1917_in_Canada
1917 in Canada
Canada-related events during the year of 1917
Events from the year 1917 in Canada.
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Crown
Federal government
- Governor General – Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire
- Prime Minister – Robert Borden
- Chief Justice – Charles Fitzpatrick (Quebec)
- Parliament – 12th (until 6 October)
Provincial governments
Lieutenant governors
- Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Robert Brett
- Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Francis Stillman Barnard
- Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – James Albert Manning Aikins
- Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Josiah Wood (until June 29) then Gilbert Ganong (June 29 to October 31) then William Pugsley (from November 6)
- Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – MacCallum Grant
- Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – John Strathearn Hendrie
- Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Augustine Colin Macdonald
- Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Pierre-Évariste Leblanc
- Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Richard Stuart Lake
Premiers
- Premier of Alberta – Arthur Sifton (until October 30) then Charles Stewart
- Premier of British Columbia – Harlan Brewster
- Premier of Manitoba – Tobias Norris
- Premier of New Brunswick – George Johnson Clarke (until February 1) then James A. Murray (February 1 to April 4) then Walter Foster
- Premier of Nova Scotia – George Henry Murray
- Premier of Ontario – William Hearst
- Premier of Prince Edward Island – John Mathieson (until June 21) then Aubin Arsenault
- Premier of Quebec – Lomer Gouin
- Premier of Saskatchewan – William Melville Martin
Territorial governments
Commissioners
Provincial
- June 7 – Alberta election: Arthur Sifton's Liberals win a fourth consecutive majority. Louise McKinney and Roberta MacAdams are elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, the first two women elected to a legislature in the British Empire.
- June 26 – Saskatchewan election: William Martin's Liberals win a fourth consecutive majority.
Federal
- December 17: Robert Borden's Conservatives win a second consecutive majority in the Federal election
January to June
- February 1 – James Alexander Murray becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing George Johnson Clarke
- April 4 – Walter Foster becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing Murray
- April 9 – April 14 – Battle of Vimy Ridge.
- April 17 – Leon Trotsky, en route from New York to Russia, is detained in Halifax. He will spend the next month in Amherst Internment Camp before being released.
- June 21 – Aubin Arsenault becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing John Mathieson
July to December
- July 1: Canada celebrates its 50th Dominion Day.
- August: The government introduces conscription triggering the Conscription Crisis of 1917
- September 20: The Income War Tax Act receives royal assent, establishing a "temporary" tax, which remains in force to this day.[2]
- September 20: The Wartime Elections Act gives female relatives of servicemen the vote.
- October 26 – November 10: Second Battle of Passchendaele.
- October 30: Charles Stewart (1868–1946) becomes premier of Alberta, replacing Arthur Sifton
- November 1 to 30: Swanson Bay, British Columbia, records 88 inches (2,235 mm) of precipitation for the month, which remains the highest officially recorded for one calendar month in North America.[3]
- December 6: Halifax Explosion kills 1,900 people and injures 9,000. The largest ever man-made explosion pre-Hiroshima atomic bomb.
- Tom Thomson paints The Jack Pine, one of Canada's most widely recognized and reproduced artworks.[4]
- March 26 – The Pacific Coast Hockey Association's Seattle Metropolitans become the first American team to win the Stanley Cup by defeating the National Hockey Association's Montreal Canadiens 3 games to 1. The Metropolitans won their only Cup in front of their home crowd at Seattle Ice Arena
- November 26 – The National Hockey League (NHL) is established in Montreal, with 4 teams from the National Hockey Association (Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, and Quebec Bulldogs) The owners would form a new team in Toronto due to a dispute Toronto Blueshirts owner Eddie Livingstone, the Toronto Hockey Club (Toronto Maple Leafs)
- December 19 – Montreal Wanderers defeat the Toronto Arenas in the first NHL game.
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January to June
- January 6 – Sydney Banks, broadcaster and producer (d.2006)
- January 11 – John Robarts, lawyer, politician and 17th Premier of Ontario (d.1982)
- April 11 – Danny Gallivan, radio and television broadcaster and sportscaster (d. 1993)
- April 25 – George R. Gardiner, businessman, philanthropist and co-founder of the Gardiner Museum (d.1997)
- May 12 – Frank Clair, Canadian Football League coach (d.2005)
- May 19 – Robert Gordon Robertson, civil servant and 7th Commissioner of the Northwest Territories (d.2013)
- May 21 – Raymond Burr, actor (d.1993)
- May 22 – Lude Check, ice hockey player (d.2009)
- May 24 – Ross Thatcher, politician and 9th Premier of Saskatchewan (d.1971)
- June 17 – Dufferin Roblin, businessman, politician and 14th Premier of Manitoba (d.2010)
- June 18 – Arthur Tremblay, politician and Senator (d.1996)
- June 29 – Archie Green, folklorist and musicologist (d.2009)
July to December
- July 17 – John Hayes, harness racing driver, trainer and owner (d. 1998)
- September 12 – Pierre Sévigny, soldier, author, politician and academic (d. 2004)
- September 15 – Alf Pike, ice hockey player and coach (d. 2009)
- September 26 – Réal Caouette, politician (d. 1976)
- November 2 – Ann Rutherford, actress (Gone with the Wind, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty). (d. 2012)
- November 11 – Abram Hoffer, orthomolecular psychiatrist (d. 2009)
- November 28 – Jacob Froese, politician (d. 2003)
- December 6 – Irv Robbins, Canadian-American entrepreneur (d. 2008)
Full date unknown
- Kent Rowley, labour activist and union organizer (d. 2013)
- Jack Singer, businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)
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January to June
- January 8 – Ward Bowlby, lawyer and politician, reeve of Berlin, Ontario (born 1834)
- January 14 – Alexander Cameron, physician and politician (b.1834)
- February 17 – Ralph Smith, coal miner, labour leader and politician (b.1858)
- February 26 – George Johnson Clarke, lawyer, journalist, politician and 14th Premier of New Brunswick (b.1857)
- April 21 – George Thomas Baird, politician, Senator for Victoria, New Brunswick (b. 1847)
- June 13 – Louis-Philippe Hébert, sculptor (b.1850)
July to December
- July 5 – Percival Molson, athlete and soldier (b.1880)
- July 8 – Tom Thomson, artist (b.1877)
- July 15 – Lemuel John Tweedie, politician and 9th premier of New Brunswick (b.1849)
- August 6 – Richard McBride, politician and Premier of British Columbia (b.1870)
- August 29 – Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey, 9th governor general of Canada (b.1851)
- October 31 – Gilbert Ganong, businessman, politician and Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick (b.1851)
- November 10 – Thomas Simpson Sproule, politician and Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada (b.1843)
- October 30 – Talbot Papineau, lawyer and soldier (b.1883)
- December 10 – Mackenzie Bowell, politician and 5th prime minister of Canada (b.1823)
Army chaplain explains why Canadians should reject peace offers at this time[5]
Woman recalls being six-year-old in family caught in Halifax Explosion[6]
Victoria Cross citation for Ukrainian-Canadian soldier's bravery in battle[7]
Battle of Vimy Ridge described by Canadian signalman observing battlefront[8]
Amputee says horrors of Somme fighting worse than losing his arm there[9]
Recuperating Canadian soldier describes birdsong, currant and hawthorn blossoms and other beauties of spring in England[10]
Frontline doctor treats (and changes mind of) German prisoner of war[11]
Letter of thanks from soldier receiving socks, saying all intend to see war won[12]
Letter of thanks from soldier receiving socks, describing Christmas dinner[13]
International planning consultant advises against special programs to set up returning soldiers in agriculture[14]
Profile of Medicine Hat, Alta. branch of Great War Veterans Association[15]
"That woman suffrage will help the cause of Temperance is shown by the following facts"[16]
In inaugural address, President Wilson says U.S.A. cannot be independent of war, but is not part of it[17]
American upset over Canadian hostility to U.S. non-participation in World War I[18]
Poster for U.S. vs Canada charity baseball game in London, U.K.[19]
Prosecution's opening statement in trial of Inuk for murder on Coppermine River[20]
Modern conveniences would save farm women from lifting tons of water a day[21]
"The increase of fibre decreases digestibilty" - Ontario Agricultural College researcher on limited usefulness of whole-wheat flour[22]
Calgary mayor agrees that door-to-door distribution of flyers for birth control play should be prohibited[23]
- "King George V | The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
- "About the Court – Full History". Tax Court of Canada. Archived from the original on 2012-03-26. Retrieved 2011-09-08.
- Loren Ruth Lerner; Mary F. Williamson (1 January 1991). Art Et Architecture Au Canada. University of Toronto Press. p. 753. ISBN 978-0-8020-5856-0.
- Rev. C.W. Gordon, "Stripped to the Skin," Canadian Club, Ottawa, January 23, 1917. Accessed 13 March 2020 http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/canada_war/gordon/Website/Box%2021/Folder%2013/thumbnails.sdoc (scroll down to "Stripped")
- Jean Holder, "Halifax Explosion" (December 6, 1985). Accessed 13 March 2020 (See also Views of the Halifax Catastrophe including photos of Chebucto School)
- Corporal Filip Konowal. Accessed 13 March 2020 http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205019047 (scroll down to Object description)
- Letter of Harold E. Panabaker (May 17, 1917). Accessed 13 March 2020
- Letter of James Hepburn, Jr. (January 10, 1917). Accessed 13 March 2020
- Letter of Thomas William Johnson (May 11, 1917). Accessed 3 March 2020
- Letter of Harold W. McGill (May 28, 1917). Accessed 13 March 2020
- Letter of J. MacLachlan (September 23, 1917). Accessed 13 March 2020 http://digitalcollections.mcmaster.ca/pw20c/maclachlan-j-letter-23-september-1917 http://digitalcollections.mcmaster.ca/pw20c/maclachlan-j-letter-23-september-1917-0
- Letter of R.C. Beswick (December 27, 1917). Accessed 13 March 2020 http://digitalcollections.mcmaster.ca/pw20c/beswick-rc-letter-27-december-1917 http://digitalcollections.mcmaster.ca/pw20c/beswick-rc-letter-27-december-1917-0 http://digitalcollections.mcmaster.ca/pw20c/beswick-rc-letter-27-december-1917-1
- Thomas Adams, "Chapter VIII; Returned Soldiers and Land Settlement" Rural Planning and Development (1917), pgs. 207-17 Accessed 6 December 2019
- Great War Veterans Association, Calgary Branch, "Medicine Hat G.W.V.A." G.W.V.A. Year Book, 1919, pg. 231. Accessed 13 March 2020
- Isabel R. Erichsen Brown, "Equal Franchise and Temperance" (Toronto, January 1917), National Union of Woman Suffrage Societies of Canada. Accessed 2 May 2021 https://www.picturingpolitics.com/miss-representation/ (scroll down to Swaying the Public)
- Woodrow Wilson, Second Inaugural Address (March 5, 1917). Accessed 13 March 2020
- Letter of Mrs. Harry Sharp (January 5, 1917). Accessed 13 March 2020 http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/canada_war/gordon/Website/Box%2021/Folder%2011/thumbnails.sdoc (scroll down to Sharp; note: writer misdated letter 1916)
- "BaseBall." Accessed 3 May 2021
- [Lethbridge Herald article reprints,] "Water Supply and the Farmer's Wife; Lifting a Ton of Water a Day" More and Better Water For Our Farms and Rural Communities; Report of a Conference[...]at Lethbridge, Alberta, on June 22nd, 1917 (unpaginated). Accessed 13 March 2020
- Evidence of Prof. R. Harcourt, "Evidence Given before the [Senate] Standing Committee on Public Health and Inspection of Foods on the Subject of Whole Wheat Bread," pgs. 57-9. Accessed 5 October 2020 https://parl.canadiana.ca/view/oop.com_SOC_1207_1_1/61?r=0&s=1 (scroll to bottom of page)
- Letters of Rev. Dr. J.T. Ferguson and Mayor Michael Copps Costello (August 1917). Accessed 13 March 2020