Dec 26 Dec 26 Dec 26 Language English and French are Canada's two official languages. English is the predominant language in British Columbia. Many banks, hotels, airline offices, service institutions, shops and key tourist destinations have multi-lingual staff. Metric Measures Canada follows the international metric system. Temperatures, rainfall measures, distance, weights, velocity are expressed in metric units.
Distance is measured in kilometres.
Daylight Savings Time is in effect from 0200hr on the first Sunday in April until 0200hr on the last Sunday in October. Visitors who wish to cash cheques or require other banking services are advised to check times of operation with the institutions. Main branches of Canadian chartered banks, particularly in major centres, are equipped to exchange foreign currency as well. Several major European and foreign banks have offices in Vancouver, and will handle some foreign currencies directly. Most banks have automatic teller machines, which can be accessed 24 hours a day, using bank cards on major international banking networks such as Cirrus, Plus and Interac.