1917 in Canada

• Monarch – George V^[1]

• Governor General – Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire
• Prime Minister – Robert Borden
• Chief Justice – Charles Fitzpatrick (Quebec)
• Parliament – 12th (until 6 October)

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Robert Brett
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Francis Stillman Barnard
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – James Albert Manning Aikins
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Josiah Wood (until June 29) then Gilbert Ganong (June 29 to October 31) then William Pugsley (from November 6)
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – MacCallum Grant
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – John Strathearn Hendrie
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Augustine Colin Macdonald
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Pierre-Évariste Leblanc
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Richard Stuart Lake

• Premier of Alberta – Arthur Sifton (until October 30) then Charles Stewart
• Premier of British Columbia – Harlan Brewster
• Premier of Manitoba – Tobias Norris
• Premier of New Brunswick – George Johnson Clarke (until February 1) then James A. Murray (February 1 to April 4) then Walter Foster
• Premier of Nova Scotia – George Henry Murray
• Premier of Ontario – William Hearst
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – John Mathieson (until June 21) then Aubin Arsenault
• Premier of Quebec – Lomer Gouin
• Premier of Saskatchewan – William Melville Martin

• Commissioner of Yukon – George Norris Williams (acting)
• Gold Commissioner of Yukon – George P. MacKenzie
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Frederick D. White

Provincial

• June 7 – Alberta election: Arthur Sifton's Liberals win a fourth consecutive majority. Louise McKinney and Roberta MacAdams are elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, the first two women elected to a legislature in the British Empire.
• June 26 – Saskatchewan election: William Martin's Liberals win a fourth consecutive majority.

Federal

• December 17: Robert Borden's Conservatives win a second consecutive majority in the Federal election

• February 1 – James Alexander Murray becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing George Johnson Clarke
• April 4 – Walter Foster becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing Murray
• April 9 – April 14 – Battle of Vimy Ridge.
• April 17 – Leon Trotsky, en route from New York to Russia, is detained in Halifax. He will spend the next month in Amherst Internment Camp before being released.
• June 21 – Aubin Arsenault becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing John Mathieson

• July 1: Canada celebrates its 50th Dominion Day.
• August: The government introduces conscription triggering the Conscription Crisis of 1917
• September 20: The Income War Tax Act receives royal assent, establishing a "temporary" tax, which remains in force to this day.^[2]
• September 20: The Wartime Elections Act gives female relatives of servicemen the vote.
• October 26 – November 10: Second Battle of Passchendaele.
• October 30: Charles Stewart (1868–1946) becomes premier of Alberta, replacing Arthur Sifton
• November 1 to 30: Swanson Bay, British Columbia, records 88 inches (2,235 mm) of precipitation for the month, which remains the highest officially recorded for one calendar month in North America.^[3]
• December 6: Halifax Explosion kills 1,900 people and injures 9,000. The largest ever man-made explosion pre-Hiroshima atomic bomb.

• Tom Thomson paints The Jack Pine, one of Canada's most widely recognized and reproduced artworks.^[4]

• March 26 – The Pacific Coast Hockey Association's Seattle Metropolitans become the first American team to win the Stanley Cup by defeating the National Hockey Association's Montreal Canadiens 3 games to 1. The Metropolitans won their only Cup in front of their home crowd at Seattle Ice Arena
• November 26 – The National Hockey League (NHL) is established in Montreal, with 4 teams from the National Hockey Association (Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, and Quebec Bulldogs) The owners would form a new team in Toronto due to a dispute Toronto Blueshirts owner Eddie Livingstone, the Toronto Hockey Club (Toronto Maple Leafs)
• December 19 – Montreal Wanderers defeat the Toronto Arenas in the first NHL game.

• January 6 – Sydney Banks, broadcaster and producer (d.2006)
• January 11 – John Robarts, lawyer, politician and 17th Premier of Ontario (d.1982)
• April 11 – Danny Gallivan, radio and television broadcaster and sportscaster (d. 1993)
• April 25 – George R. Gardiner, businessman, philanthropist and co-founder of the Gardiner Museum (d.1997)
• May 12 – Frank Clair, Canadian Football League coach (d.2005)
• May 19 – Robert Gordon Robertson, civil servant and 7th Commissioner of the Northwest Territories (d.2013)
• May 21 – Raymond Burr, actor (d.1993)
• May 22 – Lude Check, ice hockey player (d.2009)
• May 24 – Ross Thatcher, politician and 9th Premier of Saskatchewan (d.1971)
• June 17 – Dufferin Roblin, businessman, politician and 14th Premier of Manitoba (d.2010)
• June 18 – Arthur Tremblay, politician and Senator (d.1996)
• June 29 – Archie Green, folklorist and musicologist (d.2009)

• July 17 – John Hayes, harness racing driver, trainer and owner (d. 1998)
• September 12 – Pierre Sévigny, soldier, author, politician and academic (d. 2004)
• September 15 – Alf Pike, ice hockey player and coach (d. 2009)
• September 26 – Réal Caouette, politician (d. 1976)
• November 2 – Ann Rutherford, actress (Gone with the Wind, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty). (d. 2012)
• November 11 – Abram Hoffer, orthomolecular psychiatrist (d. 2009)
• November 28 – Jacob Froese, politician (d. 2003)
• December 6 – Irv Robbins, Canadian-American entrepreneur (d. 2008)

• Kent Rowley, labour activist and union organizer (d. 2013)
• Jack Singer, businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)

• January 8 – Ward Bowlby, lawyer and politician, reeve of Berlin, Ontario (born 1834)
• January 14 – Alexander Cameron, physician and politician (b.1834)
• February 17 – Ralph Smith, coal miner, labour leader and politician (b.1858)
• February 26 – George Johnson Clarke, lawyer, journalist, politician and 14th Premier of New Brunswick (b.1857)
• April 21 – George Thomas Baird, politician, Senator for Victoria, New Brunswick (b. 1847)
• June 13 – Louis-Philippe Hébert, sculptor (b.1850)

• July 5 – Percival Molson, athlete and soldier (b.1880)
• July 8 – Tom Thomson, artist (b.1877)
• July 15 – Lemuel John Tweedie, politician and 9th premier of New Brunswick (b.1849)
• August 6 – Richard McBride, politician and Premier of British Columbia (b.1870)

• August 29 – Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey, 9th governor general of Canada (b.1851)
• October 31 – Gilbert Ganong, businessman, politician and Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick (b.1851)
• November 10 – Thomas Simpson Sproule, politician and Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada (b.1843)
• October 30 – Talbot Papineau, lawyer and soldier (b.1883)
• December 10 – Mackenzie Bowell, politician and 5th prime minister of Canada (b.1823)

Army chaplain explains why Canadians should reject peace offers at this time^[5]

Woman recalls being six-year-old in family caught in Halifax Explosion^[6]

Victoria Cross citation for Ukrainian-Canadian soldier's bravery in battle^[7]

Battle of Vimy Ridge described by Canadian signalman observing battlefront^[8]

Amputee says horrors of Somme fighting worse than losing his arm there^[9]

Recuperating Canadian soldier describes birdsong, currant and hawthorn blossoms and other beauties of spring in England^[10]

Frontline doctor treats (and changes mind of) German prisoner of war^[11]

Letter of thanks from soldier receiving socks, saying all intend to see war won^[12]

Letter of thanks from soldier receiving socks, describing Christmas dinner^[13]

International planning consultant advises against special programs to set up returning soldiers in agriculture^[14]

Profile of Medicine Hat, Alta. branch of Great War Veterans Association^[15]

"That woman suffrage will help the cause of Temperance is shown by the following facts"^[16]

In inaugural address, President Wilson says U.S.A. cannot be independent of war, but is not part of it^[17]

American upset over Canadian hostility to U.S. non-participation in World War I^[18]

Poster for U.S. vs Canada charity baseball game in London, U.K.^[19]

Prosecution's opening statement in trial of Inuk for murder on Coppermine River^[20]

Modern conveniences would save farm women from lifting tons of water a day^[21]

"The increase of fibre decreases digestibilty" - Ontario Agricultural College researcher on limited usefulness of whole-wheat flour^[22]

Calgary mayor agrees that door-to-door distribution of flyers for birth control play should be prohibited^[23]