Which Canadian province treats Saint Patrick's Day as a government holiday?

Newfoundland and Labrador is the Canadian province that treats Saint Patrick’s Day as a government holiday. The designation reflects the province’s unusually strong historical and cultural connections with Ireland.

Newfoundland, the island portion of the province, was settled and visited extensively by Irish migrants, particularly from counties along Ireland’s southeastern coast. Those links shaped local accents, surnames, Catholic traditions, music and community life. Roughly one-fifth of Newfoundland’s population is described as having Irish Newfoundland ancestry, helping explain why the holiday has a special status there.

The wording can cause confusion because Saint Patrick’s Day is widely celebrated elsewhere in Canada, including through major parades in Montreal and Saint John. Celebration, however, is not the same as a province-wide government holiday. Newfoundland and Labrador is the distinctive Canadian answer; Prince Edward Island, Ontario and Nova Scotia do not share that status.