See also: 1870 in Canada, other events of 1871, 1872 in Canada and the list of 'years in Canada'.

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Events

• March 10 - Government of Manitoba meets for the first time
• March 21 - Ontario election: Edward Blake's Liberals win a majority, defeating J. S. Macdonald's Liberal-Conservatives
• April 2 - The first Canadian census finds the population to be 3,689,257
• May 8 - The Treaty of Washington reaches agreements on fishing rights and Great Lakes trade between Canada and the United States
• May 17 - New Brunswick abandons separate schools
• July - Phoebe Campbell murders her husband with an axe. She is hanged the next year.
• July 20 - British Columbia joins the Confederation.
• July 25 - Treaty Number 1 the first of a number of treaties with western Canada's First Nations is signed
• August 17 - Treaty Number 2 is signed
• November 11 - The last of the British army leaves Canada
• November 13 - John McCreight becomes the first premier of British Columbia
• December 14 - Marc-Amable Girard becomes premier of Manitoba, replacing Alfred Boyd
• December 20 - Edward Blake becomes premier of Ontario, replacing J. S. Macdonald
• National Meteorological Service is formed
• Parliament legalizes the use of the metric system
• Goldwin Smith immigrates to Canada

Births

• January 30 - Wilfred Lucas, actor
• May 14 - Walter Stanley Monroe, Prime Minister of Newfoundland
• July 16 - George Stewart Henry, Premier of Ontario
• July 25 - Richard Turner - war hero
• September 9 - Hugh Robson, Manitoba politician
• October 31 - Alexander S. MacMillan, Premier of Nova Scotia
• December 13 - Emily Carr, artist and writer

Deaths

• September 23 - Louis-Joseph Papineau, rebel