Daycare closures, statutory holidays and professional development days

British Columbia has eleven statutory holidays a year. A licensed daycare is not required by the Child Care Licensing Regulation to close on any of them, and it is not required to stay open either. That decision belongs to each centre, which is why the honest answer to "are you closed for the holiday" is always to ask the centre in question.

This post covers the two things that actually come from a real source: the list of statutory holidays, and what the regulation does and does not require about closures. It also covers professional development days, meaning the training days many centres take a few times a year, as general practice across the sector rather than a specific calendar for any one centre. For your own centre's exact closure dates and how a closed day affects your fees, that always has to come from a direct conversation with that centre, because it is not the kind of fact that stays true for long or applies the same way everywhere.

The eleven statutory holidays in BC

The Province's own employment standards page lists the recognized statutory holidays in British Columbia:

Holiday	When
New Year's Day	January 1
Family Day	Third Monday of February
Good Friday	The Friday before Easter Sunday
Victoria Day	Monday on or before May 24
Canada Day	July 1
BC Day	First Monday of August
Labour Day	First Monday of September
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation	September 30
Thanksgiving Day	Second Monday of October
Remembrance Day	November 11
Christmas Day	December 25

That is the complete list, as printed on the Province's page, read 13 September 2026. Two exclusions catch people out every year. The Province states plainly that Easter Sunday, Easter Monday and Boxing Day are not statutory holidays in BC. A lot of workplaces treat Boxing Day as a day off by custom or by their own policy, but it is not on the government's statutory list, and neither is Easter Monday.

None of this is specific to child care. It is the same list that applies to employment standards generally in the province. What makes it relevant to a family choosing daycare is the next part.

What the regulation actually says about closures

This is worth stating clearly, because it is the opposite of what most parents assume.

The Child Care Licensing Regulation sets detailed rules for a licensed facility: staff-to-child ratios, group sizes, the physical space, records that must be kept, and the standards of practice a licensee has to follow. Reading through it directly, there is no section requiring a licensed facility to close on a statutory holiday, and no section requiring one to stay open on a statutory holiday either. The regulation is silent on the question. Closure decisions sit entirely with the operator of the facility.

This matters for a practical reason. It means one licensed centre in the same city as another can have a completely different closure calendar, and both can be fully compliant with the same regulation. Neither one is doing something irregular. They are simply making a business decision the regulation leaves open.

The regulation does define a related but separate idea: a "day of school closure." That definition covers any day a school is closed to students, which includes a day in summer, spring or winter vacation, a statutory holiday, a day closed because of a strike or lockout affecting the school board's employees, a day set aside in the school calendar as an administrative day, and any other day set aside in the school calendar when students are not in attendance. This definition exists in the regulation mainly for school-age care programs, which operate differently outside school hours and on days school is not running.

The reason this distinction matters to a family choosing daycare: a school closure day and a statutory holiday are not the same list, even though they overlap. Spring break is a school closure day and not a statutory holiday. An administrative day set by a school board is a school closure day and not a statutory holiday. A daycare centre's own calendar does not have to track either list exactly, which is exactly why the calendar has to come from the centre itself rather than being assumed from a school calendar or a list of public holidays.

Professional development days, as general practice

A professional development day, in the daycare context, usually means a day a centre closes, fully or partly, so educators can attend training.

This is a normal part of working in early childhood education in British Columbia. Early Childhood Educators of BC, the province's membership and training organisation for early childhood professionals, runs an annual conference along with workshops, courses, and other training through the year. Educators attend this kind of training as part of ongoing professional development in the field.

A centre closing a handful of days a year so its team can take training like this is common practice across licensed centres in BC. How that plays out at any one centre varies. Some centres schedule training days that line up with a school district's own professional development days, since many families already have a child in school and one closed day is easier to plan around than two separate ones on different weeks. Others pick dates based on when a course or conference is running. Some close the whole day, some close for a partial day and reopen. None of that is set by a regulation or a fixed provincial schedule. It is a decision each centre makes, and the number of days and the specific dates are not something a general guide can state on any one centre's behalf.

What is worth knowing as a parent is simply that these days exist as a category, separate from statutory holidays, and that a centre with none scheduled this year might schedule some next year as its training needs change.

Why nobody can hand you a universal calendar

Put the two things above together and the pattern is clear. Statutory holidays are a fixed, published list that applies across the province. Whether a specific daycare closes on any of them is not fixed anywhere, because the regulation leaves it to the operator. Professional development days are not fixed or published anywhere at all, because they are set individually by each centre based on its own staffing and training needs.

That means there is no single document, government page, or industry list that will tell you when any particular daycare is closed this year. The only reliable source is the centre itself.

This is also true of what a closure costs you. Whether a family is billed for a statutory holiday that falls on a day their child would normally attend, whether a professional development closure is billed the same as an open day, prorated, or not billed at all: these are billing decisions made by each centre as part of its own fee structure. They are not standardized across the industry and they are not something this article, or any general guide, can state on behalf of a specific centre. If this is a real question for your family, ask the centre directly and get the answer in a form you can refer back to later, such as an email.

What to ask before you rely on a calendar

A few questions save real confusion later, whichever centre you are considering.

Ask for the full list of planned closures for the coming year, not just the next one coming up. A centre that can hand you a written list, even a simple one, is easier to plan around than a verbal answer you have to remember and repeat to an employer.

Ask how a closed day affects your fees. Some families assume a closed day is simply not billed, which is not always the case, and getting the actual policy in writing avoids a surprise on an invoice.

Ask how much notice you get for a closure that is not on the standard calendar, such as an added training day, a facility issue, or a weather-related closure. A centre that has thought this through will usually have a clear answer, such as a set number of days' notice or a specific communication method.

Ask whether the centre's calendar tends to follow the local school district's calendar or runs on its own schedule. Families with a school-aged child at home often care about this more than families whose only child is in daycare, since two different closure calendars to track is a bigger planning problem than one.

None of these questions have a single correct answer across the industry. They are questions worth asking precisely because the answer is centre-specific.

If you are also juggling an irregular work schedule

Closures land differently depending on your own schedule. A family with standard weekday hours can usually plan a single day off around a known closure date. A family on rotating shifts, on-call hours, or a job with limited flexibility has a harder problem, because a closure that falls on a scheduled work day needs a backup plan, not just a calendar entry.

If that describes your situation, it is worth reading finding daycare when you work shifts or an irregular schedule, which covers how families in exactly this position think about the gaps between what a centre offers and what a rotating schedule actually requires. Weekend and drop-in care, covered in weekend and drop-in daycare in Port Coquitlam, can also be part of a backup plan for an unplanned closure, subject to availability and the usual booking notice.

Where this fits into choosing a centre

A closure calendar is not usually the first thing a family asks about when they are comparing daycares, and it should not be. Licensing, staffing, the room itself, and how a centre handles a hard morning at drop-off all matter more day to day. But it is worth adding to the list of questions you bring to a tour, precisely because it is easy to assume an answer that turns out to be wrong. Our checklist for choosing a daycare covers the fuller list of what to check before you commit to a centre, and closures are a reasonable addition to that list once you are down to a shortlist of two or three.

Frequently asked questions

Which days are statutory holidays in BC?

Eleven days: New Year's Day, Family Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, BC Day, Labour Day, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Thanksgiving Day, Remembrance Day, and Christmas Day. The Province states plainly that Easter Sunday, Easter Monday and Boxing Day are not statutory holidays in BC, which surprises a lot of families who assume they are.

Does a licensed daycare have to close on statutory holidays?

No. The Child Care Licensing Regulation sets rules for staffing, group size, space and records, but it does not require a licensed facility to close on any statutory holiday, and it does not require one to stay open either. Whether a centre closes on a given date is a decision each operator makes on its own.

Are statutory holidays the same as school closure days?

No, and the two get confused often. The regulation defines a school closure day separately, as any day a school is closed to students. That definition includes statutory holidays but also covers spring break, summer vacation, administrative days, and professional development days set by a school board. A centre's own calendar does not have to follow either list exactly.

What is a professional development day at a daycare?

A day a centre closes, or partly closes, so educators can attend training. Ongoing training is a normal part of working in early childhood education in BC, and taking a handful of days a year for it is common practice across licensed centres, though how often and on which dates is set by each centre rather than by a fixed rule.

Will I be charged for a statutory holiday or a closure day?

That depends on the centre's own billing policy, which is not something a general guide can state for you. Ask your centre directly how closed days are handled in your fee arrangement before you rely on an assumption either way.

How do I find out a specific centre's closure calendar?

Ask the centre directly, ideally in writing, and ask for the full year rather than the next closure only. A written calendar is easier to plan a work schedule around than a verbal answer you have to remember, and it gives you something to check back against later.

Does this centre publish its closure calendar or fees here?

No. Closure dates and billing details are specific to each family's arrangement and change from year to year, so they are not published on this site. Contact us directly for the centre's current closure calendar and how closed days are billed.

What should I ask about closures before enrolling anywhere?

Ask for the full list of planned closure days for the coming year, not just the next one. Ask whether closed days are billed the same as an open day, prorated, or not billed at all. Ask how much notice you get for a closure that is not on the standard calendar, such as an unplanned training day or a weather closure. Get the answers in writing if you can.

Do daycares in BC close for the same days as public schools?

Not automatically. A licensed daycare is a separate facility from a public school and sets its own calendar. Some centres align closely with the local school district's calendar because many enrolled families also have school-aged children, and some do not. Confirm this with each centre rather than assuming either way.

What happens if my centre has an unplanned closure, like a storm day?

Policies vary by centre, which is exactly why it is worth asking about before you need the answer. Ask specifically how an unplanned closure is communicated, how much notice you can expect, and whether it affects your fees, rather than assuming it works the same as a planned professional development day.

Is a stat holiday closure connected to whether the centre gets government funding?

Not directly. Government child care funding programs in BC are based on a child's enrolment and eligibility, not on whether a specific day happens to be a statutory holiday. Questions about how a closure interacts with your own funding arrangement are best directed to the centre and, if needed, to the Province's funding program directly.

Before you visit

We are at 1103 Confederation Drive in the Citadel neighbourhood of Port Coquitlam. If closures, professional development days, or how a closed day is billed matter to your family's planning, ask us directly. We will give you our actual calendar and our actual policy rather than a general answer, because that is the only kind of answer that is useful to a real family with a real schedule. Contact us with your questions, or come and see the centre first.