1881 in Canada

Years in Canada:	1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884
Centuries:	18th century · 19th century · 20th century
Decades:	1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s
Years:	1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884

Events from the year 1881 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

• Head of state (monarch) – Queen Victoria (consort – Vacant)

Federal government

• Governor general – John Campbell (viceregal consort – Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll)
• Prime minister – John A. Macdonald

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Albert Norton Richards (until June 21) then Clement Francis Cornwall
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Joseph Édouard Cauchon
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Robert Duncan Wilmot
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Adams George Archibald
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – John Beverley Robinson
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Thomas Heath Haviland
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Théodore Robitaille

Premiers

• Premier of British Columbia – George Anthony Walkem
• Premier of Manitoba – John Norquay
• Premier of New Brunswick – John James Fraser
• Premier of Nova Scotia – Simon Hugh Holmes
• Premier of Ontario – Oliver Mowat
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – William Wilfred Sullivan
• Premier of Quebec – Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau

Territorial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Keewatin – Joseph Édouard Cauchon
• Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories – David Laird (until December 3) then Edgar Dewdney

Events

• January 17 - The Interprovincial Bridge connecting Ottawa to Hull, Quebec, opens
• February 16 - The Canadian Pacific Railway is incorporated
• April 4 - The 1881 census finds Canada's population to be 4,324,810
• May 24 - The overloaded steamer Victoria' capsizes on the Thames River near London, Ontario, killing 182 people.
• December 2 - Quebec election: Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau's Conservatives win a majority

Full date unknown

• Manitoba's boundaries are extended north, east and west. Ontario disputes the eastward extension.

Births

• January 2 - Frederick Varley, artist and member of the Group of Seven (d.1969)
• January 20 - F. J. Dixon, politician (d.1931)
• June 17 - Tommy Burns, only Canadian born world heavyweight champion boxer (d.1955)
• September 27 - James Ralston, lawyer, soldier, politician and Minister (d.1948)
• October 23 - Al Christie, film director, producer and screenwriter (d.1951)
• November 4 - Hector Authier, politician, lawyer and news reporter/announcer (d.1971)
• November 19 - Robert James Manion, politician (d.1943)
• December 20 - Télesphore-Damien Bouchard, politician (d.1962)
• December 29 - George Washington Kendall (d.1921)
• December 31 - Albert Sévigny, politician (d.1961)

Deaths

• January 28 - Luc Letellier de St-Just, politician and 3rd Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (b. 1820)