1871 in Canada

Crown • Monarch – Victoria Federal government • Governor General – John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar • Prime Minister – John A. Macdonald • Parliament – 1st Provincial governments Lieutenant governors • Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Joseph Trutch (from July 5) • Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Adams George Archibald • Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Lemuel Allan Wilmot • Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Charles Hastings Doyle • Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – William Pearce Howland • Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Narcisse-Fortunat Belleau Premiers • Premier of British Columbia – John Foster McCreight (from November 14) • Premier of Manitoba – Alfred Boyd (until December 14) then Marc-Amable Girard • Premier of New Brunswick – George Edwin King (until February 21) then George Luther Hathaway • Premier of Nova Scotia – William Annand • Premier of Ontario – John Sandfield Macdonald (until December 20) then Edward Blake • Premier of Quebec – Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau Territorial governments Lieutenant governors • Lieutenant Governor of the Northwest Territories – Adams George Archibald == Elections ==

• March 21 – The 1871 Ontario election: Edward Blake's Liberals win a majority, defeating J. S. Macdonald's Liberal-Conservatives • May 16 – The 1871 Nova Scotia election: William Annand's Liberals win a second consecutive majority • Oct 16 – Dec 15 – The 1871 British Columbia election ==Events==

January to June • March 15 – Beginning of the first session of the 1st Manitoba Legislature • April 2 – The first Canadian census finds the population to be 3,689,257 • May 8 – The Treaty of Washington reaches agreements on fishing rights and Great Lakes trade between Canada and the United States • May 17 – New Brunswick abandons separate schools. July to December • July 15 – Phoebe Campbell murders her husband with an axe. She is hanged the next year. • July 20 – British Columbia joins Confederation. • July 25 – Treaty 1, the first of a number of treaties with western Canada's First Nations, is signed • August 17 – Treaty 2 is signed • November 11 – The last of the British Army leaves Canada • November 13 – John McCreight becomes the first premier of British Columbia • December 14 – Marc-Amable Girard becomes the first Franco-Manitoban of premier of Manitoba, replacing Alfred Boyd • December 20 – Edward Blake becomes premier of Ontario, replacing J. S. Macdonald. Full date unknown • Meteorological Service of Canada is formed • Parliament legalizes the use of the metric system • Goldwin Smith immigrates to Canada • Ontario Schools Act is passed in Ontario, requiring all students aged 7 to 12 to attend school. • The 1871 Quebec election : Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau's Conservatives win a second consecutive majority ==Births==

• January 30 – Wilfred Lucas, actor, film director and screenwriter (d. 1940) • May 14 – Walter Stanley Monroe, businessman, politician and Prime Minister of Newfoundland (d. 1952) • July 16 – George Stewart Henry, politician and 10th Premier of Ontario (d. 1958) • July 25 – Richard Turner, soldier and recipient of the Victoria Cross (d. 1961) • August 4 – Robert Hamilton Butts, politician (d. 1943) • September 8 – Samuel McLaughlin, businessman and philanthropist (d. 1972) • September 9 – Hugh Robson, politician and judge • October 31 – Alexander Stirling MacMillan, businessman, politician and Premier of Nova Scotia (d. 1955) • December 2 – Stanislas Blanchard, politician (d. 1949) • December 13 – Emily Carr, artist and writer (d. 1945) ==Deaths==

• January 29 – Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé, lawyer, writer, fifth and last seigneur of Saint-Jean-Port-Joli (L'Islet County) (b.1786) • January 31 – John Ross, lawyer, politician, and businessman. (b. 1818) • February 20 – Paul Kane, artist (b.1810) • March 11 – John Heckman, political figure (b.1785) • July 28 – Modeste Demers, missionary (b.1809) • September 23 – Louis-Joseph Papineau, lawyer, politician and reformist (b.1786) • November 18 – Enos Collins, seaman, merchant, financier, and legislator (b.1774) ==References==