1897 in Canada

1897 in Canada
Events from the year 1897 in Canada.
Incumbents
Crown
Monarch – Victoria
Federal government
Governor General – John Hamilton-Gordon
Prime Minister – Wilfrid Laurier
Chief Justice – Samuel Henry Strong (Ontario)
Parliament – 8th
Provincial governments
Lieutenant governors
Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Edgar Dewdney (until November 18) then Thomas Robert McInnes
Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – James Colebrooke Patterson
Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Jabez Bunting Snowball
Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Malachy Bowes Daly
Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Casimir Gzowski (acting) (until November 18) then Oliver Mowat
Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – George William Howlan
Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau
Premiers
Premier of British Columbia – John Herbert Turner
Premier of Manitoba – Thomas Greenway
Premier of New Brunswick – James Mitchell (until October 29) then Henry Emmerson
Premier of Nova Scotia – George Henry Murray
Premier of Ontario – Arthur Sturgis Hardy
Premier of Prince Edward Island – Frederick Peters (until October 1) then Alexander Warburton
Premier of Quebec – Edmund James Flynn (until May 24) then Félix-Gabriel Marchand
Territorial governments
Commissioners
Commissioner of Yukon – James Morrow Walsh (from August 17)
Lieutenant governors
Lieutenant Governor of Keewatin – James Colebrooke Patterson
Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories – Charles Herbert Mackintosh
Premiers
Chairman of the executive committee of the North-West Territories then Premier of North-West Territories – Frederick Haultain (from October 7)
Events
January 29 – The Victorian Order of Nurses is founded in Ottawa
February 2 – Clara Brett Martin becomes the first woman to practise law in Ontario
February 19 – World's first Women's Institute founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario
May 24 – Félix-Gabriel Marchand becomes premier of Quebec, replacing Edmund Flynn
May 24 – Lion of Belfort (Montreal) unveiled
June 20 – Diamond Jubilee of Victoria's accession as Queen
September 6 – The federal government gives the CPR a grant to allow it to reduce freight rates through Crowsnest Pass
October – A.B. Warburton becomes Premier of Prince Edward Island
October 7 – Responsible government is introduced in the North-West Territories: Frederick Haultain becomes the first premier
October 29 – Henry Emmerson becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing James Mitchell
Full date unknown
Klondike Gold Rush rages in the Yukon
Lord Grey proposes that Canada create a navy to protect its west coast; Prime Minister Laurier does not act on the recommendation
1897–1912 – 961,000 people enter Canada from the British Isles, 594,000 from Europe and 784,000 from the United States.
The first Canadian movie, Ten Years in Manitoba
Births
January 23 – William Stephenson, soldier, airman, businessperson, inventor and spymaster (d.1989)
January 27 – Charles Stephen Booth, politician and barrister
March 9 – Sidney Earle Smith, academic and 7th President of the University of Toronto (d.1959)
April 23 – Lester B. Pearson, politician, 14th Prime Minister of Canada, diplomat and 1957 Nobel Peace Prize recipient (d.1972)
September 23 – Walter Pidgeon, actor (d.1984)
September 29 – Graham Towers, first Governor of the Bank of Canada (d.1975)
November 30 – William Murdoch Buchanan, politician (d.1966)
December 7 – Gordon Graydon, politician (d.1953)
Deaths
January 2 – Thomas McGreevy, politician and contractor (b.1825)
February 27 – James Austin, businessman (b.1813)
July 4 – Amor De Cosmos, journalist, politician and 2nd Premier of British Columbia (b.1825)
September 19 – Frederick Cope, 3rd Mayor of Vancouver (b.1860)
October 21 – Philip Francis Little, 1st Premier of Newfoundland of the colonial (b.1824)
December 14 – Robert Simpson, businessman and founder of Simpsons (b.1834)
December 15 – James Mitchell, politician and 7th Premier of New Brunswick (b.1843)
December 31 – David Oppenheimer, entrepreneur and 2nd Mayor of Vancouver (b.1832)
Historical documents
Cree leader Almighty Voice pursued and killed by North-West Mounted Police in Saskatchewan
Annual report of Indian agent for Kootenay Agency in British Columbia
Anglican missionary conducts church services on his dogsled trip around northwest Alberta
Kipling's poem "Our Lady of the Snows" acknowledges Canada's solidarity but independence in its relations with Britain (Note: "white man" used)
Editorial praises founding of Victorian Order of Nurses
Illustration of fully outfitted Klondike Gold Rush adventurer, with price of each garment and do/don't lists
Lack of food and other boomtown problems discourage some Dawson City residents
British railway labourers in western Canada treated as slaves before escaping
"A love affair this summer" - Diary writer records declaration of love from another woman visiting Camp Viamede, Stony Lake, Ontario
Newspaper map of bicycling routes in and around Victoria, B.C. includes hotels and hills
Cycling map of Montreal distinguishes roads and "good roads"
Photo: Metropolitan Bicycle Club
References
Years of the 19th century in Canada
Canada
1897 in North America