Court holidays
The days that come out of a court deadline. Not the same list as each province’s statutory holidays.
Not a holiday on that listMon 28 DecMoved off a weekend
| Federal | Ontario | Quebec | British Columbia | Alberta | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | Thu 1 Jan | Thu 1 Jan | Thu 1 Jan | Thu 1 Jan | Thu 1 Jan |
| 2 January | Fri 2 Jan | ||||
| Family Day | Mon 16 Feb | Mon 16 Feb | Mon 16 Feb | ||
| Good Friday | Fri 3 Apr | Fri 3 Apr | Fri 3 Apr | Fri 3 Apr | Fri 3 Apr |
| Easter Monday | Mon 6 Apr | Mon 6 Apr | Mon 6 Apr | Mon 6 Apr | Mon 6 Apr |
| Victoria Day | Mon 18 May | Mon 18 May | Mon 18 May | Mon 18 May | |
| National Patriots' Day | Mon 18 May | ||||
| Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day | Wed 24 Jun | ||||
| Canada Day | Wed 1 Jul | Wed 1 Jul | Wed 1 Jul | Wed 1 Jul | Wed 1 Jul |
| Civic Holiday | Mon 3 Aug | ||||
| British Columbia Day | Mon 3 Aug | ||||
| Labour Day | Mon 7 Sep | Mon 7 Sep | Mon 7 Sep | Mon 7 Sep | Mon 7 Sep |
| National Day for Truth and Reconciliation | Wed 30 Sep | Wed 30 Sep | |||
| Thanksgiving Day | Mon 12 Oct | Mon 12 Oct | Mon 12 Oct | Mon 12 Oct | Mon 12 Oct |
| Remembrance Day | Wed 11 Nov | Wed 11 Nov | Wed 11 Nov | Wed 11 Nov | |
| Christmas Day | Fri 25 DecMon 28 Dec | Fri 25 Dec | Fri 25 Dec | Fri 25 Dec | Fri 25 Dec |
| Boxing Day | Sat 26 DecMon 28 Dec | Sat 26 Dec | Sat 26 Dec | Sat 26 Dec | |
| Days in 2026 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 11 |
Court list against statutory listCounting over Christmas and the New Year
Questions this page answers
Are court holidays the same as statutory holidays?
No, and treating them as the same is where a miscounted deadline usually starts. The two lists sit in different instruments and serve different purposes. Ontario is the clearest case: r. 1.03(1) of the Rules of Civil Procedure closes the courts on Easter Monday, the Civic Holiday and Remembrance Day, and none of the three is an employment-standards public holiday in Ontario.
Which holiday list does a filing deadline run on?
The one the rule you are working to points at, which is normally the court's own. Where a period is counted in business days rather than calendar days, the holidays come out of the count as well as off the end of it, and those are two separate operations that a general holiday calendar will not perform for you.
Are these the days the courthouse is closed?
No. These are the days that come out of a computation of time. Which days a registry is open is a separate question: federally, for example, 26 December is a day the registries shut and is not a day the Federal Courts Rules take out of a computation, so it appears on four of the five lists here and not on the federal one.
How current are the lists on this site?
Every list was last read against the official consolidation, rather than a mirror of it, on 12 August 2026. That date only moves when someone has opened each instrument cited at the foot of these pages and read the provision quoted there. It does not certify that a lawyer has passed on the judgment calls, and a day proclaimed after that date will not be on any of these lists.
Can these holiday lists be reused?
Yes. Each year's table is also published as JSON at the same address as its page with /data.json on the end, under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The payload carries the instruments it came from and the date they were last read, so anything consuming it can check both.
Where this list comes from
Every instrument below was opened and the provision quoted from it read on 12 August 2026. Anything amended since that date is not reflected here, and the dates are generated from a table in this site's source code rather than read live from the statute.
- Federal Courts Rules, SOR/98-106, rule 2Defines holiday as a Saturday, a holiday under s. 35(1) of the Interpretation Act, the Monday after a weekend New Year's Day, Canada Day or Remembrance Day, the Monday and Tuesday after a weekend Christmas, and the Monday after a Friday Christmas. Also defines the seasonal recess as 21 December to 7 January.
- Federal Courts Rules, SOR/98-106, rule 6Computation of time. Rule 6(2) takes holidays out of a period of less than seven days; rule 6(3) takes every day of the seasonal recess out of the time for filing, amending, transmitting or serving a document.
- Interpretation Act, RSC 1985, c I-21, s. 35(1)The list rule 2 adopts: Sunday, New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Christmas Day, the Sovereign's birthday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Remembrance Day, and any day proclaimed for general prayer, mourning, rejoicing or thanksgiving.
- Courts Administration Service, registry holidaysThe days the registries are shut, which is a different list and is why 26 December is absent above. It closes on 26 December and on the Civic Holiday in most provinces; rule 2 names neither.
- Rules of Civil Procedure, RRO 1990, Reg 194, r. 1.03(1)Defines holiday as any Saturday or Sunday, New Year's Day, Family Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, the Civic Holiday, Labour Day, Thanksgiving Day, Remembrance Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and any special holiday proclaimed by the Governor General or the Lieutenant Governor, with the Monday substitution for a weekend New Year's Day, Canada Day or Remembrance Day and the Monday and Tuesday after a weekend Christmas.
- Rules of Civil Procedure, RRO 1990, Reg 194, r. 3.01Computation of time. Holidays are not counted where a period of seven days or less is prescribed, and a period ending on a holiday runs to the next day that is not one.
- Your guide to the Employment Standards Act: public holidays (Ontario)The nine employment-standards holidays, and the statement that an employer giving a holiday on Easter Monday, the first Monday in August or Remembrance Day is not required by the Act to do it. This is the list r. 1.03(1) is not.
- Code of Civil Procedure, CQLR c C-25.01, art. 82The courts do not sit on Saturdays or on holidays within the meaning of s. 61 of the Interpretation Act, nor on 26 December or 2 January, which that article makes holidays for civil procedure.
- Interpretation Act, CQLR c I-16, s. 61(23)The holidays art. 82 adopts: Sundays, 1 January, Good Friday, Easter Monday, 24 June, 1 July or 2 July when 1 July is a Sunday, Labour Day, the second Monday of October, 25 December, the day proclaimed for the Sovereign's birthday, and any other proclaimed public holiday or day of thanksgiving. Paragraph (f) is the only substitution in the list.
- Interpretation Act, RSBC 1996, c 238, s. 29The definition of holiday, in the general list of expressions defined. Note that Saturday is not in it, and that no paragraph grants a substitute day.
- Supreme Court Civil Rules, BC Reg 168/2009Cited for what it does not say. The Rules use the word holiday but Rule 1-1 defines no list of their own, so s. 29 governs. They do separately define a business day as a day the registries are open, which is a different question again.
- Interpretation Act, RSA 2000, c I-8, s. 28(1)(x)The definition of holiday. Sub-paragraph (iv) is the one that catches people out: 26 December, or when that date falls on a Sunday or a Monday, then 27 December. The day moves; it is not doubled.
- Interpretation Act, RSA 2000, c I-8, s. 22(1)Computation of time: where the time limited by an enactment for doing a thing expires or falls on a holiday, the thing may be done on the next day that is not one.
- Alberta Rules of Court, Alta Reg 124/2010Cited for what it does not say. The word holiday does not appear anywhere in the consolidated Rules, which is why the Interpretation Act definition is the operative one.
The table cannot know about a day proclaimed after it was written, a closure at your own courthouse, or an amendment to the underlying rules. Confirm any date that a limitation period or a filing deadline depends on.
This page is published for general information. It is not legal advice, it does not create a solicitor-client relationship, and no retainer arises from reading it. To the fullest extent the law allows, Yehuda Levy accepts no liability for any loss arising from reliance on it. You are responsible for verifying every date against the rules and the court in question.
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