1897 in Canada

• Monarch – Victoria^[1]

• Governor General – John Hamilton-Gordon
• Prime Minister – Wilfrid Laurier
• Chief Justice – Samuel Henry Strong (Ontario)
• Parliament – 8th

• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Edgar Dewdney (until November 18) then Thomas Robert McInnes
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – James Colebrooke Patterson
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Jabez Bunting Snowball
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Malachy Bowes Daly
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Casimir Gzowski (acting) (until November 18) then Oliver Mowat
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – George William Howlan
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau

• Premier of British Columbia – John Herbert Turner
• Premier of Manitoba – Thomas Greenway
• Premier of New Brunswick – James Mitchell (until October 29) then Henry Emmerson
• Premier of Nova Scotia – George Henry Murray
• Premier of Ontario – Arthur Sturgis Hardy
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – Frederick Peters (until October 1) then Alexander Warburton
• Premier of Quebec – Edmund James Flynn (until May 24) then Félix-Gabriel Marchand

• Commissioner of Yukon – James Morrow Walsh (from August 17)

• Lieutenant Governor of Keewatin – James Colebrooke Patterson
• Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories – Charles Herbert Mackintosh

• Chairman of the executive committee of the North-West Territories then Premier of North-West Territories – Frederick Haultain (from October 7)

• January 29 – The Victorian Order of Nurses is founded in Ottawa.
• February 2 – Clara Brett Martin becomes the first woman to practise law in Ontario.
• February 19 – World's first Women's Institute founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario.
• May 24 – Félix-Gabriel Marchand becomes premier of Quebec, replacing Edmund Flynn.
• May 24 – Lion of Belfort (Montreal) unveiled.
• June 20 – Diamond Jubilee of Victoria's accession as Queen.
• September 6 – The federal government gives the CPR a grant to allow it to reduce freight rates through Crowsnest Pass.
• October – A.B. Warburton becomes Premier of Prince Edward Island.
• October 7 – Responsible government is introduced in the North-West Territories: Frederick Haultain becomes the first premier.
• October 29 – Henry Emmerson becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing James Mitchell.

• Klondike Gold Rush rages in the Yukon.
• Lord Grey proposes that Canada create a navy to protect its west coast; Prime Minister Laurier does not act on the recommendation.
• 1897–1912 – 961,000 people enter Canada from the British Isles, 594,000 from Europe and 784,000 from the United States..
• The first Canadian movie, Ten Years in Manitoba.

• January 23 – William Stephenson, soldier, airman, businessperson, inventor and spymaster (d.1989)
• January 27 – Charles Stephen Booth, politician and barrister
• March 9 – Sidney Earle Smith, academic and 7th President of the University of Toronto (d.1959)
• April 23 – Lester B. Pearson, politician, 14th Prime Minister of Canada, diplomat and 1957 Nobel Peace Prize recipient (d.1972)
• June 29 – Fulgence Charpentier, French Canadian journalist, editor and publisher (d. 2001)
• September 23 – Walter Pidgeon, actor (d.1984)
• September 29 – Graham Towers, first Governor of the Bank of Canada (d.1975)
• November 30 – William Murdoch Buchanan, politician (d.1966)
• December 7 – Gordon Graydon, politician (d.1953)

• January 2 – Thomas McGreevy, politician and contractor (b.1825)
• February 27 – James Austin, businessman (b.1813)
• July 4 – Amor De Cosmos, journalist, politician and 2nd Premier of British Columbia (b.1825)
• September 19 – Frederick Cope, 3rd Mayor of Vancouver (b.1860)
• October 21 – Philip Francis Little, 1st Premier of Newfoundland of the colonial (b.1824)
• December 14 – Robert Simpson, businessman and founder of Simpsons (b.1834)
• December 15 – James Mitchell, politician and 7th Premier of New Brunswick (b.1843)
• December 31 – David Oppenheimer, entrepreneur and 2nd Mayor of Vancouver (b.1832)

Cree leader Almighty Voice pursued and killed by North-West Mounted Police in Saskatchewan^[2]

Annual report of Indian agent for Kootenay Agency in British Columbia^[3]

Anglican missionary conducts church services on his dogsled trip around northwest Alberta^[4]

Kipling's poem "Our Lady of the Snows" acknowledges Canada's solidarity but independence in its relations with Britain (Note: "white man" used)^[5]

Editorial praises founding of Victorian Order of Nurses^[6]

Illustration of fully outfitted Klondike Gold Rush adventurer, with price of each garment and do/don't lists^[7]

Lack of food and other boomtown problems discourage some Dawson City residents^[8]

British railway labourers in western Canada treated as slaves before escaping^[9]

"A love affair this summer" - Diary writer records declaration of love from another woman visiting Camp Viamede, Stony Lake, Ontario^[10]

Newspaper map of bicycling routes in and around Victoria, B.C. includes hotels and hills^[11]

Cycling map of Montreal distinguishes roads and "good roads"^[12]

Photo: Metropolitan Bicycle Club^[13]