# 1951 in Canada

Events from the year 1951 in Canada.

## Incumbents
### Crown

* Monarch – George VI

### Federal government

* Governor General – the Viscount Alexander of Tunis
* Prime Minister – Louis St. Laurent
* Chief Justice – Thibaudeau Rinfret (Quebec)
* Parliament – 21st

### Provincial governments
#### Lieutenant governors

* Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John J. Bowlen
* Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Clarence Wallace
* Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Roland Fairbairn McWilliams
* Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – David Laurence MacLaren
* Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Leonard Outerbridge
* Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – John Alexander Douglas McCurdy
* Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Ray Lawson
* Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Thomas William Lemuel Prowse
* Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Gaspard Fauteux
* Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – John Michael Uhrich (until June 15) then William John Patterson (from June 25)

#### Premiers

* Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning
* Premier of British Columbia – Byron Johnson
* Premier of Manitoba – Douglas Campbell
* Premier of New Brunswick – John McNair
* Premier of Newfoundland – Joey Smallwood
* Premier of Nova Scotia – Angus Macdonald
* Premier of Ontario – Leslie Frost
* Premier of Prince Edward Island – J. Walter Jones
* Premier of Quebec – Maurice Duplessis
* Premier of Saskatchewan – Tommy Douglas

### Territorial governments
#### Commissioners

* Commissioner of Yukon – Andrew Harold Gibson (until October 15) then Frederick Fraser
* Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Hugh Andrew Young

## Events

* April 22–25 – Korean War: In the Battle of Kapyong, the Canadians hold off the Chinese.
* June 1 – The Massey Report into Canadian culture is released
* July 10 – A formal peace agreement between Canada and Germany is signed
* September 30 - Charlotte Whitton becomes mayor of Ottawa and Canada's first woman mayor of a major city.
* October 27:
** The cobalt bomb cancer therapy is first tested in London, Ontario
** The Duke of Edinburgh, and The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh (later Queen Elizabeth II), attend an Edmonton Eskimos home game. In the western semi-final, Edmonton beat Winnipeg 4–1
* November 22 – 1951 Ontario general election: Leslie Frost's PCs win a third consecutive majority
* December 12 – The St. Lawrence Seaway Authority is established.

### Full date unknown

* Canada's immigration rate rises. Population is 14,009,429.
* The Indian Act of Canada is revised to limit coverage of Aboriginal people, excluding Aboriginal women who married non-Aboriginal men.
* Louis St. Laurent moves into 24 Sussex Drive, the new official residence of the Prime Minister
* Labatt Blue is introduced
* The Wartime Prices and Trade Board is abolished.
* Thérèse Casgrain, the first woman to lead a provincial political party in Canada, becomes leader of the Quebec CCF.

## Arts and literature

* November 12 – The National Ballet of Canada gives its first performance in Eaton Auditorium, Toronto.

### New books

* Morley Callaghan – The Loved and the Lost
* Harold Innis – The Bias of Communication

### Awards

* See 1951 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
* Stephen Leacock Award: Eric Nicol, The Roving I

## Sport

* April 21 - The Toronto Maple Leafs win their ninth Stanley Cup by defeating the Montreal Canadiens 4 games to 1. The deciding Game 5 was played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto
* May 8 - The Ontario Hockey Association's Barrie Flyers win their first Memorial Cup by defeating the Manitoba Junior Hockey League's Winnipeg Monarchs 4 game to 0. All games were played at Shea's Amphitheatre in Winnipeg
* November 24 - The Ottawa Rough Riders win their fourth Grey Cup by defeating the Saskatchewan Roughriders 21 to 14 in the 39th Grey Cup played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto

## Births
### January to March

* January 3 – Claude Bachand, politician
* January 17 – Carol Marguerite Anderson, choreographer
* January 21 – Yvon Dumont, politician
* January 25 - Bob McDonald, science journalist
* February 16 – Greg Selinger, 21st premier of Manitoba
* February 22 – Elaine Tanner, swimmer
* March 12 – Susan Musgrave, poet and children's writer
* March 16 – Kate Nelligan, actress
* March 21 – Lesley Choyce, novelist, poet and children's writer
* March 25 – Ethel Blondin-Andrew, politician
* March 28 – Karen Kain, ballet dancer
* March 31 – Lawrence D. O'Brien, politician (d. 2004)

### April to June

* April 5
** Joe Bowen, hockey broadcaster
** Guy Vanderhaeghe, author
* April 15 – Paul Snider, killer of Dorothy Stratten (d. 1980)
* April 18 – Pierre Pettigrew, politician
* May 2 – Andrew Barron, ice speed skater
* May 3 – Dianne Whalen, MHA for Conception Bay East – Bell Island (2003–2010) (d. 2010)
* May 7 – Janina Fialkowska, pianist
* May 9 – Christopher Dewdney, poet, author and professor
* May 11
** Chuck McMann, football player and coach (d. 2021)
** Ed Stelmach, farmer, 13th premier of Alberta
* May 20 – Christie Blatchford, newspaper columnist, journalist and broadcaster (d. 2020)
* June 2
** Larry Robinson, ice hockey player and coach
** Frank C. Turner, actor
* June 7 – Terry O'Reilly, ice hockey player and coach
* June 19 – Bill Blaikie, politician (d. 2022)

### July to September

* July 2 – Elisabeth Brooks, actress (d. 1997)
* July 4 – Beverly Boys, diver
* July 5 – Penny Werthner, track and field athlete
* July 20 – Paulette Bourgeois, children's writer
* July 26 – Rick Martin, ice hockey player (d. 2011)
* July 27 – Shawn Murphy, politician
* August 3 – Marcel Dionne, ice hockey player
* August 10 – Judy Wasylycia-Leis, politician
* August 17 – Robert Joy, actor
* September 9 – Jerry Doucette, guitarist and singer-songwriter (d. 2022)
* September 14 – Elizabeth Carruthers, diver
* September 19 – Daniel Lanois, record producer, guitarist and singer-songwriter
* September 20 – Guy Lafleur, ice hockey player (d. 2022)
* September 28 – Rick Gibson, artist

### October to December

* October 8 – Bruce McArthur, serial killer
* October 9 – Joe Tascona, lawyer and politician
* October 11 – Jim Carr, politician (d. 2022)
* October 16 – Brenda Eisler, long jumper
* October 26 – Willie P. Bennett, folk music singer-songwriter (d. 2008)
* October 27 – Roger Fortin, boxer
* October 29
** Camille Huard, boxer
** Kelly Sutherland, rodeo competitor
* October 31 – Doug Bennett, singer, musician and music video director (d. 2004)
* November 10 – Marlene Jennings, politician
* November 13 – Robert Hilles, poet and novelist
* December 6 – Tomson Highway, playwright, novelist and children's author
* December 7 - Richard Darbois, actor
* December 22 – Charles de Lint, fantasy author and Celtic folk musician

### Full date unknown

* Robert Priest, poet and children's author

## Deaths
### January to June

* January 1 – Frank Scott Hogg, astrophysicist (b. 1904)
* January 3 – Richard Langton Baker, politician (b. 1870)
* January 16 – Seymour Farmer, politician (b. 1878)
* February 7 – Edna Diefenbaker, first wife of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker (b. 1899)
* February 27 – Leland Payson Bancroft, politician (b. 1880)
* April 14 – Al Christie, film director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1881)

### July to December

* August 26 – Bill Barilko, ice hockey player (b. 1927)
* September 1 – Nellie McClung, feminist, politician and social activist (b. 1873)
* September 14 – James Langstaff Bowman, politician and Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada (b. 1879)
* September 20 – William Henry Wright, prospector and newspaper owner (b. 1876)
* September 28 – P. L. Robertson, inventor (b. 1879)
* October 8 – Charles William Jefferys, artist and historian (b. 1869)
* November 20 – Lou Skuce, cartoonist (b. 1886)

### Full date unknown

* Harry Cassidy, academic, social reformer and civil servant (b. 1900)