Family Day 2023: Date, Background and Facts to know

In 1990, Alberta was the first state to observe Family Day. In the subsequent years, Saskatchewan and Ontario followed suit.

Family Day 2023: Family Day, which occurs on the third Monday of February in Canada, is technically not a federally mandated national holiday. In British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick, and Saskatchewan, it is known as “Family Day;” in Manitoba, it is known as “Louis Riel Day;” in Nova Scotia, it is known as “Nova Scotia Heritage Day;” and on Prince Edward Island, it is known as “Islander Day.” From this point forward, we will refer to the holiday as Family Day.

The background of Family Day

In 1990, Alberta was the first state to observe Family Day. In the subsequent years, Saskatchewan and Ontario followed suit. British Columbia followed suit in 2012, shifting the date of its celebration from the second to the third Monday of February a few years later to coincide with the dates of celebrations in neighbouring provinces. New Brunswick has announced its 2018 holiday. In 2007, 2009, and 2013, Manitoba, PEI, and Nova Scotia joined the party, respectively. In Yukon, the pre-existing Yukon Heritage Day was deemed close enough to the new Family Day holiday that no adjustments were made.

Family Day, unlike other holidays such as Christmas and New Year’s, does not have any established traditions. As the name suggests, however, many Canadians utilise the three-day weekend in February to spend more time with their loved ones. Road trips, winter sports outings, and extended family gatherings are all popular ways to observe the holiday. The celebrants find ways to combat the cold and have a cosy Family Day!

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Family Day: 5 FACTS

Around the turn of the millennium, Canadian comic-book artist Chester Brown chronicled Louis Riel’s life up until his execution for treason. Brown received the first Canada Council for the Arts grant to a sequential-art project.

The current official statue of Louis Riel, located on the grounds of the Manitoba Legislative Building in Winnipeg, depicts him in period clothing and moccasins. It is a replacement for the controversial sculpture from the 1970s, which was criticised for its disproportionate body and its lack of clothing.

In 1885, Riel was tried for his leadership role in the North-West Rebellion, in which he led the French-speaking Metis against the Canadian government.

It is not surprising that Riel championed the Metis cause, as he was one-eighth native Canadian and his grandmother was a full-blooded Franco-Chipewyan Metisse.

Riel was frequently portrayed as a treacherous agitator during his lifetime and well into the 20th century, despite his role in negotiating the founding of Manitoba.