Canada Day
Next: July 1, 2027
Red, white and a maple leaf.
The story
Where it comes from
Canada Day marks Confederation on 1 July 1867, when Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Province of Canada (today's Ontario and Quebec) were joined as one country. A year later the Governor General, Lord Monck, called on everyone to celebrate the anniversary, and an Act of 1879 made 1 July a public holiday under the name Dominion Day. On 27 October 1982 the holiday was officially renamed Canada Day, and the first celebration under the new name was held on 1 July 1983.
How it's celebrated
It is Canada's birthday party. Towns and cities hold parades, concerts and fireworks, the biggest national celebration takes place in the capital, Ottawa, and families gather for picnics and barbecues, often dressed in red and white and waving the maple leaf flag. Special citizenship ceremonies are held across the country on the day, so many newcomers take the oath and become Canadians on Canada's own birthday.
Did you know
- The very first Dominion Day holiday, in 1879, had no public ceremonies; newspapers reported that people simply left Ottawa, Toronto and Quebec City for the day.
- For the Diamond Jubilee on 1 July 1927, 23 radio stations joined up for Canada's first coast-to-coast broadcast, heard by an estimated five million people.
- 'O Canada' was proclaimed the national anthem on 1 July 1980, a hundred years after it was first sung in Quebec City.
The greeting
Happy Canada Day · Bonne fête du Canada
Coming up next
- World Sports Journalists Day · July 2, 2027
- International Day of Cooperatives · July 3, 2027
- International Plastic Bag Free Day · July 3, 2027
- Independence Day (Fourth of July) · July 4, 2027
- The Day Alice Was First Told · July 4, 2027
- Dolly the Sheep's Birthday · July 5, 2027