Events from the year 1974 in Canada.

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See also:	History of Canada Timeline of Canadian history List of years in Canada

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• January 1
  • Maurice Nadon is appointed as the 16th commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), becoming the first French Canadian to hold the post.^[3][4]
  • The Canadian Stock Exchange merges with the Montreal Stock Exchange, with the merged entity operating under the latter name.^[5][6]
  • Woodsworth College at the University of Toronto is founded, formally integrating part-time degree students into the University.^[7]
• January 6 – Global Television becomes Canada's third English-language television network when it begins broadcasting in southern Ontario.^[8]
• January 7 – Bora Laskin is sworn in as the 14th chief justice of Canada to replace the retiring Gérald Fauteux. In appointing Laskin, Prime Minister Trudeau breaks with tradition by passing over the more senior justice, Ronald Martland.^[9]
• January 14 – Jules Léger is sworn in as the 21st governor general of Canada, succeeding the retiring Roland Michener.^[10]
• January 15 – The Knight Street Bridge opens, joining Vancouver and Richmond, British Columbia.^[11]
• January 17 – Pauline McGibbon of Ontario becomes the first female lieutenant governor of a province.
• March 13 – A treaty between Canada and Denmark is ratified, establishing the maritime border between Ellesmere Island (Canada) and Greenland (Denmark). Measuring approximately 1,449.4 nautical miles (2,684.3 km; 1,667.9 mi), it is the longest negotiated international continental shelf boundary. However, the boundary line has a gap around Hans Island, with both nations claiming sovereignty.^[12][13][14]
• April 3 – A tornado strikes Windsor, Ontario, killing 9 people. The tornado was part of the 1974 Super Outbreak.
• May 23
  • New Brunswick becomes the first province to be officially bilingual.
  • The RCMP accepts applications from women for regular police duties for the first time. The first 32 women formed Troop 17, were sworn in on September 16, 1974, and graduated on March 3, 1975. Beverly Busson, a member of Troop 17, became the first female RCMP commissioner on December 16, 2006.^[15][16][17]
• June 29 – Soviet ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov defects in Toronto.
• July 2 – Ralph Steinhauer becomes the first Aboriginal person to be a lieutenant governor when he is appointed lieutenant governor of Alberta.
• July 3 – Canada first demands that its territorial waters be extended to 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi).
• Vote of no-confidence in parliament forces election.
• July 8 – Federal election: Pierre Trudeau's Liberals win a majority.
• July 31 – Bill 22 is passed making French the official language of government and business in Quebec.
• August 1 – The Elections Act is passed, limiting campaign contributions.
• August 9 – Nine Canadians are killed when Buffalo 461 is shot down during a peacekeeping mission in Syria.
• September 1 - CFVO-TV commences Broadcasting but later gains a regional scandal.
• November 29 – An aircraft is hijacked over Saskatchewan. It is recovered in Saskatoon.^[18]

• March 16 – The Waterloo Warriors win their first University Cup by defeating the Sir George Williams Georgians, 6 to 5. The final game was played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
• May 12 – The Regina Pats win their fourth Memorial Cup by defeating the Quebec Remparts, 7 to 4. The final game is played at the Stampede Corral in Calgary.
• May 19 – Montreal's Bernie Parent of the Philadelphia Flyers is awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy.
• September 22 – Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi wins the Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario.
• November 21 – The Western Ontario Mustangs win their second Vanier Cup by defeating the Toronto Varsity Blues by a score of 19–15.
• November 24 – The Montreal Alouettes win their third Grey Cup by defeating the Edmonton Eskimos, 20 to 7. The 62nd Grey Cup was played at Empire Stadium in Vancouver. Montreal's Don Sweet won the game's Most Valuable Player award and Edmonton's Don Barker won the game's Most Valuable Canadian award.

• February 21 – Tim Horton, ice hockey player and businessman (b.1930)
• February 28 – Harold Sherk, Mennonite minister and peace activist (b.1903)
• April 2 – Douglass Dumbrille, actor (b.1889)
• April 5 – A. Y. Jackson, painter, one of the Group of Seven (b.1882)
• April 8 – James Charles McGuigan, Cardinal (b.1894)
• June 21 - Merton Yarwood Williams, geologist and academic (b.1883)
• August 25 – Major James Coldwell, politician (b.1888)

• 1974 in Canadian television
• List of Canadian films of 1974