That depends on the employers attitude towards it - where do you draw the line with regard to the amount of time off staff can take in addition to their usual entitlement?

I took 5 days unpaid as an interim holiday while I accumulated paid leave, and I don't think I could have expected a positive response if I'd have asked for more.

It's all at the discretion of your employer.

Welcome to North America

Thanks R I C H, we're arriving at the end of the month. I don't expect my OH will get any hols in the first year (?). So how much unpaid leave would it be acceptable to take in the first/second year?

I don't know - as el_richo suggests, it's at the discretion of the employer. Maybe none, maybe a week or two. It's possibly proportional to the usual allocation once you're through the probation. I get 5 wks per year, so taking a week unpaid isn't a big deal. If you're on the standard 2 wks vacation per year, then an additional week might be as much as you can hope for.

You should have been getting at least 4% of salary accrued, otherwise the employer would have been in breach of the BC employment standards act. What does happen is you accrue vacation pay during one year to use for paid time off the next.