1949 in Canada

See also: 1948 in Canada, other events of 1949, 1950 in Canada and the Timeline of Canadian history.

Events

• March 31 – Newfoundland becomes Canada's 10th province.
• April 1 – Joey Smallwood becomes the first premier of Newfoundland as a Canadian province
• April 4 – Canada joins NATO
• May 4 – Leslie Frost becomes premier of Ontario, replacing Thomas Kennedy
• June 27 – Federal election: Louis Saint Laurent's Liberals win a fourth consecutive majority
• September 14 – the Noronic, the largest Canadian passenger ship on the Great Lakes, was destroyed by a fire while docked in Toronto, killing 118
• Canadian appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council are abolished, making the Supreme Court of Canada the country's top court
• British Columbia gives Asian-Canadians the vote

Arts and Culture

Literary Awards

• See 1949 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Stephen Leacock Award: Angeline Hango, Truthfully Yours

Births

• January 24 – Guy Charron, hockey player
• February 14 – Denis Rocan, Manitoba politician
• February 23 – Marc Garneau, astronaut
• March 3 – Elijah Harper, politician
• March 16 – Victor Garber, actor
• March 30 – Liza Frulla, politician
• April 4 – Nava Starr, chess player
• April 8 – Claudette Bradshaw, politician
• April 14 – Percy Mockler, politician
• April 16 – Sandy Hawley, jockey
• May 6 – Diane Ablonczy, politician
• May 14 – Leona Czwartkowski, poet
• May 20 – Sheldon Oberman, children's writer
• May 20 – Dave Thomas, actor
• June 4 – Réginald Bélair, politician
• June 21 – Jane Urquhart, writer
• June 22 – Wayne Easter, politician
• July 3 – Jan Smithers, actor
• July 11 – Liona Boyd, musician
• August 13 – Bobby Clarke, hockey player
• August 21 – Larry Fisher, murderer
• August 30 – Don Boudria, politician
• September 6 – Carole-Marie Allard, politician
• September 12 – Kevin Major, children's writer
• October 25  – Laurie Skreslet, first Canadian to summit Mt. Everest
• October 27 – Garth Drabinsky, theatre promoter
• November 27 – Nick Discepola, politician
• November 28 – Paul Shaffer, musician
• November 29 – Stan Rogers, folk musician
• December 12 – John Godfrey, politician
• December 19 – Larry Bagnell, politician
• December 21 – John Loewen, Manitoba politician
• December 30 – Jim Flaherty, Ontario politician
• Ray Henault, Chief of Defence staff