Overview
Beginning Sunday, November 1, 2026, British Columbia adopts permanent year-round daylight savings time, or Pacific time (PCT, UTC-07:00). This means that in BC, clocks will no longer "fall back" one hour in the Fall or "spring forward" in the Spring.
Microsoft has released updates which added (UTC-07:00) Pacific Time (British Columbia) to their environments, including Windows and Microsoft 365.
Apple has updated macOS and iOS with the new BC time zone (represented by city location). Apple's update will not show the time zone differently in device settings but reflects UTC-07:00. Apple may update the new time zone naming in a future operating system update.
To prepare for the new time zone change, Langara IT has been monitoring and assessing these recent updates from Microsoft, Apple, and other vendors to identify their impact and mitigate any potential complications to our environments including Outlook, Exchange Online, Windows, macOS, and mobile devices.
What Langara IT is doing
- Outlook - All Langara employees and students with a Langara email account whose time zone was previously set to the old BC (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) time zone will now be set to the new (UTC-07:00) Pacific Time (British Columbia) time zone. Accounts set to any other time zone besides (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) will be left untouched.
To confirm you are on the new time zone in Outlook, refer to the Checking your time zone in Outlook KBA.
- Langara IT managed Windows computers - Currently set to use the (UTC-07:00) Yukon time zone until the (UTC-07:00) Pacific Time (British Columbia) update is available in our environment. No impact is expected and the update should be seamless, requiring no action from users.
- Langara IT managed Apple computers - Should already have the new time zone definition installed. Mentioned above, Apple's update will not show the time zone differently in device settings but reflects UTC-07:00. Apple may update the new time zone naming in a future operating system update.
- Pre-existing meetings for November 1 and after - On October 28th, Microsoft will be providing Langara IT with a script to perform a mass update of all previously booked meetings for November 1 and beyond to the new time zone to ensure these meetings are not shifted by one hour in November and onwards. If you do not want to wait for the auto-update, meeting organizers can update the time zone for their meetings to the (UTC-07:00) Pacific Time (British Columbia) for both the meeting's start and end times. This applies to both single and recurring meetings.
- Meeting Room availability - A bug with Microsoft's new (UTC-07:00) Pacific Time (British Columbia) time zone in Outlook has been discovered where it does show you whether a room is available when trying to book a meeting room. Microsoft is aware of the issue and working on a solution. No ETA on the fix has been provided at this time.
- A workaround to book and view meeting room schedules can be found here.
NOTE - Room booking is only available to employees.
What you can do to prepare for the time zone change
To ensure you are not impacted by the coming time zone change:
- Check your time zone in Outlook to ensure you are on the new (UTC-07:00) Pacific Time (British Columbia) time zone.
- For Langara IT managed Windows and Mac computers, make sure your device has been turned on and connected to the Internet within the past 2 weeks. If not, turn your device on, ensure it is connected to the Internet, leave it on for a few hours, and if prompted, install any updates, especially any that indicate time zone definitions, then restart your device.
- Refer to the Checking and managing time zone settings on computers KBA for directions on how to check time time zone on your Windows or Mac computer
- NOTE - Langara IT managed Windows desktops and laptops have been set to use (UTC-07:00) Yukon until the (UTC-07:00) Pacific Time (British Columbia) update is available.
- For personal computers, the same instructions above applies, however you are responsible for correcting your time zone if needed as Langara IT is limited in the support it can provide for personal devices.
- For meeting organizers with meetings booked into November and beyond, wait for the automatic update to be applied to your meetings on October 28th. Check your meetings on October 29th to see if they have been adjusted to the correct times. If not, you will need to manually update your meetings' time zones to (UTC-07:00) Pacific Time (British Columbia) for the start and end times.
Additional IT Support
All organizations and institutions across BC are undergoing the same experience with the coming time zone change. If you find that there is an issue with your Outlook time zone or Langara IT managed device after November 1, please submit a General Device Support request or contact us through remotesupport.langara.ca.