1957 in Canada

Events from the year 1957 in Canada.

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Governor General – Vincent Massey
• Prime Minister – Louis Saint Laurent then John Diefenbaker
• Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning
• Premier of British Columbia – W.A.C. Bennett
• Premier of Manitoba – Douglas Campbell
• Premier of New Brunswick – Hugh John Flemming
• Premier of Newfoundland – Joey Smallwood
• Premier of Nova Scotia – Robert Stanfield
• Premier of Ontario – Leslie Frost
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – Alex Matheson
• Premier of Quebec – Maurice Duplessis
• Premier of Saskatchewan – Tommy Douglas

Events

• January 1 – The first Canadian peackeepers arrive in Egypt after the Suez Crisis
• January 17 – HMCS Bonaventure, Canada's only aircraft carrier, is commissioned
• March 6 – Quebec's Padlock Law is ruled unconstitutional
• March 20 – The seven month long Murdochville Strike begins
• March 28 – The Canada Council is established
• April 15 - White Rock secedes from Surrey in British Columbia following a referendum.
• June 10 – Federal election: John Diefenbaker's PCs win a minority, defeating Louis Saint Laurent's Liberals
• June 21 – John Diefenbaker becomes prime minister, replacing Louis Saint Laurent
• July 31 – The DEW Line begins operation
• September 12 – Canada and the United States sign the NORAD agreement
• October 4 – The first prototype Avro Arrow is presented to the media. The rollout is completely overshadowed by the flight of Sputnik I the same day.
• October 12 – Foreign Minister Lester B. Pearson wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on the Suez Crisis
• October 13 – Elizabeth II opens the Canadian parliament, the first monarch to do so
• Thanksgiving is moved to its current date
• Equalization payments are established.

Arts and literature

New works

• F.R. Scott – The Eye of the Needle: Satire, Sorties, Sundries
• Mordecai Richler – A Choice of Enemies
• W.L. Morton – Manitoba: The Birth of a Province
• Farley Mowat – The Dog Who Wouldn't Be
• Northrop Frye – Anatomy of Criticism

Awards

• See 1957 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Stephen Leacock Award: Robert Thomas Allen The Grass Is Never Greener

Television

• Front Page Challenge premiers on CBC

Births

January to June

• January 8 - Wendy Mesley, broadcast journalist
• January 22 – Mike Bossy, ice hockey player
• January 28 – Michael Baker, politician (d.2009)
• February 17 – Loreena McKennitt, singer, composer, harpist and pianist
• March 10 – Shannon Tweed, actress
• March 24 - Olivia Chow, politician and widow of Jack Layton
• April 29 – Leona Dombrowsky, politician
• May 4 – Kathy Kreiner, alpine skier and Olympic gold medalist
• May 14 – Gilles Bisson, politician
• May 17 – Todd Hardy, leader of the Yukon New Democratic Party from 2002 to 2009 (d. 2010)

July to September

Darrell Dexter

• July 2 – Bret Hart, wrestler and actor
• July 9 – George Nagy, swimmer
• July 15 – Craig Martin, soccer player and coach
• July 22 - Michèle Dionne, wife of Jean Charest, 29th Prime Minister of Quebec
• July 26 – Mark Paré, National Hockey League linesman
• August 6 – Francesca Gagnon, singer
• August 11 – Tony Valeri, politician
• August 15 – David L. Anderson, politician
• August 16 – Mark Evans, rower and Olympic gold medalist
• August 16 – Michael Evans, rower and Olympic gold medalist
• August 20 – Cindy Nicholas, athlete and politician
• August 23 – Georges Farrah, politician
• August 26 – Rick Hansen, paraplegic athlete and activist for people with spinal cord injuries
• September 10 – Darrell Dexter, politician and 27th Premier of Nova Scotia
• September 23 – Sylvie Garant, model

October to December

• October 10 – Art Boileau, long-distance runner
• October 26 – Glen Murray, politician
• October 30 – Joseph Cordiano, politician and Minister
• November 22 – Glen Clark, politician and 31st Premier of British Columbia
• November 30 – Colin Mochrie, comedian and actor
• December 4 – Rob Shick, ice hockey referee
• December 5 – Paul Steele, rower and Olympic gold medalist
• December 6 – Louis Jani, judoka
• December 12 – Robert Lepage, playwright, actor and film director

Full date unknown

• Daniel J. Caron, national librarian of Library and Archives Canada
• Robert Poulin, murderer responsible for the St. Pius X High School shooting (d.1975)
• Nancy Richler, novelist

Deaths

• January 16 – Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone, 16th Governor General of Canada (b.1874)
• August 21 – Nels Stewart, ice hockey player (b.1902)
• August 26 – Joseph Tyrrell, geologist, cartographer and mining consultant (b.1858)
• October 21 – Arthur Puttee, politician (b.1868)
• October 31 – Martha Black, politician and the second woman elected to the Canadian House of Commons (b.1866)
• December 10 – Roland Fairbairn McWilliams, politician and Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba (b.1874)
• December 29 – Humphrey T. Walwyn, naval officer and Governor of Newfoundland (b.1879)