Canada announces a holiday to mark Queen Elizabeth’s death. Here’s who gets it

Canada will mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II with a national day of mourning on Sept. 19.

The national holiday will coincide with the queen’s funeral in London, U.K.

“Declaring an opportunity for Canadians to mourn on Monday is important,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday, adding conversations are underway with provinces and federal workers.

Australia announced earlier Monday a public holiday on Sept. 22 to mark the death, during which schools and businesses are expected to be closed, while New Zealand is setting aside Sept. 26 for its day to honour the queen.

Sept. 19 will be a bank holiday in the U.K.

Before Canada’s announcement, there was speculation whether a holiday would be declared.

A “Day of Mourning” was observed after the passing of Queen Elizabeth’s father and predecessor King George VI in February 1952.

A commemorative ceremony will also be held in Ottawa on Sept. 19.

It will include a memorial parade featuring the Canadian Armed Forces and RCMP, a fly-over by CF-18s, as well as a 96-shot gun salute, one shot for every year of the queen’s life.

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Designating Monday as a federal holiday means that as it stands now, only federally regulated workers will get the day off to mourn the death of the queen.

However, Trudeau said discussions are underway with the provinces, which make their own decisions about whether to grant provincial holidays in tandem with federal ones.

There are roughly 910,000 federally regulated private sector workers in Canada, along with approximately 319,000 public servants who appear set to get a surprise long weekend.

Industries included in the federally regulated private sector are air transportation, banks, grain elevators and feed/seed mills, First Nations band councils and Indigenous self-governments, most federal Crown corporations such as Canada Post, port services, courier services, radio and television broadcasting, railways, transportation services that cross provincial or international borders, telecommunications, and uranium mining or atomic energy workers.

Employees of the House of Commons, the Senate and the Library of Parliament are also included, as are private-sector firms and municipalities in Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.