1861 in Canada

Events from the year 1861 in Canada.

Incumbents

 * Monarch — Victoria

Federal government

 * Parliament — 6th then 7th

Governors

 * Governor General of the Province of Canada — Edmund Walker Head
 * Colonial Governor of Newfoundland — Alexander Bannerman
 * Governor of New Brunswick — Arthur Charles Hamilton-Gordon
 * Governor of Nova Scotia — George Phipps, 2nd Marquess of Normanby
 * Governor of Prince Edward Island — Dominick Daly

Premiers

 * Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada —
 * George-Étienne Cartier, Canada West Premier
 * Antoine-Aimé Dorion, Canada East Premier
 * Premier of Newfoundland — Hugh Hoyles
 * Premier of New Brunswick — Samuel Leonard Tilley
 * Premier of Nova Scotia — James William Johnston
 * Premier of Prince Edward Island — Edward Palmer

Events

 * April 12 - American Civil War starts
 * April 14 – A major flood hits Montreal
 * April 15 – Nova Scotia: resolution for provincial union by Joseph Howe for referral to the other British North American provinces in July.
 * May 13 – The UK declares its neutrality in American Civil War.
 * June 1 – The UK bans naval craft or privateers of American belligerents from carrying prizes into British ports or territorial waters.
 * November 8 – The Trent Affair: British packet steamer Trent stopped by United States warship in international waters. Two Confederate diplomats taken off and imprisoned in Boston.
 * November 28 – Viscount Monck becomes Governor-General.
 * December 3 – The UK sends reinforcements to British North America.
 * December 23 – The UK demands release of Confederate diplomats taken from Trent.
 * December 26 – Confederate diplomats taken from Trent released.

Full date unknown

 * Joseph Howe became Premier of Nova Scotia
 * Dr. Anderson Ruffin Abbott becomes the first Canadian-born Black to graduate from medical school.
 * 1861 Newfoundland general election
 * The Cariboo Gold Rush starts in British Columbia.

January to June

 * January 15 – Joseph-Mathias Tellier, politician (died 1952)
 * March 10 – Pauline Johnson, poet, writer and performer (died 1913)
 * March 10 – Clifford Sifton, politician and Minister (died 1929)
 * March 19 – Lomer Gouin, politician and 13th Premier of Quebec (died 1929)
 * March 20 – Herménégilde Boulay, politician (died 1942)
 * May 13 – Margaret Marshall Saunders, writer
 * April 15 – Bliss Carman, poet (died 1929)
 * June 7 – George Henry Murray, politician and Premier of Nova Scotia (died 1929)

July to December

 * July 11 – John Best, politician (died 1923)
 * September 5 – Tobias Norris, politician and 10th Premier of Manitoba (died 1936)
 * September 18 – Ella Cora Hind, journalist and women's rights activist (died 1942)
 * September 19 – Charles Ernest Gault, politician (died 1946)
 * October 31 – James Bowman, politician (died 1940)
 * November 4 – Raoul Dandurand, politician (died 1942)
 * November 6 – James Naismith, sports coach and innovator, inventor of basketball (died 1939)
 * November 17 – Archibald Lampman, poet (died 1899)
 * November 26 – Laura Borden, wife of Robert Borden, 8th Prime Minister of Canada (died 1940)
 * December 22 – Sara Jeannette Duncan, author and journalist (died 1922)

Deaths

 * February 3 – Louis-Théodore Besserer, notary, soldier, politician, and businessman (born 1785)
 * February 13 – Denis-Benjamin Viger, politician, businessman and politician (born 1774)
 * November 9 – Howard Douglas, soldier, educator, author, inventor, and colonial administrator (born 1776)