Tamil Heritage Month
Tamil Heritage Month, started in 2010, aims to celebrate the history of Canada’s Tamil community and its contribution to the social, cultural, political and economic strength of Canada.
The month of January was chosen as the Tamil Heritage Month for a number of reasons: the important and widely-celebrated Pongal festival falls in the middle of the month. Pongal is both a time of thanksgiving for the blessings of a past year and a time to look forward to the start of a new year. The first month of the Tamil calendar, Thai, begins in the middle of January.
1 New Year’s Day
New Year’s Day marks the start of a new year in the Gregorian calendar. It’s a holiday when Canadians gather to welcome new beginnings with reflection, celebration, and time with loved ones.
1 World Day of Peace
January 1st is the Catholic Church’s World Day of Peace, established by Pope Paul VI in 1967 to promote universal peace at the start of each new year, and featuring an annual message from the Pope on building peace through justice, love, and forgiveness.
1 Polar Bear Plunge Day
This annual tradition is celebrated primarily on January 1st; people take a quick, chilly dip in a lake, ocean, or river to welcome the New Year, often for fun or to raise money for charity. Participants brave cold water, often wearing costumes, to get an adrenaline rush, build courage, and start the year with a memorable splash. These events are held in Vancouver, Toronto, and other communities worldwide.
4 National Ribbon Skirt Day
National Ribbon Skirt Day is celebrated annually in Canada on January 4th, honoring Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, promoting cultural pride, and recognizing resilience after a young Indigenous girl, Isabella Kulak, was shamed for wearing her handmade ribbon skirt to school. This day, established by Canadian legislation, encourages everyone to learn about and celebrate Indigenous cultures, often marked by wearing ribbon skirts to show solidarity and identity.
4 World Braille Day
World Braille Day is celebrated annually on January 4th, Louis Braille’s birthday, to recognize the importance of braille as a communication method for blind and visually impaired people and promote their inclusion, with the United Nations officially recognizing it to raise awareness about braille literacy.
9 REDforED!
Ottawa’s education unions are standing together in solidarity to proudly take part in Red for Ed on the first Friday of every month. This collective show of unity highlights our shared commitment to strong, well-funded, and safe public education for all. By wearing red, we amplify the voices of education workers and the communities we serve. Together, we can make our message even stronger and demonstrate unwavering solidarity for every education worker across Ottawa. #RedforEd
19 MLK Day
MLK Day honours the life and legacy of the civil rights leader known for his nonviolent activism against racial discrimination, serving as a national day for service, community improvement, and remembrance of his fight for equality and justice.
24 World Day for African and Afrodescendent Culture
Held every year on 24 January, World Day for African and Afrodescendant Culture celebrates the many vibrant cultures of the African continent and African Diasporas around the world, reinforcing UNESCO’s mandate to promote respect for cultural diversity and human creativity around the globe.
24 International Day of Education
This annual UN observance celebrates education’s crucial role for peace, sustainable development, and human rights, first marked in 2019 after being declared by the UN General Assembly in 2018. Each year focuses on a theme, like 2025’s “AI and education: Preserving human agency,” highlighting how education helps navigate technological changes while ensuring equity and access for all, emphasizing skills for the future, reducing inequality, and fostering global citizenship.
27 International Holocaust Remembrance Day
International Holocaust Remembrance Day is an international memorial day on 27 January that commemorates the victims of the Holocaust, the genocide of European Jews by Nazi Germany between 1941 and 1945. 27 January was chosen to commemorate the date that Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by the Red Army in 1945.
27 Family Literacy Day
Family Literacy Day, celebrated annually on January 27th in Canada, is a national initiative promoting reading and learning together to boost family bonds and children’s skills, with activities like library events, story times, and crafting, all encouraging at least 15 minutes of daily family learning.
29 National Day of Remembrance of the Québec City Mosque Attack and Action against Islamophobia
On the evening of January 29, 2017, a person entered the Islamic Cultural Centre in Québec City and killed six people and injured 19 others. This act of terror has forever altered the lives of the victims’ families and friends, the survivors, and of Muslim communities across Canada. More than that, it was a clear attempt to frighten Muslims in a safe and peaceful sanctuary and fray the fabric of society.
Since 2021, January 29 has been observed as a National Day of Remembrance of the Québec City Mosque Attack and Action against Islamophobia.
