Not all provinces recognize Family Day, and it's not on the same day in every region. Do you know the differences?
Here is a list of the Provinces that recognize a statutory holiday in February:
Why is BC the only province that recognizes Feb 10th as Family day? B.C.'s Premier, Christy Clark, conducted a poll, before deciding on which Monday the holiday would fall. The majority of this poll voted for the 2nd Monday in February over the 3rd Monday, so that's why it's different than the rest of the provinces that recognize the February stat holiday.
On the payroll side, this may result in additional administration to handle this unique date to B.C. On the other hand, for people who get to observe the stat, it doesn't coincide with President's Day in the United States, which falls a week later. Being geographically, so close to the U.S. border, this will make travel easier for people from both countries and allows business in the tourism industry to benefit 2 weekends in a row!
With Family Day being a provincial holiday, it is not recognized by Ottawa, leaving most employees that fall under the Canada Labour Code working on the Provincial holiday. For example, Telus and Canada Post are both federally regulated and will be business as usual on the stat. However this does not seem to appear applicable to the Banks. For example, the Banks in British Columbia have announces they will be closed February 10th, but that only affects local branch banking. The following week, the Banks will be closed in Ontario, and those with central clearing houses there will be closed that day, so we in BC for example will be without service nationally which affects such items as incoming wire transfers.
- Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario - Family Day, Feb 17, 2014
- Manitoba - Louis Riel Day, Feb 17, 2014
- Prince Edward Island - Islander Day, Feb 17,2014
- British Columbia - Family Day, Feb 10, 2014
Why is BC the only province that recognizes Feb 10th as Family day? B.C.'s Premier, Christy Clark, conducted a poll, before deciding on which Monday the holiday would fall. The majority of this poll voted for the 2nd Monday in February over the 3rd Monday, so that's why it's different than the rest of the provinces that recognize the February stat holiday.
On the payroll side, this may result in additional administration to handle this unique date to B.C. On the other hand, for people who get to observe the stat, it doesn't coincide with President's Day in the United States, which falls a week later. Being geographically, so close to the U.S. border, this will make travel easier for people from both countries and allows business in the tourism industry to benefit 2 weekends in a row!
With Family Day being a provincial holiday, it is not recognized by Ottawa, leaving most employees that fall under the Canada Labour Code working on the Provincial holiday. For example, Telus and Canada Post are both federally regulated and will be business as usual on the stat. However this does not seem to appear applicable to the Banks. For example, the Banks in British Columbia have announces they will be closed February 10th, but that only affects local branch banking. The following week, the Banks will be closed in Ontario, and those with central clearing houses there will be closed that day, so we in BC for example will be without service nationally which affects such items as incoming wire transfers.
- Natasha Smyth, B.SC.(Agr.), CPM
