Ontario Civic Holiday: The holiday that isn’t..

The upcoming Civic Holiday is celebrated on Monday, August 3 in Ontario. The holiday, which was created in honour of John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, often raises questions for employees and employers alike. Contrary to popular belief, the Civic Holiday is not a statutory holiday in Ontario; it is not listed as a public holiday in the province’s Employment Standards Act. This means that, while many employers choose to give their employees a holiday, they are not required to do so by law.

A number of other provinces also have a public holiday, called by a variety of different names, next Monday. British Columbia Day, New Brunswick Day, Saskatchewan Day, Civic Holiday in the Northwest Territories and Civic Holiday in Nunavut are all statutory holidays and are governed by each province’s employment standards legislation. Heritage Day in Alberta, Natal Day in Nova Scotia, and Civic Holiday in Manitoba are not statutory holidays and employees are therefore not guaranteed a holiday.