1879 in Canada
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Events from the year 1879 in Canada.
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Incumbents
Crown
Federal government
- Governor General â John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne
- Prime Minister â John A. Macdonald
- Chief Justice â William Buell Richards (Ontario) (until 10 January) then William Johnstone Ritchie (New Brunswick) (from 11 January)
- Parliament â 4th (from 13 February)
Provincial governments
Lieutenant governors
- Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia â Albert Norton Richards
- Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba â Joseph-Ãdouard Cauchon
- Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick â Edward Barron Chandler
- Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia â Adams George Archibald
- Lieutenant Governor of Ontario â Donald Alexander Macdonald
- Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island â Robert Hodgson (until July 10) then Thomas Heath Haviland
- Lieutenant Governor of Quebec â Luc Letellier de St-Just (until July 26) then Théodore Robitaille
Premiers
- Premier of British Columbia â George Anthony Walkem
- Premier of Manitoba â John Norquay
- Premier of New Brunswick â John James Fraser
- Premier of Nova Scotia â Simon Hugh Holmes
- Premier of Ontario â Oliver Mowat
- Premier of Prince Edward Island â Louis Henry Davies (until April 25) then William Wilfred Sullivan
- Premier of Quebec â Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière (until October 31) then Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau
Territorial governments
Lieutenant governors
Events
- February 4 â Prince Edward Island election: William Wilfred Sullivan's Conservatives win a third consecutive majority.
- March 12 â Sir John A. Macdonald introduces protective tariffs on manufactured goods being imported into Canada, a transcontinental railway, and immigration to the west in his National Policy.
- April 25 â Sir William Wilfred Sullivan becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing Sir Louis Davies.
- June 5 â Ontario election: Sir Oliver Mowat's Liberals win a third consecutive majority.
- June 27 - Murder of Mary Gallagher in Griffintown, Montreal
- (date unknown) â The Toronto Industrial Exhibition opens for the first time, precursor to the Canadian National Exhibition.
- October 31 â Sir Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau becomes premier of Quebec, replacing Henri-Gustave de Lotbinière.
- December 16 â Manitoba election.
- December 19 â Swift Runner is hanged in Fort Saskatchewan, NWT, for murdering and then eating eight members of his own family over the previous winter. He believed he was possessed by Wendigo, a terrifying mythological creature with a ravenous appetite for human flesh.
Births
January to June
- January 15 â Mazo de la Roche, author (d.1961)
- January 17 â Richard Gavin Reid, politician and 7th Premier of Alberta (d.1980)
- January 25 â Humphrey T. Walwyn, naval officer and Governor of Newfoundland (d.1957)
- March 20 â Maud Menten, medical scientist (d.1960)
- May 25 â Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, business tycoon, politician and writer (d.1964)
- June 12 â Charles Dow Richards, judge, politician and 18th Premier of New Brunswick (d.1956)
July to December
- August 1 â Eva Tanguay, singer and entertainer (d.1947)
- August 16 â Samuel Lawrence, politician and trade unionist (d.1959)
- October 6 â James Langstaff Bowman, politician and Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada (d.1951)
- October 9 â William Warren, lawyer, politician, judge and Prime Minister of Newfoundland (d.1927)
- November 3 â Vilhjalmur Stefansson, Arctic explorer and ethnologist (d.1962)
- November 11 â Violet McNaughton, feminist (d. 1953)
- November 25 â Joseph-Arsène Bonnier, politician (d.1962)
- December 10 â P. L. Robertson, inventor (d. 1951)
- December 24 â Ãmile Nelligan, poet (d.1941)[2]
Deaths
- January 4 â Pierre-Alexis Tremblay, politician (b.1827)
- January 16 â Octave Crémazie, poet (b.1827)
- April 4 â Jean-Baptiste Thibault, missionary and a Father of Confederation (b.1810)
- October 7 â William Henry Pope, lawyer, politician, judge and a Father of Confederation (b.1825)
Historical documents
- The federal government proposes to provide 100 million acres of Dominion land for the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway for settlement.[3]
- Report claims only self-reliance and industry can relieve distress of Indigenous people and anxiety of Metis (Note: racial stereotypes)[4]
- Ottawa memo outlines the "utter destitution" of some Indigenous people in the Northwest Territories[5]
- Federal commissioner reports on the dependency of Indigenous people at Fort Walsh[6]
- Visitor fears the Metis on the Assiniboine River will not hold on to their lands much longer[7]
- All aboard the steamer Waubuno are lost in a gale on Georgian Bay[9]
- Anti-Irish-Catholic opinion is published in the Irish Canadian[10]
- "Alouette" first sung as a Canadian folk song.
