1986 in Canada

Events from the year 1986 in Canada.

Crown

 * Monarch – Elizabeth II

Federal government

 * Governor General – Jeanne Sauvé
 * Prime Minister – Brian Mulroney
 * Chief Justice – Brian Dickson (Manitoba)
 * Parliament – 33rd

Lieutenant governors

 * Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Helen Hunley
 * Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Robert Gordon Rogers
 * Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Pearl McGonigal (until December 11) then George Johnson
 * Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – George Stanley
 * Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – William Anthony Paddon (until September 5) then James McGrath
 * Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Alan Abraham
 * Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Lincoln Alexander
 * Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Lloyd MacPhail
 * Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Gilles Lamontagne
 * Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Frederick Johnson

Premiers

 * Premier of Alberta – Don Getty
 * Premier of British Columbia – Bill Bennett (until August 6) then Bill Vander Zalm
 * Premier of Manitoba – Howard Pawley
 * Premier of New Brunswick – Richard Hatfield
 * Premier of Newfoundland – Brian Peckford
 * Premier of Nova Scotia – John Buchanan
 * Premier of Ontario – David Peterson
 * Premier of Prince Edward Island – James Lee (until May 2) then Joe Ghiz
 * Premier of Quebec – Robert Bourassa
 * Premier of Saskatchewan – Grant Devine

Commissioners

 * Commissioner of Yukon – Douglas Bell (until March 27) then  John Kenneth McKinnon
 * Commissioner of Northwest Territories – John Havelock Parker

Premiers

 * Premier of the Northwest Territories – Nick Sibbeston
 * Premier of Yukon – Tony Penikett

January to June

 * January 22 – An investigation determines that a bomb caused the crash of Air India flight 182.
 * January 31 – The Canadian dollar hits an all-time low of 70.2 U.S. cents on international money markets.
 * February 8 – Hinton train collision: 23 people are killed when the Super Continental passenger train collides with a Canadian National Railway freight train near Hinton, Alberta.
 * April 4 – Port Simpson, British Columbia, is renamed to Lax Kwʼalaams.
 * May 1 – Shirley Carr becomes the first female head of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
 * May 2
 * Joe Ghiz becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing James Lee.
 * The 1986 World Exposition (Expo 86) in Vancouver opens.
 * May 8 – Alberta election: The PCs, led by Don Getty, win a fifth consecutive majority, but a smaller majority than before.
 * May 9 – Roger Coles resigns as leader of Yukon Liberal Party and MLA for Tatchun after being arrested and charged with selling cocaine to an undercover police officer.
 * May 25 – In Vancouver an attempt is made to assassinate Malkiat Singh Sidhu, a cabinet minister in the Indian state of Punjab.
 * June 14 – An accident involving the Mindbender roller coaster at West Edmonton Mall kills three people and seriously injures a fourth.
 * June 19 – The new Competition Act comes into force.
 * June 20 – Jean Drapeau resigns as mayor of Montreal.

July to December

 * August 5 – Canada adopts sanctions against South Africa for its apartheid policies
 * August 6 – Bill Vander Zalm becomes premier of British Columbia, replacing Bill Bennett
 * August 11 – Tamil refugees are found drifting off the coast of Newfoundland
 * September 16 – Elizabeth II augments the coat of arms of Saskatchewan with a crest and supporters
 * September 30 – MPs elect the speaker by secret ballot for the first time.
 * October 6 – Canada receives a United Nations award for sheltering refugees
 * October 20 – Saskatchewan election: Grant Devine's PCs win a second consecutive majority
 * November 13 – The announcement that the film producer Claude Jutra was reported missing for over one week. He had started to suffer the first symptoms of the Alzheimer's disease.
 * December 8 – The University of Toronto's John C. Polanyi shares the Nobel Prize for chemistry for the development of the chemical laser.

Full date unknown

 * Negotiators begin work on what would eventually be the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement
 * The birds series of Canadian banknotes is released
 * Supreme Court rules on the RWDSU v. Dolphin Delivery Ltd. case
 * Conrad Black buys The Daily Telegraph
 * Dinosaur fossils are found near Parrsboro, Nova Scotia

New works

 * Margaret Atwood - Freeforall
 * W.P. Kinsella - The Fence Post Chronicles
 * Robert Munsch - Love You Forever
 * Alice Munro - The Progress of Love
 * Antonine Maillet - Garrochés en paradis
 * Hugh Hood - The Motor Boys in Ottawa
 * William Gibson - Count Zero

Awards

 * See 1986 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
 * Books in Canada First Novel Award: Wayne Johnston, The Story of Bobby O'Mally
 * Gerald Lampert Award: Joan Fern Shaw, Raspberry Vinegar
 * Marian Engel Award: Alice Munro
 * Pat Lowther Award: Erín Moure, Domestic Fuel
 * Stephen Leacock Award: Joey Slinger, No Axe too Small to Grind
 * Vicky Metcalf Award: Dennis Lee

New music

 * Leonard Cohen - First We Take Manhattan
 * Neil Young - Landing on Water

New movies

 * James Cameron's Aliens is released
 * David Cronenberg's The Fly
 * Denys Arcand's The Decline of the American Empire

Sport

 * March 15 – In an international women's field hockey match at Wembley Stadium (England) Canada beats England 3 – 1.
 * May 17 – The Guelph Platers win their only Memorial Cup by defeating the Hull Olympiques 6 to 2.
 * May 24 – The Montreal Canadiens win their 23rd Stanley Cup by defeating the Calgary Flames. The deciding Game 5 is played at Olympic Saddledome in Calgary
 * June 1 - Canada participates in the FIFA World Cup for the first, and to date only, time.
 * November 22 – The UBC Thunderbirds win their second championship by defeating the Western Ontario Mustangs by a score of 25–23.
 * November 30 – Hamilton Tiger-Cats win their 7th Grey Cup by defeating the Edmonton Eskimos 39 to 15 in the 74th Grey Cup played at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver

Unknown date
 * The Canadian Amateur Football Association is renamed Football Canada.
 * Montreal Concordes are re-branded as the "new" Montreal Allouettes

Births

 * January 8 – Jaclyn Linetsky, actress (d. 2003)
 * January 20 – Krystina Alogbo, water polo player
 * February 13 – Matthew Hawes, swimmer
 * February 19 – Jayde Nicole, model
 * April 4 – Cam Barker, ice hockey defenceman
 * April 8 - Jevohn Shepherd, basketball player
 * April 21 – Kevin Graham, water polo player
 * April 28 – Brandon Jung, water polo player
 * May 12 – Emily VanCamp, actress
 * May 31 – Melissa McIntyre, actress
 * June 5 – Amanda Crew, actress
 * June 18 – Meaghan Rath, actress
 * July 16 – Dustin Boyd, ice hockey player
 * July 19 – Jinder Mahal, pro wrestler
 * August 16 – Sarah Pavan, volleyball player
 * August 19 – Marie-Christine Schmidt, canoeist
 * August 20 – Linus Sebastian, youtuber
 * August 29 – Lauren Collins, actress
 * September 8 – Leah LaBelle, singer (d. 2018)
 * September 19 – Carrie Finlay, voice actor
 * October 24 – Drake, Canadian-American actor and rapper
 * November 4 – Alexz Johnson, singer-songwriter, actress, and philanthropist
 * November 5 – Heather Purnell, artistic gymnast
 * November 8 – Kaniehtiio Horn, actress
 * December 7 – Corey Vidal, online video content provider and digital media consultant
 * December 12 – Marie-Pier Beaudet, archer
 * December 16 – Scott Tupper, field hockey player
 * December 19 – Annie Murphy, actress

January to June

 * January 4 - Wilbur R. Franks, scientist and inventor (b. 1901)
 * January 26 - Norman MacKenzie, author, lawyer, professor and Senator (b. 1894)
 * February 23 - Louis-Philippe Pigeon, judge of the Supreme Court of Canada (b. 1905)
 * February 24 - Tommy Douglas, politician and Premier of Saskatchewan (b. 1904)
 * February 27 - Jacques Plante, ice hockey player (b. 1929)
 * March 4 - Richard Manuel, composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist (b. 1943)
 * March 4 - Elizabeth Smart, poet and novelist (b. 1913)
 * June 13 - Wilfrid Eggleston, journalist and chief censor for Canada from 1942 until 1944 (b. 1901)

July to December

 * July 25 - Alison Parrott, murder victim (b. 1974)
 * August 20 - Milton Acorn, poet, writer and playwright (b. 1923)
 * September 28 – Howard Graham, army officer, Chief of the General Staff (b. 1898)
 * October 11 – Barker Fairley, painter (b. 1887 in the United Kingdom)
 * October 26 – John Henry Cates, businessman and political figure (b. 1896)
 * November 5 - Claude Jutra, actor, film director and writer (b. 1930)
 * November 8 - King Clancy, ice hockey player (b. 1903)
 * November 19 - Don Jamieson, politician, diplomat and broadcaster (b. 1921)
 * December 31 - Donald Fleming, politician, International Monetary Fund official and lawyer (b. 1905)