Monday, February 15, 2010

Family Day in Canada


Well, some of us in Canada have the day off to celebrate Family Day. Here's some background.

In most of Canada, Family Day is a statutory holiday occurring on the third Monday in February. This corresponds with Presidents Day in the United States. (So I guess most of you south of the border have a day off too!)

Family Day was first held in Canada in the province of Alberta in 1990. It is supposed to reflect the values of family and home that were important to the pioneers who founded Alberta, and give workers the opportunity to spend more time with their families. Family Day was introduced in Saskatchewan in 2007 and in Ontario in 2008. One of the reasons for introducing Family Day was that there was a long period when there were no holidays from New Year's Day until Good Friday.

15 comments:

The Many Thoughts of a Reader said...

This is the first time I have ever had President's Day off. I think we need to have a Family Day too ha.

cindysloveofbooks said...

Its business as usual in Quebec. No holiday for us.

Enjoy the holiday.

Mrs Suvi said...

I've never heard of Family Day before, lucky you, I'd love a day off for that!

Jennifer @ Mrs. Q: Book Addict said...

Quebec= no family day

To work I must go....

Enjoy your day off!

fredamans said...

Happy Family Day from Hamilton, ON.

avisannschild said...

Never heard of this holiday and ain't I Canadian?

I was in the liquor store this weekend and they were having 10% off on Canadian wines (because of the Olympics). The woman at the store carefully specified that that meant wines from Quebec were also 10% off, as if she had to remind us that Quebec is part of Canada!

Luanne said...

Cindy,Jennifer and Avis - sorry you have no holiday. Avis - why in the world would she think she had to clarify that PQ was included?!

Pinkflipflops - my daughter is a teacher in the US and she's working but her students are off.

Thanks Freda and pinkilili!

Hannah Stoneham said...

This sounds like a great idea. I wish we had one in the UK and France where I live.... Thanks for sharing, Hannah

bermudaonion said...

What a nice holiday!

Dana said...

I've never heard of this holiday before, but I love the idea (definitely much better than President's Day...)

Jeanne said...

I used to make a cherry pie for Washington's birthday, but somehow "president's day" doesn't inspire celebration. Just as well this year, since we were snowed in! We've been having family days for about a week now. We're far enough below the "snow line" that we don't have a lot of snow plows.

Anna said...

What a neat idea! I guess our President's Day was actually a family day because for once we all had the day off from work/school. Hope you enjoyed yourself!

--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric

Sandra said...

Interesting that you wrote about it. I was baffled because so many things being closed that day and while my visiting nurse had the day off we got regular mail delivery. Go figure.

Sandra said...
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Melwyk said...

I am very glad that Ontario has joined in with Family Day. We do need another holiday between Christmas and Easter! This year I actually got to spend time with my sister, visiting from Germany, on Family Day. Hurrah!