the same way as a statutory holiday.

The province also sets conditions for statutory holiday pay. Its guidance states that an employee must have been employed for 30 calendar days and have worked or earned wages on 15 of the 30 days before the holiday.

On this site, the British Columbia page counts the eleven statutory holidays as non-working days. Boxing Day, which some employers observe, is shown in a separate list and is not counted.

Source and last check

Dates are calculated with the python-holidays library 0.108 and checked against the official sources below. Last checked: 15 November 2026.

Sources

• https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/employment-business/employment-standards-advice/employment-standards/statutory-holidays
• https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/employment-business/employment-standards-advice/employment-standards/statutory-holidays/qualify-for-statutory-holiday-pay
• https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/employment-business/employment-standards-advice/employment-standards/forms-resources/igm/esa-part-5-section-45
• https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/L-2/section-166.html

How the counts are made