Canada Day 2024
In 2024 Canada Day is Monday, July 1.
When Canada Day falls on a Monday many people will take the preceding Friday or following Tuesday off to expand this into a 4 day long weekend! Be sure to book these days early as we suspect many people will want to take advantage of an extra long weekend.
Canada Day celebrates the birthday of Canada. 156 years ago, On July 1, 1867 Canada became a new federation with its own constitution by signing the Constitution Act - formerly known as the British North America Act.
Canada Day is a national statutory holiday celebrated in all provinces and territories and it is a day off for most businesses. There is, of course, a lot more to Canada Day but the purpose of this page is only to give you a date and a brief history.
Canada Day fireworks
Across the country many cities and venues launch spectacular fireworks that normally start at 10pm local time. These annual fireworks are a tradition for some families to watch - having spent the day at various Canada Day celebrations and activities.
In 2023 the Port of Vancouver annonced the permanent cancellation of the annual fireworks citing the high cost of the event. Several other municipalities followed suit; some plan to spend the savings from the cancelled fireworks to add additional events with themes related to First Nations. The Vancouver Port Authority has renamed the event from Canada Day to Canada Together and the celebrations are planned collaboratively with representatives from the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations under the theme of 'weaving together the fabric of a nation'.
Let us know in the comments if you think fireworks should or should not be part of Canada Day celebrations and to what extent you agree with the changes related to the theme for this national holiday.
Back to the list of national holidays in Canada.
Send in your holiday tips, comments, observations or ideas about Canada Day.
No Canada day Monday for us this year. Companies are allowed more and more to trim the cost fringes. Feels like an adventure looking at what they will cut back next. Will I have vacation time next year? Will my wages be cut? Will I have to provide my own tools, my own pens and paper? Will I have to start working for free part of the time?
What a joke! You can't even have a conversation about fireworks without going on about climate change.
No fireworks, please. All those stores who sell them should be banned. There are people who don't know what they are doing, and we have enough smoke and pollution anyway. Thank you.
I think the fireworks should be banned. They are a fire risk and with human-caused climate change the risk is only increasing. They also cause air and noise pollution. What about an event where children and adults create sculptures with solar fairy string lights?
With regards to Fireworks....... maybe limit them to one yard (a gathering), where you have the means to trace the remnants and can ensure things are extinguished properly - there is a link to fireworks and wildfires.
If they are just trying to save money never mind funding other events put the money into the health care system, better health care for places like Toronto where there are low income and can’t afford proper healthcare
I totally agree with Vancouver about cancelling fireworks. Not only can this expense be deployed to less wasteful causes, but this move eliminates noise pollution. I strongly recommend that other provinces follow this change. At the very least municipalities should strongly enforce a ban on private fireworks that frequently go into the early hours of the day following the holiday. There are many less wasteful and disruptive ways to celebrate a holiday.
Tracy, you're not quite correct and I don't think the date itself had any significant impact on the First Nations. This differs to Australia Day for example, which is recognized on the day British ships first arrived to claim the lands. July 1, 1867 was when the 4 British colonies of Canada (divided into Ontario and Quebec), Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick become the "Dominion of Canada", and a wider federation of 4 provinces. It was the first step to becoming the independent nation we now know of as Canada.