1882 in Canada

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – Victoria

Federal government

• Governor General – John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne
• Prime Minister – John A. Macdonald
• Chief Justice – William Johnstone Ritchie
• Parliament – 4th

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Clement Francis Cornwall
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Joseph-Édouard Cauchon then James Cox Aikins
• 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 then Robert Beaven
• Premier of Manitoba – John Norquay
• Premier of New Brunswick – John James Fraser then Daniel Lionel Hanington
• Premier of Nova Scotia – Simon Hugh Holmes then John Sparrow David Thompson then William Thomas Pipes
• Premier of Ontario – Oliver Mowat
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – William Wilfred Sullivan
• Premier of Quebec – Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau then Joseph-Alfred Mousseau

Territorial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Keewatin – Joseph-Édouard Cauchon then James Cox Aikins
• Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories – Edgar Dewdney

Events

• May 8 – Prince Edward Island election: William Wilfred Sullivan's Conservatives win a fourth consecutive majority
• May 17 – Provisional districts of the North-West Territories are established between Manitoba and British Columbia: the districts of Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Athabaska
• May 25 – John Sparrow David Thompson becomes premier of Nova Scotia, replacing Simon H. Holmes.
• June – New Brunswick election
• June 20
• *Federal election: Sir John A. Macdonald's Conservatives win a second consecutive majority.
• *Nova Scotia election
• June 13 – Robert Beaven becomes premier of British Columbia, replacing George Walkem.
• July 20 – British Columbia election
• July 31 – Joseph-Alfred Mousseau becomes premier of Quebec, replacing Sir Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau.
• August 3 – William T. Pipes becomes premier of Nova Scotia, replacing John Sparrow David Thompson.
• December 30 – The Royal Society of Canada is founded.

Full date unknown

• Daniel Hanington becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing James Fraser.
• John Ware, a Texas cowboy, moves to Alberta. He introduces longhorn cattle into Canada and pioneers the development of rodeo.
• Newfoundland election
• The North-West Mounted Police established a post in 1882 in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have since established their main training academy there, which is called "Depot", or Depot Division.
• The North Bay Police Service is founded.

Sport

• October 21 – The Canadian Rugby Football Union is founded.

Births

January to June

• January 8 – David Milne, painter, printmaker and writer
• February 1 – Louis St. Laurent, politician and 12th Prime Minister of Canada
• February 2 – Geoffrey O'Hara, composer, singer and music professor
• February 4 – E. J. Pratt, poet
• February 11 – John Queen, politician
• March 6 – Barbara Hanley, first woman to be elected a mayor in Canada
• April 18 – Isabel Meighen, wife of Canadian prime minister Arthur Meighen
• May 26 – Charles Edward Bothwell, politician and barrister
• June 9 – Robert Kerr, sprinter and Olympic gold medallist

July to December

• July 16 – Edward Earle, Canadian-born American actor
• July 19 – Sarah Ramsland, politician and first woman elected to the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan
• October 3 – A. Y. Jackson, painter, one of the Group of Seven
• December 18 – Albert James Bradshaw, politician
• December 25 – John Stewart McDiarmid, politician and Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba

Deaths

• February 1 – Maurice Laframboise, lawyer, judge and politician
• March 25 – Charles-René-Léonidas d'Irumberry de Salaberry, militia officer
• August 7 – Antoine Gérin-Lajoie, poet and novelist
• September 15 – Jacques Philippe Lantier, businessman, author and politician
• December 9 – Hugh Allan, businessman

Historical documents