Events from the year 1897 in Canada.
Incumbents
Crown Monarch – Victoria
Federal government Governor General – John Hamilton-Gordon Prime Minister – Wilfrid Laurier Chief Justice – Samuel Henry Strong (Ontario) Parliament – 8th
Provincial governments
Lieutenant governors Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Edgar Dewdney (until November 18) then Thomas Robert McInnes Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – James Colebrooke Patterson Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Jabez Bunting Snowball Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Malachy Bowes Daly Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Casimir Gzowski (acting) (until November 18) then Oliver Mowat Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – George William Howlan Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau
Premiers Premier of British Columbia – John Herbert Turner Premier of Manitoba – Thomas Greenway Premier of New Brunswick – James Mitchell (until October 29) then Henry Emmerson Premier of Nova Scotia – George Henry Murray Premier of Ontario – Arthur Sturgis Hardy Premier of Prince Edward Island – Frederick Peters (until October 1) then Alexander Warburton Premier of Quebec – Edmund James Flynn (until May 24) then Félix-Gabriel Marchand
Territorial governments
Commissioners Commissioner of Yukon – James Morrow Walsh (from August 17)
Lieutenant governors Lieutenant Governor of Keewatin – James Colebrooke Patterson Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories – Charles Herbert Mackintosh
Premiers Chairman of the executive committee of the North-West Territories then Premier of North-West Territories – Frederick Haultain (from October 7)
Events
January 29 – The Victorian Order of Nurses is founded in Ottawa. February 2 – Clara Brett Martin becomes the first woman to practise law in Ontario. February 19 – World's first Women's Institute founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario. May 24 – Félix-Gabriel Marchand becomes premier of Quebec, replacing Edmund Flynn. May 24 – Lion of Belfort (Montreal) unveiled. June 20 – Diamond Jubilee of Victoria's accession as Queen. September 6 – The federal government gives the CPR a grant to allow it to reduce freight rates through Crowsnest Pass. October – A.B. Warburton becomes Premier of Prince Edward Island. October 7 – Responsible government is introduced in the North-West Territories: Frederick Haultain becomes the first premier. October 29 – Henry Emmerson becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing James Mitchell.
Full date unknown
Klondike Gold Rush rages in the Yukon. Lord Grey proposes that Canada create a navy to protect its west coast; Prime Minister Laurier does not act on the recommendation. 1897–1912 – 961,000 people enter Canada from the British Isles, 594,000 from Europe and 784,000 from the United States.. The first Canadian movie, Ten Years in Manitoba.
Births
January 23 – William Stephenson, soldier, airman, businessperson, inventor and spymaster (d.1989) January 27 – Charles Stephen Booth, politician and barrister (d.1988) March 9 – Sidney Earle Smith, academic and seventh President of the University of Toronto (d.1959) April 23 – Lester B. Pearson, politician, 14th Prime Minister of Canada, diplomat and 1957 Nobel Peace Prize recipient (d.1972) June 29 – Fulgence Charpentier, French Canadian journalist, editor and publisher (d. 2001) September 23 – Walter Pidgeon, actor (d.1984) September 29 – Graham Towers, first Governor of the Bank of Canada (d.1975) November 30 – William Murdoch Buchanan, politician (d.1966) December 7 – Gordon Graydon, politician (d.1953)
Deaths
January 2 – Thomas McGreevy, politician and contractor (b.1825) February 27 – James Austin, businessman (b.1813) July 4 – Amor De Cosmos, journalist, politician and 2nd Premier of British Columbia (b.1825) September 19 – Frederick Cope, 3rd Mayor of Vancouver (b.1860) October 21 – Philip Francis Little, 1st Premier of Newfoundland of the colonial (b.1824) December 14 – Robert Simpson, businessman and founder of Simpsons (b.1834) December 15 – James Mitchell, politician and 7th Premier of New Brunswick (b.1843) December 31 – David Oppenheimer, entrepreneur and 2nd Mayor of Vancouver (b.1832)
References