# 1886 in Canada

Events from the year 1886 in Canada.

## Incumbents
### Crown

* Monarch – Victoria

### Federal government

* Governor General – Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice
* Prime Minister – John A. Macdonald
* Chief Justice – William Johnstone Ritchie (New Brunswick)
* Parliament – 5th

### Provincial governments
#### Lieutenant governors

* Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Clement Francis Cornwall
* Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – James Cox Aikins
* Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Samuel Leonard Tilley
* Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Matthew Henry Richey
* Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – John Beverley Robinson
* Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Andrew Archibald Macdonald
* Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Louis-Rodrigue Masson

#### Premiers

* Premier of British Columbia – William Smithe
* Premier of Manitoba – John Norquay
* Premier of New Brunswick – Andrew George Blair
* Premier of Nova Scotia – William Stevens Fielding
* Premier of Ontario – Oliver Mowat
* Premier of Prince Edward Island – William Wilfred Sullivan
* Premier of Quebec – John Jones Ross

### Territorial governments
#### Lieutenant governors

* Lieutenant Governor of Keewatin – James Cox Aikins
* Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories – Edgar Dewdney

## Events

* March 25 – Workman's Compensation Act passed in Ontario
* April 6 – Vancouver incorporated as a city
* April 26 – 1886 New Brunswick general election
* June 7 – Elzéar-Alexandre Taschereau becomes the first Canadian cardinal
* June 8 to 15 – 1886 Nova Scotia general election: William Stevens Fielding's Liberals win a third consecutive majority.
* June 13 – Great Vancouver Fire
* June 30 – 1886 Prince Edward Island general election: William Wilfred Sullivan Conservatives win a fifth consecutive majority.
* July 20 – 1886 British Columbia general election
* October 14 – 1886 Quebec general election: Honoré Mercier's Liberals win a majority
* December 9 – 1886 Manitoba general election
* December 14 – Yoho National Park established
* December 28 – 1886 Ontario general election: Sir Oliver Mowat's Liberals win a fifth consecutive majority.

### Full date unknown

* Mohawk men of the Caughnawaga Reserve in Quebec are trained to help build a bridge across the St. Lawrence River, beginning a tradition of high steel construction work among the Iroquois.
* Construction begins on the Banff Springs Hotel

## Births

* January 15 – C. D. Howe, politician and Minister (d.1960)
* January 21 – George Kingston, meteorologist (b.1816)
* May 13 – William John Patterson, politician and 6th Premier of Saskatchewan (d.1976)
* August 4 – Pierre-François Casgrain, politician and Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada (d.1950)
* August 30 – Ray Lawson, 17th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (d.1980)
* September 20 – John Murray Anderson, Canadian-born American actor, dancer, theatre director (d. 1954 in the United States)
* October 16 – Joseph-Arthur Bradette, politician (d.1961)

## Deaths

* March 30 – Joseph-Alfred Mousseau, politician and 6th Premier of Quebec (b.1837)
* March 31 – Amos Wright, farmer and politician (b.1809)
* June 25
** Auguste Achintre, journalist and essayist (b.1834)
** Jean-Louis Beaudry, entrepreneur, politician and 11th Mayor of Montreal (b.1809)
* July 4 – Poundmaker, Cree chief (b. c1842)
* November 23 – William Jack, astronomer (b.1817)

## Historical documents

Edward Blake speaks on Louis Riel's execution and Northwest maladministration
Wilfrid Laurier's House of Commons speech condemns Louis Riel's execution
Crown issues amnesty for all those not convicted of crimes in 1885 conflict
Ojibwe, Cree and Inuit medical practice and materials (Note: "primitive" and other stereotypes)
Painting: Agent dispenses flour rations to Siksika people
Account of destruction of Vancouver by fire
"Decent Canadian" robs Qu'Appelle stage coach
New York City businessman wants Chief Poundmaker for Buffalo Bill's Wild West show