The Brit recorded an identical time to Max Verstappen, though the Red Bull Racing driver’s lap was set later in the session.
Oscar Piastri will start from the second row in fourth, alongside his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris, while Daniel Ricciardo impressed to qualify fifth.
Weather threatened as the session began, McLaren advising Norris that some drops of rain were being seen at Turn 7/8, with more looming on the horizon.
That prompted a busy start to the session with all 20 drivers heading out soon after the session began.
After showing promising pace during Free Practice 3, Lance Stroll carried that forward to deliver a 1:14.519s to stop the early moments of Qualifying 1.
Rain between Free Practice 3 and qualifying washed the track, reducing the available grip and led to a timesheet that rapidly changed as the grip ramped up.
Piastri found himself in the elimination zone with five minutes remaining, along with Sergio Perez, the Australian having been impeded by Lewis Hamilton and Yuki Tsunoda while on a lap earlier which caught the eye of officials.
With just over three minutes remaining, he climbed to 11th, though a host of drivers were improving and he was quickly back in the danger zone.
However, another lap rocketed him up to second and safely through to Qualifying 2.
Perez moved up the order, though only to 12th with a time that ultimately saw him pushed back into the bottom five as the chequered flag waved on the segment.
The Mexican driver was duly eliminated, together with Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg, and Zhou Guanyu.
Verstappen was fastest, with Tsunoda a surprise second and Alex Albon was fourth. Daniel Ricciardo progressed in 14th.
A queue formed at the pit exit ahead of Qualifying 2, commencing with rain expected during the segment. McLaren reported to Norris that the first drops were falling around Turn 7/8 as he headed out of the lane.
His team-mate delivered the fastest initial lap of the segment, a 1:12.462s that left him 0.6s faster than Hamilton who was second at the time.
Verstappen, who was under investigation for the way he joined the queue waiting to exit the lane, was also unable to match Piastri as he dropped into second, 0.02s better than Hamilton.
The bulk of the pack headed out for a second run with just over five minutes remaining. With rain predicted to fall shortly after the chequered flag, teams were unwilling to gamble and therefore sent their drivers out for a handful of late laps.
Those initial laps saw Norris fastest from Tsunoda, Russell, Piastri, and Ricciardo.
Inside the final 90 seconds, Verstappen was only 14th and more than seven-tenths away from the pace. His 1:12.549s – slower than his Qualifying 1 effort – was enough to climb to fifth fastest.
At the chequered flag, both Ferraris found themselves out of the session; Leclerc 11th and Sainz 12th, the pair having used scrubbed tyres for their final laps. They were joined by Logan Sargeant, Kevin Magnussen, and Pierre Gasly.
Rain continued to threaten but held off as Qualifying 3 began, eight of the remaining runners heading out on scrubbed tyres.
Mercedes were the two that abstained, remaining in the pits for the initial moments. When they did emerge, they also used rubber.
That was a result of the threatening weather and the decision earlier in the session to burn tyresets up to ensure they progressed to Qualifying 3 – with the expectation of rain, which didn’t appear.
The initial laps left Russell fastest from Hamilton, with Piastri fourth and Ricciardo 10th.
McLaren sent both Piastri and Norris out for a final four-lap run; two flying laps with a cooldown in the middle. That resulted in Piastri going second fastest, dropping to third as Norris went slightly faster.
On his final flying lap, Ricciardo was fastest of anyone to the first split, rising to fourth at the end of it, just 0.3s away from Russell’s provisional pole lap.
Verstappen bumped the RB to fifth as he went second fastest, equalling Russell’s 1:12.000s exactly.
Norris ended the session third from Piastri, then Ricciardo, Alonso, Hamilton, Tsunoda, Stroll, and Albon.
The result was Russell’s second career pole, taking the spot courtesy of banking the time before Verstappen did.
Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix begins at 14:00 local time (04:00 AEST Monday).