1881 in Canada

Events from the year 1881 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – Victoria<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Federal government

• Governor General – John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne
• Prime Minister – John A. Macdonald
• Chief Justice – William Johnstone Ritchie (New Brunswick)
• Parliament – 4th

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Albert Norton Richards (until June 21) then Clement Francis Cornwall
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Joseph-Édouard Cauchon
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Robert Duncan Wilmot
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Adams George Archibald
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – John Beverley Robinson
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Thomas Heath Haviland
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Théodore Robitaille

Premiers

• Premier of British Columbia – George Anthony Walkem
• Premier of Manitoba – John Norquay
• Premier of New Brunswick – John James Fraser
• Premier of Nova Scotia – Simon Hugh Holmes
• Premier of Ontario – Oliver Mowat
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – William Wilfred Sullivan
• Premier of Quebec – Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau

Territorial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Keewatin – Joseph-Édouard Cauchon
• Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories – David Laird (until December 3) then Edgar Dewdney

Events

• January 17 – The Interprovincial Bridge connecting Ottawa to Hull, Quebec, opens
• February 16 – The Canadian Pacific Railway is incorporated
• April 4 – The 1881 census finds Canada's population to be 4,324,810
• May 24 – The overloaded steamer Victoria' capsizes on the Thames River near London, Ontario, killing 182 people.
• October – Clifton, Ontario, is renamed to Niagara Falls.
• December 2 – Quebec election: Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau's Conservatives win a majority

Full date unknown

• Manitoba's boundaries are extended north, east and west. Ontario disputes the eastward extension.

Births

• January 2 – Frederick Varley, artist and member of the Group of Seven (d.1969)
• January 20 – Fred Dixon, politician (d.1931)
• March 18 – Oliver Seibert, professional ice hockey player (d.1944)
• June 17 – Tommy Burns, only Canadian born world heavyweight champion boxer (d.1955)
• September 27 – James Ralston, lawyer, soldier, politician and Minister (d.1948)
• October 23 – Al Christie, film director, producer and screenwriter (d.1951)
• November 4 – Hector Authier, politician, lawyer and news reporter/announcer (d.1971)
• November 19 – Robert James Manion, politician (d.1943)
• December 20 – Télesphore-Damien Bouchard, politician (d.1962)
• December 29 – George Washington Kendall (d.1921)
• December 31 – Albert Sévigny, politician (d.1961)
• December 31 – Elizabeth Arden (birth name, Florence Nightingale Graham), founder, Elizabeth Arden cosmetics (d.1966)

Deaths

• January 28 – Luc Letellier de St-Just, politician and 3rd Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (b. 1820)

Historical documents

John A. Macdonald expounds on CPR's troubled past and secure future in House of Commons speech <ref>Canada; Parliament; House of Commons, Debates of the House of Commons of the Dominion of Canada; 4th Parliament, 3rd Session (1881), pgs. 485-98. Accessed 4 October 2019 http://www.collectionscanada.ca/2/4/h4-4013-e.html</ref>

British editorial labels CPR and Canada bad investments <ref>A Wrong Forecast of a False Prophet; Editorial from London "Truth," September 1st, 1881 ("From Press Clippings of A.B. Chaffee, Manager, International Railway Guide, Montreal, Que."). Accessed 5 October 2019 http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1014/1.html</ref>

Wilfrid Laurier accuses Conservatives of "having sacrificed the public cause to personal cupidity" <ref>Ulric Barthe, Wilfrid Laurier on the Platform; Collection of the Principal Speeches[...] (1890), pgs. 143-6. Accessed 5 October 2019 http://www.archive.org/stream/wilfridlaurieron00lauruoft#page/142/mode/2up/</ref>

Governor General speaks on prospects of Northwest Territories <ref>Canada; Department of Agriculture, The Canadian North-West: Speech Delivered at Winnipeg [by] Governor General[...] (1881). Accessed 5 October 2019 http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/959.html</ref>

Importance of steamboats to colonization along Saskatchewan River <ref>"Wreck of the Saskatchewan Steamer," from Edmonton Bulletin (November 5, 1881). Accessed 4 October 2019 http://www.canadahistory.com/sections/documents/thewest/sasksteamerwreak.htm</ref>

Ojibwa entertain Governor General at Rat Portage (Kenora), Ont. (Note: racial stereotypes) <ref>William H. Williams, Manitoba and the North-West; Journal of a Trip from Toronto to the Rocky Mountains[...] (1882), pgs. 32-3. Accessed 4 October 2019 http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1020/39.html</ref>

Chief Poundmaker tells Cree and Blackfoot legends to Governor General on tour <ref>William H. Williams, Manitoba and the North-West; Journal of a Trip from Toronto to the Rocky Mountains[...] (1882), pg. 105 and after. Accessed 4 October 2019 http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1020/112.html</ref>

Colourful Blackfoot riders meet Governor General (Note: "savage" and other stereotypes) <ref>William H. Williams, Manitoba and the North-West; Journal of a Trip from Toronto to the Rocky Mountains[...] (1882), pgs. 118-19. Accessed 4 October 2019 http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1020/125.html</ref>

Journalist describes beautiful Qu'Appelle Valley in gorgeous sunset <ref>William H. Williams, Manitoba and the North-West; Journal of a Trip from Toronto to the Rocky Mountains[...] (1882), pg. 66. Accessed 5 October 2019 http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1020/73.html</ref>

Nova Scotia woman tries to find a maid for $4/month, and describes some of the work <ref>Letter of Eliza Cunningham to her mother, Catherine McQueen, April 19, 1881, Dartmouth, The McQueen Family Papers, Atlantic Canada Virtual Archives. Accessed 5 October 2019 http://atlanticportal.hil.unb.ca/acva/en/mcqueen/letters/search/text.php?pt=1&d=575</ref>

References

 Template:Reflist