1851 in Canada

Incumbents

• Monarch — Victoria

  Federal government

• Parliament: 3rd

  Governors

• Governor General of the Province of Canada — James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin
• Colonial Governor of Newfoundland — Charles Henry Darling
• Governor of New Brunswick — Edmund Walker Head
• Governor of Nova Scotia — John Harvey
• Governor of Prince Edward Island — Dominick Daly

  Premiers

• Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada —
• *Francis Hincks, Canada West Premier
• *Augustin-Norbert Morin, Canada East Premier
• Premier of Nova Scotia — James Boyle Uniacke
• Premier of Prince Edward Island — John Holl

  Events

• April 7 – The first Canadian postage stamps are printed
• April 25 – Prince Edward Island wins responsible government
• June – Harbor Commissioners deepen Lake St. Peter.
• July – The bloomer costume appears in Montreal.
• August 30 – The Vancouver Island legislature meets for the first time
• October 11 – The St. L. & A. Railway is opened to Richmond.
• William Kennedy was commander of the second sponsored expedition to find Sir John Franklin

  Full date unknown

• Gabriel Franchere's Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America published in Montreal.
• The United Kingdom transfers control of the colonial postal system to Canada.

  Births

• April 7 – John Wilson Bengough, political cartoonist
• April 8 – Frederick Peters, lawyer, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island
• May 22 – Gilbert Ganong, businessman, politician and Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick
• July 8 – James Dunsmuir, industrialist, politician and Premier of British Columbia
• August 26 – Herbert James Palmer, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island
• September 5 – George Frederick Baird, politician and lawyer
• November – Levi Addison Ault, businessman and naturalist
• November 25 – Francis Shepherd, surgeon
• November 28 – Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey, 9th Governor General of Canada
• December 10 – James Albert Manning Aikins, politician and Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba

  Deaths