Civic Holiday is the most widely used name for a public holiday celebrated in parts of Canada on the first Monday in August, though it is only officially known by that term in Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Prince Edward Island, and Manitoba. It is a statutory holiday in Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and Prince Edward Island, but not in Manitoba.
The holiday is known by a variety of names in different provinces and municipalities, including British Columbia Day in British Columbia, New Brunswick Day in New Brunswick, and Saskatchewan Day in Saskatchewan. The holiday is celebrated as Natal Day in Nova Scotia, but is not an official holiday.
In 1974 the Government of Alberta, acting through Minister of Culture Dr. Horst A. Schmidt, declared the first Monday in August an annual holiday to recognize and celebrate the varied cultural heritage of Albertans, known as Heritage Day. This gave rise in 1976 to the Edmonton Heritage Festival, a three-day celebration of food, dance, and handicrafts of cultures from around the world. Heritage Day has been an "optional" civic holiday, having been downgraded from a statutory holiday following the introduction of Family Day in 1990.
In Ontario, the holiday was renamed Simcoe Day in Toronto effective 1969 in honour of the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada and the promulgator of the Act Against Slavery, but a motion at the Ontario Municipal Association to extend the name change province-wide failed. According to a 2005 proclamation this name continues to apply in the present amalgamated city of Toronto. Civic Holiday is now known by one of a number of local appellations such as Colonel By Day in Ottawa, George Hamilton Day in Hamilton, Joseph Brant Day in Burlington, Founders' Day in Brantford, McLaughlin Day in Oshawa, Alexander Mackenzie Day in Sarnia, James Cockburn Day in Cobourg, Peter Robinson Day in Peterborough, and John Galt Day in Guelph, as well as numerous other names in smaller municipalities. Although a work holiday is given to employees of the federal and many municipal governments, the Government of Ontario has not defined this day as a statutory holiday and it is not mentioned in either Ontario's Employment Standards Act or Retail Business Holidays Act. The Scotiabank Caribbean Cultural Festival, formerly known as Caribana, is held this holiday weekend in Toronto, coinciding with Emancipation Day.
The holiday is not generally observed in Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, or Yukon. In Newfoundland, the Royal St. John's Regatta, which usually occurs on the first Wednesday of August, effectively displaces the Monday holiday even though it is only officially celebrated as a civic holiday in St. John's.
Famous quotes containing the words civic and/or holiday:
“It is hereby earnestly proposed that the USA would be much better off if that big, sprawling, incoherent, shapeless, slobbering civic idiot in the family of American communities, the City of Los Angeles, could be declared incompetent and placed in charge of a guardian like any individual mental defective.”
—Westbrook Pegler (1894–1969)
“I can’t stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession, let alone two years or ten years. If you can, then it ain’t music, it’s close-order drill or exercise or yodeling or something, not music.”
—Billie Holiday (1915–1959)