1986 in Canada

• Monarch – Elizabeth II^[1]

• Governor General – Jeanne Sauvé^[2]
• Prime Minister – Brian Mulroney
• Chief Justice – Brian Dickson (Manitoba)
• Parliament – 33rd

• 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

• 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

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

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

• 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.^[3][4]
• 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.

• 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.^[5]
• December 8 – The University of Toronto's John C. Polanyi shares the Nobel Prize for chemistry for the development of the chemical laser.

• 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

• 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

• 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

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

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

• 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

• 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^[6]
• December 16 – Scott Tupper, field hockey player
• December 19 – Annie Murphy, actress^[7]

• 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 25 - Alison Parrott, murder victim (b. 1974)
• August 20 - Milton Acorn, poet, writer and playwright (b. 1923)
• 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)

• 1986 in Canadian television
• List of Canadian films of 1986