Jour du déménagement au Québec
La Fête du Canada, anciennement appelée Jour de la Confédération puis Fête du Dominion, est un jour férié commémorant la date de formation du Canada. C’est la reine Victoria du Royaume-Uni qui a fixé la date de création de la fédération au 1er juillet 1867.
Le 1er juillet est un jour férié légal qui est reporté au 2 juillet si la fête du Canada tombe un dimanche. Des spectacles, des défilés et des feux d’artifice sont alors organisés à travers tout le pays pour célébrer l’événement.
Au Québec, de nombreux citoyens changent de domicile à cette date ou autour de cette date, notamment parce que la majorité des contrats de bail prennent fin le 1er juillet ; c’est ce qu’on appelle au Québec le jour du déménagement ou la « journée nationale du déménagement ». C’est pour ne pas perturber l’année scolaire des enfants affectés par les déménagements qu’une loi a été adoptée en 1974 pour changer la date de fin des baux du 1er mai au 1er juillet.
Why is July 1st a Moving Day in Quebec?
The tradition was first set in place as a humanitarian measure of the French colonial government of New France, who forbade landlords from evicting their tenant farmers before the winter snow melted. While originally the French law in the 18th century set the “Moving Day” to be on May 1, that later got changed. On May 1st children were still in schools, and moving was a huge inconvenience for the parents. That was why in 1973, the Quebec government decided that it would be a better fit to switch dates and make July 1 the official Moving Day.
July 1st is also Canada Day
In Montreal alone about 70,000 Montreal households move each year (Bloomberg, June 28, 2019). Can you imagine so many people moving on the same day? Finding and booking moving companies for 1st of July is yet another huge headache for Quebecers and organised a few months before.
On July 1st itself, you can find moving vans clogging all around the streets, desperate people who forgot to pack something or didn’t manage to book a professional moving company, an old fridge somewhere on the street… total madness! A lot of people leave furniture or appliances in designated dumping sites or just on the streets. This is a municipal headache actually. The officials urge people to recycle as much as possible, but people are too busy on those days and can hardly think about their next home. The streets and sidewalks of the streets look like a big shop for junkers and treasure hunters. You can actually find some valuable items as well, as the owners just leave it there to be taken.
July 1st is also Canada Day so a public holiday.