10/13/2025
The long road behind the present Canadian THANKSGIVING and stat holiday !!
Canadian Thanksgiving has a long, varied history, distinct from its American counterpart, often tied to legal and political decrees in the form of proclamations by the government.
Long before European settlement, Indigenous Peoples in North America had their own traditions of celebrating the fall harvest and expressing gratitude for the land's bounty.
The earliest recorded European thanksgiving ceremony in North America is often attributed to the English explorer Martin Frobisher in 1578, near present-day Nunavut, as a day of thanks for his fleet's safe arrival. Later, French settlers in New France held feasts of thanks for successful harvests. These were generally ad hoc or local celebrations.
The Era of Proclamations (18th to mid-20th Century): The modern Canadian holiday emerged through a series of legal and executive actions.
Sporadic Days of Thanks: In the late 18th and 19th centuries, days of thanksgiving were proclaimed (a formal government order) by the Governor General or colonial authorities to celebrate specific events, such as military victories, the end of a rebellion (like the Lower Canada Rebellion in 1838), or the recovery of a royal figure. These were not initially tied to a harvest and the date varied widely.
National Holiday Status (1879): The first official, annual national Thanksgiving was declared by Parliament in 1879. The date was not fixed, but determined annually by proclamation. This established the holiday in the statute books as a yearly event, though its date remained a matter of executive decision.
The World Wars and Remembrance: For a period starting in 1921, Thanksgiving was controversially combined with Armistice Day (now Remembrance Day), observed on the Monday of the week that included November 11th. This legal merger was later separated in 1931, reaffirming Thanksgiving as its own distinct celebration.
The holiday's current form was finalized by a clear, permanent legal act:
1957 Proclamation: The Canadian Parliament issued a proclamation formally fixing the date for the holiday as the second Monday in October. The wording established it as "A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed." This eliminated the need for an annual, varying executive declaration.
Statutory Holiday Status: Today, Thanksgiving is a statutory holiday at the federal level and in most provinces and territories. This is a crucial legal concept, meaning it's a day recognized by law where most employees are entitled to a paid day off. However, in three Atlantic provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island), it is an optional day of rest, meaning its observance as a paid holiday is left to provincial legislation or employer policy. This demonstrates how federalism—the division of powers between the federal and provincial governments—affects the application of national holidays!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
