DCHP-3

BC Day

DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)

Spelling variants:
B.C. Day

n. — especially British Columbia, Administration

British Columbia Day, a civic holiday on the first Monday of August in BC.

Type: 1. Origin — Before BC Day was proposed in 1974, August 1st was already a statutory holiday in every other Canadian province. The government of BC decided a holiday was needed to "recognize the pioneers of British Columbia by declaring the first Monday of August in each year to be a public holiday known as British Columbia Day" (see Gov't of BC reference). In addition, Queen Victoria had declared the Colony of British Columbia on the BC mainland on August 2nd, 1858 (see Gov't of BC and Leg. Assembly of BC references).
See also COD-2, s.v. "BC Day", which is marked "Cdn", and ITP Nelson, s.v. "B.C. Day".

Quotations

1974
It caught B.C. Ferries personnel by surprise and exceeded lineups over the three-day B.C. Day holiday weekend, a spokesman said.
1985
While most British Columbians enjoyed the three-day B.C. Day holiday weekend, forest fires took a $10-million bite out of their tax dollars.
1992
If anything, we should be scrapping at least five of these holidays (Thanksgiving, Remembrance, Victoria, Labor and BC Day) and moving them to the nearest Sunday.
2007
He has now replaced the signs and did have a chain across the access - blocking it - "for about 42 minutes" last Monday (BC Day).
2011
B.C. Day is coming up on Monday, Aug. 1, a day on which we take some time to honour our province, its past, present and future. A couple of little bits from our Royal City history seem to be in order to mark this date.
2016
Organizers of the country fair in Maple Ridge are calling the PNE "mean spirited" in proposing to move the dates of Vancouver's national exhibition. An idea is being floated to shift the PNE dates - starting in 2018 - to the last two weeks of July, wrapping up on the BC Day long weekend. It is currently held the last two weeks of August, ending on the Labour Day weekend. It will "cripple" and likely "kill" the Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows Country Fest, said fair manager Lorraine Bates.

References