1897 in Canada

Canada-related events during the year of 1897

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Incumbents

Crown

Monarch – Victoria^[1]

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

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^[2]

Annual report of Indian agent for Kootenay Agency in British Columbia^[3]

Anglican missionary conducts church services on his dogsled trip around northwest Alberta^[4]

Kipling's poem "Our Lady of the Snows" acknowledges Canada's solidarity but independence in its relations with Britain (Note: "white man" used)^[5]

Editorial praises founding of Victorian Order of Nurses^[6]

Illustration of fully outfitted Klondike Gold Rush adventurer, with price of each garment and do/don't lists^[7]

Lack of food and other boomtown problems discourage some Dawson City residents^[8]

British railway labourers in western Canada treated as slaves before escaping^[9]

"A love affair this summer" - Diary writer records declaration of love from another woman visiting Camp Viamede, Stony Lake, Ontario^[10]

Newspaper map of bicycling routes in and around Victoria, B.C. includes hotels and hills^[11]

Cycling map of Montreal distinguishes roads and "good roads"^[12]

Photo: Metropolitan Bicycle Club^[13]

References

^ "Queen Victoria | The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
^ Mae Harris Anson, "Last Stand of Almighty Voice" Sunday Record-Herald typescript. Accessed 20 December 2019
^ Department of Indian Affairs, Dominion of Canada Annual Report(...)for the Year Ended 30th June 1897, pgs. 82-4 Accessed 20 December 2019
^ Richard Young, "Circular letter describing a mission journey through the Athabasca Peace River country" Accessed 20 December 2019
^ Rudyard Kipling, "Our Lady of the Snows" (1897), The Kipling Society. Accessed 22 July 2021
^ "A Nursing Order--Lady Aberdeen's Latest" The (Chatham, N.B.) World (February 20, 1897). Accessed 20 December 2019
^ "Do Don't" New York Journal and Advertiser (August 22, 1897), pg. 42. Accessed 5 December 2021
^ Letters home from James Hamil and Rebecca Schuldenfrei Accessed 20 December 2019
^ Letter and newspaper enclosure (typescripts). Accessed 20 December 2019 http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_archives/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayEcopies&rec_nbr=1432309 (Note: pages are not in proper reading order)
^ "July 27 (1897). Tuesday." "XV; May Bragdon; March 1st, 1897," pg. 120, May Bragdon Diaries, University of Rochester River Campus Libraries. Accessed 6 March 2022
^ The Province Pub'g Co., "'The Province' Pocket Road Map of Victoria and Surroundings" (1897 ("Date derived from historical information on map")), University of British Columbia Library. Accessed 23 October 2022
^ "Bicycle Map of the Island of Montreal and Surrounding District" (1897), Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. Accessed 2 February 2023
^ "Metropolitan Bicycle Club" (June 12, 1897), Toronto Public Library. Accessed 15 June 2023

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v t e 1897 in North America
Sovereign states	Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Canada Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago United States
Dependencies and other territories	Anguilla Aruba Bermuda Bonaire British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Curaçao Greenland Guadeloupe Martinique Montserrat Puerto Rico Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saba Sint Eustatius Sint Maarten Turks and Caicos Islands United States Virgin Islands