National Notable Dates 2023

The following are national days of relevance to The Royal Canadian Legion that raise awareness of an issue, commemorate a group or event, or celebrate something. Also included are national Legion activities. Branches may wish to promote these dates or organize related activities.

Dominion Command promotes many of these dates through our social media channels. Selected commemorative dates may be promoted on significant anniversaries.

We encourage Branches and members to share Legion national messaging from our social media channels:

Facebook.com/CanadianLegion             Twitter.com/RoyalCdnLegion     Instagram.com/royalcanadianlegion

JANUARY

• 1 New Years Day
• 25 Bell Let’s Talk (mental health)
• 27 Holocaust Remembrance Day
• Membership renewal reminders

FEBRUARY

• Black history month
• 14 Valentines Day
• Family Day (day varies by province)
• 15 National Flag of Canada Day
• 28 Gulf War ends (1991)
• Lapsed member reminders

MARCH

• 3 World Hearing Day
• 8 Internatio nal Women’s Day
• 2nd Monday – Commonwealth Day (RCEL support)
• 15 Last Canadian soldiers return from Afghanistan (2014)
• Lapsed member reminders

APRIL

• Month of the Military Child
• 1 Royal Canadian Air Force founded (1924)
• 3 Battle of Moreuil Wood (1918)
• 4 NATO Accord signed (1949)
• 9 Battle of Vimy Ridge (1917) – Legion flags lowered to half mast
• 16-22 National Volunteer Week
• 25 Anzac Day

• 25 Battle of Kapyong (1951)

MAY

• 1st Sunday Battle of the Atlantic (1945)
• 1-7 CMHA Mental Health Week
• 1-7 National Youth Week
• 3 John McCrae wrote ‘In Flanders Fields’ poem
• 4 Royal Canadian Navy founded (1910)
• 5 Liberation of Netherlands (1945)
• 8 VE Day (1945)
• 14 Mother’s Day
• 15 International Day of Families
• 18 – June 4 RCAF Run
• 19 Canadian Army founded (1855)
• 21 National War Memorial unveiled (1939)
• 22 Victoria Day
• 23 RCMP (1873) 150thanniversary
• 25 Ypres (1915)
• 26 – June 4 Memorial Cup
• 28 Tomb of Unknown Soldier (2000)
• 29 International Day of UN Peacekeepers
• 31 End of South African (Boer) War (1902)
• 29 US Memorial Day

JUNE

• Pride Month
• Legion Riders promotion
• 1st Sunday Canadian Armed Forces Day
• 4 Miracle at Dunkirk (1940)
• 6 Normandy Invasion (D-Day) (1944)
• 14 World Blood Donor Day
• 17 Navy Bike Ride
• 18 Father’s Day
• 21 National Indigenous Peoples Day
• 27 Canadian Multiculturalism Day

JULY

• 1 Beaumont Hamel (1916)
• 1 Canada Day (Legion supports Operation Canada Day)
• 7 Canada ceases combat operations in Afghanistan (2011)
• 26 Vimy unveiling (1936)
• 27 Korean War armistice (1953) 70thanniversary

AUGUST

• 1 NORAD formed (1957)
• 7-13 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships
• 9 Canadian Peacekeepers Day
• 12 International Youth Day
• 15 Victory over Japan (1945)
• 19 Dieppe Raid (1942)

SEPTEMBER

• Legion Early Bird campaign / Renewals
• 2nd Sunday Firefighters’ National Memorial Day
• 2 Second World War ends (1945)
• 3 Merchant Navy Veterans Day
• 8 Battle of Medak Pocket (1993) 30thanniversary
• 8 – 29 Canada Army Run
• 10 World Suicide Prevention Day
• 11 Attacks on September 11 (2001)
• 17 Operation Medusa (2006)
• 21 International Day of Peace
• 3rdFriday Military Family Appreciation Day
• 3rdSunday Battle of Britain (1940)
• Last Sunday Police and Peace Officers Memorial

OCTOBER

• Legion Early Bird campaign / Renewals
• 1st week of the month National Family Week
• 1-7 Mental Illness Awareness Week
• 10 World Mental Health Day
• 9 Thanksgiving
• 14 Van Doos anniversary (1914)
• 17 International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
• 24 Anniversary of United Nations (1946)
• Last Friday in October start of Poppy Campaign

NOVEMBER

• Legion Early Bird campaign / Renewals
• 1 Announcement of National Silver Cross Mother
• 8 Indigenous Veterans Day
• 10 Passchendaele ends (1917)
• 11 Remembrance Day
• 11 First World War ends – Armistice Day (1918)
• 18 Battle of the Somme (1916)

• 28 #GivingTuesday
• 30 John McCrae’s birthday (1872) (In Flanders Fields)

DECEMBER

• 3 International Day of Persons with Disabilities
• 5 International Volunteer Day
• 6 Halifax explosion (1917)
• 6 National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women
• 10 Nobel Prize for Peace awarded to peacekeepers (1988)
• 25 Christmas (Legion supports Operation Santa Claus)
• 25 Fall of Hong Kong (1941)

·      Membership renewal reminders