1859 in Canada
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See also: 1858 in Canada, other events of 1859, 1860 in Canada and the list of 'years in Canada'.
Events
- Abraham Shadd is elected to the town council in Raleigh, Ontario and becomes the first Black elected to public office.
- William Hall, born in Hants County, Nova Scotia, becomes the first Nova Scotian and the first Black to win the Victoria Cross for Bravery in the war. The Victoria Cross is the highest military honour in the British Commonwealth.
- The all-Black Victoria Pioneer Rifle Company is formed to defend British Columbia.
- De Stoeckl returns to U.S. from St. Petersburg with authority to negotiate the sale of Alaska.
Births
- January 16 - Henry Pellat, businessman
- January 18 - Elizabeth Shortt, politician
- April 5 - Robert Franklin Sutherland, politician
- May 8 - Edward Patrick Morris, Prime Minister of Newfoundland
- June 29 - Peter Verigin, Doukhobor leader
- August 4 - Louis-Adolphe Paquet, nationalist
- August 10 - Wellington Bartley Willoughby, politician
- September 17 - Frank Dawson Adams, geologist