This is a list of events in Canada and its predecessors that are commonly characterized as massacres. Massacre is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as "the indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of people or (less commonly) animals; carnage, butchery, slaughter in numbers"; it also states that the term is used "in the names of certain massacres of history".[1]
| Name | Date | Location | Dead/Injured/ Captives | Mechanism of injury | Perpetrator suicide | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lachine massacre | August 5, 1689 | Lachine, Quebec | 24–250 | Tomahawk, fire and other unspecified weapons | No | Part of King William's War | |
| Massacre Island, Ontario | June 6, 1736 | Lake of the Woods | 21 | Arrows and various edged weapons including knives | No | There is some dispute about which island in Lake of the Woods was the actual site of the massacre. | |
| Battle at Port-la-Joye | July 11, 1746 | Port-la-Joye, Île Saint-Jean. The location now known as Hillsborough River (Prince Edward Island). | 34 / 0 | Unknown | No | Acadian and Mi'kmaqs killed 34 unarmed British (27 soldiers and 7 sailors). Part of King George's War | |
| Battle of Grand Pré | February 10, 1747 | Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia | 67 / 0 / 40 | Flintlock muskets, bayonets and various close-quarters weapons | No | Acadian and Mi'kmaqs took est. 40 prisoners after attack. Part of King George's War | |
| Raid on Dartmouth | May 13, 1751 | Dartmouth, Nova Scotia | 7–20 / 0 / 6–14 | Miscellaneous including various edged weapons | No | One of seven raids by Mi'kmaqs on British and New England forces, usually very violent with deaths and scalpings. Part of Father Le Loutre's War | |
| St. Francis Raid | October 4, 1759 | Odanak, Quebec | 30–200 / unk / 7–20 | Military arms including muskets, bayonets and tomahawks | No | Raid by Robert Rogers' Rangers, which was pursued and depleted before crossing back into New England. Part of Seven Years' War | |
| Bloody Falls massacre | July 17, 1771 | The location now known as Kugluk/Bloody Falls Territorial Park near Kugluktuk, Nunavut | 20 | Various small arms including knives and other edged weapons | No | Alleged massacre of a group of Copper Inuit by Matonabbee and his accompanying party of Dene, witnessed by Samuel Hearne | |
| Chilcotin War | April 30, 1864 | Bute Inlet, British Columbia | 19 | Firearms including rifles | No | Massacre of 14 employees of Alfred Waddington by various Tŝilhqot'in people who had been working on road construction without compensation for two years. | |
| Cypress Hills Massacre | June 1, 1873 | Cypress Hills, Saskatchewan | 23 Official, Estimated 200 | Firearm | No | Mass murder perpetrated by American bison and wolf hunters, and American and Canadian whisky traders and cargo haulers, against a camp of Assiniboine people. One of the main contributing reasons for the formation of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. | |
| Black Donnellys massacre | February 4, 1880 | Lucan Biddulph, Ontario | 5 | Firearms, pitchfork, axe, shovel, clubs and a wooden stake | No | Murder of five members of the Donnelly family by an armed mob, after which their farm was burned down. The event was the culmination of long-standing conflict between the family and other residents. None of the mob were ever convicted. | |
| Frog Lake Massacre | April 2, 1885 | Frog Lake, Alberta | 9 | Firearms | No | Part of the North-West Rebellion | |
| Mass shooting Smoky Lake, Alberta | October 22, 1930 | Smoky Lake, Alberta | 5 | Firearms (shotgun) | No | Four members of the Walanski family and neighbour Wasyl Darichuk were killed. George Dwernychuk hanged March 3, 1931, Provincial Jail, Ft. Saskatchewan[2] | |
| CPA Flight 108 bombing | September 9, 1949 | Cap Tourmente, Quebec | 23 | dynamite time bomb | Failed attempt by one of the conspirators | Whole plane destroyed to kill one of the conspirators' wife (so he could marry his mistress) and obtain life insurance money. | |
| Buffalo Narrows axe slayings | January 30, 1969[3] | Buffalo Narrows, Saskatchewan | 7 | Axe | No | Seven members of the Pederson family were killed with an axe in their beds by a schizophrenic man, Frederick Moses McCallum.[4] | |
| Blue Bird Café fire | September 1, 1972 | Montreal, Quebec | 37 | Fire | No | The Blue Bird Café fire was a nightclub fire on September 1, 1972, in Montreal, Quebec. In all, 37 people were killed as a result of arson. | |
| Lennoxville massacre | March 24, 1985 | Lennoxville, Quebec | 5 | Firearm | No | Part of the Quebec Biker war, 4 convicted of first degree murder | |
| École Polytechnique massacre | December 6, 1989 | Montreal, Quebec | 15 / 14 | Firearm | Yes | Marc Lépine killed 14 women and injured 14, before taking his own life. School shooting. | |
| Concordia University massacre | August 24, 1992 | Montreal, Quebec | 4 / 1 | Firearm | No | School shooting. 4 killed, 1 injured.[5] | |
| Giant Mine Murders (Royal Oak Mines Labour Dispute) | September 18, 1992 | Yellowknife, Northwest Territories | 9 | Bombing | No | Bombing during labour dispute. One of Canada's deadliest mass murders.[6] [7] | |
| Vernon massacre | April 6, 1996 | Vernon, British Columbia | 9 / 2 | Multiple firearms | Yes | Estranged husband murdered wedding party.[8] [9] | |
| Shedden massacre | April 8, 2006 | Shedden, Ontario | 8 | Multiple firearms | No | Gang killing of own gang members. | |
| 2014 Edmonton shooting | December 29, 2014 | Edmonton, Alberta | 7 | Firearm | Yes | 53-year-old Phu Lam murders his ex-wife and six relatives on December 29, the worst mass murder in Edmonton's history | |
| 2014 Calgary stabbing | April 15, 2014 | Calgary, Alberta | 5 | Knife | No | Five people stabbed to death at a house party by Matthew de Grood during a psychotic episode. | |
| Quebec City mosque shooting | January 29, 2017 | Quebec City, Quebec | 6 / 19 | Multiple firearms | No | Islamophobic attack on the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City by Alexandre Bissonnette. Ultimately, charges of terrorism were not brought forth as Bissonnette had acted independently of a terrorist organization.[10] | |
| Toronto van attack | April 23, 2018 | Toronto, Ontario | 11 / 15 | Vehicle | No | A van was driven along a Yonge Street sidewalk on April 23, 2018, by Alek Minassian. At least 26 were injured, including 11 fatally.[11] [12] | |
| 2020 Nova Scotia attacks | April 18–19, 2020 | Multiple locations, Nova Scotia | 23 (including the perpetrator) / 3 | Multiple firearms, fire | No | Perpetrator Gabriel Wortman committed multiple shootings using illegal firearms and set fires at 16 locations in Nova Scotia, killing 13 with firearms and 9 in fires (22 people total) and injuring three others before the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) shot and killed him in Enfield, NS. | |
| London, Ontario truck attack | June 6, 2021 | London, Ontario | 4 / 1 | Vehicle | No | A terrorist attack occurred on June 6, 2021, when a vehicle was used to strike a Muslim family at the intersection of Hyde Park and South Carriage roads, south of Gainsborough Road. The suspect is 20-year-old London resident Nathaniel Veltman. Four died, one was injured.[13] | |
| 2022 Saskatchewan stabbings | September 4, 2022 | James Smith Cree Nation and Weldon, Saskatchewan | 12 (including the perpetrator) / 18 | Multiple knives | Yes | On September 4, 2022, 28 people were stabbed, ten of whom were killed, in at least thirteen locations in the James Smith Cree Nation and Weldon, Saskatchewan, Canada. One suspect, Damien Sanderson, who was later reclassified as a victim,[14] was found dead near one of the stabbing locations on September 5, 2022.[15] The perpetrator, Myles Sanderson, was apprehended on September 7, 2022, near Rosthern, Saskatchewan and died later from overdosing on cocaine.[16] [17] | |
| 2022 Vaughan shooting | December 18, 2022 | Vaughan, Ontario | 6 (including the perpetrator) / 1 | Firearm | No | On December 18, 2022, a mass shooting occurred at the Bellaria Residences condominium tower in Vaughan, a suburb north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Six people were killed, including the gunman, 73-year-old Francesco Villi, who was shot and killed by responding police officers. Another person was hospitalized with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. | |
| 2024 Ottawa stabbing | March 6, 2024 | Ottawa, Ontario | 6 / 1 | 'Knife-like' edged weapon | No | On March 7, 2024, six people were stabbed to death and one was injured in the Barrhaven suburb of Ottawa[18] |