Public holidays in Canada 2026

Canada has 8 nationwide public holidays in 2026. That figure covers the whole country only: provinces, territories, and individual employers add their own days on top, so many workers in Canada will see more than 8 on their actual calendar. Anyone comparing Canada’s total against another country should compare like with like - nationwide against nationwide - since regional additions can otherwise make the numbers misleading.

The shape of the year

The 2026 calendar opens with New Year’s Day on Thursday 1 January and closes with Christmas Day on Friday 25 December. Between them sits one long gap worth planning around: 92 days pass between New Year’s Day and the next nationwide holiday, Good Friday, with nothing nationwide to break up January, February, or March.

How the weekdays fall

Of the 8 nationwide holidays in 2026, 3 land on a Monday and 2 land on a Friday, both useful for a long weekend without using annual leave. None fall on a Saturday or Sunday this year, so nobody nationwide loses a holiday to the weekend calendar-wide - though whether any specific date gets moved by a substitute-day rule depends on the jurisdiction, and that varies enough that it is worth checking locally rather than assuming.

Dates below are drawn from the Nager.Date open holiday dataset as of this page’s review. Governments can and do adjust holiday dates after publication, so treat the table as a strong reference rather than a final legal record.