1849 in Canada

Events from the year 1849 in Canada.

Incumbents

Monarch — Victoria

Federal government

Parliament: [3rd Parliament of the Province of Canada|Parliament of the Province of Canada|3rd]

Governors

Premiers

Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada —
* Robert Baldwin, Canada West Premier
* Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, Canada East Premier
Premier of Nova Scotia — James Boyle Uniacke

Events

January 1 – King's College becomes the University of Toronto
February 10 – The Governor, Ministers, MPs and Montreal's council visit St. Hyacinthe, on the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad.
April 7 – A large fire engulfs Toronto's downtown section. Started at 1 a.m. of an unknown cause, it started behind a tavern in the market section catching some hay then spread rapidly before destroying numerous buildings, including St. James cathedral. Flames could be seen from across Lake Ontario at St. Catharines, 40 km distant.
April 25 – For sanctioning the Rebellion Losses Bill, Lord Elgin is mobbed by Tories and the Parliament House in Montreal is burned.
April 29 – Brig Hannah carrying emigrants from Newry in Ireland fleeing the Great Famine to Canada hits ice and sinks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and her senior officers abandon the passengers to their fate. Around one-third of those on board, 49, die.
May – The Hayes House in Dalhousie Square leased for Parliamentary purposes. The parliament is to sit alternately in Quebec City and Toronto.
May 29 – Gen. Rowan, Administrator.
July – A delegation of Anishinaabe chiefs petition Lord Elgin to address the encroachment of mining interests on the shore of Lake Superior and north shore of Lake Huron in the absence of a formal treaty.
September 17 – The Stony Monday Riot takes place in Bytown
October 11 – The Montreal Annexation Manifesto is published
December 26 – Electors ask J. McConnell, M.P.P. for Stanstead, if he favours annexation, which they believe will, alone, relieve depression.

Full date unknown

The Beauharnois Canal, just southwest of Montreal is opened.
The boundary at the 49th parallel is extended to the Pacific Ocean.
The Courthouse Rebellion is launched by the Red River Métis.
An Act of Amnesty provides for William Lyon Mackenzie's return from exile in the U.S.

Births

January 5 – Sam Steele, soldier and member of the North-West Mounted Police
February 21 – Edouard Deville, cartographer and Surveyor General of Canada
May 6 – Wyatt Eaton, painter
July 12 – William Osler, physician
July 22 – Charles Mickle, politician
August 1 – George Mercer Dawson, scientist and surveyor
October 17 – William Mackenzie, railway contractor and entrepreneur
November 13 – Charles Constantine, North-West Mounted Police officer and superintendent
November 20 – Francis Haszard, jurist, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island
November 28 – Henry Joseph Walker, politician and merchant
November 30 – Lemuel John Tweedie, politician and 9th Premier of New Brunswick
December 18 – Henrietta Edwards, women's rights activist and reformer

Deaths

March 27 – Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford, colonial administrator
October 6 – Eulalie Durocher, Catholic nun