1962 in Canada

Events from the year 1962 in Canada.

← 1961 1960 1959 1962 in Canada → 1963 1964 1965
Decades:	1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
See also:	History of Canada Timeline of Canadian history List of years in Canada

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – Elizabeth II

Federal government

• Governor General – Georges Vanier
• Prime Minister – John Diefenbaker
• Chief Justice – Patrick Kerwin (Ontario)
• Parliament – 24th (until 19 April) then 25th (from 27 September)

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John Percy Page
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – George Pearkes
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Errick Willis
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Joseph Leonard O'Brien
• Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Campbell Leonard Macpherson
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Edward Chester Plow
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – John Keiller MacKay
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Frederick Walter Hyndman
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Paul Comtois
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Frank Lindsay Bastedo

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 – Woodrow Lloyd

Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Commissioner of Yukon – Frederick Howard Collins (until May 1) then Gordon Robertson Cameron
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Robert Gordon Robertson

Events

• March 21 – The birth-defect-causing drug thalidomide is banned
• May 2 – The Canadian dollar is pegged to the U.S. currency
• June 18 – In the 1962 Federal election John Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservative Party of Canada is reduced to a minority government
• July 1 – First medicare plan is launched in Saskatchewan to great protest by doctors
• July 30 – Trans-Canada Highway opens
• August 6 – A Premiers Conference is held in Victoria, British Columbia
• September 1 – Place Ville Marie opens in Montreal
• September 29 – Alouette 1, Canada's first satellite, is launched.
• October 25 – The Bedford Institute of Oceanography opens in Nova Scotia
• October 25-November 12 – The Cuban Missile Crisis occurs. Diefenbaker refuses to put Canadian forces on alert, angering the U.S. government.
• December 11 – The last two hangings in Canada take place.
• The Globe and Mail adds the Report on Business section

Arts and literature

New books

• Max Aitken – The Decline and Fall of Lloyd George
• W. O. Mitchell – The Kite
• Marshall McLuhan – The Gutenberg Galaxy
• George Woodcock – Anarchism
• Farley Mowat – The Black Joke
• Thomas B. Costain – The Last Plantagenets

Awards

• See 1962 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Stephen Leacock Award: W. O. Mitchell, Jake and the Kid

Television

• Mister Rogers' Neighborhood premieres on CBC

Theatre

• The first Shaw Festival opens

Sport

• April 22 – The Toronto Maple Leafs win their tenth Stanley Cup by defeating the Chicago Black Hawks.
• May 7 – The Ontario Hockey Association's Hamilton Red Wings win their only Memorial Cup by defeating the Central Alberta Hockey League's Edmonton Oil Kings 4 games to 1. The deciding Game 5 was played at Barton Street Arena in Hamilton, Ontario
• December 1–2 – The Winnipeg Blue Bombers win the Grey Cup in the famous fog bowl.

Births

Unknown date

• Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (2014–present)

January to June

• January 17 – Jim Carrey, comedian and actor
• January 22 – Kevin Lamoureux, politician
• February 4 – Michael Riley, actor
• February 23 – John Hatch, basketball player
• February 27 – Susie Moloney, novelist
• March 20 – Ross Young, politician (d. 2021)
• March 21 – Kathy Greenwood, actress and comedian
• March 27 – Jann Arden, singer-songwriter
• March 29 – John Martin Crawford, serial killer (d. 2020)
• April 1 – John Wallace, rower and Olympic gold medallist
• April 11 – Colin Carrie, politician
• May 5 – Manoj Sood, actor
• May 31 – Corey Hart, musician
• June 12
  • Jordan Peterson, author, clinical psychologist and professor of psychology
  • Camilla Scott, Canadian actress
• June 23
  • Chris Collins, politician
  • Pat Kelly, ice speed skater

July to December

• July 7 – Ross Rutledge, field hockey player (d. 2004)
• July 12 – Camilla Scott, actress and television host
• July 14 – Diane Ratnik, volleyball player
• July 21 – Lee Aaron, rock and jazz singer
• August 8 – Mike Zanier, ice hockey player
• August 23 – Martin Cauchon, politician and Minister
• August 27 – Adam Oates, ice hockey and lacrosse player
• August 29 – Ian James Corlett, voice actor and producer
• August 31 – Wanda Guenette, volleyball player
• September 11 – Andrew Jackson, voice actor
• September 14 – Robert Herjavec, Croatian-born Canadian businessman, investor and author
• September 15 – Brad Willock, volleyball player
• September 18 – John Mann, rock musician and actor (d. 2019)
• September 22 – Normand D'Amour, actor
• September 24 – Nia Vardalos, actress, screenwriter and producer
• September 28 – Grant Fuhr, ice hockey player
• October 14 - Charles E. Bastien, animation director
• October 16 – Dan McTeague, politician
• October 30 – Rex Harrington, ballet dancer
• November 8 – Cliff Cullen, politician
• November 9 – Teryl Rothery, actress
• November 12 – Mark Hunter, ice hockey player, coach, and manager
• December 4 – Julie Lemieux, Canadian voice actress
• December 28 – Michelle Cameron, synchronized swimmer

Deaths

• January 12 – James Garfield Gardiner, politician, Minister and Premier of Saskatchewan (b. 1883)
• January 24 – James Charles Brady, politician (b. 1876)
• March 3 – Cairine Wilson, Canada's first female Senator (b. 1885)
• August 20 – Joseph-Arsène Bonnier, politician (b. 1879)
• August 26 – Vilhjalmur Stefansson, Arctic explorer and ethnologist (b. 1879)
• October 23 – John Thomas Haig, politician (b. 1877)
• November 13 – Télesphore-Damien Bouchard, politician (b. 1881)
• November 21 – Frank Amyot, sprint canoer and Olympic gold medalist (b. 1904)
• December 8 – Allison Dysart, politician, lawyer, judge and 21st Premier of New Brunswick (b. 1880)
• December 22 – Solon Earl Low, politician (b. 1900)

See also

• 1962 in Canadian television
• List of Canadian films