1917 in Canada

← 1916 1915 1914 1917 in Canada → 1918 1919 1920
Decades:	1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s
See also:	History of Canada Timeline of Canadian history List of years in Canada

Events from the year 1917 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – George V ^[1]

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

• Commissioner of Yukon – George Norris Williams (acting)
• Gold Commissioner of Yukon – George P. MacKenzie
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Frederick D. White

Elections

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

Events

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.

Arts and literature

• Tom Thomson paints The Jack Pine , one of Canada's most widely recognized and reproduced artworks. ^[4]

Sport

• 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.

Births

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)

Deaths

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)

Mackenzie Bowell

• 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)

Historical documents

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]

References

1. "King George V | The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
2. "About the Court – Full History". Tax Court of Canada. Archived from the original on 2012-03-26. Retrieved 2011-09-08.
3. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Weather Extremes for the Western States
4. 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.
5. 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.shtml (scroll down to "Stripped")
6. Jean Holder, "Halifax Explosion" (December 6, 1985). Accessed 13 March 2020 (See also Views of the Halifax Catastrophe including photos of Chebucto School)
7. Corporal Filip Konowal. Accessed 13 March 2020 http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205019047 (scroll down to Object description)
8. Letter of Harold E. Panabaker (May 17, 1917). Accessed 13 March 2020
9. Letter of James Hepburn, Jr. (January 10, 1917). Accessed 13 March 2020
10. Letter of Thomas William Johnson (May 11, 1917). Accessed 3 March 2020
11. Letter of Harold W. McGill (May 28, 1917). Accessed 13 March 2020
12. 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
13. 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
14. Thomas Adams, "Chapter VIII; Returned Soldiers and Land Settlement" Rural Planning and Development (1917), pgs. 207-17 Accessed 6 December 2019
15. 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
16. 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)
17. Woodrow Wilson, Second Inaugural Address (March 5, 1917). Accessed 13 March 2020
18. 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.shtml (scroll down to Sharp; note: writer misdated letter 1916)
19. "BaseBall." Accessed 3 May 2021
20. "Address of C.C. McCaul, K.C....before the Hon. Chief Justice Harvey and a Jury, at Edmonton, Alberta; August 14th, 1917." Accessed 13 March 2020
21. [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
22. 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)
23. Letters of Rev. Dr. J.T. Ferguson and Mayor Michael Copps Costello (August 1917). Accessed 13 March 2020