Bank Holidays in Canada 2026: When Banks and Payments Are Closed

Are banks open today in Canada?

There is no single nationwide answer for every branch today. Opening hours depend on the bank, the province, the specific branch and local holidays. Check your bank's branch locator for today's actual hours. The closure calendar below answers a different question: when Payments Canada's national clearing systems are closed. A branch may close on a provincial holiday even when national payment systems operate.

Interac e-Transfer and online banking can remain available while certain deposits, bills or interbank transfers wait for the next processing day. See statutory holidays by province for local differences.

National bank holidays in 2026

These are the 2026 dates when Payments Canada, which operates national payment clearing and settlement systems, lists system closures. Individual bank-branch opening hours are separate and should be checked with the institution; these dates do not establish live branch availability.

Easter Monday is not a national bank holiday: payment systems run that day and most branches open (TD lists it only for Nunavut). Remembrance Day, by contrast, is a bank holiday everywhere, including in Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba, where it is not a provincial statutory holiday.

Why banks close on federal holidays

Banks are federally regulated, so their employees are covered by the Canada Labour Code rather than provincial employment standards. The Code gives ten general holidays: New Year's Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Thanksgiving, Remembrance Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Those are the ten dates in the table above.

When one of six holidays (New Year's Day, Canada Day, September 30, Remembrance Day, Christmas or Boxing Day) falls on a Saturday or Sunday that isn't a scheduled work day, the Code moves the paid holiday to the working day immediately before or after. That is why Boxing Day 2026, a Saturday, is observed on Monday, December 28.

A separate federal law, the Bills of Exchange Act, governs cheques and other negotiable instruments. Section 42 lists the "legal holidays or non-juridical days" for those purposes, which include provincial holidays proclaimed by a lieutenant governor and civic holidays set by a municipal council. If the last day to pay a bill falls on one of those days, it moves to the next day that is not a holiday in that province.

Provincial holidays: closed in some provinces only

Banks decide for themselves whether to close branches on provincial holidays. The national banks publish these closures, and they are broadly the same across institutions. Payment systems still run on these days, so electronic payments between banks are processed normally.

Credit unions and caisses populaires are provincially regulated and set their own holiday hours, which can differ from the banks'. Check your own branch's posted hours before a provincial holiday, especially in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and the territories, where the national banks' published lists are less detailed.

What happens to payments on a bank holiday

• Direct deposits and pre-authorized debits dated on a bank holiday are usually processed on the next business day, because the clearing system is closed. Government benefit payments are scheduled around these days in advance; see the CRA benefit payment dates.
• Interac e-Transfer works every day, including statutory holidays, and money sent between accounts at the same bank usually moves immediately.
• Bill payments and wire transfers made on a holiday are typically processed on the next business day. If a bill is due on a holiday, pay it a day or two earlier.
• CRA payments: when a payment due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday recognized by the CRA, the payment is on time if it is received on the next business day.
• Cheques can't be cleared through the system on a holiday, but a bank that is open may still accept them over the counter.

Holiday weekends to watch in late 2026

The end of 2026 has the most closures close together. With Christmas on a Friday and Boxing Day observed on Monday, December 28, payment systems are closed on four of the six days from Fri, Dec 25, 2026 to Wed, Dec 30, 2026: Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. A payment scheduled for December 25 or 28 will normally settle on Tuesday, December 29. New Year's Day, Friday, January 1, 2027, makes another three-day weekend.

Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are not holidays. Branches are generally open, but many close early; each bank posts its own hours in December.

2027 bank holidays

Payments Canada had not published its 2027 closure schedule when this page was last checked; it is normally posted before the start of the year. The holidays themselves follow the same rules, so 2027 will again include New Year's Day (Friday, January 1), Good Friday (March 26), Victoria Day (May 24), Canada Day (July 1), Labour Day (September 6), September 30, Thanksgiving (October 11), Remembrance Day (November 11) and Christmas. In 2027 Christmas Day falls on a Saturday and Boxing Day on a Sunday, so both are observed on weekdays; the exact observed dates will be added here once Payments Canada confirms them.

Common mix-ups

• "Bank holiday" is a UK term. In Canada the official term is statutory or general holiday; banks follow the federal list.
• Remembrance Day: stores in Ontario stay open, but banks close.
• Easter Monday: banks are open in most of Canada, even though federal government offices close.
• Civic Holiday in August: not a statutory holiday in Ontario, but bank branches there still close.
• ATMs and online banking stay available on every holiday; only transactions that need the clearing system wait.