We'll cut right to the chase. Download the official 2021 Payroll Calendar right now or read on for some insights into the history of calendars, why you should download our Canadian payroll calendar, and a list of all 2021 national and provincial holidays.
The calendar is nearly 10, 000 years old.
The world’s oldest calendar, as reported by the University of Birmingham, is “a monument created by hunter-gatherers in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, nearly 10,000 years ago” that tracked time in months through lunar phases.
Ancient Egyptian astronomers observed that it took Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, 365 days to end up in the exact same spot. However, the ancient Egyptians don't account for the extra 6 hours in a solar year, and their calendar gradually falls out of sync.
Centuries later, Julius Caesar, on the advice of astronomer Sosigenes, introduces the leap year. As World History reports, “Sosigenes advises Caesar that the length of the solar year is 365 days and six hours. The natural solution is to add a day every fourth year—introducing the concept of the leap year. The extra day is added to February, the shortest of the Roman months.”
The week, however, is an entirely manmade construct that doesn’t tie into any celestial events. As The Atlantic reports in an article about the work week, “the roots of the seven-day week can be traced back about 4,000 years, to Babylon. The Babylonians believed there were seven planets in the solar system, and the number seven held such power to them that they planned their days around it.”
It’s the Romans (and the Norse) who gave us the modern English names of the days of the week. Originally, the days were named after the seven known planets (and gods) of Roman mythology: Sol (the sun), Luna (the moon), Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn.
Sometime during the Anglo-Saxon period, World History notes, “the English drop four of the planet days and adopt in their place the Norse gods Tiw, Woden, Thor and Frigg for the middle of the week—Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.”
Nowadays, we rely on technology to know the time and date. Our personal calendars chime with important reminders, such as a friend’s birthday or plans for a lunch date, and our phones automatically sync with every daylight savings update.
But when it comes to your yearly payroll calendar, are you still manually keeping track of pay dates and statutory holidays?
Do you take the time to research all the pay dates and holidays, and then add them one by one into your calendar?
If you do, 2021 is going to be a welcome change for you.
The official 2021 Payroll Calendar
Download our semi-monthly or bi-weekly 2021 payroll calendar to access all the important Canadian dates for the upcoming year.
We’ve done the research for you, so you don’t have to spend your working hours cross-referencing dates or updating your work calendar. Instead, you can focus on what really matters to your organization: your people.
Once you download our free payroll calendar template, you’ll gain access to:
- Clearly marked holidays and bank holidays, plus all the input dates and pay run dates you need to know throughout the year.
- Your choice of whichever payroll calendar that suits your schedule, whether you pay semi-monthly or bi-weekly.
- A PDF version of our 2021 payroll calendar, either semi-monthly or bi-weekly, and instructions on how you can add the calendar to your Google, Apple, or Outlook calendar for easy reference.
Download the official 2021 Payroll Calendar for Canada now—for free.
Just to be extra helpful, we’ve also put together the month-by-month breakdown of the 2021 Canadian stat holidays, both national and provincial, just below for you:
January 2021
- Jan 1 — New Year's Day
February 2021
- Feb 15 — Regional Holiday (AB, BC, SK, ON, NB, NS, PE)
March 2021
- Mar 17 — Saint Patrick’s Day (NL)
April 2021
- Apr 2 — Good Friday (except QC)
- Apr 5 — Easter Monday (QC)
May 2021
- May 18 — Victoria Day (except NB, NS, NL); National Patriots’ Day (QC)
June 2021
- Jun 21 — National Indigenous Peoples Day (NT)
- Jun 24 — St. Jean Baptiste Day (QC)
July 2021
- Jul 1 — Canada Day
August 2021
- Aug 2 — Civic Holiday (AB, BC, SK, ON, NB, NU)
September 2021
- Sep 6 — Labour Day
October 2021
- Oct 11 — Thanksgiving (except NB, NS, NL)
November 2021
- Nov 11 — Remembrance Day (except MB, ON, QC, NS)
December 2021
- December 24 — Christmas Day Observance
- December 27 — Boxing Day Observance (ON)
Never miss a pay run or get caught off guard by stat holidays. Download the official 2021 Payroll Calendar for Canada right now to get a monthly view of every important date a payroll professional needs to know.
