| 1918 |
November 11 |
Armistice signed ending World War I - of the 660,000 man Canadian
Expeditionary Force 60,000 were killed in action and 173,00 wounded
|
|
November 14 |
United Farmers of Ontario take control of the provincial legislature - Premier
Ernest Drury forms a UFO majority government
|
| 1919 |
February 17 |
Sir Wilfred Laurier, former Prime Minister, dies in Ottawa at age 78
|
|
May 15 |
The Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council calls a General Strike that begins in the
building trades and quickly spreads to other sectors of economy. Police, fire and
telephone services are crippled
|
|
May 22 |
The House of Commons adopts the Nickel Resolution ending the award of British
knighthoods and titles of nobility to Canadians
|
|
June 17 |
Eight leaders of the Winnipeg General Strike and four suspected Bolsheviks
arrested.
|
|
June 21 |
Police breakup peaceful march by Winnipeg strikers, killing two.
|
|
June 25 |
Winnipeg General Strike called off by organizers
|
|
June 28 |
Paris Peace Conference ends - Prime Minister Borden signs the Treaty of Versailles
for Canada
|
|
August 7 |
Captain Ernest Hoy completes the first airplane flight over the Canadian Rockies.
Hoy's Curtiss Jenny covers the route from Vancouver to Calgary in 17 hours.
|
|
September |
Department of Naval Service issues Canada's first broadcasting license to the
Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company's station XWA in Montreal
|
| 1920 |
January 10 |
League of Nations convenes for the first time - Canada is a charter member
|
|
February 1 |
Dominion Police Force and Royal Northwest Mounted Police merged to form the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
|
|
May 7 |
The Group of Seven, landscape painters, open their first exhibition in Toronto at the
Art Gallery of Ontario
|
|
July 10 |
Sir Robert Laird Borden retires as Prime Minister succeeded by Arthur Meighen
|
|
October 25 |
Voters approve continuation of Prohibition in Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan
and Nova Scotia referendums
|
|
December 1 |
Immigration restricted to individuals possessing at least $250 upon entry
|
|
December 4 |
University of Toronto Varsity Blues defeat the Toronto Argonauts 16 to 3 in the
first Grey Cup football match played since 1915
|
|
December |
Imperial Oil announces the discovery of petroleum deposits near Fort Norman in
the Northwest Territories
|
|
|
University of Montreal founded
|
| 1921 |
May |
Communist Party of Canada founded at clandestine meeting in a barn on the outskirts
of Guelph, Ontario
|
|
June 1 |
Census returns place population of Canada at 8,788,483
|
|
Summer |
Canada leads opposition to renewal of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance at the Imperial
Conference in London
|
|
August 11 |
Sir Julian Byng, Viscount Byng of Vimy, sworn in as Governor General. Byng
commanded the Canadian Expeditionary Force when it captured Vimy Ridge
|
|
August 13 |
United Farmers of Albert form provincial government under Premier Herbert
Greenfield
|
|
August |
Franklin D. Roosevelt contracts polio while vacationing at his summer home on
Campobello Island, New Brunswick
|
|
October |
Canadian Battlefields Memorial Commission selects Toronto sculptor Walter S.
Allward's design for the Canadian national memorial at Vimy Ridge
|
|
October 24 |
Bluenose of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia defeats Elsie of Gloucester, Massachusetts
to win the International Fisherman's Trophy race for schooners.
|
|
December 3 |
Toronto Argonauts defeat the Edmonton Eskimos in the first East-West Grey
Cup football championship
|
|
December 6 |
General Election for the House of Commons - Conservative Government of
Prime Minister Arthur Meighen ousted - Meighen and 10 ministers lose their
seats - William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberal Party wins 117 seats,
Progressives 65, Conservatives 50, Labour 2
|
|
December 6 |
First woman elected to the House of Commons, Agnes Campbell Macphail of the
United Farmers of Ontario representing the district of Grey South East
|
|
December 29 |
Liberal Party leader William Lyon MacKenzie King becomes Prime Minister
|
| 1922 |
January 1 |
British Columbia drivers switch from keeping to the left to keeping right
|
|
February 11 |
Doctors Frederick Banting, Charles Best, James Collip and J.J.R. Macleod
announce the discovery of insulin as a treatment for diabetes
|
|
April |
Ministry of Marine and Fisheries issues licenses for 20 radio broadcasting stations
|
|
August 2 |
Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, dies at Baddeck, Nova Scotia
|
|
August 16 |
Militia called out to end coal miners strike in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
|
|
September |
Canada refuses to support British intervention in Turkey following the Chanak
Affair
|
|
September 27 |
First French language radio station in North America CKAC Montreal on air
|
|
|
The United States replaces Great Britain as the largest foreign investor in
Canada for the first time
|
| 1923 |
January 4 |
George H. Murray resigns after serving a record 27 years as Premier of Nova Scotia
|
|
January 31 |
Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve created by Order in Council
|
|
March 2 |
Canada signs a Treaty for the Protection of the Pacific Halibut Fishery with the
United States without recourse to the British Ambassador in Washington
|
|
March 22 |
Foster Hewitt broadcasts his first hockey game over station CFCA Toronto
|
|
October 25 |
Nobel Prize for Medicine awarded to Doctors Frederick Banting and J.J.R.
Macleod for their work in discovering insulin - first Canadian Nobel laureates
|
| 1924 |
March 17 |
Canadian Government declares that it will not consider decisions of the Imperial
Conference binding without a vote of ratification by the Canadian Parliament
|
|
April 1 |
Royal Canadian Air Force founded
|
|
May 10 |
Prohibition ends in Alberta after 8 years
|
|
June 27 |
Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational churches merge to form the United
Church of Canada
|
|
June 29 |
Canada's first postal worker strike ends after 10 days
|
|
October 23 |
Provincial referendum upholds the Ontario Temperance Act of 1916 by a 50,000
vote majority
|
|
October 29 |
Doukhobor leader Peter V. Verigin and 8 others killed when a bomb explodes on
passenger train near Farron, British Columbia
|
|
November 29 |
Opening night of the Montreal Forum - Les Canadiens defeat the Toronto
Maple Leafs 7 to 1 in a National Hockey League match
|
| 1925 |
June 23 |
Canada's highest mountain peak, Mount Logan in the Yukon Territory's Saint Elias
Range, conquered for the first time. Seven climbers reach the summit of the 5959m
high peak.
|
|
October 29 |
General Election for a new House of Commons - Conservatives win the largest
block of seats 118 but the second place Liberals remain in office with 101 seats
and support of the 23 Progressives - 2 Labour Party and 1 Independent member
also elected
|
| 1926 |
January 15 |
Progressives join Liberals to defeat Conservative "no confidence" resolution in
the House of Commons
|
|
April 6 |
The Montreal Maroons win the Stanley Cup with a 2 to 0 win over the Victoria
Cougars at the Montreal Forum
|
|
June 28 |
Liberal Government of Prime Minister MacKenzie King resigns following report of
corruption in the Customs Service - Governor General Byng refuses King's request
for a dissolution of the Commons and asks Arthur Meighen to form a Government
|
|
June 29 |
Conservative Arthur Meighen sworn in as Prime Minister but loses a vote of
confidence four days later
|
|
July 1 |
Canada returns to the Gold Standard
|
|
September 14 |
General Election for a new House of Commons - Liberals win 119seats,
Conservatives 91, Progressives 8, Liberal/Progressives 11, United Farmers of
Alberta 11, Labour 3, Independents 2
|
|
September 25 |
MacKenzie King sworn in as head of a Liberal majority government
|
|
October 2 |
Sir Freeman Freeman-Thomas, Marquess of Willingdon sworn in as Governor
General - The Governor General henceforth represents the Crown and not the
British Government and acts on the advice of his Canadian ministers.
|
|
November 10 |
Vincent Massey appointed as first Canadian Minister to Washington
|
| 1927 |
February |
William Phillips appointed as first American Minister to Canada
|
|
June 6 |
The Ku Klux Klan stages its largest rally ever held in Canada at Moose Jaw,
Saskatchewan. The Klan boasts 125 chapters in the province at its peak
|
|
July 1 |
60th Anniversary of the formation of the Canadian Confederation - The Prince of
Wales, Prince George and Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin of Great Britain visit
Ottawa for the dedication of the Parliament Building's Peace Tower
|
|
August 7 |
The Peace Bridge spanning the Niagara River between Fort Erie, Ontario and
Buffalo, New York dedicated in the presence of the Prince of Wales, Prince George,
Prime Ministers King and Baldwin, Vice President Dawes, Secretary of State
Kellogg and Governor Smith
|
|
September 15 |
Canada elected to a seat on the League of Nations Council
|
| 1928 |
January 10 |
Philippe Roy appointed first Canadian Minister to France
|
|
April 24 |
The Supreme Court of Canada issues a unanimous ruling that women are not
persons under Section 24 of the British North America Act and thus ineligible for
appointment to the Senate
|
|
|
Canadian Government pays Otto Sverdrup $67,000 for his maps, reports and
expedition diaries to secure its claims to high Arctic islands discovered by the
Norwegian explorer at the turn of the century
|
|
|
Herbert Marler appointed first Canadian ambassador to Japan
|
| 1929 |
January 2 |
Convention on the preservation of Niagara Falls between the United States and
Canada ratified by the Canadian Parliament
|
|
April 9 |
Canadian register schooner I'm Alone sunk in the Gulf of Mexico by a United States
Coast Guard prohibition patrol - Canada lodges diplomatic protest - United States
agree to arbitrate the dispute
|
|
July 18 |
Prince Edward Island votes to continue Prohibition
|
|
September 9 |
Saskatchewan General Elections won by the Conservatives with the support of
The Ku Klux Klan for their platform opposing French language education and
immigration
|
|
September 10 |
The Canadian National Railway opens a branch line to Churchill, Manitoba on
Hudson's Bay
|
|
October 18 |
The Privy Council overturns the Supreme Court of Canada's ruling that women
are not persons under the law and thus ineligible for appointment to the Senate
|
|
October |
Nova Scotia voters repeal Prohibition
|
|
November 18 |
Magnitude 7.2 Richter Scale earthquake centered in the Grand Banks severs 12
transatlantic cables and causes minor damage on Cape Breton Island
|
| 1930 |
February 5 |
First woman appointed to the Canadian Senate, Cairine Wilson of Ontario
|
|
|
Gilbert Labine of Eldorado Gold Mines Limited discovers uranium and radium
bearing ores on the shore of Great Bear near Port Radium, Northwest Territories
|
|
July 28 |
General Election for a new House of Commons - Conservatives win a majority with
139 seats - the Opposition consists of 89 Liberals, 12 Progressives, 3 Labour and
2 Independents
|
|
August 7 |
Conservative Richard Bedford Bennett becomes Prime Minister
|
|
August 9 |
Percy Williams sets world record for 100 meter dash 10.33 seconds
|
|
August 15 |
Immigration of Europeans further restricted
|
|
August 16 |
First British Empire Games open in Hamilton, Ontario
|
|
October 1 |
Ottawa turns over control of natural resources to the provinces of Alberta,
Saskatchewan and Manitoba
|
| 1931 |
April 4 |
Sir Vere Brabazon Ponsonby, Earl of Bessborough sworn in as Governor General -
the ceremony is broadcast over radio for the first time
|
|
June 1 |
Census returns place Canada's population at 10,376,796
|
|
September 29 |
Striking coal miners clash with police in Estevan, Saskatchewan 3 killed 23
injured
|
|
October 31 |
Gold export banned by Order in Council - Canadian dollar plunges to 80 cents
American
|
|
November |
Ontario court sentences 8 leaders of the outlawed Communist Party to prison
|
|
November 12 |
Opening night for Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens - Leafs lose to the Chicago
Blackhawks 2 to 1
|
|
December 11 |
Statute of Westminster grants dominions full legal independence - Canada
requests that Westminster retain the right to amend the British North America
Act
|
|
December 31 |
Albert Johnson aka "The Mad Trapper of Rat River" shoots and kills an RCMP
constable investigating trapline poaching near Fort MacPherson, NWT
|
|
|
British Columbia disenfranchises members of pacifist religious sects exempted
from military service (Doukhobors, Mennonites and Hutterites) and extends
the franchise to Japanese Canadian veterans of World War I
|
| 1932 |
February 17 |
The Mad Trapper of Rat River (Albert Johnson) tracked down by bush pilot
Wop May and killed in a shoot out with RCMP. Johnson eluded police for 48
days in -40 C temperatures.
|
|
May 4 |
Tent towns spring up along the banks of the Red Deer River in Alberta following
discovery of gold dust
|
|
May 24 |
Act of Parliament creates the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
|
|
July 18 |
United States and Canada sign Saint Lawrence Seaway Agreement
|
|
July 21 |
Ottawa Conference on Imperial Economic Co-operation opens
|
|
August 1 |
Labor leaders meeting in Calgary form the Co-operative Commonwealth
Federation. The CCF's program calls for socialisation of health care, financial
institutions, utilities and natural resources
|
|
September 30 |
Agricultural workers abandon crops in the field after Prime Minister Bennett
cancels an agreement under which unemployed workers were allowed to ride
in empty freight cars for free
|
|
|
Eldorado Gold Mines Limited begins mining Port Radium deposits and builds
a refining plant at Port Hope, Ontario
|
| 1933 |
|
First delivery of Canadian radium for use in cancer treatment - uranium byproduct of
the radium refining process sold as a coloring agent for glass and ceramics
|
|
April 10 |
Redemption of bank notes for gold suspended by Order in Council
|
|
May 23 |
Parliament passes the Canadian National-Canadian Pacific Railway Act requiring
the two corporations to cooperate in providing rail service to the country
|
|
June 18 |
American President Franklin D. Roosevelt visits his summer home on Campobello
Island, New Brunswick for the first time in twelve years
|
|
July 19 |
The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation issues its Regina Manifesto, "We aim to
replace the present capitalist system, with its inherent injustice and inhumanity, by a
social order from which the domination and exploitation of one class by another will
be eliminated"
|
|
August 1 |
Mayor of Toronto bans display of swastikas within the city
|
|
November 2 |
Cooperative Commonwealth Federation finishes second in elections to the
British Columbia legislature with 31.5% of the vote to become the official
opposition
|
| 1934 |
April |
The Ottawa Senators, seven time Stanley Cup champions, play their last National
Hockey League game - Major league ice hockey absents itself from Canada's capital
for the next 58 years
|
|
April 6 |
Major C.H. Douglas addresses the Alberta legislature on his theory of Social Credit
|
|
April 14 |
The Alberta Legislature votes to abolish the office of Lieutenant Governor (King's
Representative) and convert the official residence, Government House, into a
tuberculosis sanitarium. The motion is later rescinded.
|
|
May 28 |
Cecile, Yvonne, Emile, Annette and Marie the world's first known surviving
quintuplets born to Oliva and Elzire Dionne at Callander, Ontario
|
|
June 18 |
Liberal Party led by Mitchell Hepburn ousts the Conservatives as the Government of
Ontario
|
|
July 3 |
Bank of Canada created by act of parliament
|
|
August 29 |
300,000 gather in Montreal's Lafontaine Park to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of
Jacques Cartier's discovery of Canada
|
| 1935 |
January 9 |
Arbitration ruling in the case of the rumrunner I'm Alone requires the United
States to issue a formal apology, pay $25,000 to the Canadian Government and
$25,666 to the Captain and crew of the ship
|
|
February 21 |
Reindeer herd transplanted from Kotzebue, Alaska to the MacKenzie River
delta in the Northwest Territories to provide income for local Inuit
|
|
March 28 |
Francis Rattenbury, architect of the British Columbia legislative buildings and
Victoria's Empress Hotel dies
|
|
May 20 |
Doukhobor leader Peter P. Verigin citing religious persecution and fears of Fascism
declares his intention to lead his sect out of Canada to a new colony possibly in
Paraguay
|
|
June 3 |
"On to Ottawa" trek begins when 1000 men from relief camps in British Columbia
seize railcars intending to reach the capital and demand the Government provide
work programs. Their numbers grow to 2000+ by the time they reach Regina where
the trains are stopped. Eight leaders go on to a meeting with Prime Minister Bennett .
The rest camp in the Regina Exhibition Grounds.
|
|
July 1 |
Regina Police and RCMP attempt to arrest On to Ottawa trek leaders at a rally in
Regina. One constable is killed in the ensuing riot.
|
|
July 5 |
The Government agrees to provide On to Ottawa trekkers remaining in Regina with
rail tickets home
|
|
August 22 |
The Social Credit Party lead by William Aberhart wins 56 of 63 seats in the
Alberta legislature ousting the scandal plagued United Farmers of Alberta
administration
|
|
October 14 |
General Election for a new House of Commons - Liberals swept back to power
winning 171 seats, Conservatives drop to 40 - 8 Independent Liberals, 17 Social
Credit, 7 CCF, 1 Reconstruction and 1 United Farmers of Ontario members divide
the remaining seats
|
|
October 23 |
MacKenzie King becomes Prime Minister for a third time
|
|
November 2 |
Sir John Buchan, Baron Tweedsmuir sworn in as Governor General
|
|
November 7 |
Maurice Duplessis elected to head l'Union Nationale, a Quebec provincial party
composed of Conservatives and dissident Liberals
|
|
November 15 |
Canada signs a reciprocal tariff agreement with the United States
|
| 1936 |
March 25 |
Longest game in the history of the National Hockey League played at the Forum in
Montreal - the Maroons defeat the Detroit Redwings 1 to 0 on a goal by Mud
Bruneteau at 16:30 in the 6th overtime period
|
|
June 16 |
The Federal Government announces that the economy has recovered sufficiently to
allow closure of work camps for unemployed single men
|
|
June 17 |
The Supreme Court of Canada declares the Natural Product Marketing Act and
several other cornerstones of Prime Minister King's "New Deal" including
compulsory unemployment insurance unconstitutional
|
|
July 26 |
King Edward VIII unveils the Canadian National Memorial at Vimy Ridge before a
crowd 100,000 including former Prime Minister Robert Borden, French President
Albert Lebrun and 6000 veterans of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, "For this
glorious monument crowning the hill of Vimy is now and for all time part of Canada.
Though the mortal remains of Canada's sons lie far from home, yet here where we now
stand in ancient Artois their immortal memory is hallowed upon soil that is as surely
Canada's as any acre within her nine provinces.
By a gesture which all can understand, but soldiers especially, the laws of France
have decreed that here Canada shall stand forever."
|
|
August 5 |
Social Credit government issues first Albert Prosperity Bonds
|
|
August 17 |
L'Union Nationale wins the General Election in Quebec with 57% of the popular
vote and 76 seats in the Quebec National Assembly against 39% of the vote and 14
seats for the Liberal opposition - Maurice Duplessis becomes Premier
|
| 1937 |
January 28 |
The Privy Council upholds the Supreme Court of Canada in declaring Kings'
"New Deal" legislation unconstitutional
|
|
March 9 |
Banks refuse to cash Alberta Government relief checks
|
|
March 11 |
Funeral for Montreal Canadiens hockey player Howie Morenz, who died of
injuries sustained in a game six weeks early, held at center ice of the Montreal
Forum with 50,000 fans in attendance
|
|
March 24 |
The Quebec National Assembly approves an Act Respecting Communistic
Propaganda - the "Padlock Law" empowers Quebec's Attorney General and police
to close any property being used for the purpose of propagating Communism - the
Act does not define Communism
|
|
April 10 |
Parliament passes the Foreign Enlistments Act to bar Canadians from joining the
armed forces of non-British countries - 1,239 Canadians led by Dr. Norman
Bethune defy the ban to fight on the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War as
the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion of the International Brigade
|
|
April 26 |
Premier Thomas Patullo announces agreement with the Federal Government for
British Columbia to annex the Yukon Territory - Yukon Territorial Council opposed
|
|
April 28 |
General Motors agrees to contract with the United Automobile Workers ending 15
day strike at its Oshawa, Ontario plant - Premier Hepburn denounces the CIO as
foreign agitators and turns the province's labor leaders against the Liberal Party
|
|
June 10 |
Sir Robert Laird Borden, former Prime Minister, dies in Ottawa
|
|
June 29 |
Armand Bombardier granted patent for the snowmobile
|
|
June 30 |
Prime Minister King ends visit to Berlin praises Hitler for promoting
"understanding, friendship and goodwill
|
|
September 30 |
U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt greeted by 20,000 well wishers on visit to
Victoria, British Columbia
|
|
|
The Social Credit Government of Albert enacts the Alberta Press Act requiring
newspapers to disclose their sources to the Alberta Social Credit Board and
publish the Government's rebuttal to any criticism of its policies
|
| 1938 |
January 27 |
Honeymoon Bridge at Niagara Falls destroyed by ice jam
|
|
|
Radium production at Eldorado Gold Mines' Port Hope refinery reaches 2.5
grams per month
|
|
March 4 |
The Supreme Court of Canada declares the Alberta Social Credit Act, The Alberta
Press Act and provincial laws regulating credit and taxing banks unconstitutional
|
|
April 13 |
Death of Archibald Belamey who wrote numerous books on the life of the Prairie
Indians and the need for conserving Canada's natural resources under the nom de
plume Grey Owl
|
|
June 7 |
Chartered banks announce mass closure of rural branches in attempt to roll back
Alberta provincial legislation enacted to control bank profits
|
|
June 22 |
Montreal Maroons hockey club withdraws from the National Hockey League
|
|
July 8 |
The Privy Council upholds the Supreme Court in overturning the Alberta Press Act -
The Edmonton Journal is awarded the Pulitizer Prize for its defense of press freedom
|
|
July |
Fascist splinter groups form the National Unity Party under the leadership of Adrien
Arcand
|
|
August |
President Roosevelt meets with Prime Minister King in Kingston, Ontario and
announces that the United States would, "not stand idly by if domination of
Canadian soil is threatened by any other empire."
|
| 1939 |
May 17 |
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth arrive in Quebec City to begin a month long
tour of Canada, the first visit to Canada by a reigning monarch
|
|
June 8 |
Canada refuses to admit 900 Jewish refugees on the liner Saint Louis
|
|
June 15 |
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth sail from Halifax for Britain
|
|
July 7 |
The Vatican removes L'Action Francais from the Index of Prohibited Books after
Quebec Archbishop Rodrigue Villeneuve intervenes in behalf of the publication
|
|
August 25 |
Militia units mobilized to protect government property and man coastal
fortifications
|
|
August 26 |
Merchant ships prohibited from leaving Canadian ports without authorization of
the Royal Canadian Navy
|
|
September 1 |
Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, the Royal 22e Regiment, the Royal
Regiment of Canada and 14 militia regiments mobilized
|
|
September 3 |
Britain declares war on Germany
|
|
|
SS Athenia sunk en route to Montreal
without warning by U-30, 250 miles west of Ireland
|
|
September 10 |
Canada declares war on Germany
|
|
September 16 |
Convoy HX1 departs Halifax escorted by HMCS Fraser and HMCS St. Laurent
Foreign Exchange Control Board pegs value of the Canadian Dollar at 90 cents
US and Pound Sterling at $4.34 Canadian
|
|
October 25 |
General Election in Quebec Liberal Party wins 53.5% of the popular vote and 69
seats in the National Assembly ousting Premier Duplessis' Union Nationale
Government which goes into opposition with 39% of the popular vote and 15
seats. Quebec ministers in the federal cabinet had threatened to resign if
Duplessis remained in power.
|
|
November 8 |
Liberal Party leader Adelard Godbout becomes Premier of Quebec
|
|
November |
Canadian Military Headquarters established in London under command of
General A.G.L. MacNaughton reporting directly to Chief of Staff in Ottawa
|
|
December 10 |
Troop Convoy #1 carrying 1st Canadian Infantry Division sails from Halifax
|
|
December 17 |
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan agreement signed by Canada, the
United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand - Canada to provide bases and
training for Commonwealth aircrews
|
|
December 27 |
First Canadian troops arrive in England - based at the CEF World War I base at
Aldershot on Salisbury Plain
|
| 1940 |
January |
Ontario legislature approves a resolution sponsored by Premier Mitchell Hepburn
condemning the federal government's war policies as weak and inadequate
|
|
January 18 |
U-756 sunk in the North Atlantic by HMCS Morden
|
|
February 11 |
The Governor General, Baron Tweedsmuir dies of head injuries suffered
during a stroke five days earlier
|
|
February |
Royal Canadian Air Force No.110 City of Toronto Squadron arrives in Britain
|
|
March 26 |
General Election for a new House of Commons - King's Liberals win a record 183
seats, Conservatives (National Government Party) 40, CCF 8, Social Credit 9 and
Independents 5 including Dorise Nielsen a secret member of the Communist Party
who ran on the Unity Party ticket in the North Battleford district of Saskatchewan
|
|
April 18 |
Loyal Edmonton and Princess Patricia's Regiments leave Aldershot bound for
Norway but are turned back in Scotland
|
|
April 25 |
Quebec grants women suffrage in provincial elections
|
|
April 30 |
Foreign Exchange Acquisition Order requires Canadian residents to sell their foreign
exchange to the Foreign Exchange Control Board
|
|
May 15 |
Three members of the Communist Party imprisoned for distributing seditious
literature
|
|
May 30 |
National Unity Party leader Adrien Arcand arrested in Montreal and charged with
plotting to overthrow the state
|
|
June |
Force Z 2650 officers and men of the Royal Regiment of Canada, Fusiliers Mont-Royal
and Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa begin occupation duty in Iceland
|
|
June 5 |
Federal Justice Minister Ernest Lapointe issues Defence of Canada Regulations under
the War Powers Act - The Communist Party of Canada, the Labour Defence League,
the League for Peace and Democracy, the German Labour Front, the Canadian Branch
of the NADSP and a dozen other pro-fascist organizations banned
|
|
June 12 |
Canadian troops land at Brest, France as part of second British Expeditionary Force
attempting to halt the German advance into Brittany
|
|
June 15 |
Canadian troops reach Laval 200 kilometers east of Brest where the station master
informs them that Paris has fallen and the Germans are only 40 km away - retreat to
Brest begins
|
|
June 17 |
Canadian forces withdrawn from Brittany
|
|
June 21 |
Major General Sir Alexander Cambridge, Prince Alexander of Teck and Earl of
Athlone, an uncle of King George VI sworn in as Governor General
|
|
|
Parliament passes the National Resources Mobilization Act allowing conscription
for home defence
|
|
|
RCAF No.1 Fighter Squadron arrives at RAF Middle Wallop
|
|
|
Justice Minister Lapointe bans the National Unity Party - Adrien Arcand
and 10 other NUP leaders interned for the duration of the war
|
|
June 25 |
Destroyer HMCS Fraser sinks after collision with HMS Calcutta in the estuary of the
Gironde River during evacuation of Bordeaux - 59 crewmen lost
|
|
July 8 |
The Federal Government announces that single men would be conscripted for 40 days
of military training. Men married before July 15th were exempted
|
|
August 1 |
First contingent of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division lands in Britain
|
|
August 5 |
Montreal Mayor Camillien Houde arrested and interned after urging Quebeckers
to refuse to register for home defence conscription
|
|
August 18 |
Prime Minister King and President Roosevelt meet in Ogdensburg, New York and
sign an agreement establishing the Permanent Joint Board on Defence to
coordinate Canadian and American defense planning
|
|
August 24 |
RCAF No.1 Fighter Squadron shoots down two RAF Blenheim bombers mistaken
for Junkers JU-88s
|
|
August 31 |
HMCS Moose Jaw rams U-501 in the Denmark Straight - crew and 1 member of
the Canadian boarding party go down with the submarine when the captain
orders the seacocks opened for scuttling
|
|
August |
Canadian Government closes radium mines at Port Radium, citing reduced
demand
|
|
September 19 |
HMCS Levis torpedoed and sunk by U-74, 120 miles off Greenland
|
|
September 20 |
Six United States Navy destroyers turned over to the Royal Canadian Navy
Under terms of the Lend Lease Agreement
|
|
October 18 |
HMCS Bras d'Or disappears while on convoy duty in Gulf of Saint Lawrence
near Anticosti Island
|
|
October 22 |
HMCS Margaree on first convoy escort collides with freighter and sinks 500 km
West of Ireland - 142 officers and crewmen lost
|
|
November 6 |
HMCS Ottawa sinks the Italian submarine Faa di Bruno off the coast of Ireland
|
|
November 9 |
HMCS Collingwood, first corvette in the Royal Canadian Navy, commissioned
at Collingwood, Ontario
|
|
December 1 |
HMCS Saguenay torpedoed and damaged by Italian submarine off Gibraltar
|
| 1941 |
March 26 |
HMCS Otter sunk after accidental explosion and fire off Halifax - 19 crew lost
|
|
April |
Hyde Park Declaration issued following a meeting between FDR and Mackenzie King
at the President's home - United States agrees to increase purchases of Canadian goods
Canadian purchases of American material to be charged against Great Britain's Lend Lease account
|
|
June 1 |
Census returns place Canada's population at 11,506,655
|
|
August 13 |
Canadian Women's Army Corps founded
|
|
August |
Combined Canadian-British-Norwegian expedition destroys mining and
communication facilities on Spitzbergen
|
|
September 10 |
U-501 sunk in Denmark Strait by HMCS Chambly and Moosejaw - Moosejaw
picks up 37 survivors after ramming U-501
|
|
October 18 |
Federal Government institutes wage and price controls
|
|
October 21 |
Cooperative Commonwealth Federation finishes first in elections for the British
Columbia legislature with 33.3% of the vote
|
|
October 27 |
1,973 troops of The Royal Rifles of Canada and The Winnipeg Grenadiers depart
Vancouver aboard the SS Awatea and HMCS Prince Robert for garrison duty in
Hong Kong
|
|
November 16 |
Canadian troops land in Hong Kong
|
|
December 7 |
Canada declares war on Japan
|
|
|
Corvette HMCS Windflower sunk following collision with Dutch freighter in
convoy - 23 crew lost
|
|
December 9 |
Liberal and Conservative party members form a coalition government in British
Columbia to prevent a takeover by the socialist CCF - Premier Pattullo resigns
rather than take part in the coalition
|
|
December 11 |
Winnipeg Grenadiers Company D sent to reinforce British troops holding the
Gin Drinkers Line on the Hong Kong mainland. Japanese attacks force
withdrawal to Hong Kong Island later that day.
|
|
December 18 |
Royal Rifles of Canada launch failed counterattack against Japanese positions
on Sai Wan Hill and Mount Butler on Hong Kong Island
|
|
December 19 |
Japanese troops surround the headquarters of Brigader J. K. Lawson at Wong
Nei Chong Gap on Hong Kong Island - Lawson killed in attempted breakout
(first Canadian General killed in WWII) - Sergeant Major John Robert Osborn
of The Winnepeg Grenadiers dies during attempt to recapture Mount Butler
(Lawson falls on a grenade to save others in the company - posthumously
awarded the Victoria Cross)
|
|
December 20 |
Royal Rifles of Canada attempt to relieve Lawson's headquarters, they advance
as far as Ty Tam Tuck Reservoir before being driven back to the Repulse Bay
Hotel which they hold for two more days
|
|
December 23 |
Royal Rifles withdraw to Hong Kong's Stanley Peninsula
|
|
December 25 |
Canadians launch one last assault before Hong Kong surrenders at 3:15 p.m.
Battle for Hong Kong ends with 290 Canadians killed and 493 wounded, 260
survivors die during captivity
|
|
December 30 |
Winston Churchill addresses the Canadian Parliament and replies to a French
General's remark that England would have her neck rung like a chicken within
three weeks, "Some chicken, some neck!"
|
| 1942 |
February 10 |
Corvette HMCS Spikenard torpedoed and sunk by U-136 off Iceland - 57
crewmen lost
|
|
February 26 |
Prime Minister King orders the evacuation of all persons of Japanese ancestry
from the coastal regions of British Columbia
|
|
March 9 |
Construction begins on 1522 mile Alaska-Canada Military Highway linking
Dawson Creek, British Columbia and Fairbanks, Alaska
|
|
April 4 |
Catalina piloted by Squadron Leader L.J. Birchall of RCAF Squadron No.413 radios
sighting of Japanese fleet 560 km south east of and steaming towards Ceylon -
Birchall and crew shot down and taken prisoner
|
|
April 27 |
A national referendum frees the Liberal Government of Prime Minister King from
its pledge not to impose conscription. The measure is approved in all provinces and
territories by a margin of 64.2% to 35..8% except Quebec where voters defeat the
measure by a 74.54% to 25.46% margin.
|
|
|
Norwegian Heavy Water supply transferred from the Cavendish Laboratory,
Cambridge to the Montreal Laboratory of the Canadian National Research Council
|
|
May 11 |
First attacks on Canadian territory - two freighters torpedoed in the St.Lawrence
|
|
June 20 |
Japanese ships fire 30 shells at a wireless station on the coast of Vancouver Island
|
|
July |
First Special Service Force "the Devil's Brigade" activated at Fort William Henry
Harrison near Helena, Montana - The mixed Canadian-American brigade received
special training in amphibious, parachute and ski commando tactics
|
|
July 15 |
The Canadian Government acquires a financial interest in Eldorado Gold Mines
Limited under a secret agreement concluded between the Minister of Defence C. D.
Howe and Gilbert Labine after Howe rejected a British suggestion that the company
be acquired by and the shares equally divided between the Canadian, American and
British Governments.
|
|
July 24 |
U-90 sunk in the North Atlantic by HMCS St. Croix
|
|
July 31 |
U-588 sunk in the North Atlantic by HMCS Wetaskiwin and Skeena
|
|
|
Eldorado Gold Mines' Port Radium mines and Port Hope refinery reopened to supply
American and British research programs with uranium
|
|
August 19 |
Operation Jubilee 4,963 Canadians accompanied by 1000 British commandos and
50 US Army Rangers launch an amphibious assault along 10 mile wide beachhead
centered on the English Channel port of Dieppe, France - Operations commander
Major General J. H. Roberts orders the troops to withdraw after a disastrous 8
hour battle - Canadians losses 2753 killed, wounded or captured - Lieutenant
Colonel Charles Cecil Ingersoll Merritt, The South Saskatchewan Regiment
awarded the Victoria Cross for leading an assault on the Scie River bridge -
Captain John W. Foote, chaplain of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, awarded
the Victoria Cross. Foote voluntarily left the landing craft evacuating him and
surrendered to the Germans in order to minister to POWs.
|
|
September |
Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company receives a $2.5 million contract to
supply the United States Government with Heavy Water (deuterium) to be
produced as a by product of the company's ammonia fertilizer plant at Trail,
British Columbia
|
|
September 7 |
HMCS Raccoon torpedoed and sunk in the Saint Lawrence River by U-165
all hands lost
|
|
September 10 |
Corvette HMCS Charlottetown torpedoed and sunk in the Saint Lawrence
River near Cap Chat, Quebec by U-517 - 9 crewmen lost
|
|
September 14 |
Destroyer HMCS Ottawa torpedoed and sunk in the North Atlantic by U-91 -
141 crewmen lost
|
|
October 11 |
RCMP schooner Saint Roch arrives in Halifax after a two and one half year
voyage from Vancouver via the Northwest Passage
|
|
October 21 |
Conservative leader Arthur Meighen defeat in a bid to return to the House
Commons by an unknown school teacher J.W. Noseworthy of the CCF in York
South - Ontario's Liberal premier, Mitchell Hepburn, who crossed party lines to
support Meighen's call for an intensified war effort resigns
|
|
November 8 |
Captain Fredrick Peters of Charlottetown, PEI led HMS Walney (ex- US Coast
Guard cutter) in breaching harbor defenses of Oran, Algeria - Peters, the only
surviving officer on the Walney and was awarded the Victoria Cross
|
|
November 9 |
Canada breaks diplomatic relations with Vichy - French consul in Quebec
expelled - French legation in Ottawa closed - General Vanier appointed
Canadian delegate to the French National Council of Liberation in London
|
|
November 20 |
Opening ceremony for the Alaska-Canada Military Highway held at Soldiers
Summit, Yukon Territory in -35 degree weather.
|
|
December 5 |
Toronto RCAF Hurricanes defeat the Winnipeg RCAF Bombers 8 to 5 to win the
Grey Cup football championship - Canada's two football leagues suspended
play for the duration the war and service teams competed for the cup
|
|
December 10 |
John Bracken former Liberal-Progressive Premier of Manitoba agrees to accept
the leadership of the federal Conservative Party after its convention adopts a
resolution renaming it the Progressive-Conservative Party
|
|
December 27 |
U-356 sunk north of the Azores by HMCS St. Laurent, Chilliwack, Battleford
and Napanee
|
| 1943 |
February 6 |
Corvette HMCS Louisbourg sunk by Italian aircraft off Oran while escorting
convoy from Gibraltar to Bone, Algeria - 42 crewmen lost
|
|
February 17 |
Prime Minister King appoints committee to study Social Security
|
|
February 22 |
Corvette HMCS Weyburn hit a mine and sunk off Gibraltar - 9 crewmen lost
|
|
March |
Atlantic Convoy Conference - Rear Admiral Leonard W. Murray RCN appointed
Commander in Chief of the Canadian Northwest Atlantic sector covering an area east
from New York and south from Greenland
|
|
March 4 |
U-87 sunk in the North Atlantic west of Leixoes by HMCS Shediac and St. Croix
|
|
March 13 |
U-163 sunk NW of Cape Finisterre by HMCS Prescott
|
|
March 23 |
Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railways announce that their Rocky
Mountain resorts at Banff Springs, Lake Louise and Japser National Park will not
open for the summer due to decreased tourism and lack of staff
|
|
April 29 |
Major General H. L. N. Salmon, commander of the 1st Canadian Division and
several senior officers killed when their Tunis bound plane crashes during takeoff
from a British airfield - General Guy Simonds replaces Salmon as 1st Division
commander
|
|
May 23 |
Alberta Premier William Aberhart dies succeeded by E. C. Manning
|
|
June |
Eldorado Gold Mines reorganizes as Eldorado Mining and Refining Limited
|
|
July 4 |
Three ships of a convoy carrying Canadian troops to Sicily torpedoed and sunk in the
Mediterranean - 58 men killed, 500 vehicles and 30 artillery pieces sunk
|
|
July 10 |
Canadian troops land unopposed at Pacino Beach, Sicily
|
|
July 12 |
Italian General Achilles d'Havet surrenders his headquarters at Modica, Sicily to
General Simonds without a fight
|
|
July 24 |
Royal Canadian Regiment suffers heavy casualties at beginning of a five day battle to
capture the key crossroads town of Agira, Sicily on the Catania-Palemro highway
|
|
July |
Eldorado Mining receives a request from the Soviet Government to supply it with 7.5
tons of uranium. The Defence Ministry refuses permission for the sale.
|
|
August 3 |
Canadian and Malta brigades force withdrawal of the Hermann Goering Division
from Regalbuto, Sicily
|
|
August 4 |
General election for the Ontario legislature - Conservatives lead by George Drew
win 38 seats to 34 for the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation and 2
Communists - Tories control Canada's largest province for the next 42 years
|
|
August 15 |
5,300 Canadian and 30,000 American troops led by the First Special Service Force
"the Devil's Brigade" land on Kiska in the Aleutian Islands hours after Japanese
troops have been evacuated under cover of fog
|
|
August 17 |
Allied leaders including President Roosevelt, Prime Ministers Churchill and King
and Chinese Foreign Minister T.V.Soong meet at the Quebec Conference -
Unified Allied command under Lord Mountbatten created for the China-Burma-
India Theater over the objections of Admiral King
|
|
September 3 |
1st Canadian Division crosses the Straits of Messina and captures Reggio di
Calbria without opposition
|
|
September 20 |
Destroyer HMCS St.Croix torpedoed and sunk by U-305 off Iceland - 148
crewmen lost (including 81 rescued by HMS Itchen which was itself sunk 2
days later)
|
|
October 21 |
Minesweeper HMCS Chedabucto sunk after a collision with the cable layer Lord
Kelvin 30 miles off Rimouski, Quebec - 1 crewman killed
|
|
October 23 |
Royal Canadian Regiment advances to the northside of the Biferno River above
Campobasso, Italy
|
|
November 20 |
U-536 sunk NE of the Azores by HMCS Snowberry, HMCS Calgary and HMS
Nene
|
|
November 27 |
Hamilton Flying Wildcats defeat the Winnipeg RCAF Bombers 23 to 14 to win
the Grey Cup football championship
|
|
December 5 |
Seaforth Highlanders, Hastings & Prince Edward and Princess Patricia's
Canadian Light Infantry Regiments cross the Moro River towards Ortona
|
|
December 6 |
German counterattack forces Seaforths and Hasty P's back across the Moro
|
|
December 9 |
Engineers build a bridge across the Moro River - 48th Highlanders and the Royal
Canadian Regiment capture San Leonardo on the north bank of the Moro
|
|
December 14 |
Captain Paul Triquet, Royal 22e Regiment leads attack on German forces
holding the key junction of Casa Berardi on the Ortona-Orsogana road, Italy -
awarded the Victoria Cross
|
|
December 18 |
48th Highlanders and Three Rivers Tank Regiment capture Casa Berardi
|
|
December 20 |
Seaforth Highlanders of Canada and Loyal Edmonton Regiments begin assault
on Ortona on the Adriatic end of the Winter Line
|
|
December 28 |
Ortona falls to the Canadians after a week of house to house fighting with
German paratroopers holding the city
|
|
|
Byelection in Montreal-Cartier district - Fred Rose defeats David Lewis the
candidate of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation to become the first
member of the Communist Party openly elected to the House of Commons
|
| 1944 |
January 8 |
U-757 sunk SW of Iceland by HMCS Camrose and HMS Bayntun
|
|
February 16 |
Canol oil pipeline completed linking field at Norman Wells, NWT with a newly
constructed refinery at Whitehorse, Yukon 577 miles covered at a cost of
$134,000,000. The refinery shutsdown at the end of the war and is sold to
Imperial Oil in 1947 for $7,000,000.
|
|
February 16 |
Major Charles Hoey of Duncan, British Columbia wipes out a Japanese machine
gun nest while leading a company of the Lincolnshire Regiment in a night time
assault in Burma - Hoey was killed in the attack and posthumously awarded the
Victoria Cross
|
|
February 24 |
U-257 sunk the North Atlantic by HMCS Waskesiu
|
|
March 10 |
U-845 sunk in the North Atlantic by HMCS St. Laurent, Owensound, Swansea and
HMS Forester
|
|
|
The Government exercises right of eminent domain to acquire all outstanding
shares in Eldorado Mining and Refining Limited.
|
|
April |
The Combined Policy Committee decides that Canada should build a heavy water
reactor for the production of plutonium and U-233 for use in atomic weapons. Defence
Industries Limited begins construction of a small experimental reactor ZEEP, a large
production reactor NRX and two separations plants (one for processing plutonium
from uranium and another for the separation of U-233 from thorium) at Chalk River,
Ontario
|
|
April 4 |
Destroyer HMCS Athabaskan torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel by
German torpedo boat T-24 - 128 crewmen lost
|
|
April 14 |
U-448 sunk north east of the Azores by HMCS Swansea and HMS Pelican
|
|
May 6 |
Frigate HMCS Valleyfield torpedoed and sunk by U-548 50 miles off Cape Race -
125 crewmen lost
|
|
May 11 |
Allied forces including the 5th Canadian Armoured Division break through the
Gustav and Hitler Lines and begin march up the Liri Valley towards Rome
|
|
May 22 |
Major John Keefer Mahony, The Westminster Regiment leads a successful crossing
of the Melfa River, Italy and holds the bridgehead against a powerful German
counter attack - Mahony later award the Victoria Cross
|
|
June 6 |
1st Canadian Parachute Battalion dropped into Normandy just after midnight as part
of the 6th British Airborne Division assigned to capture bridges over the River Orne -
10,000 sailors and 109 ships of the Royal Canadian Navy in D-Day armada - Sixteen
RCN Bangor class minesweepers clear the invasion lanes for Allied landing craft -
3rd Canadian Infantry Division led by the North Shore Regiment lands at Juno Beach
near St. Aubin sur Mer, Normandy at 0745 - 14,000 Canadians land on D-Day 359 are
killed in action and 715 wounded - RCAF Squadrons 441, 442 and 443 fly the first
allied sorties from French airfields since June 1940
|
|
June 7 |
18 North Nova Scotia Highlanders and Sherbrooke Fusiliers taken prisoner by the
Germans in fighting near Authie murdered in the garden of the Abbey of Ardenne
|
|
June 12 |
Pilot Officer Andrew Charles Mynarski RCAF dies of burns suffered when he
attempted free the tail gunner of his damaged Lancaster bomber before bailing out
over Cambrai. The tailgunner survived the crash and Mynarski was posthumously
awarded the Victoria Cross.
|
|
June 15 |
Saskatchewan general election won by the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation
|
|
June 17 |
2 more Canadian POWs murdered in the Abbey of Ardenne
|
|
June 24 |
U-971 sunk in the English Channel north of Brest by HMCS Haida, HMS Eskimo
and a Czech piloted RAF Liberator bomber
|
|
June 25 |
Flight Lt. David Ernest Hornell, RCAF pilots a twin engine amphibious plane in a an
air-sea battle with a surfaced U-boat off the Shetland Islands - the U-boat is sunk but
Hornell is forced to ditch his badly damaged aircraft and dies of exposure before the
rest of his crew is rescued - Hornell is posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross
|
|
July 1 |
RCN motor torpedo boat MBT-460 hit mine and in the English Channel - Captain and
9 crewmen lost
|
|
July 4 |
The North Shore Regiment and Regiment de la Chaudiere capture Capriquet on the
outskirts of Caen after heavy fighting with SS Panzer Divisions
|
|
July 7 |
RCN motor torpedo boat MBT-463 hit mine and sank in the English Channel - U-678
sunk in the English Channel off Brighton by HMCS Ottawa, Kootenay and HMS
Statice
|
|
July 9 |
Canadian troops capture Caen
|
|
July 10 |
Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas forms the first socialist provincial
government in Canada
|
|
July 25 |
Royal Hamilton Light Infantry captures Verrieres - Black Watch of Canada reaches
the height of the Verrieres Ridge only to be driven back by a German counter attack
- 450 Canadians killed in heaviest day of fighting since Dieppe
|
|
August 4 |
Squadron Leader Ian Bazalgette successfully completes a bombing raid on the V-1
rocket base at Trossy St.Maximin, France despite the loss of both starboard engines
and a fire aboard his aircraft - Bazalgette remains at the controls after his crew
bails out and guides his damaged Lancaster clear of a small village during a crash
landing in which he is killed - posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross
|
|
August 8 |
Corvette HMCS Regina torpedoed and sunk by U-667 off Cornwall - 30 crewmen
lost
|
|
August 8 |
General Election in Quebec the Liberal Party Government of Adelard Godbout
ousted by Maurice Duplessis' Union Nationale Party. Despite a slight edge in the
popular vote 39.35% for the Liberal vs 38.6% for the Union Nationale the seats are
divided 48 to 37 in favor of the UN.
|
|
August 18-20 |
Major David Vivian Currie, The South Alberta Regiment - directs Canadian
forces in a fierce battle to capture the village St.Lambert-sur-Dives, France
which cuts off the last German escape route from the Falaise Pocket - Major
Currie later awarded the Victoria Cross
|
|
August 19 |
Canadian and American armies link up to close the Falaise Gap
|
|
August 20 |
U-984 sunk in the Bay of Biscay off Brest by HMCS Ottawa, Kootenay and
Chaudiere
|
|
August 21 |
Corvette HMCS Alberni torpedoed by U-480 sunk off the Isle of Wight - 59
crewmen lost
|
|
August 22 |
U-621 sunk in Bay of Biscay off La Rochelle by HMCS Ottawa, Kootenay and
Chaudiere
|
|
August 30 |
Premier Maurice Duplessis' Union Nationale Party returns to power in Quebec
|
|
August 30 |
5th Canadian Armoured Division under Major General Bert Hoffmeister breaks
through the Gothic Line south of Rimini on the Adriatic
|
|
September 1 |
Dieppe falls to the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division two years after the worst
Canadian defeat of the war - U-247 sunk in the English Channel off Land's End
by HMCS St. John and HMCS Swansea
|
|
September 16 |
Churchill, Roosevelt and Mackenzie King meet at the second Quebec
Conference to discuss plans for the upcoming invasion of Europe and the
future of Germany
|
|
September 17 |
Canadian 3rd Infantry Division begins attack on German held Boulogne
|
|
September 22 |
Boulogne falls to the Canadians 9500 Germans taken prisoner
Canadian 2nd Infantry Division crosses the Albert Canal northeast of Antwerp
|
|
September 25 |
Canadians begin assault against Germans holding the Channel ports of Calais
and Cap Gris Nez
|
|
September 28 |
Canadian commander refuses German request that Calais be declared an open
city but agrees to 24 hour truce to allow evacuation of civilians
|
|
October 1 |
Calais garrison surrenders 7000 Germans taken prisoner
|
|
October 4 |
Frigate HMCS Chebouze torpedoed
|
|
October 14 |
Frigate HMCS Magog torpedoed total loss - RCN ships land British and Greek
troops at the port of Piraeus near Athens
|
|
October 16 |
U-1006 sunk south west of the Faroes by HMCS Annan
|
|
October 21-22 |
Private Ernest Alvia Smith, The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, single
handedly halts a German armored column during an advance across the Savio
River, Italy - Private Smith is later awarded the Victoria Cross
|
|
October 22 |
Destroyer HMCS Skeena runs aground off Rekyjavik, Iceland 15 sailors killed
abandoning ship
|
|
October |
Canada recognizes the Provisional Government of the French Republic following
General De Gaulle's triumphal visit to Montreal and Ottawa
|
|
November 1 |
General MacNaughton replaces Defence Minister J.L. Ralston who resigned
after King refused to introduce conscription for overseas service
|
|
November 8 |
Canadian and British forces clear German troops from Walchern Island at the
mouth of the River Scheldt
|
|
November 23 |
Prime Minister King agrees to begin conscription for overseas service
|
|
November 24 |
Corvette HMCS Shawinigan torpedoed by U-1228 and sunk in Cabot Straight
with all 91 hands aboard
|
|
November 25 |
Montreal-St. Hyacinthe Navy Base defeat the Hamilton Flying Wildcats 23 to
14 in the Grey Cup football championship
|
|
November 28 |
First Allied convoy led by a Canadian freighter enters the port of Antwerp
|
|
December 24 |
Minesweeper HMCS Clayoquot torpedoed by U-806 and sunk at the entrance
to Halifax Harbour - 8 crewmen lost
|
|
December 27 |
U-877 sunk north west of the Azores by HMCS St. Thomas
|
| 1945 |
February 7 |
Two men suffer minor injuries after handling a Japanese balloon bomb found in
a field near Provost, Alberta
|
|
February 14 |
Five RCN motor torpedo boats docked at Ostend, Belgium catch fire - 28 sailors
die in the fire
|
|
February 16 |
U-309 sunk in the North Sea east of Moray Firth by HMCS St. John
|
|
February 21 |
British and Canadian troops break through the Siegfried Line east of the
Reichwald after a two week offensive
|
|
February 22 |
Corvette HMCS Trentonian torpedoed by U-1004 and sunk off Falmouth,
England - 6 crew lost
|
|
February 25-26 |
Sergeant Aubrey Cosens, The Queens Own Rifles of Canada leads four
surviving members of his company in taking three German strong points on
the Goch-Calcar Road near Mooshof, Germany - Cosens later awarded the
Victoria Cross
|
|
March 1 |
Major Frederick Albert Tilston led a company of the Essex Scottish Regiment in an
assault on heavily fortified German positions in the Hochwald - Tilston was
wounded three times during the battle in which his company overran two German
company headquarters and was later awarded the Victoria Cross
|
|
March 4 |
Canadian forces clear last German troops from the Reichswald and Hochwald
|
|
March 7 |
U-1302 sunk in St. George's Channel by HMCS LaHulloise, Strathadan and
Thetford Mines
|
|
March 17 |
Minesweeper HMCS Guysborough torpedoed by U-878 and sunk in the English
Channel - 51 crewmen lost
|
|
March 18 |
Maurice Richard of the Montreal Canadiens scores his 50th goal in the 50 game of
the NHL season setting a record that stands for the next 40 years
|
|
March 20 |
U-1003 rammed by HMCS New Glasgow in the Northern Channel off Malin Head,
scuttled 3 days later
|
|
March 23 |
9th Canadian Infantry crosses the Rhine - 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion dropped
east of the Rhine near Wesel
|
|
March 24 |
Corporal Frederick George Topham, medical orderly with the 1st Canadian
Parachute Regiment rescues three men from a burning personnel carrier though
suffering from wounds sustained while tending to the injured after a drop at
Diersfordt Wood, Germany - Topham was awarded the Victoria Cross
|
|
April 5 |
4th Canadian Armored Division crosses the Twente Canal in Holland
|
|
April 14 |
5th Canadian Armored Division captures Arnhem after two days of house to house
fighting
|
|
April 16 |
Minesweeper HMCS Esquimalt sunk off Halifax by U-190, last RCN ship sunk in
WWII - 44 crewmen lost - 2nd Canadian Infantry Division crosses the Shipbeck
Canal and liberates Groningen, Netherlands
|
|
April 18 |
3rd Canadian Infantry Division liberates Leeuwarden, Holland on the North Sea
|
|
April 28 |
Truce between tGerman forces on the Grebbe Line and Canadian forces allows food
supplies to reach famine stricken civilians in western Holland
|
|
April |
The King Government announces that all Canadians assigned to the Pacific Theater
will be volunteers
|
|
May 5 |
German troops in Holland surrender to General Foulkes at Wageningen and to
General Simonds at Bad Zwischenahn
|
|
May 8 |
VE Day riot in Halifax - Servicemen ransack and loot department stores and
businesses including the Keith Brewery from which 118,566 quarts of beer were
stolen
|
|
June 11 |
General Election for a new House of Commons Liberals win 122 seats, Conservatives
66, CCF 28, Social Credit 13, others 16 - Prime Minister King defeated in Prince
Albert when military vote swings to his opponent - Cooperative Commonwealth
Federation finishes second in balloting by overseas servicemen
|
|
July 20 |
The Federal Government distributes the first Family Allowance checks
|
|
July 28 |
HMCS Uganda withdraws from the British Pacific Fleet after a majority of the crew
refuse to volunteer for service in the Pacific Theater
|
|
August 9 |
Lieutenant Robert Hampton Gray RCNVR sinks the Japanese destroyer Amakusa
in Onagawa Bay before crashing his Corsair - Gray is posthumously awarded the
Victoria Cross
|
|
August 9 |
Lt. G.A. Anderson RCN killed when the engine of his Corsair fails during approach
to deck of HMS Formidable, last Canadian combat casualty of World War II
|
|
August 30 |
Landing party from HMCS Prince Robert liberates surviving POWs at Hong Kong
|
|
September 2 |
Japan surrenders ending World War II 40,042 Canadians killed in action
|
|
September 5 |
Igor Gouzenko, a cypher clerk at the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa, defects with
evidence of a Soviet spy ring operating in Canada
|
|
September 5 |
Canada's first nuclear reactor achieves criticality, ZEEP (Zero Energy
Experimental Pile) at the Chalk River Laboratory
|
|
October 23 |
Jack Roosevelt Robinson signs a contract to play baseball for the Montreal Royals
|
|
November 9 |
Canada joins the United Nations
|
|
December 1 |
The Toronto Argonauts defeat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 35 to 0 - first Grey
Cup competition between civilian teams in four years
|
|
December |
General Kurt Meyer convicted of war crimes for the murder of 20 Canadian POWs
in the Abbey of Ardenne sentenced to life in prison - Meyer was released after
serving 8 years of his sentence
|
| 1946 |
February 15 |
RCMP arrest members of an alleged spy ring reported by Soviet defector Igor
Gouzenko - Fred Rose MP for Montreal-Cartier among the detained
|
|
March 2 |
Castle Mountain in Banff National Park renamed Mount Eisenhower
|
|
March 14 |
Parliament enacts the Canadian Citizenship Act defining Canadian citizenship as
distinct from British subjecthood
|
|
April 4 |
Canada purchases the 1200 mile section of the Alaska-Canada Military Highway
between Dawson Creek, British Columbia and the Yukon-Alaska boundary from the
United States for $108 million
|
|
April 12 |
Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander, Earl Alexander of Tunis, sworn in as Governor
General at Ottawa - last non-Canadian Governor General
|
|
November 1 |
First National Basketball Association game played in Canada - New York
Knickerbockers defeat the Toronto Huskies 68 to 66 at Maple Leaf Gardens
|
|
December 18 |
Four German POWs hanged in Lethbridge, Alberta for the September 1944
murder of a fellow prisoner whom they suspected of leading a Communist
conspiracy to overthrow their camp's Nazi leadership
|
| 1947 |
January 1 |
Canadian Citizenship Act takes effect
|
|
January 30 |
Fred Rose, Communist MP for Montreal-Cartier, expelled from the House of
Commons following his conviction on charges of spying for the Soviet Union
|
|
February 13 |
Oil struck at Imperial Oil Company's Leduc No.1 well near Edmonton, Alberta
modern Canadian petroleum industry started
|
|
June 22 |
NRX the first full scale nuclear reactor at the Chalk River Laboratory achieves initial
criticality
|
| 1948 |
January 21 |
The Fleur de Lise replaces the Union Jack atop Quebec's legislative building -
The new banner is adopted as the provincial flag by order in council moments
later
|
|
February 6 |
Barbara Ann Scott win the Olympic gold medal for figure skating at St.Moritz
|
|
June 15 |
Franchise to vote in federal elections extend to Canadian citizens of Chinese,
Japanese and Indian ancestry
|
|
November 15 |
William Lyon Mackenzie King retires after serving a record 21 years 6 months
and a day as Prime Minister of Canada -Louis Stephen Saint Laurent sworn in
as King's successor
|
| 1949 |
March 31 |
Newfoundland joins the Canadian confederation as the tenth province
|
|
April 4 |
Canada becomes a charter member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
|
|
September 20 |
Appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council abolished the Supreme
Court of Canada becomes the court of last resort for Canadians
|
| 1950 |
July 22 |
William Lyon Mackenzie King dies at his Kingsmere estate in the Gatineau Hills of
Quebec at age 76
|
