1916 in Canada

Crown

• Monarch – George V^[1]

Federal government

• Governor General – Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (until November 11) then Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire
• Prime Minister – Robert Borden
• Chief Justice – Charles Fitzpatrick (Quebec)
• Parliament – 12th

Provincial governments

Territorial governments

January to June

• January 28 – Women are given the right to vote in Manitoba, after protests by people such as Nellie McClung
• February 3 – The Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa burns down
• February 10 – An anti-German riot hits Calgary
• March 14 – Saskatchewan women get the vote
• April 19 – Alberta women get the vote
• June – Rodeo's first side-delivery chute is designed and made by the Bascom brothers on their Bar-B-3 Ranch at Welling, Alberta.
• May 7 – The Government of Canada authorizes the creation of an all black battalion that became No. 2 Construction Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force.
• June 1–13 – WWI: Canadians fight in the Battle of Mont Sorrel

July to December

• July 1 – Prohibition of alcohol introduced in Alberta
• July 1 – November 18 – 25,000 Canadians and Newfoundlanders are casualties at the Battle of the Somme
• July 24 – Earl Bascom enters his first steer riding contest at Welling, Alberta.
• July 29 – The Matheson Fire in the region northwest of North Bay, Ontario, begins. It eventually kills between 200 and 250 people and destroys six towns, including Matheson and Cochrane
• August 11 – The 4th Canadian Division arrives in France
• October 20 – William M. Martin becomes premier of Saskatchewan, replacing Walter Scott
• November 11 – Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire, becomes Governor General of Canada replacing Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught
• November 23 – Harlan Brewster becomes premier of British Columbia, replacing William John Bowser
• December 1 – An Order in Council authorizes an increase of troops to 500,000 in the First World War

Full date unknown

• The National Research Council of Canada is established.
• The first Doukhobors arrive in Alberta
• Emily Murphy became the first female magistrate in Canada, and in the British Empire.^[2]

New works

• Lucy Maud Montgomery – The Watchman & Other Poems
• Max Aitken – Canada in Flanders
• Alfred Laliberté – Les petits Baigneurs

January to June

• January 22 – Bill Durnan, ice hockey player (d.1972)
• February 4 – Pudlo Pudlat, artist (d.1992)
• February 10 – Claude Bissell, author and educator (d.2000)
• February 18 – Jean Drapeau, lawyer, politician and Mayor of Montreal (d.1999)
• February 23 – Molly Kool, North America's first registered female sea captain (d.2009)
• March 10 – Davie Fulton, politician and judge (d.2000)
• April 18 – Ian Wahn, politician and lawyer (d.1999)
• April 27 – Myfanwy Pavelic, artist (d.2007)
• May 3 – Léopold Simoneau, lyric tenor (d.2006)
• May 4 – Jane Jacobs, urbanist, writer and activist (d.2006)
• May 30 – Jack Dennett, radio and television announcer (d.1975)
• June 20 – Jean-Jacques Bertrand, politician and 21st Premier of Quebec (d.1973)

July to December

• July 16 – John Gallagher, geologist and businessman (d.1998)

• July 21 – Wilfred Cantwell Smith, professor of comparative religion (d.2000)
• August 1 – Anne Hébert, author and poet (d.2000)
• September 5 – Frank Shuster, comedian (d.2002)
• September 18 – Laura Sabia, social activist and feminist (d.1996)
• October 9 – Bill Allum, ice hockey player (d.1992)
• October 30 – Roy Brown Jr., car design engineer (Edsel, Ford Consul, Ford Cortina) (d.2013)
• November 17 – Martin J. Légère [fr], businessman (d.2013)
• November 23 – P. K. Page, poet (d.2010)
• December 5 – Lomer Brisson, politician and lawyer (d.1981)
• December 7 – Margaret Carse, dancer
• December 16 – Harry Gunning, scientist and administrator (d.2002)
• December 20 – Michel Chartrand, activist (d.2010)
• December 23 – Ruth Dawson, artist

Full date unknown

• John Wintermeyer, politician (d.1994)

Full date unknown

• Grace Annie Lockhart, first woman in the British Empire to receive a Bachelor's degree (b.1855)