# 1962 in Canada

Events from the year 1962 in Canada.

## Incumbents
### Crown

* Monarch – Elizabeth II

### Federal government

* Governor General – Georges Vanier
* Prime Minister – John Diefenbaker
* Chief Justice – Patrick Kerwin (Ontario)
* Parliament – 24th (until 19 April) then 25th (from 27 September)

### Provincial governments
#### Lieutenant governors

* Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John Percy Page
* Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – George Pearkes
* Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Errick Willis
* Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Joseph Leonard O'Brien
* Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Campbell Leonard Macpherson
* Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Edward Chester Plow
* Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – John Keiller MacKay
* Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Frederick Walter Hyndman
* Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Paul Comtois
* Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Frank Lindsay Bastedo

#### Premiers

* Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning
* Premier of British Columbia – W.A.C. Bennett
* Premier of Manitoba – Dufferin Roblin
* Premier of New Brunswick – Louis Robichaud
* Premier of Newfoundland – Joey Smallwood
* Premier of Nova Scotia – Robert Stanfield
* Premier of Ontario – John Robarts
* Premier of Prince Edward Island – Walter Shaw
* Premier of Quebec – Jean Lesage
* Premier of Saskatchewan – Woodrow Lloyd

### Territorial governments
#### Commissioners

* Commissioner of Yukon – Frederick Howard Collins (until May 1) then Gordon Robertson Cameron
* Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Robert Gordon Robertson

## Events

* March 21 – The birth-defect-causing drug thalidomide is banned
* May 2 – The Canadian dollar is pegged to the U.S. currency
* June 18 – In the 1962 Federal election John Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservative Party of Canada is reduced to a minority government
* July 1 – First medicare plan is launched in Saskatchewan to great protest by doctors
* July 30 – Trans-Canada Highway opens
* August 6 – A Premiers Conference is held in Victoria, British Columbia
* September 1 – Place Ville Marie opens in Montreal
* September 29 – Alouette 1, Canada's first satellite, is launched.
* October 25 – The Bedford Institute of Oceanography opens in Nova Scotia
* October 25-November 12 – The Cuban Missile Crisis occurs. Diefenbaker refuses to put Canadian forces on alert, angering the U.S. government.
* December 11 – The last two hangings in Canada take place.
* The Globe and Mail adds the Report on Business section

## Arts and literature
### New books

* Max Aitken – The Decline and Fall of Lloyd George
* W. O. Mitchell – The Kite
* Marshall McLuhan – The Gutenberg Galaxy
* George Woodcock – Anarchism
* Farley Mowat – The Black Joke
* Thomas B. Costain – The Last Plantagenets

### Awards

* See 1962 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
* Stephen Leacock Award: W. O. Mitchell, Jake and the Kid

### Television

* Mister Rogers' Neighborhood premieres on CBC

### Theatre

* The first Shaw Festival opens

## Sport

* April 22 – The Toronto Maple Leafs win their tenth Stanley Cup by defeating the Chicago Black Hawks.
* May 7 – The Ontario Hockey Association's Hamilton Red Wings win their only Memorial Cup by defeating the Central Alberta Hockey League's Edmonton Oil Kings 4 games to 1. The deciding Game 5 was played at Barton Street Arena in Hamilton, Ontario
* December 1–2 – The Winnipeg Blue Bombers win the Grey Cup in the famous fog bowl.

## Births
### Unknown date

* Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (2014–present)

### January to June

* January 17 – Jim Carrey, comedian and actor
* January 22 – Kevin Lamoureux, politician
* February 4 – Michael Riley, actor
* February 23 – John Hatch, basketball player
* February 27 – Susie Moloney, novelist
* March 20 – Ross Young, politician (d. 2021)
* March 21 – Kathy Greenwood, actress and comedian
* March 27 – Jann Arden, singer-songwriter
* March 29 – John Martin Crawford, serial killer (d. 2020)
* April 1 – John Wallace, rower and Olympic gold medallist
* April 11 – Colin Carrie, politician
* May 5 – Manoj Sood, actor
* May 31 – Corey Hart, musician
* June 12
** Jordan Peterson, author, clinical psychologist and professor of psychology
** Camilla Scott, Canadian actress
* June 23
** Chris Collins, politician
** Pat Kelly, ice speed skater

### July to December

* July 7 – Ross Rutledge, field hockey player (d. 2004)
* July 12 – Camilla Scott, actress and television host
* July 14 – Diane Ratnik, volleyball player
* July 21 – Lee Aaron, rock and jazz singer
* August 8 – Mike Zanier, ice hockey player
* August 23 – Martin Cauchon, politician and Minister
* August 27 – Adam Oates, ice hockey and lacrosse player
* August 29 – Ian James Corlett, voice actor and producer
* August 31 – Wanda Guenette, volleyball player
* September 11 – Andrew Jackson, voice actor
* September 14 – Robert Herjavec, Croatian-born Canadian businessman, investor and author
* September 15 – Brad Willock, volleyball player
* September 18 – John Mann, rock musician and actor (d. 2019)
* September 22 – Normand D'Amour, actor
* September 24 – Nia Vardalos, actress, screenwriter and producer
* September 28 – Grant Fuhr, ice hockey player
* October 14 - Charles E. Bastien, animation director
* October 16 – Dan McTeague, politician
* October 30 – Rex Harrington, ballet dancer
* November 8 – Cliff Cullen, politician
* November 9 – Teryl Rothery, actress
* November 12 – Mark Hunter, ice hockey player, coach, and manager
* December 4 – Julie Lemieux, Canadian voice actress
* December 28 – Michelle Cameron, synchronized swimmer

## Deaths

* January 12 – James Garfield Gardiner, politician, Minister and Premier of Saskatchewan (b. 1883)
* January 24 – James Charles Brady, politician (b. 1876)
* March 3 – Cairine Wilson, Canada's first female Senator (b. 1885)
* August 20 – Joseph-Arsène Bonnier, politician (b. 1879)
* August 26 – Vilhjalmur Stefansson, Arctic explorer and ethnologist (b. 1879)
* October 23 – John Thomas Haig, politician (b. 1877)
* November 13 – Télesphore-Damien Bouchard, politician (b. 1881)
* November 21 – Frank Amyot, sprint canoer and Olympic gold medalist (b. 1904)
* December 8 – Allison Dysart, politician, lawyer, judge and 21st Premier of New Brunswick (b. 1880)
* December 22 – Solon Earl Low, politician (b. 1900)