1965 in Canada

Events from the year 1965 in Canada.

Crown

 * Monarch – Elizabeth II

Federal government

 * Governor General – Georges Vanier
 * Prime Minister – Lester B. Pearson
 * Chief Justice – Robert Taschereau (Quebec)
 * Parliament – 26th (until September 8) then 27th (from December 9)

Lieutenant governors

 * Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John Percy Page
 * Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – George Pearkes
 * Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Errick Willis (until November 1) then Richard Spink Bowles
 * Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Joseph Leonard O'Brien (until June 9) then John B. McNair
 * Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Fabian O'Dea
 * Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Henry Poole MacKeen
 * Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – William Earl Rowe
 * Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Willibald Joseph MacDonald
 * Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Paul Comtois
 * Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Robert Hanbidge

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 – Ross Thatcher

Commissioners

 * Commissioner of Yukon – Gordon Robertson Cameron
 * Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Bent Gestur Sivertz

Events

 * January 1 – Trans-Canada Airlines is renamed Air Canada.
 * January 9 – The Hope Slide, the largest landslide ever recorded in Canada, kills four.
 * January 16 – The Canada-United States Automotive Agreement is signed
 * January 28 – The Queen issues a royal proclamation, effective February 15, making the Maple Leaf flag the National Flag of Canada.
 * February 15 – Canada adopts the maple leaf for the national flag.
 * March 2 – Lucien Rivard escapes from a Montreal area jail
 * March 7 – Canadian Roman Catholic churches celebrate mass in the vernacular for the first time due to the reforms of Vatican II
 * March 20 – Peter Lougheed is elected leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party
 * April 2 – Lester Pearson gives a speech at Temple University in the United States that calls for a stop to the bombing of North Vietnam, infuriating President Lyndon Johnson
 * May 16 – Cross Country Checkup debuts on radio
 * June 7 – Navy, army, and air force commands are replaced by six functional commands
 * July 8 – A crash of a Canadian Pacific Airlines flight in British Columbia kills 52.
 * September 9 – The Fowler Report is released. It advocates creation of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)
 * September 13 - The new Toronto City Hall is opened.
 * November 8 – Federal election: Lester Pearson's Liberals win a second consecutive minority
 * November 9 – A failure at an Ontario power station causes the 1965 Blackout that stretches from Florida to Chicago and all of southern Ontario.
 * November 29 – Alouette 2 is launched.

Full date unknown

 * Eligibility age for pensions is lowered from 70 to 65

New books

 * George Grant: Lament for a Nation
 * John Newlove: Moving in Alone
 * Robert Kroetsch: But We Are Exiles
 * Farley Mowat: West Viking
 * Gilles Archambault: La vie à trois
 * Hubert Aquin: Prochain épisode

Awards

 * Gordon R. Dickson's Soldier, Ask Not wins a Hugo Award
 * See 1965 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
 * Stephen Leacock Award: Gregory Clark, War Stories
 * Vicky Metcalf Award: Roderick Haig-Brown

Music

 * Karel Ančerl replaces Seiji Ozawa as artistic director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra

Film

 * October 13 – The Canadian Film Development Agency is formed
 * Christopher Plummer stars as Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music
 * William Shatner stars in Incubus

Sport

 * March 11 – The NHL admits the California Seals, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and the St. Louis Blues into the league through expansion
 * March 13 - Manitoba Bisons won their First University Cup be defeating the St. Dunstan's Saints 9 to 2, the Final game was played the Winnipeg Arena
 * May 1 - The Montreal Canadiens won their Thirteenth Stanley Cup by defeating the Chicago Black Hawks 4 games to 3. The deciding Game 7 was played at the Montreal Forum. Trois-Rivières, Quebec's Jean Beliveau is awarded the First Conn Smythe Trophy as the 1965 Playoffs MVP
 * September 10 - Future hall of fame baseball player Ferguson Jenkins plays his first major league game for the Philadelphia Phillies in Connie Mack Stadium
 * May 11 - Ontario Hockey Association's Niagara Falls Flyers won their First Memorial Cup by defeating the Central Alberta Hockey League's Edmonton Oil Kings 4 games to 0. All games were played at Edmonton Gardens
 * November 20 - Toronto Varsity Blues defeated the Alberta Golden Bears 14–7 in the 1st Vanier Cup played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto
 * November 27 - The Hamilton Tiger-Cats won their 4th Grey Cup by defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 22–16 in the 53rd Grey Cup in Toronto's CNE Stadium.

January to March

 * January 8
 * Wendy Fuller, diver
 * Eric Wohlberg, racing cyclist
 * January 21 – Brian Bradley, ice hockey player
 * January 23 – Tim Berrett, race walker
 * January 27 – Ross MacDonald, sailor and Olympic silver medallist
 * January 28
 * Stéphane Bergeron, politician
 * Lynda Boyd, actress
 * Tom Ponting, swimmer and double Olympic silver medallist
 * January 31 – Ofra Harnoy, cellist
 * March 1 – Stewart Elliott, jockey
 * March 7 - Alison Redford, politician, and the 14th Premier of Alberta
 * March 15 – Marcel Gery, swimmer and Olympic bronze medallist
 * March 23 – Daren Puppa, ice hockey player

April to June

 * April 11 – Chris Pridham, tennis player
 * April 21 – Ed Belfour, ice hockey player
 * April 22 – Peter Zezel, ice hockey player (d. 2009)
 * May 7 – Owen Hart, wrestler (d. 1999)
 * May 9 – Steve Yzerman, ice hockey player
 * May 10 – Linda Evangelista, supermodel
 * May 19 – James Bezan, politician
 * June 19 – Gary Vandermeulen, swimmer
 * June 25 – Julie Daigneault, swimmer
 * June 26 – Gaye Porteous, field hockey player

July to September

 * July 11 – Michael Wayne McGray, serial killer
 * July 17 – Ken Evraire, television journalist, host and former professional footballer
 * July 26 – Michael Rascher, rower and Olympic gold medallist
 * August 4 – James Tupper, actor
 * August 11 – Marc Bergevin, ice hockey player
 * August 22
 * Patricia Hy-Boulais, tennis player
 * David Reimer, Canadian man, born male but reassigned female and raised as a girl after a botched circumcision
 * August 28 – Shania Twain, singer-songwriter
 * September 8 – Mark Andrews, swimmer
 * September 9 - Eric Tunney, comedian (Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy) (d. 2010)
 * September 27
 * Bernard Lord, politician and 30th Premier of New Brunswick
 * Peter MacKay, lawyer, politician and Minister

October to December

 * October 1 – Cliff Ronning, ice hockey player
 * October 5
 * Mario Lemieux, ice hockey player
 * Patrick Roy, ice hockey player
 * October 23 – David Bédard, diver
 * October 29 – Christy Clark, politician and 35th Premier of British Columbia
 * November 5 – Andrew Crosby, rower and Olympic gold medallist
 * November 13 - Rick Roberts, actor
 * November 20 – John Graham, track and field athlete
 * November 21 – Jon Kelly, swimmer
 * November 24 – Brad Wall, politician and 14th Premier of Saskatchewan
 * November 27 – Kathleen Heddle, rower and triple Olympic gold medallist (d. 2021)
 * December 1 – Jamie Pagendam, boxer
 * December 10 – Jennifer Wyatt, golfer
 * December 18 – Brian Walton, road and track cyclist and coach
 * December 29 - Manon Perreault, politician

Full date unknown

 * Emanuel Jaques, murder victim (d. 1977)

Deaths

 * January 17 – Austin Claude Taylor, politician (b.1893)
 * April 1 – Harry Crerar, General (b.1888)
 * June 7 – John Stewart McDiarmid, politician and Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba (b.1882)
 * July 19 - Franklin D. McDowell, author
 * August 23 – George Black, politician (b.1873)
 * August 28 – Jacob Penner, politician (b.1880)
 * September 10 – S. E. Rogers, politician (b.1888)
 * September 20 - Madge Macbeth, author
 * October 8 - Thomas B. Costain, historian (b.1885)
 * November 25 - Gwethalyn Graham, author (b.1913)