1962 in Canada

Events from the year 1962 in Canada.

Crown

 * Monarch – Elizabeth II

Federal government

 * Governor General – Georges Vanier
 * Prime Minister – John Diefenbaker
 * Chief Justice – Patrick Kerwin (Ontario)
 * Parliament – 24th (until 19 April) then 25th (from 27 September)

Lieutenant governors

 * Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John Percy Page
 * Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – George Pearkes
 * Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Errick Willis
 * Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Joseph Leonard O'Brien
 * Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Campbell Leonard Macpherson
 * Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Edward Chester Plow
 * Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – John Keiller MacKay
 * Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Frederick Walter Hyndman
 * Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Paul Comtois
 * Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Frank Lindsay Bastedo

Premiers

 * Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning
 * Premier of British Columbia – W.A.C. Bennett
 * Premier of Manitoba – Dufferin Roblin
 * Premier of New Brunswick – Louis Robichaud
 * Premier of Newfoundland – Joey Smallwood
 * Premier of Nova Scotia – Robert Stanfield
 * Premier of Ontario – John Robarts
 * Premier of Prince Edward Island – Walter Shaw
 * Premier of Quebec – Jean Lesage
 * Premier of Saskatchewan – Woodrow Lloyd

Commissioners

 * Commissioner of Yukon – Frederick Howard Collins (until May 1) then Gordon Robertson Cameron
 * Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Robert Gordon Robertson

Events

 * March 21 – The birth-defect-causing drug thalidomide is banned
 * May 2 – The Canadian dollar is pegged to the U.S. currency
 * June 18 – In the 1962 Federal election John Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservative Party of Canada is reduced to a minority government
 * July 1 – First medicare plan is launched in Saskatchewan to great protest by doctors
 * July 30 – Trans-Canada Highway opens
 * August 6 – A Premiers Conference is held in Victoria, British Columbia
 * September 1 – Place Ville Marie opens in Montreal
 * September 29 – Alouette 1, Canada's first satellite, is launched.
 * October 25 – The Bedford Institute of Oceanography opens in Nova Scotia
 * October 25-November 12 – The Cuban Missile Crisis occurs. Diefenbaker refuses to put  Canadian forces on alert, angering the U.S. government.
 * December 11 – The last two hangings in Canada take place.
 * The Globe and Mail adds the Report on Business section

New books

 * Max Aitken – The Decline and Fall of Lloyd George
 * W. O. Mitchell – The Kite
 * Marshall McLuhan – The Gutenberg Galaxy
 * George Woodcock – Anarchism
 * Farley Mowat – The Black Joke
 * Thomas B. Costain – The Last Plantagenets

Awards

 * See 1962 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
 * Stephen Leacock Award: W. O. Mitchell, Jake and the Kid

Television

 * Mister Rogers' Neighborhood premieres on CBC

Theatre

 * The first Shaw Festival opens

Sport

 * April 22 – The Toronto Maple Leafs win their tenth Stanley Cup by defeating the Chicago Black Hawks.
 * May 7 – The Ontario Hockey Association's Hamilton Red Wings win their only Memorial Cup by defeating the Central Alberta Hockey League's Edmonton Oil Kings 4 games to 1. The deciding Game 5 was played at Barton Street Arena in Hamilton, Ontario
 * December 1–2 – The Winnipeg Blue Bombers win the Grey Cup in the famous fog bowl.

Unknown date

 * Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (2014–present)

January to June

 * January 17 – Jim Carrey, comedian and actor
 * January 22 – Kevin Lamoureux, politician
 * February 4 – Michael Riley, actor
 * February 23 – John Hatch, basketball player
 * February 27 – Susie Moloney, novelist
 * March 20 – Ross Young, politician (d. 2021)
 * March 21 – Kathy Greenwood, actress and comedian
 * March 27 – Jann Arden, singer-songwriter
 * March 29 – John Martin Crawford, serial killer (d. 2020)
 * April 1 – John Wallace, rower and Olympic gold medallist
 * April 11 – Colin Carrie, politician
 * May 5 – Manoj Sood, actor
 * May 31 – Corey Hart, musician
 * June 12
 * Jordan Peterson, author, clinical psychologist and professor of psychology
 * Camilla Scott, Canadian actress
 * June 23
 * Chris Collins, politician
 * Pat Kelly, ice speed skater

July to December

 * July 7 – Ross Rutledge, field hockey player (d. 2004)
 * July 12 – Camilla Scott, actress and television host
 * July 14 – Diane Ratnik, volleyball player
 * July 21 – Lee Aaron, rock and jazz singer
 * August 8 – Mike Zanier, ice hockey player
 * August 23 – Martin Cauchon, politician and Minister
 * August 27 – Adam Oates, ice hockey and lacrosse player
 * August 29 – Ian James Corlett, voice actor and producer
 * August 31 – Wanda Guenette, volleyball player
 * September 11 – Andrew Jackson, voice actor
 * September 14 – Robert Herjavec, Croatian-born Canadian businessman, investor and author
 * September 15 – Brad Willock, volleyball player
 * September 18 – John Mann, rock musician and actor (d. 2019)
 * September 22 – Normand D'Amour, actor
 * September 24 – Nia Vardalos, actress, screenwriter and producer
 * September 28 – Grant Fuhr, ice hockey player
 * October 14 - Charles E. Bastien, animation director
 * October 16 – Dan McTeague, politician
 * October 30 – Rex Harrington, ballet dancer
 * November 8 – Cliff Cullen, politician
 * November 9 – Teryl Rothery, actress
 * November 12 – Mark Hunter, ice hockey player, coach, and manager
 * December 4 – Julie Lemieux, Canadian voice actress
 * December 28 – Michelle Cameron, synchronized swimmer

Deaths

 * January 12 – James Garfield Gardiner, politician, Minister and Premier of Saskatchewan (b. 1883)
 * January 24 – James Charles Brady, politician (b. 1876)
 * March 3 – Cairine Wilson, Canada's first female Senator (b. 1885)
 * August 20 – Joseph-Arsène Bonnier, politician (b. 1879)
 * August 26 – Vilhjalmur Stefansson, Arctic explorer and ethnologist (b. 1879)
 * October 23 – John Thomas Haig, politician (b. 1877)
 * November 13 – Télesphore-Damien Bouchard, politician (b. 1881)
 * November 21 – Frank Amyot, sprint canoer and Olympic gold medalist (b. 1904)
 * December 8 – Allison Dysart, politician, lawyer, judge and 21st Premier of New Brunswick (b. 1880)
 * December 22 – Solon Earl Low, politician (b. 1900)