1885 in Canada

• March 26 – Louis Riel and the Métis battle the North-West Mounted Police at Duck Lake
• April 2 – North-West Rebellion: In the Frog Lake Massacre, Cree warriors kill nine settler civilians and take 70 captive
• April 24 – North-West Rebellion: Battle of Fish Creek fought between Canadian Militia and the Métis
• May 2 – North-West Rebellion: Battle of Cut Knife
• May 9–12 – North-West Rebellion: Battle of Batoche the Métis are defeated in battle
• May 15 – Riel surrenders near Batoche, District of Saskatchewan, and is arrested
• May 28 – North-West Rebellion: Battle of Frenchman's Butte
• June 3 – North-West Rebellion: Battle of Loon Lake. The last Cree resistance is shattered.
• July 2 – Big Bear captured.
• July 6 – Riel is charged with six counts of high treason.
• July 20 – The trial of Louis Riel begins in Regina, District of Assiniboia
• July 20 – The Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 was enacted. The Act imposed a $50 head tax on Chinese immigrants, with the exceptions of diplomats, government representatives, tourists, merchants, "men of science", and students. The Act came after a big wave of Chinese immigrants going to Canada.
• August 1 – Riel is found guilty and sentenced to death
• September 9 – The Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench refuses to hear Riel's appeal
• September 15 – Northwest Territories election
• October 22 – The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council refuses to hear Riel's appeal
• October 31 – Newfoundland election: Robert Thorburn's Reforms win a majority
• November 7 – The Last Spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway at Craigellachie, British Columbia. John A. Macdonald receives a telegram announcing that the first train from Montreal in Quebec is approaching the Pacific.
• November 16 – Riel is hanged in Regina.
• November 27 – In Battleford, Wandering Spirit, Round the Sky, Bad Arrow, Miserable Man, Iron Body, Little Bear, Crooked Leg and Man Without Blood are hanged for murders committed during the Frog Lake Massacre. It the largest mass execution in Canadian history.

• January 13 – Gilbert Anselme Girouard, politician (b.1846)
• February 23 – Joseph Edouard Cauchon, politician (b.1816)
• April 8 – Susanna Moodie, writer (b.1803)
• May 8 – James Colledge Pope, politician and 5th Premier of Prince Edward Island (b.1826)
• June 8 – Ignace Bourget, bishop of the Diocese of Montreal (b.1799)
• July 17 – Jean-Charles Chapais, politician (b.1811)
• August 18 – Francis Hincks, politician (b.1807)
• November 5 – David Anderson, Church of England priest and bishop of Rupert's Land (b.1814)
• November 16 – Louis Riel, politician and Métis leader (b.1844)

Account of battle at Duck Lake [1]

Account of battle at Cut Knife Hill [2]

Two settler women travel with Chief Big Bear's Cree band after Frog Lake Massacre [3]

Accounts of battle at Batoche [4]

Opposition Leader Edward Blake's speeches on fighting in Northwest [5]

Convicted of treason, Chief Big Bear pleads for relief of his people [6]

Louis Riel's statement at his trial [7]

Report of psychiatric physician who visited Louis Riel in prison [8]

Newspaper report of Louis Riel's execution [9]

Citing emancipation of Blacks and Catholics, senator objects to head tax on Chinese [10]

Air clears when women vote in Ontario municipal election [11]

Montrealers' resistance to vaccination during smallpox outbreak turns to rioting [12]

Illustration: vaccinating passengers against smallpox on train to U.S.A.[13]