Most email calendars you'll find online are written for the US or the UK, with "Canada" added as a footnote. That doesn't work if you send across Canada, because the country doesn't share one set of holidays. Quebec has its own. Half the provinces call the same Monday in February something different. Remembrance Day is a day off in some provinces and a normal working day in others. And if you send in English and French, every date on this list needs the French version planned ahead of it too.
This is the calendar I'd pin above the desk of a Canadian email team for 2027. Dates are checked against official sources where they exist; where a rule differs by province, I've said so rather than pretend there's one answer.
Check before you rely on a date. Statutory holidays are set by each province and territory, and some employers observe different days. For Quebec, the CNESST is the authority; for federally regulated workplaces, the Canada Labour Code.
How to use this calendar
Before the dates, three habits that make a Canadian calendar work:
- Plan backwards from the French. If a campaign goes to Quebec, the French version needs to be translated and approved before the send date, not on it. In practice that means the English is final roughly a week earlier than it would be for an English-only send. Put a translation due date on every campaign, not just the send date.
- Don't assume a long weekend is national. A "long weekend sale" email is fine in Ontario on Civic Holiday Monday and meaningless in Quebec, where it's a normal working day.
- Mind the tone days. Several dates below are days of remembrance or reflection. They're on the calendar so you can keep promotional email away from them, not so you can market around them.
January
- Friday 1 January: New Year's Day. A statutory holiday everywhere. Most of the inbox is still in holiday mode; resolution and "new year" campaigns tend to land better from the 4th.
- Boxing Week clear-out. If you ran Boxing Week sales, the last reminders go in the first days of January. Keep them short.
- Quebec's construction holiday. The winter break in Quebec's construction industry runs over Christmas and New Year (20 December 2026 to 2 January 2027). It's a reminder of how much of Quebec shuts down at once at certain times of year.
February
- Sunday 14 February: Valentine's Day. Gift emails go out from late January; the last "order in time" email is usually the Tuesday or Wednesday before.
- Monday 15 February: the third Monday in February. A holiday in most provinces, under different names: Family Day in Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan, Louis Riel Day in Manitoba, Islander Day in Prince Edward Island and Heritage Day in Nova Scotia. It isn't a statutory holiday in Quebec. If you want to mark it, segment by province and use the local name.
March
- Quebec spring break (semaine de relâche). Quebec schools take a week off in early March. For 2026–27 most school service centres have it in the week of 1 to 5 March, but it varies by region, so check before you build a campaign around it. Family, travel and activity brands in Quebec get a short, busy window either side.
- Friday 26 March: Good Friday. A statutory holiday across Canada. In Quebec, employers choose Good Friday or Easter Monday (or give both).
- Sunday 28 March: Easter Sunday. Easter is early in 2027, which squeezes spring campaigns. Plan Easter emails from early March.
- Monday 29 March: Easter Monday. A day off for federal public servants and for many Quebec employers who choose it instead of Good Friday; a working day for most of the rest of the country.
April
- April is quiet for statutory holidays, which makes it a good month for the campaigns you never have room for: product education, surveys, list clean-up and the welcome journey you've been meaning to rewrite.
- If you're translating, this is also the month to update your French evergreen content, before the busy season starts.
May
- Sunday 9 May: Mother's Day. Gift emails from mid-April; delivery cut-off reminders in the first week of May.
- Monday 24 May: Victoria Day, and the Journée nationale des patriotes. Across most of Canada it's Victoria Day, the unofficial start of summer and gardening season. In Quebec the same Monday is National Patriots' Day, and nobody there calls it Victoria Day. Don't send "Happy Victoria Day long weekend" to your French segment. Either say "long weekend" without the name or write separate copy.
June
- Sunday 20 June: Father's Day.
- Monday 21 June: National Indigenous Peoples Day. A statutory holiday in the Northwest Territories and Yukon. As with the other days of reflection, it's not a sales hook.
- Thursday 24 June: Fête nationale du Québec (Saint-Jean-Baptiste). Quebec's national holiday and a statutory day off there. It's a day of genuine pride, and Quebec audiences can tell the difference between a brand that marks it in good French and one that drops a fleur-de-lis on an English email. If you send anything, send it in French, written for Quebec. Outside Quebec, it's a normal day.
July
- Thursday 1 July: Canada Day, and Quebec's Moving Day. Canada Day everywhere; in Quebec, 1 July is also le jour du déménagement, when most residential leases end and a huge number of people move house on the same day. For furniture, home, telecoms, hardware, storage and food delivery brands, the two weeks before 1 July are one of the busiest times of the Quebec year. For everyone else, expect Quebec engagement to dip around the move.
- Quebec's summer construction holiday: Sunday 25 July to Saturday 7 August. Two weeks when Quebec's construction industry stops, and a lot of the province takes its holidays at the same time. It's the CCQ's published period for 2027. B2B sends to Quebec land in a lot of out-of-office replies; travel, outdoor and leisure brands get the opposite.
August
- Monday 2 August: the first Monday in August. A holiday in much of the country, under many names (Civic Holiday in Ontario, British Columbia Day, New Brunswick Day, Saskatchewan Day, Heritage Day in Alberta, Terry Fox Day in Manitoba, Natal Day in Nova Scotia), and statutory in some places but not others. It isn't a holiday in Quebec. Same advice as February: segment, and use the local name or none.
- Back to school. Quebec schools generally go back in the last week of August, earlier than much of the rest of Canada, where school starts after Labour Day. A national "back to school" email on one date will be early for some families and late for others.
September
- Monday 6 September: Labour Day. A statutory holiday across Canada, including Quebec (fête du Travail). For many people the real end of summer.
- Thursday 30 September: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. A federal statutory holiday, also observed by some provinces and territories. It's a day of reflection on the history and legacy of residential schools. Keep promotional email out of the inbox on the day, and check anything scheduled to send automatically.
October
- Monday 11 October: Thanksgiving (Action de grâce). Canadian Thanksgiving is the second Monday in October, six weeks before the American one. If you share creative with a US team, make sure Canadian subscribers aren't sent the November version.
- Sunday 31 October: Halloween.
- October is also when the busy season really starts. If your Black Friday email will go in French, the French copy should be with your translator by the end of October.
November
- Thursday 11 November: Remembrance Day (jour du Souvenir). A statutory holiday in some provinces and territories, but not in Ontario or Quebec, where it's a normal working day. Wherever you send, it's a day for restraint. Avoid promotions on the day, and especially at 11am.
- Thursday 25 November: American Thanksgiving. Not a Canadian holiday, but it sets the date for the next one.
- Friday 26 November: Black Friday. Monday 29 November: Cyber Monday. Canadian retail has fully adopted both. In Quebec French, the term recommended by the Office québécois de la langue française is Vendredi fou rather than "Black Friday" or "Vendredi noir". You'll see both in Quebec marketing; using Vendredi fou reads as written for Quebec rather than translated for it.
December
- Christmas shipping cut-offs. Canada is big and a lot of it is rural. Get your carriers' cut-off dates by province and send the "last day to order" email by region, not once for the whole country.
- Sunday 19 December: Quebec's winter construction holiday starts (to 1 January 2028).
- Saturday 25 December: Christmas Day. Sunday 26 December: Boxing Day. Both fall on a weekend in 2027, so the days off move to the following Monday and Tuesday for many employers. Boxing Day sales start on the 26th regardless.
- Friday 31 December: New Year's Eve.
A note on time zones
Canada spans six time zones, including Newfoundland's half-hour offset. A "10am" send set in Toronto time lands at 7am in Vancouver and 11:30am in St John's. Most ESPs can send by the subscriber's time zone; if yours can, use it for anything time-sensitive, such as a sale that ends at midnight. Quebec is almost entirely on Eastern time, which makes French sends simpler than English ones.
Frequently asked questions
When is Thanksgiving in Canada in 2027?
Monday 11 October 2027. Canadian Thanksgiving is always the second Monday in October.
Is Remembrance Day a holiday everywhere in Canada?
No. It's a statutory holiday in some provinces and territories, but not in Ontario or Quebec. Whatever the local rules, it's a day to keep promotional email out of the inbox.
What dates matter most for email to Quebec?
The Fête nationale on 24 June, Moving Day on 1 July, the construction holiday (25 July to 7 August in 2027), spring break in early March and the Journée nationale des patriotes on 24 May, which replaces Victoria Day in Quebec.
When is Black Friday in Canada in 2027?
Friday 26 November 2027, with Cyber Monday on 29 November. In Quebec French, Vendredi fou is the term the OQLF recommends.
Is Family Day in Quebec?
No. The third Monday in February is a holiday in most provinces under different names, but not in Quebec.
