Remembrance Day in Canada, 2026

Remembrance Day falls on Wednesday, Nov. 11. It's a paid holiday in nine provinces and territories and for anyone in a federally regulated job. Ontario and Quebec don't make it one, and Manitoba and Nova Scotia run it under their own Remembrance Day laws. Pick where you work to see the rule, what it means for your pay and when the two minutes of silence start.

• Nov. 11A Wednesday in 2026
• 9 of 13Provinces and territories where it's a paid holiday
• 11 a.m.Two minutes of silence, local time
• Oct. 24Poppy campaign start, fixed from 2026

Where Remembrance Day is a stat holiday

The federal Holidays Act calls Nov. 11 a "legal holiday" to be observed throughout Canada,²⁰ but that label alone doesn't get you the day off. Quebec's labour standards board, for one, says Nov. 11 is not a holiday there except for workers under federal law.⁷ Your right to a paid day comes from the employment standards law that covers your job: your province's or territory's, or the Canada Labour Code if your employer is federally regulated.^18,19

"Stat holiday" here means the day is on the list of paid general, public or statutory holidays in that jurisdiction's law. Each one has its own rules for who qualifies. Highlighted rows are the four where Nov. 11 is not a paid holiday for most workers.

A collective agreement or your employment contract can give you more than the law. Federal public servants, for one, get Remembrance Day as a designated paid holiday under their own terms of employment.²⁹

Manitoba and Nova Scotia: closed, but not a holiday

These two provinces leave Nov. 11 off their lists of paid holidays and handle it in a separate Remembrance Day Act instead.^5,11 The result surprises people in both directions: many businesses must close, but nobody is owed pay for a day they don't work.

Manitoba

Most industries can't operate on Nov. 11. The province lists exceptions that include hospitals, hotels and restaurants, police and firefighters, child care, transportation, newspapers and broadcasters, farming and anything licensed under the liquor, gaming and cannabis law.⁴ Retail businesses may open, but not between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., unless all they sell in those hours is meals, health or veterinary services, drugs, gasoline or emergency car repairs. Movies, concerts and sports events follow the same 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. rule.

If you don't work, your employer doesn't have to pay you, though Manitoba notes many do. If you work, you're paid for at least half a normal day at time and a half, plus a regular day's pay. Retail employees can refuse to work the day if they give 14 days' notice.⁴

Nova Scotia

The Remembrance Day Act bars most people from working, selling or buying on Nov. 11. Most grocery stores, big box stores and malls close. Stand-alone drug stores, gas stations, restaurants and hotels, and stores with no more than three people working at once can open.¹⁰ Farms, fishing, forestry, mines, factories, construction and call centres are exempt and treat it as a normal workday.

Businesses allowed to open under the act's exceptions must stop for three minutes starting at 10:59 a.m.; the exempt industries don't. Nobody in the province can sell alcohol or stage a performance, game or dance before noon. If you work at a business that's allowed to open, and you were entitled to wages on at least 15 of the 30 days before, you earn another day off with pay. There's no time-and-a-half premium.¹⁰

Ontario and Quebec

Ontario's Employment Standards Act lists nine public holidays, and Remembrance Day isn't one. The province's guide says some employers give the day off anyway but don't have to.⁶ A separate Ontario law asks everyone in the province to pause for two minutes of silence at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11, says the silence relies on voluntary observance, and gives every worker the right to wear a poppy at work from Nov. 5 to 11, unless it poses a safety hazard.²¹

Quebec's labour standards board lists Remembrance Day under "jours non fériés," days that are not holidays. It says the day off applies only to workers covered by the Canada Labour Code, such as federal public servants, Canada Post employees and staff at banks, telecoms and interprovincial transport companies (our translation).⁷

What's open and closed on Nov. 11

Few opening-hour rules come from law. These are the ones official sources set out for 2026.

• Mail. Canada Post lists Remembrance Day as a national holiday: post offices close and there's no mail collection or delivery. Post offices run inside other stores keep that store's hours.²⁵
• Payments and banks. Payments Canada lists Wednesday, Nov. 11, as a closure day for its payment systems,²⁶ and the Bank of Canada lists it as a national holiday.²⁷ Banks are federally regulated, so their employees get the day under the Canada Labour Code.^7,15 We didn't find an official rule on branch hours. Check with your bank before you go.
• Taxes. The Canada Revenue Agency counts Nov. 11 as a public holiday. A payment due that day is on time if the CRA gets it the next business day.²⁸
• Federal offices. Remembrance Day is a designated paid holiday for the federal public service.²⁹
• Stores. Three provinces restrict opening by law: Manitoba (no retail from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.), Nova Scotia (most stores closed all day) and New Brunswick, where the Days of Rest Act lists Nov. 11 among the days businesses must be closed.^4,9,10 We didn't find a similar provincial rule elsewhere, so hours there are up to each store.

11 a.m.: the two minutes of silence

The armistice that ended the First World War took effect at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11, 1918.²¹ Veterans Affairs Canada says the National Remembrance Day Ceremony in Ottawa is timed so the flag is lowered and the Last Post finishes at exactly 11 a.m., which begins the two minutes of silence.³⁰ The Royal Canadian Legion organizes that ceremony at the National War Memorial. As of Oct. 7 its page still showed last year's program, which started at about 10:30 a.m. with a veterans' march, then the Last Post, the silence at 11, the lament, the Rouse and the laying of wreaths. The Legion said national news networks would carry it live and streamed it on its Facebook page.³¹

Communities observe the silence at 11 a.m. local time, so it moves west across the country over three and a half hours. Because B.C., Alberta and Manitoba didn't turn their clocks back this fall, the gaps are smaller than in past years. Winnipeg and Toronto fall silent at the same moment.

Our calculation from each province's and territory's clock time on Nov. 11, 2026. See daylight saving time 2026 in Canada for who fell back on Nov. 1.

Veterans' Week runs from Nov. 5 to 11.³⁶ Nov. 8 is Indigenous Veterans Day.³⁷ National Defence says 2026 marks the 95th anniversary of Nov. 11 as a day of national remembrance.³⁶

The poppy campaign

The Legion changed the dates this year. Starting in 2026, the National Poppy Campaign runs every year from Oct. 24 to Nov. 11. It used to start on the last Friday in October and run anywhere from 12 to 18 days.³⁴ The Canadian Armed Forces moved its uniform rule to match: members wear the poppy from Oct. 24.³⁵

• How to wear it. On the left side, over the heart. The Legion asks that you not use a pin that covers the poppy, and that you pick up a fallen poppy and wear it or dispose of it with respect.³³
• Where the money goes. Poppies are free. Donations stay in trust at the local Legion branch to support veterans and their families.³²
• Paying by card. RBC has put out more than 2,000 tap boxes that take a $5 donation, and the Legion's Amazon.ca storefront sends a lapel poppy for a donation of $5, $10 or $20.³²
• Where it came from. John McCrae wrote "In Flanders Fields" in May 1915. The Great War Veterans Association, a forerunner of the Legion, adopted the poppy at a meeting in Port Arthur, now Thunder Bay, on July 6, 1921.³³

What people are saying

We read Reddit threads in r/halifax, r/ontario, r/Manitoba and r/PersonalFinanceCanada from the past few years. The same confusion comes up every November: whether Nov. 11 is "a stat," and whose rules apply when you live in one province and your employer is in another.

• "Wait, it's not? Every job I've had is a paid day off."

  Commenter on r/halifax, Sept. 12, 2026⁴²

  In Nova Scotia that depends on the employer. The province says employees who don't work Nov. 11 aren't paid for it unless the employer offers pay.¹⁰

• "Remembrance Day is not a stat in Nova Scotia but it is a “special day” where you either get the day off with pay, or if you work it, you get another day off with pay in lieu."

  Commenter on r/halifax, Sept. 12, 2026⁴²

  Half right. The day in lieu applies at businesses allowed to open, for staff who meet the 15-of-30-days test. Pay for a day you don't work isn't required.¹⁰

• "I moved here from Manitoba and it took me years to remember that it’s not a holiday here."

  Commenter on r/ontario, Oct. 30, 2025⁴⁶

  It isn't a general holiday in Manitoba either, but Manitoba's Remembrance Day law bars most industries from operating on Nov. 11.⁴

• "I grew up in Saskatchewan. It's a stat there and works just fine. We still had ceremonies at school on Nov 10 or whatever the last day of school was before the 11th."

  Commenter on r/ontario, Oct. 30, 2025⁴⁶

• "Correct it is not a stat. It falls under The Remembrance Day Act, which forbids most businesses from operating on Nov 11."

  Commenter on r/halifax, Nov. 11, 2020⁴³

• "Broadly, and I am not a lawyer, the province where you perform your work typically dictates the rules that apply to you."

  Commenter on r/PersonalFinanceCanada, Nov. 9, 2022, replying to a remote worker in B.C. with an Ontario employer⁴⁴

  We didn't find a provincial page that answers the remote-work question. If your employer is federally regulated, the Canada Labour Code applies wherever you are.¹⁹ Otherwise, ask the employment standards office in the province where you do the work.

Still being decided

Nova Scotia: Bill 281

Liberal MLA Becky Druhan introduced a private member's bill on Sept. 11, 2026, that would make Remembrance Day a general holiday under the Labour Standards Code. The bill leaves the Remembrance Day Act's closing, noon and three-minute silence rules in place.^23,24,45 The bill has had first reading only. Nothing changes for Nov. 11, 2026, unless it passes before then.

Ontario: Bill 65 was defeated

An Ontario bill would have required every school to hold a Remembrance Day service and barred workplaces from operating between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Nov. 11. It was defeated at second reading on Nov. 26, 2025.²²

Claims we checked

Several holiday-list sites lump the provinces together. These are the errors we found while researching this page.

• False
  Remembrance Day is a public holiday in Ontario and Nova Scotia.

  holidays-info.com lists both, and leaves out Newfoundland and Labrador.³⁸ Ontario's guide says employers aren't required to give the day.⁶ Nova Scotia says it isn't a general paid holiday under its Labour Standards Code.¹¹ Newfoundland and Labrador's Labour Standards Act does list it.¹³

• Misleading
  It's a provincial holiday everywhere except Ontario and Quebec.

  timeanddate.com's table marks it a "Province/Territory Holiday" in "All except ON, QC."³⁹ Its own notes explain Manitoba's and Nova Scotia's separate rules, but in both provinces you aren't owed pay for a day you don't work.^4,10

• False
  In Manitoba, extra pay for working Remembrance Day depends on your employment agreement.

  ebsource.com says workers "may qualify for extra pay based on their employment agreements."⁴⁰ The premium is set by Manitoba's own rules: at least half a day at time and a half, plus a regular day's pay.⁴

• Outdated
  The poppy campaign starts on the last Friday of October.

  A Legion branch site still says so on its 2026 campaign page.⁴¹ The Legion fixed the start at Oct. 24 beginning this year.³⁴ The last Friday of October 2026 is Oct. 30.

Questions people ask

How we did this

We took each province's and territory's rule from its own employment standards page or statute, and the federal rule from the Canada Labour Code and Employment and Social Development Canada. Closing rules come from Manitoba, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick; ceremony and poppy details from Veterans Affairs Canada, National Defence and the Royal Canadian Legion; mail, payment and tax-office closures from Canada Post, Payments Canada, the Bank of Canada and the CRA. Sources were retrieved Oct. 7, 2026.

The times in the tool and the silence table are our calculation from the clock time each province and territory keeps on Nov. 11, 2026. The countdown runs from those fixed times, so a phone with an out-of-date time zone won't throw it off. This page is general information, not legal advice. For your own situation, call your province's employment standards office.

Update log

• Oct. 7, 2026, 9:44 p.m. ETFirst published. Rules checked against each government's sources on Oct. 7, 2026.