Daylight Saving Time Won't Apply To This Canadian Town In 2022 & Here's Why

Residents of a small Canadian town in northwest B.C. won't need to turn their clocks forward for daylight saving time in March in 2022.

The community of Atlin, a town of less than 500 citizens, decided not to change their clocks in 2021 so that they were aligned closely with neighbouring Yukon, which is a short drive away.

Yukon decided to scrap the seasonal time change in 2020 and, after a petition was called in Atlin, the community decided to do the same thing.

It was the only town in B.C. not to change its clocks back on hour in November 2021.

Why Did Daylight Saving Time End?

There's no local municipal government in Atlin, only the self-governing Taku River Tlingit First Nation, so local residents call most of the shots.

Heather Keny, who lives in the town, told CBC in 2021 that "it was an overwhelmingly positive vote to stick with Yukon's time."

She added: "We're so connected to the Yukon, you know, with appointments and flying and all that. [...] Many of us last winter, we had two clocks going in our houses just to keep track."

Will Daylight Saving Time End Elsewhere?

In 2019, B.C. passed legislation outlining its plans to switch from daylight saving time to a "pacific standard time," alongside with Washington state, Oregon and California.

If implemented, it would mean that the province scraps its twice-annual seasonal time changes — a decision which 93% of the 223,000 British Columbians who responded to an online survey want to see happen.

A final decision on its implementation is yet to be confirmed. In 2020, B.C. Premier John Horgan said "it's quite clear that in the middle of a pandemic, making changes to daylight saving is not an urgent issue on people's minds."