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 the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (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
• August 22: Queen Charlotte earthquake: Canada's largest earthquake since the 1700 Cascadia earthquake
• September 9: Albert Guay affair: in-flight bombing of a Canadian Pacific Airlines DC-3 en route from Quebec City to Baie-Comeau
• September 14: the Noronic, the largest Canadian passenger ship on the Great Lakes, is 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 16: Jane Haist, discus thrower and shot putter
• 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 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
• September 26: Marie Tifo, actress
• October 25 : Laurie Skreslet, first Canadian to summit Mount 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

Deaths

• January 11: John Wesley Brien, politician
• June 2: François Blais, politician
• July 7: Fred Wellington Bowen, politician
• December 7: Stanislas Blanchard, politician