1917 in Canada

Crown

• Monarch – George V^[1]

Federal government

• Governor General – Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire
• Prime Minister – Robert Borden
• Chief Justice – Charles Fitzpatrick (Quebec)
• Parliament – 12th (until 6 October)

Provincial governments

Territorial governments

January to June

• February 1 – James Alexander Murray becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing George Johnson Clarke
• April 4 – Walter Foster becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing Murray
• April 9 – April 14 – Battle of Vimy Ridge.
• April 17 – Leon Trotsky, en route from New York to Russia, is detained in Halifax. He will spend the next month in Amherst Internment Camp before being released.
• June 21 – Aubin Arsenault becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing John Mathieson

July to December

• July 1: Canada celebrates its 50th Dominion Day.
• August: The government introduces conscription triggering the Conscription Crisis of 1917
• September 20: The Income War Tax Act receives royal assent, establishing a "temporary" tax, which remains in force to this day.^[2]
• September 20: The Wartime Elections Act gives female relatives of servicemen the vote.
• October 26 – November 10: Second Battle of Passchendaele.
• October 30: Charles Stewart (1868–1946) becomes premier of Alberta, replacing Arthur Sifton
• November 1 to 30: Swanson Bay, British Columbia, records 88 inches (2,235 mm) of precipitation for the month, which remains the highest officially recorded for one calendar month in North America.^[3]
• December 6: Halifax Explosion kills 1,900 people and injures 9,000. The largest ever man-made explosion pre-Hiroshima atomic bomb.

January to June

• January 6 – Sydney Banks, broadcaster and producer (d.2006)
• January 11 – John Robarts, lawyer, politician and 17th Premier of Ontario (d.1982)
• April 11 – Danny Gallivan, radio and television broadcaster and sportscaster (d. 1993)
• April 25 – George R. Gardiner, businessman, philanthropist and co-founder of the Gardiner Museum (d.1997)
• May 12 – Frank Clair, Canadian Football League coach (d.2005)
• May 19 – Robert Gordon Robertson, civil servant and 7th Commissioner of the Northwest Territories (d.2013)
• May 21 – Raymond Burr, actor (d.1993)
• May 22 – Lude Check, ice hockey player (d.2009)
• May 24 – Ross Thatcher, politician and 9th Premier of Saskatchewan (d.1971)
• June 17 – Dufferin Roblin, businessman, politician and 14th Premier of Manitoba (d.2010)
• June 18 – Arthur Tremblay, politician and Senator (d.1996)
• June 29 – Archie Green, folklorist and musicologist (d.2009)

July to December

• July 17 – John Hayes, harness racing driver, trainer and owner (d. 1998)
• September 12 – Pierre Sévigny, soldier, author, politician and academic (d. 2004)
• September 15 – Alf Pike, ice hockey player and coach (d. 2009)
• September 26 – Réal Caouette, politician (d. 1976)
• November 2 – Ann Rutherford, actress (Gone with the Wind, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty). (d. 2012)
• November 11 – Abram Hoffer, orthomolecular psychiatrist (d. 2009)
• November 28 – Jacob Froese, politician (d. 2003)
• December 6 – Irv Robbins, Canadian-American entrepreneur (d. 2008)

Full date unknown

• Kent Rowley, labour activist and union organizer (d. 2013)
• Jack Singer, businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)

January to June

• January 8 – Ward Bowlby, lawyer and politician, reeve of Berlin, Ontario (born 1834)
• January 14 – Alexander Cameron, physician and politician (b.1834)
• February 17 – Ralph Smith, coal miner, labour leader and politician (b.1858)
• February 26 – George Johnson Clarke, lawyer, journalist, politician and 14th Premier of New Brunswick (b.1857)
• April 21 – George Thomas Baird, politician, Senator for Victoria, New Brunswick (b. 1847)
• June 13 – Louis-Philippe Hébert, sculptor (b.1850)

July to December

• July 5 – Percival Molson, athlete and soldier (b.1880)
• July 8 – Tom Thomson, artist (b.1877)
• July 15 – Lemuel John Tweedie, politician and 9th premier of New Brunswick (b.1849)
• August 6 – Richard McBride, politician and Premier of British Columbia (b.1870)

• August 29 – Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey, 9th governor general of Canada (b.1851)
• October 31 – Gilbert Ganong, businessman, politician and Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick (b.1851)
• November 10 – Thomas Simpson Sproule, politician and Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada (b.1843)
• October 30 – Talbot Papineau, lawyer and soldier (b.1883)
• December 10 – Mackenzie Bowell, politician and 5th prime minister of Canada (b.1823)