See also: 1870 in Canada, other events of 1871, 1872 in Canada and the list of 'years in Canada'.
Events
- March 10 - Government of Manitoba meets for the first time
- March 21 - Ontario election: Edward Blake's Liberals win a majority, defeating J. S. Macdonald's Liberal-Conservatives
- April 2 - The first Canadian census finds the population to be 3,689,257
- May 8 - The Treaty of Washington reaches agreements on fishing rights and Great Lakes trade between Canada and the United States
- May 17 - New Brunswick abandons separate schools
- July - Phoebe Campbell murders her husband with an axe. She is hanged the next year.
- July 20 - British Columbia joins the Confederation.
- July 25 - Treaty Number 1 the first of a number of treaties with western Canada's First Nations is signed
- August 17 - Treaty Number 2 is signed
- November 11 - The last of the British army leaves Canada
- November 13 - John McCreight becomes the first premier of British Columbia
- December 14 - Marc-Amable Girard becomes premier of Manitoba, replacing Alfred Boyd
- December 20 - Edward Blake becomes premier of Ontario, replacing J. S. Macdonald
- National Meteorological Service is formed
- Parliament legalizes the use of the metric system
- Goldwin Smith immigrates to Canada
Births
- December 13 - Emily Carr, artist and writer
- Richard Turner - war hero
Deaths
- September 23 - Louis-Joseph Papineau, rebel