1971 in Canada

Incumbents

Crown

• Head of state – Queen Elizabeth II

  Federal government

• Governor general – Roland Michener
• Prime minister – Pierre Trudeau
• Chief Justice – Gérald Fauteux
• Parliament – 28th

  Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Grant MacEwan
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – John Robert Nicholson
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – William John McKeag
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Wallace Samuel Bird then Hédard Robichaud
• Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Ewart John Arlington Harnum
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Victor de Bedia Oland
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – William Ross Macdonald
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – John George MacKay
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Hugues Lapointe
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Stephen Worobetz

  Premiers

• Premier of Alberta – Harry Strom then Peter Lougheed
• Premier of British Columbia – W.A.C. Bennett
• Premier of Manitoba – Edward Schreyer
• Premier of New Brunswick – Richard Hatfield
• Premier of Newfoundland – Joey Smallwood
• Premier of Nova Scotia – Gerald Regan
• Premier of Ontario – John Robarts then Bill Davis
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – Alexander B. Campbell
• Premier of Quebec – Robert Bourassa
• Premier of Saskatchewan – Ross Thatcher then Allan Blakeney

  Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Commissioner of Yukon – James Smith
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Stuart Milton Hodgson

  Events

January to June

• February 16 - The Fuddle Duddle incident.
• March 1 - Bill Davis becomes premier of Ontario, replacing John Robarts
• March 4 - Prime Minister Trudeau weds Margaret Sinclair
• March 31 - FLQ terrorist Paul Rose is sentenced to life in prison
• April 5 - The first CANDU reactor begins operation at Gentilly, Quebec
• April 14 - a riot begins at Kingston Penitentiary. Prisoners seize control and a four-day siege ensues.
• May 4 - A sinkhole destroys much of Saint-Jean-Vianney, Quebec, and kills 31
• May 22 - Ontario Place opens in Toronto
• June 1 - Census Day for the 1971 Census of Canada, which finds Canada's total population to be 21,568,311.
• June 3 - The controversial Spadina Expressway project is cancelled
• June 11 - Jack Davis becomes Canada's first Minister of the Environment, heading the new department of Environment Canada
• June 14 - The Victoria Charter proposing constitutional reforms is written by the first ministers. It was later rejected by Robert Bourassa.
• June 23 - Saskatchewan election: Allan Blakeney's NDP wins a majority, defeating Ross Thatcher's Liberals
• June 30 - Allan Blakeney becomes premier of Saskatchewan, replacing Ross Thatcher

  July to December

• July 22 - Ross Thatcher, leader of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party dies in office"
• July 29 - The Bluenose II is donated to the province of Nova Scotia
• July 30 - The Canada-based animation studio Nelvana is established by, Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert and Clive A. Smith in Toronto, Ontario
• August 16 - Hurricane Beth hits Nova Scotia
• August 28 - Canada's first gay rights demonstration, organized by George Hislop, takes place on Parliament Hill
• August 30 - Alberta election: Peter Lougheed's PCs win a majority, defeating Harry Strom's Social Credit Party, which had governed for 36 years
• September 10 - Peter Lougheed becomes premier of Alberta, replacing Harry Strom
• October 4 - Petroleum is found under Sable Island
• October 21 - Ontario election: Bill Davis's PCs win an eighth consecutive majority
• November 1 - The Toronto Sun begins publication
• November 1 - The Body Politic, Canada's first significant gay magazine, publishes its first issue.
• November 2 - Gerhard Herzberg wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• November 12 - Paul Joseph Cini hijacks an Air Canada plane. He is later arrested without incident
• December 1 - A moving Montreal Metro train crashes into a second parked train, killing one person.
• December 26 - An Air Canada plane is hijacked and flown to Cuba.

  Full date unknown

• Ontario Universities Application Centre founded
• The first edition of The Canadian Rockies Trail Guide is published
• Conrad Black and David Radler buy the Sherbrooke Record
• Statistics Canada is formed to replace the Dominion Bureau of Statistics

Arts and literature

• July 1 - Joyce Wieland's "True Patriot Love" opens at the National Gallery of Canada. It is the Gallery's first solo exhibition devoted to the work of a living Canadian woman artist.
• August 15 - The first Banff Festival of the Arts opens.

  New works

• Alice Munro: Lives of Girls and Women
• Margaret Atwood: Power Politics
• Milton Acorn: I Shout Love and On Shaving Off His Beard
• Mordecai Richler: St. Urbain's Horseman
• Joan Haggerty: Daughters of the Moon
• Gordon R. Dickson: Tactics of Mistake
• Brian Fawcett: Friends

  Awards

• See 1971 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Stephen Leacock Award: Robert Thomas Allen, Wives, Children & Other Wild Life
• Vicky Metcalf Award: Kay Hill

  Sport

• January 18 – Ivan Koloff defeats Bruno Sammartino ending Sammartino's seven-and-a-half-year reign and became the first Canadian WWWF World Heavyweight Champion
• March 13 – Toronto Varsity Blues win their fifth University Cup by defeating the Saint Mary's Huskies 5 to 4. All games were played at Sudbury Community Arena
• May 18 – Montreal Canadiens won their 17th Stanley Cup by defeating the Chicago Black Hawks 4 games to 3. Hamilton's Ken Dryden is awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy
• May 19 – Quebec Junior Hockey League's Quebec Remparts won their won their first Memorial Cup by defeating the Western Canada Hockey League's Edmonton Oil Kings 2 game to 0. All games were played at the Colisée de Québec
• June 3 – Montreal's Tarzan Tyler became one half of the first World Wide Wrestling Federation Tag Team Champions by defeating The Sheik and Dick the Bruiser at the Joe Brown Center in New Orleans
• November 20 – Western Ontario Mustangs won their First Vanier Cup by defeating the Alberta Golden Bears by a score of 15–14 in the 7th Vanier Cup played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto
• November 28 – The Calgary Stampeders win their second Grey Cup by defeating the Toronto Argonauts 14 to 11 in the 59th Grey Cup played in Vancouver's Empire Stadium
• December 6 – Quebec City's Rene Goulet becomes the second Canadian to win World Wrestling Federation Tag Team Champion by defeating Luke Graham and Tarzan Tyler at Madison Square Garden in New York City

• Disc sport pioneer Ken Westerfield immigrates to Canada
• Harold Ballard gains full control of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

  Births

January to June

• January 18 - Seamus O'Regan, broadcast journalist and television co-host
• January 23 - Carla Robinson, television journalist
• January 27 - Patrice Brisebois, ice hockey player
• February 17 - Martyn Bennett, musician
• March 8 - Bob Boughner, ice hockey player
• March 20 - Janis Kelly, volleyball player
• March 27 - Nathan Fillion, actor
• April 1 - Danielle Smith, journalist and politician
• April 2 - Conrad Leinemann, beach volleyball player
• April 9 - Jacques Villeneuve, motor racing driver
• June 15 - Bif Naked, rock singer-songwriter, poet, cartoonist and actress
• June 26 - Christine Nordhagen, wrestler
• June 26 - Edward Parenti, swimmer

  July to September

• July 2 - Evelyn Lau, poet and novelist
• July 10 - Adam Foote, ice hockey player
• July 17 - Cory Doctorow, blogger, journalist and science fiction author
• July 20 - Sandra Oh, actress
• July 30 - Tom Green, actor, rapper, writer, comedian and media personality
• September - Chris Klein-Beekman, aid worker killed in Iraq
• September 6 - Fiona Milne, rower and World Champion

  October to December

• October 1 - Guylaine Cloutier, swimmer
• October 7 - Todd Smith, Ontario MPP
• October 15 - Jamie Nicholls, Politician
• October 21 - Johanne Bégin, water polo player
• October 30 - Peter New, actor and screenwriter
• November 24 - Keith Primeau, ice hockey player
• December 9 - Petr Nedvěd, ice hockey player
• December 14 - Scott Koskie, volleyball player
• December 23 -
• * Corey Haim, actor
• * Estella Warren, actress, former fashion model, and former synchronized swimmer
• December 25 - Justin Trudeau, politician

  Deaths

January to June

• January 5 - Douglas Shearer, sound designer and recording director
• February 4 - Brock Chisholm, doctor and first Director-General of the World Health Organization
• March 25 - Anne Savage, painter and art teacher
• April 5 - Maurice Brasset, politician and lawyer
• April 14 - Hector Authier, politician, lawyer and news reporter/announcer
• April 17 - Carmen Lombardo, singer and composer
• April 19 - Earl Thomson, athlete and Olympic gold medalist
• May 2 - John Horne Blackmore, politician
• May 3 - Georges Poulin, hockey player
• June 19 - Albert A. Brown, politician and lawyer

  July to December

• July 10 - Samuel Bronfman, businessman
• July 22 - Ross Thatcher, politician and 9th Premier of Saskatchewan
• September 4 - James Gladstone, first Status Indian to be appointed to the Senate of Canada
• November 17 - Arthur Roebuck, politician and labour lawyer
• November 25 - Leonard W. Murray, naval officer

  Full date unknown

• David Florida, pioneer in space research