1965 in Canada

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – Elizabeth II

  Federal government

• Governor general – Georges Vanier
• Prime minister – Lester B. Pearson
• Chief Justice – Robert Taschereau
• Parliament – 26th then 27th

  Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John Percy Page
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – George Pearkes
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Errick Willis then Richard Spink Bowles
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Joseph Leonard O'Brien then John B. McNair
• Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Fabian O'Dea
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Henry Poole MacKeen
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – William Earl Rowe
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Willibald Joseph MacDonald
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Paul Comtois
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Robert Hanbidge

  Premiers

• Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning
• Premier of British Columbia – W.A.C. Bennett
• Premier of Manitoba – Dufferin Roblin
• Premier of New Brunswick – Louis Robichaud
• Premier of Newfoundland – Joey Smallwood
• Premier of Nova Scotia – Robert Stanfield
• Premier of Ontario – John Robarts
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – Walter Shaw
• Premier of Quebec – Jean Lesage
• Premier of Saskatchewan – Ross Thatcher

  Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Commissioner of Yukon – Gordon Robertson Cameron
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Bent Gestur Sivertz

  Events

• January 1 – Trans-Canada Airlines is renamed Air Canada.
• January 9 – The Hope Slide, the largest landslide ever recorded in Canada, kills four.
• January 16 – The Canada-United States Automotive Agreement is signed
• January 28 – The Queen issues a royal proclamation, effective February 15, making the Maple Leaf flag the National Flag of Canada.
• February 15 – National Flag of Canada Day, marked by ceremonies across the Dominion, the Maple Leaf becomes the National Flag.
• March 2 – Lucien Rivard escapes from a Montreal area jail
• March 7 – Canadian Roman Catholic churches celebrate mass in the vernacular for the first time due to the reforms of Vatican II
• March 20 – Peter Lougheed is elected leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party
• April 2 – Lester Pearson gives a speech at Temple University in the United States that calls for a stop to the bombing of North Vietnam, infuriating President Lyndon Johnson
• May 16 – Cross Country Checkup debuts on radio
• June 7 – Navy, army, and air force commands are replaced by six functional commands
• July 8 – A crash of a Canadian Pacific Airlines flight in British Columbia kills 52.
• September 9 – The Fowler Report is released. It advocates creation of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
• September 13 - The new Toronto City Hall is opened.
• November 8 – Federal election: Lester Pearson's Liberals win a second consecutive minority
• November 9 – A failure at an Ontario power station causes the 1965 Blackout that stretches from Florida to Chicago and all of southern Ontario.
• November 29 – Alouette 2 is launched.

  Full date unknown

• Eligibility age for pensions is lowered from 70 to 65

  Arts and literature

New books

• George Grant: Lament for a Nation
• John Newlove: Moving in Alone
• Robert Kroetsch: But We Are Exiles
• Farley Mowat: West Viking
• Gilles Archambault: La vie à trois
• Hubert Aquin: Prochain épisode

  Awards

• Gordon R. Dickson's Soldier, Ask Not wins a Hugo Award
• See 1965 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Stephen Leacock Award: Gregory Clark, War Stories
• Vicky Metcalf Award: Roderick Haig-Brown

  Music

• Karel Ančerl replaces Seiji Ozawa as artistic director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra

  Film

• October 13 – The Canadian Film Development Agency is formed
• Christopher Plummer stars as Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music
• William Shatner stars in Incubus

  Sport

• March 11 – The NHL admits the California Seals, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and the St. Louis Blues into the league through expansion
• March 13 - Manitoba Bisons won their First University Cup be defeating the St. Dunstan's Saints 9 to 2, the Final game was played the Winnipeg Arena
• May 1 - The Montreal Canadiens won their Thirteenth Stanley Cup by defeating the Chicago Black Hawks 4 games to 3. The deciding Game 7 was played at the Montreal Forum. Trois-Rivières, Quebec's Jean Beliveau is awarded the First Conn Smythe Trophy as the 1965 Playoffs MVP
• September 10 - Future hall of fame baseball player Ferguson Jenkins plays his first major league game for the Philadelphia Phillies in Connie Mack Stadium
• May 11 - Ontario Hockey Association's Niagara Falls Flyers won their First Memorial Cup by defeating the Central Alberta Hockey League's Edmonton Oil Kings 4 games to 0. All games were played at Edmonton Gardens
• November 20 - Toronto Varsity Blues defeated the Alberta Golden Bears 14-7 in the 1st Vanier Cup played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto
• November 27 - The Hamilton Tiger-Cats won their 4th Grey Cup by defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 22-16 in the 53rd Grey Cup in Toronto's CNE Stadium.

  Births

January to March

• January 8
• * Wendy Fuller, diver
• * Eric Wohlberg, racing cyclist
• January 21 – Brian Bradley, ice hockey player
• January 23 – Tim Berrett, race walker
• January 27 – Ross MacDonald, sailor and Olympic silver medallist
• January 28
• * Stéphane Bergeron, politician
• * Tom Ponting, swimmer and double Olympic silver medallist
• January 31 – Ofra Harnoy, cellist
• March 1 – Stewart Elliott, jockey
• March 7 - Alison Redford, politician, and the 14th and current Premier of Alberta
• March 15 – Marcel Gery, swimmer and Olympic bronze medallist
• March 23 – Daren Puppa, ice hockey player

  April to June

• April 11 – Chris Pridham, tennis player
• April 21 – Ed Belfour, ice hockey player
• April 22 – Peter Zezel, ice hockey player
• May 7 – Owen Hart, wrestler
• May 9 – Steve Yzerman, ice hockey player
• May 10 – Linda Evangelista, supermodel
• May 19 – James Bezan, politician
• May 21 – Scott Browning, entrepreneur
• June 19 – Gary Vandermeulen, swimmer
• June 25 – Julie Daigneault, swimmer
• June 26 – Gaye Porteous, field hockey player

  July to September

• July 26 – Michael Rascher, rower and Olympic gold medallist
• August 11 – Marc Bergevin, ice hockey player
• August 22
• * Patricia Hy-Boulais, tennis player
• * David Reimer, victim of a botched circumcision and transgender reassignment surgery
• August 28 – Shania Twain, singer-songwriter
• September 8 – Mark Andrews, swimmer
• September 9 - Eric Tunney, comedian
• September 20 – Peter Loubardias, sportscaster
• September 27
• * Bernard Lord, politician and 30th Premier of New Brunswick
• * Peter MacKay, lawyer, politician and Minister

  October to December

• October 5
• * Mario Lemieux, ice hockey player
• * Patrick Roy, ice hockey player
• October 23 – David Bédard, diver
• October 29 – Christy Clark, politician and 35th and current Premier of British Columbia
• November 5 – Andrew Crosby, rower and Olympic gold medallist
• November 13 - Rick Roberts, actor
• November 20 – John Graham, track and field athlete
• November 21 – Jon Kelly, swimmer
• November 24 – Brad Wall, politician and 14th Premier of Saskatchewan
• November 27 – Kathleen Heddle, rower and triple Olympic gold medallist
• December 1 – Jamie Pagendam, boxer
• December 10 – Jennifer Wyatt, golfer
• December 18 – Brian Walton, road and track cyclist and coach
• December 29 - Manon Perreault, politician

  Full date unknown

• Emanuel Jaques, murder victim

  Deaths

• January 17 – Austin Claude Taylor, politician
• April 1 – Harry Crerar, General
• June 7 – John Stewart McDiarmid, politician and Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba
• July 19 - Franklin D. McDowell, author
• August 23 – George Black, politician
• August 28 – Jacob Penner, politician
• September 10 – S. E. Rogers, politician
• September 20 - Madge Macbeth, author
• October 8 - Thomas B. Costain, historian
• November 25 - Gwethalyn Graham, author

  Full date unknown

• Fiorenza Johnson, wife of George Alexander Drew, 14th Prime Minister of Ontario