Peacetime Service and Sacrifice Memorial Day Act

Bill C-252 would create a new annual commemorative day in Canada. It designates October 22 of each year as "Peacetime Service and Sacrifice Memorial Day," a day meant to encourage Canadians to remember and honour members of the Canadian Armed Forces who have died on Canadian soil during peacetime, rather than in war or combat. The date was chosen to mark the anniversary of the 2014 killing of Corporal Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, and the bill's preamble also references the killing of Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent days earlier, along with broader statistics on non-combat deaths and suicides among Armed Forces members.

The bill's only operative requirement, beyond naming the day, is that on this date each year the national flag of Canada atop the Peace Tower in Ottawa is to be lowered to half-mast. The bill does not create a statutory holiday, does not grant time off work, and does not impose any obligations on individuals, businesses, or provincial governments — it is a symbolic day of remembrance similar in nature to existing commemorative days.

This bill designates October 22 each year as "Peacetime Service and Sacrifice Memorial Day" and requires the national flag on the Peace Tower to be lowered to half-mast on that day.

This bill creates no new powers, bodies, or duties beyond this designation and the flag-lowering requirement.