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Identifying the 985 parliamentarians who died in office

by Maurice Y. Michaud (he/him)

Danielle Lynn Adams (1983–2021)
© Photo Legislative Assembly, Manitoba via the Manitoba Historical Society — Fair use

About two weeks before Christmas 2021, news broke that Danielle Adams, who had been elected as the Manitoba NDP MLA for Thompson two years earlier, had been killed in a car accident while driving from her riding to the capital. At age 38, she became the province’s 58th person elected to the Manitoba legis­lature to do die in office since its creation in 1870. In addition to the fact that the circumstances that led to her death were shocking, the notion of someone dying while in office is something to which Canadians have become unaccustomed.

And yet, it has happened so often.

  • The first person to die in office was Vital Hébert in 1867 (New Brunswick)
    or John Leamon in 1866 (if including Newfoundland).
     
  • The last person to die in office was Nello Altomare in 2025 (Manitoba).
     
  • Indicative of Canada’s political stability since 1865, only two persons have been assasinated while in office:
    1. Thomas D’Arcy McGee in 1868 (Canada), the second or third to die in office depending on Newfoundland’s inclusion, and
    2. Pierre Laporte in 1970 (Québec).

Find from this page the names of all of those who suffers the same fate as Adams.
 

The names behind the numbers

The first interactive table below leading to the name of those who have died in office clearly shows the marked decline from the 1975 to 1999 date range. However, the second table, other than echoing that post-1975 decline, does not seem to have a particular pattern of its own with respect to age at death.

As demonstrated elsewhere in PoliCan, we are in a phase where the age of the persons sitting in our legislatures is above average, so that nullifies the thesis that maybe politicians were older in the past. So perhaps the only plausible explanation is that we live longer today, for according to Statistics Canada, life expectancy of men at birth has gone from 58.8 years in 1920–22 to 79.3 years in 2009–2011, while that of women in those same time brackets has gone from 60.6 to 83.6 years. But of course, demographers and statisticians might have a more sophisticated explanation.

Deaths in office, 1865–2025
F: Federal    P: Provincial    T: Territorial
Years BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PE NL YT NT NU NW Total
F P F P F P F P F P F P F P F P F P F P F T F T F T F T F P
1865—1874 – 1 – – – – 1 – 6 7-1 3 5-1 4 6 3 3 – – – 2 – – – – – – – – 17 24-2
1875—1899 4 13 – – – – 1 10 27 29 29 17 5 9 3 6 1 8 – 8 – – – – – – – 1 70 101
1900—1924 2 6 2 12 – 5 2 8 36 32 22 27 6 10 4 13 3 12 – 9 – – – – – – – 1 77 135
1925—1949 2 18 4 16 4 16 4 14 25 37 28 28 7 18 5 9 2 10 – 5 – – – – – – – – 81 171
1950—1974 2 13 2 17 2 9 5 20 26 29 12 27 3 19 2 9 2 8 – 3 – – 1 1 – – – – 57 155
1975—1999 1 5 2 6 1 3 1 4 4 6 6 7 – – – 3 1 4 – 1 – 2 – – – – – – 16 41
2000—2024 2 1 2 1 – 6 1 2 5 3 1 2 – 2 – 4 – – 1 4 – 2 – – – 2 – – 12 29
2025—2025 – – – – – – – 1 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 1
Total 13 57 12 52 7 39 15 59 129 143 101 113 25 64 17 47 9 42 1 32 – 4 1 1 – 2 – 2 330 657
* F+P (Total) = 987 —1 (George-Étienne Cartier → CA & QC) —1 (Sandfield Macdonald → CA & ON) = 985
* Up until about 1872-74 (depending on the jurisdiction), a parliamentarian could sit in his provincial legislature and the Commons.

Greyed out cells indicate the absence of the jurisdiction.
There is a clear decrease in the frequency of deaths in office after 1975.
Deaths in office by age and gender, 1865–2025
Years Age Total
18–29 30–39 40–49 50–59 60–69 70++
M F X T M F X T M F X T M F X T M F X T M F X T M F X T
1865—1874 1 — — 1 11 — — 11 11 — — 11 10 — — 10 6 — — 6 — — — — 39 — — 39
1875—1899 2 — — 2 22 — — 22 46 — — 46 53 — — 53 38 — — 38 10 — — 10 171 — — 171
1900—1924 — — — — 7 — — 7 45 — — 45 71 — — 71 65 — — 65 24 — — 24 212 — — 212
1925—1949 — — — — 4 — — 4 35 — — 35 82 — — 82 98 — — 98 33 — — 33 252 — — 252
1950—1974 1 — — 1 3 — — 3 32 — — 32 66 1 — 67 73 2 — 75 33 1 — 34 208 4 — 212
1975—1999 — — — — 5 — — 5 8 2 — 10 16 4 — 20 16 — — 16 6 — — 6 51 6 — 57
2000—2024 — — — — 1 1 — 2 6 — — 6 14 3 — 17 12 1 — 13 3 — — 3 36 5 — 41
2025—2025 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 1 — — 1 — — — — 1 — — 1
Total 4 — — 4 53 1 — 54 183 2 — 185 312 8 — 320 309 3 — 312 109 1 — 110 970 15 — 985

© 2005, 2025 :: PoliCan.ca (Maurice Y. Michaud)
Pub.: 14 Oct 2025 14:36
Rev.: 14 Oct 2025 16:47 (but data presented dynamically)

© 2005-2025 :: PoliCan.ca
Given that electoral results are by their very nature public information, such data presented in PoliCan are considered to be in the public domain. However, unless indicated otherwise, all other elements — the concept of consolidating these data into a single format, the detailed research on each election, legislature and candidate, the organization and searchability of the data, the programming allowing the entry and maintenance of the data, as well as the analyses, explanatory articles and opinions found in this website — are the intellectual property of Maurice Y. Michaud.