1886 in Canada

• Monarch – Victoria^[1]

• Governor General – Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice
• Prime Minister – John A. Macdonald
• Chief Justice – William Johnstone Ritchie (New Brunswick)
• Parliament – 5th

• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Clement Francis Cornwall
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – James Cox Aikins
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Samuel Leonard Tilley
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Matthew Henry Richey
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – John Beverley Robinson
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Andrew Archibald Macdonald
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Louis-Rodrigue Masson

• Premier of British Columbia – William Smithe
• Premier of Manitoba – John Norquay
• Premier of New Brunswick – Andrew George Blair
• Premier of Nova Scotia – William Stevens Fielding
• Premier of Ontario – Oliver Mowat
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – William Wilfred Sullivan
• Premier of Quebec – John Jones Ross

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

• March 25 – Workman's Compensation Act passed in Ontario
• April 6 – Vancouver incorporated as a city
• April 26 – 1886 New Brunswick general election
• June 7 – Elzéar-Alexandre Taschereau becomes the first Canadian cardinal
• June 8 to 15 – 1886 Nova Scotia general election: William Stevens Fielding's Liberals win a third consecutive majority.
• June 13 – Great Vancouver Fire
• June 30 – 1886 Prince Edward Island general election: William Wilfred Sullivan Conservatives win a fifth consecutive majority.
• July 20 – 1886 British Columbia general election
• October 14 – 1886 Quebec general election: Honoré Mercier's Liberals win a majority
• December 9 – 1886 Manitoba general election
• December 14 – Yoho National Park established
• December 28 – 1886 Ontario general election: Sir Oliver Mowat's Liberals win a fifth consecutive majority.

• Mohawk men of the Caughnawaga Reserve in Quebec are trained to help build a bridge across the St. Lawrence River, beginning a tradition of high steel construction work among the Iroquois.
• Construction begins on the Banff Springs Hotel

• January 15 – C. D. Howe, politician and Minister (d.1960)
• January 21 – George Kingston, meteorologist (b.1816)
• May 13 – William John Patterson, politician and 6th Premier of Saskatchewan (d.1976)
• August 4 – Pierre-François Casgrain, politician and Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada (d.1950)
• August 30 – Ray Lawson, 17th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (d.1980)
• September 20 – John Murray Anderson, Canadian-born American actor, dancer, theatre director (d. 1954 in the United States)
• October 16 – Joseph-Arthur Bradette, politician (d.1961)

• March 30 – Joseph-Alfred Mousseau, politician and 6th Premier of Quebec (b.1837)
• March 31 – Amos Wright, farmer and politician (b.1809)
• June 25
  • Auguste Achintre, journalist and essayist (b.1834)
  • Jean-Louis Beaudry, entrepreneur, politician and 11th Mayor of Montreal (b.1809)
• July 4 – Poundmaker, Cree chief (b. c1842)
• November 23 – William Jack, astronomer (b.1817)

Edward Blake speaks on Louis Riel's execution and Northwest maladministration^[2]

Wilfrid Laurier's House of Commons speech condemns Louis Riel's execution^[3]

Crown issues amnesty for all those not convicted of crimes in 1885 conflict^[4]

Ojibwe, Cree and Inuit medical practice and materials (Note: "primitive" and other stereotypes)^[5]

Painting: Agent dispenses flour rations to Siksika people^[6]

Account of destruction of Vancouver by fire^[7]

"Decent Canadian" robs Qu'Appelle stage coach^[8]

New York City businessman wants Chief Poundmaker for Buffalo Bill's Wild West show^[9]