1951 in Canada

Events from the year 1951 in Canada.

• Monarch – George VI^[1]

• Governor General – the Viscount Alexander of Tunis^[2]
• Prime Minister – Louis St. Laurent
• Chief Justice – Thibaudeau Rinfret (Quebec)
• Parliament – 21st

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John J. Bowlen
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Clarence Wallace
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Roland Fairbairn McWilliams
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – David Laurence MacLaren
• Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Leonard Outerbridge
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – John Alexander Douglas McCurdy
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Ray Lawson
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Thomas William Lemuel Prowse
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Gaspard Fauteux
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – John Michael Uhrich (until June 15) then William John Patterson (from June 25)

• Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning
• Premier of British Columbia – Byron Johnson
• Premier of Manitoba – Douglas Campbell
• Premier of New Brunswick – John McNair
• Premier of Newfoundland – Joey Smallwood
• Premier of Nova Scotia – Angus Macdonald
• Premier of Ontario – Leslie Frost
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – J. Walter Jones
• Premier of Quebec – Maurice Duplessis
• Premier of Saskatchewan – Tommy Douglas

• Commissioner of Yukon – Andrew Harold Gibson (until October 15) then Frederick Fraser
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Hugh Andrew Young

• April 22–25 – Korean War: In the Battle of Kapyong, the Canadians hold off the Chinese.
• June 1 – The Massey Report into Canadian culture is released
• July 10 – A formal peace agreement between Canada and Germany is signed
• September 30 - Charlotte Whitton becomes mayor of Ottawa and Canada's first woman mayor of a major city.
• October 27:
  • The cobalt bomb cancer therapy is first tested in London, Ontario
  • The Duke of Edinburgh, and The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh (later Queen Elizabeth II), attend an Edmonton Eskimos home game. In the western semi-final, Edmonton beat Winnipeg 4–1
• November 22 – 1951 Ontario general election: Leslie Frost's PCs win a third consecutive majority
• December 12 – The St. Lawrence Seaway Authority is established.

• Canada's immigration rate rises. Population is 14,009,429.
• The Indian Act of Canada is revised to limit coverage of Aboriginal people, excluding Aboriginal women who married non-Aboriginal men.
• Louis St. Laurent moves into 24 Sussex Drive, the new official residence of the Prime Minister
• Labatt Blue is introduced
• The Wartime Prices and Trade Board is abolished.
• Thérèse Casgrain, the first woman to lead a provincial political party in Canada, becomes leader of the Quebec CCF.

• November 12 – The National Ballet of Canada gives its first performance in Eaton Auditorium, Toronto.

• Morley Callaghan – The Loved and the Lost
• Harold Innis – The Bias of Communication

• See 1951 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Stephen Leacock Award: Eric Nicol, The Roving I

• April 21 - The Toronto Maple Leafs win their ninth Stanley Cup by defeating the Montreal Canadiens 4 games to 1. The deciding Game 5 was played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto
• May 8 - The Ontario Hockey Association's Barrie Flyers win their first Memorial Cup by defeating the Manitoba Junior Hockey League's Winnipeg Monarchs 4 game to 0. All games were played at Shea's Amphitheatre in Winnipeg
• November 24 - The Ottawa Rough Riders win their fourth Grey Cup by defeating the Saskatchewan Roughriders 21 to 14 in the 39th Grey Cup played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto

• January 3 – Claude Bachand, politician
• January 17 – Carol Marguerite Anderson, choreographer
• January 21 – Yvon Dumont, politician
• January 25 - Bob McDonald, science journalist
• February 16 – Greg Selinger, 21st premier of Manitoba
• February 22 – Elaine Tanner, swimmer
• March 12 – Susan Musgrave, poet and children's writer
• March 16 – Kate Nelligan, actress
• March 21 – Lesley Choyce, novelist, poet and children's writer
• March 25 – Ethel Blondin-Andrew, politician
• March 28 – Karen Kain, ballet dancer
• March 31 – Lawrence D. O'Brien, politician (d. 2004)

• April 5
  • Joe Bowen, hockey broadcaster
  • Guy Vanderhaeghe, author
• April 15 – Paul Snider, killer of Dorothy Stratten (d. 1980)
• April 18 – Pierre Pettigrew, politician
• May 2 – Andrew Barron, ice speed skater
• May 3 – Dianne Whalen, MHA for Conception Bay East – Bell Island (2003–2010) (d. 2010)
• May 7 – Janina Fialkowska, pianist
• May 9 – Christopher Dewdney, poet, author and professor
• May 11
  • Chuck McMann, football player and coach (d. 2021)
  • Ed Stelmach, farmer, 13th premier of Alberta
• May 20 – Christie Blatchford, newspaper columnist, journalist and broadcaster (d. 2020)^[3]
• June 2
  • Larry Robinson, ice hockey player and coach
  • Frank C. Turner, actor
• June 7 – Terry O'Reilly, ice hockey player and coach
• June 19 – Bill Blaikie, politician (d. 2022)

• July 2 – Elisabeth Brooks, actress (d. 1997)
• July 4 – Beverly Boys, diver
• July 5 – Penny Werthner, track and field athlete
• July 20 – Paulette Bourgeois, children's writer
• July 26 – Rick Martin, ice hockey player (d. 2011)
• July 27 – Shawn Murphy, politician
• August 3 – Marcel Dionne, ice hockey player
• August 10 – Judy Wasylycia-Leis, politician
• August 17 – Robert Joy, actor
• September 9 – Jerry Doucette, guitarist and singer-songwriter (d. 2022)
• September 14 – Elizabeth Carruthers, diver
• September 19 – Daniel Lanois, record producer, guitarist and singer-songwriter
• September 20 – Guy Lafleur, ice hockey player (d. 2022)
• September 28 – Rick Gibson, artist

• October 8 – Bruce McArthur, serial killer
• October 9 – Joe Tascona, lawyer and politician
• October 11 – Jim Carr, politician (d. 2022)
• October 16 – Brenda Eisler, long jumper
• October 26 – Willie P. Bennett, folk music singer-songwriter (d. 2008)
• October 27 – Roger Fortin, boxer
• October 29
  • Camille Huard, boxer
  • Kelly Sutherland, rodeo competitor
• October 31 – Doug Bennett, singer, musician and music video director (d. 2004)
• November 10 – Marlene Jennings, politician
• November 13 – Robert Hilles, poet and novelist
• December 6 – Tomson Highway, playwright, novelist and children's author
• December 7 - Richard Darbois, actor
• December 22 – Charles de Lint, fantasy author and Celtic folk musician

• Robert Priest, poet and children's author

• January 1 – Frank Scott Hogg, astrophysicist (b. 1904)
• January 3 – Richard Langton Baker, politician (b. 1870)
• January 16 – Seymour Farmer, politician (b. 1878)
• February 7 – Edna Diefenbaker, first wife of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker (b. 1899)
• February 27 – Leland Payson Bancroft, politician (b. 1880)
• April 14 – Al Christie, film director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1881)

• August 26 – Bill Barilko, ice hockey player (b. 1927)
• September 1 – Nellie McClung, feminist, politician and social activist (b. 1873)
• September 14 – James Langstaff Bowman, politician and Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada (b. 1879)
• September 20 – William Henry Wright, prospector and newspaper owner (b. 1876)
• September 28 – P. L. Robertson, inventor (b. 1879)
• October 8 – Charles William Jefferys, artist and historian (b. 1869)
• November 20 – Lou Skuce, cartoonist (b. 1886)

• Harry Cassidy, academic, social reformer and civil servant (b. 1900)

• List of Canadian films