Working days in Canada in 1997
There are 243 working days in Canada in 1997, counting Monday to Friday and excluding 30 public holidays that fall on a weekday. That is from 365 calendar days, with 104 weekend days removed.
Working days
243
Mon-Fri, holidays removed
Weekend days
104
Saturdays + Sundays
Weekday holidays
30
2 more fall on weekends
Avg / month
20.3
working days per month
Month-by-month working days in 1997
| Month | Days | Weekends | Holidays | Working days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31 | 8 | 1 | 22 |
| February | 28 | 8 | 2 | 18 |
| March | 31 | 10 | 3 | 18 |
| April | 30 | 8 | 1 | 21 |
| May | 31 | 9 | 1 | 21 |
| June | 30 | 9 | 1 | 20 |
| July | 31 | 8 | 1 | 22 |
| August | 31 | 10 | 2 | 19 |
| September | 30 | 8 | 2 | 20 |
| October | 31 | 8 | 1 | 22 |
| November | 30 | 10 | 1 | 19 |
| December | 31 | 8 | 2 | 21 |
| Total | 365 | 104 | 30 | 243 |
Public holidays excluded from the 1997 working-day count
These are the 30 public holidays in Canada that land on a weekday in 1997 and therefore remove a working day. Holidays that fall on a weekend are not listed here because they do not change the working-day total.
- New Year's DayWed, Jan 1
- Family DayMon, Feb 10
- Louis Riel DayMon, Feb 17
- Islander DayMon, Feb 17
- Heritage DayMon, Feb 17
- Family DayMon, Feb 17
- Saint Patrick's DayMon, Mar 17
- Good FridayFri, Mar 28
- Easter MondayMon, Mar 31
- Saint George's DayWed, Apr 23
- National Patriots' DayMon, May 19
- Victoria DayMon, May 19
- Discovery DayTue, Jun 24
- National HolidayTue, Jun 24
- Canada DayTue, Jul 1
- Civic HolidayMon, Aug 4
- British Columbia DayMon, Aug 4
- Heritage DayMon, Aug 4
- New Brunswick DayMon, Aug 4
- Natal DayMon, Aug 4
- Saskatchewan DayMon, Aug 4
- Gold Cup Parade DayMon, Aug 18
- Discovery DayMon, Aug 18
- Labour DayMon, Sep 1
- National Day for Truth and ReconciliationTue, Sep 30
- ThanksgivingMon, Oct 13
- Armistice DayTue, Nov 11
- Remembrance DayTue, Nov 11
- Christmas DayThu, Dec 25
- St. Stephen's DayFri, Dec 26
How working days in Canada are counted in 1997
The 243 working days shown above are the 365 calendar days of 1997, minus the 104 Saturdays and Sundays, minus the 30 public holidays that land on a weekday. Holidays that fall on a Saturday or Sunday are not subtracted, because they do not remove a day anyone would have worked; in 1997 that applies to 2 of Canada's public holidays. At a standard eight-hour day, 243 working days works out to roughly 1,944 working hours across the year, before any annual leave is taken.
What counts as a working day in Canada
Federal jurisdiction defines a working day under the Canada Labour Code as any day other than a Saturday, Sunday or general holiday. Provincial Employment Standards Acts adopt the same pattern with their own holiday lists. The standard private-sector week is Monday to Friday, with banks operating Monday to Friday. The Federal Courts Rules section 6 rolls deadlines falling on a weekend or holiday to the next day on which the registry is open. Settlement of Canadian dollar transactions runs on the Lynx system operated by Payments Canada, which observes the federal statutory list since the federally regulated banks are the participants.
Canada has five federal statutory holidays under the Canada Labour Code Part III that apply to federally regulated employers (banks, telecoms, interprovincial transport): New Year's Day, Good Friday, Canada Day, Labour Day, Christmas Day. Federal employees additionally observe four more including Victoria Day and Thanksgiving. Each province sets its own list, ranging from six in Newfoundland and Labrador to ten in some others. Quebec observes Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day on 24 June, British Columbia observes Family Day on the third Monday in February, Alberta observes Heritage Day in August. The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on 30 September, added in 2021, is federal but not provincial in most jurisdictions.
This matters because the working-day total is not spread evenly. Some months in Canada carry several public holidays while others have none, so the month-by-month table above is the figure to use for payroll runs, billing cycles, SLA windows, and project plans rather than a flat assumption of about 20.3 working days per month. A month with two weekday holidays can have several fewer working days than a clear one, which changes capacity planning and the realistic delivery date for anything scheduled in business days.
Sources for Canada holiday and working-day rules
- Canada Labour Code RSC 1985 c L-2 Part III sections 191 to 195
- Provincial Employment Standards Acts (ten separate statutes)
- Federal Courts Rules SOR/98-106 section 6
- Payments Canada Lynx settlement calendar
To see the individual dates, the day of the week each holiday lands on, and the full official list, open the Canada holiday calendar for 1997. You can subscribe to those dates as an .ics feed so they appear in your own calendar, or use the working-days-between-two-dates calculator to count business days for a specific date range rather than the whole year.
Working-day figures are computed from the public holiday list for Canada (source: Nager.Date and the national references above) combined with a Monday-to-Friday business week. Regional holidays and substitute-day rules vary; confirm against the official calendar for legal or payroll use.