Remembrance Day 2026 in Vancouver

Remembrance Day 2026 in Vancouver at a glance

Remembrance Day falls on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, and in British Columbia it is a statutory holiday. Banks, Canada Post, government offices and public schools close, but most shops, malls and restaurants stay open, many of them opening late so staff can mark the silence. The heart of the day is 11am, when ceremonies across the region hold two minutes of silence. Vancouver’s largest ceremony is at the cenotaph in Victory Square, where one has been held every year since 1924.

Victory Square: the main Vancouver ceremony

Victory Square sits at West Hastings and Cambie, where downtown meets Gastown, and its granite cenotaph is the focus of the city’s main ceremony. The programme follows the same order every year. The times below are from 2025; the 2026 schedule had not been published when we checked.

Other ceremonies around Metro Vancouver

Every city in the region holds its own service, and most time it so the silence falls at 11am. These are the 2025 times. Cities and Royal Canadian Legion branches publish the 2026 times closer to the day, so check before you set out.

For a quieter service in Vancouver, the Japanese Canadian War Memorial in Stanley Park and the War Memorial Gym at UBC both draw smaller crowds than Victory Square.

Road closures on the day

Parades close streets for part of the morning. These were the 2025 closures, and the routes rarely change from year to year:

• Vancouver: streets around Victory Square, about 10:30 to 11:30am, with the parade on Cambie Street and Hastings Street.
• North Vancouver: West 15th Street, East 14th Street, Lonsdale Avenue towards Victoria Park and the 100 block of East Keith Road, 9am to 2pm. The parade leaves the Armoury on Forbes Avenue at 9:15am.
• New Westminster: Royal Avenue, Sixth Street and Queens Avenue, 6am to 1pm.
• Richmond: No. 3 Road and Granville Avenue around City Hall, 8:30am to 1pm.
• Port Coquitlam: Shaughnessy Street from Wilson Avenue to Elgin Avenue, 7am to 1pm; Mary Hill Road and Maple Street stayed open.

Other closures and roadworks are listed on our road closures page.

Transit and ferries

TransLink: holiday fares, and free rides for veterans

On a BC statutory holiday every TransLink trip costs a 1-Zone fare, across all zones. The $6.50 YVR AddFare still applies to journeys that start at the airport stations. Buses, SkyTrain and SeaBus run a Sunday/holiday schedule, and West Coast Express does not run.

TransLink has run a free-travel programme on Remembrance Day for several years. In 2025, veterans and serving military rode free with a military ID, a Veteran Service Card or in uniform, and so did uniformed police, firefighters, paramedics, Coast Guard and Fisheries and Oceans officers. Buses and HandyDART were free for them all day, and SkyTrain and SeaBus fare gates were open from 8am to 6pm. Legion volunteers handed out poppies at major stations, and bus operators pulled over for the 11am silence where it was safe. TransLink usually confirms each year’s arrangements in early November. For fares and zones, see our transit guide for visitors.

BC Ferries

In 2025 BC Ferries carried veterans and serving military as foot passengers for free on Remembrance Day, with ID or in uniform, and BC seniors also travelled free that day. The offer did not cover the northern routes (Inside Passage, Haida Gwaii and the Central Coast Connector), and ships marked two minutes of silence at 11am. Check BC Ferries for the 2026 details, and see our BC Ferries guide for routes and reservations.

What’s open and closed on November 11

Holiday hours are set business by business, and most had not posted 2026 hours by late September. Where there is no 2026 figure, the table gives 2025’s and says so.

The poppy and the two minutes of silence

Remembrance Day marks the armistice that ended the fighting of the First World War at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. It honours Canadians who have served and died in all conflicts and peacekeeping missions since, and it closes Veterans’ Week, which runs from 5 to 11 November.

The poppy. The Royal Canadian Legion’s Poppy Campaign runs from the last Friday in October to November 11. The poppies are free, and donations go to the Legion’s Poppy Fund, which supports veterans and their families. The Legion asks that you wear the poppy on the left side, over the heart. Many people leave theirs on a wreath or the cenotaph when a ceremony ends. The flower comes from In Flanders Fields, the poem written in 1915 by John McCrae, a Canadian army doctor.

The silence. At 11am, wherever you are, it is customary to stop what you are doing for two minutes. Shops, transit and radio stations across the country mark it.

Visiting Vancouver on Remembrance Day

For visitors it is a quieter weekday than usual. Offices and schools are out, but attractions and shops are open, many on their normal Wednesday hours after a late start. November 11 is also Veterans Day in the United States, a federal holiday there. If you are driving up from Seattle, check live border wait times and our Seattle to Vancouver guide.

November is usually Vancouver’s wettest month. Dress for rain at the outdoor ceremonies, and keep a rainy-day plan for the afternoon. Once it gets dark, Astra Lumina runs its light walk in Stanley Park, and Diwali Fest events continue across the region until November 15. The Vancouver Christmas Market opens on November 16. The rest of the month is in things to do in Vancouver in November and the events calendar.