1919 in Canada

← 1918 1917 1916 1919 in Canada → 1920 1921 1922
Decades:	1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s
See also:	History of Canada Timeline of Canadian history List of years in Canada

Events from the year 1919 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – George V ^[1]

Federal government

• Governor General – Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire
• Prime Minister – Robert Borden
• Chief Justice – Louis Henry Davies (Prince Edward Island)
• Parliament – 13th

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Robert Brett
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Francis S. Barnard (until December 9) then Edward Gawler Prior
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – James Albert Manning Aikins
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – William Pugsley
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – MacCallum Grant
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – John Strathearn Hendrie (until November 20) then Lionel Herbert Clarke
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Augustine Colin Macdonald (until July 16) then Murdock MacKinnon (from September 2)
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Charles Fitzpatrick
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Richard Stuart Lake

Premiers

• Premier of Alberta – Charles Stewart
• Premier of British Columbia – John Oliver
• Premier of Manitoba – Tobias Norris
• Premier of New Brunswick – Walter Foster
• Premier of Nova Scotia – George Henry Murray
• Premier of Ontario – William Hearst (until November 14) then Ernest Drury
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – Aubin Arsenault (until September 9) then John Howatt Bell
• Premier of Quebec – Lomer Gouin
• Premier of Saskatchewan – William Melville Martin

Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Gold Commissioner of Yukon – George P. MacKenzie
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – William Wallace Cory

Events

January to June

• January 19 – Canadian troops take part in the Battle of Shenkursk, part of the Russian Civil War.
• February 17 – Wilfrid Laurier, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and former prime minister of Canada, dies in office.
• April 17 – New Brunswick women are permitted to vote.
• April 10 – The Quebec referendum on the prohibition of alcohol.
• May 3 – Yukon women are permitted to vote.
• May 15 – June 25 – Winnipeg General Strike of 1919.
• May 22 – The House of Commons passes the Nickle Resolution.
• June – Rodeo's first reverse-opening side-delivery bronc chute is designed and made by rodeo cowboy Earl W. Bascom at the Bascom Ranch in Lethbridge, Alberta
• June 6 – The government-owned Canadian National Railway is formed out of a number of financially troubled private railways.
• June 28 – Canada signs the Treaty of Versailles, formally ending the First World War

July to December

• September 1 – Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, opens the third session of the 13th Canadian Parliament
• September 6 – George-Étienne Cartier Monument unveiled
• September 9 – John Howatt Bell becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing Aubin Arsenault.
• October 20 – Ontario election: Ernest C. Drury's United Farmers of Ontario win a majority, defeating Sir William Hearst's Conservatives.
• November 14 – Ernest Drury becomes premier of Ontario, replacing Sir William Hearst.

Full date unknown

• Influenza epidemic in Alberta.
• Monument aux braves de N.D.G. unveiled

Arts and literature

• February 27 – Robert Harris, Canadian painter (b. 1848)

Sport

• December 22 – Toronto Arenas become the Toronto St. Patricks
• March 19–22 – Ontario Hockey Association's University of Toronto Schools win the first Memorial Cup by defeating the Saskatchewan Amateur Hockey Association's Regina Pats 29–8 in a two-game aggregate at the Arena Gardens in Toronto

Births

January to June

Daphne Odjig

• January 13 – Igor Gouzenko, Russian defector (d. 1982)
• January 23 – Frances Bay, actress (d. 2011) ^[2]
• February 17 – J. M. S. Careless, historian (d. 2009) ^[3]
• February 20
  • Thomas Ide, educator and the founding Chairman of TVOntario (d. 1996)
  • Joe Krol, Canadian football player (d. 2008)
• March 21 – Victor Copps, politician and Mayor of Hamilton (d. 1988)
• March 26 – Vernon Singer, politician (d. 2003)
• April 16 – Louis Harrington Lewry, politician and reporter (d. 1992)
• April 21 – William Perehudoff, painter (d. 2013)
• May 27 – Francess Halpenny, editor and professor (d. 2017)
• May 29 – Jacques Genest, physician and academic (d. 2018)
• June 18 – Gordon A. Smith, artist and teacher (d. 2020) ^[4]
• June 19
  • Gérard Dionne, Roman Catholic bishop (d. 2020)
  • Simon Reisman, civil servant and chief negotiator of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement (d. 2008)
• June 21 – Gérard Pelletier, journalist, editor, politician and Minister (d. 1997)

July to December

• July 5 – Gordon Towers, politician and Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta (d. 1999)
• August 1 – Jack Butterfield, President of the American Hockey League (1969–1994) (d. 2010)
• August 9 – Edmund Hockridge, singer and actor (d. 2009)
• August 19 – Margaret Marquis, Canadian-American actress (d. 1993)
• August 21 – Marcel Lambert, politician and Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada (d. 2000)
• September 1 – Gladys Davis, professional baseball player (d. 1991)
• September 11 – Daphne Odjig, artist (d. 2016)

Pierre Trudeau in 1980

• October 12 – Gilles Beaudoin, politician and mayor of Trois-Rivières (d. 2007)
• October 17 – Violet Milstead, World War II aviator and bush pilot (d. 2014)
• October 18 – Pierre Trudeau, politician and 15th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 2000)
• November 1 – Russell Bannock, aviator and test pilot (d. 2020)
• November 14 – Albert Ludwig, politician (d. 2019)
• November 21 – Eleanor Collins, jazz singer (d. 2024)
• December 10 – Vincent Brassard, politician (d. 1974)
• December 25 – Paul David, cardiologist and founder of the Montreal Heart Institute (d. 1999)

Deaths

Wilfrid Laurier

• January 30 – Sam Steele, soldier and member of the North-West Mounted Police (b. 1849)
• February 17 – Wilfrid Laurier, politician and 7th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1841)
• July 29 – Frederick Peters, lawyer, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island (b. 1851)
• August 18 – Joseph E. Seagram, distillery founder, politician, philanthropist and racehorse owner (b. 1841)
• October 14 – Simon Hugh Holmes, publisher, lawyer, politician and Premier of Nova Scotia (b. 1831)
• November 10 – Charles Mickle, politician (b. 1849)
• November 11 – George Haddow, politician and merchant (b. 1833)
• December 10 – Arthur Boyle, politician (b. 1842)
• December 29 – William Osler, physician (b. 1849)

Funéraille de Wilfrid Laurier

See also

• List of Canadian films

Historical documents

Canada and other dominions demand full status in League of Nations ^[5]

J.W. Dafoe hears about Canadian researchers whose weapon helped to end First World War ^[6]

Getting soldiers from France to England to Canada and their dispersal stations for discharge ^[7]

Returning veteran longs for home, especially to escape English hostility and disdain ^[8]

Soldiers' Civil Re-Establishment vocational officer reports 30% of trainees not prepared enough to get jobs, and 60% won't keep jobs ^[9]

Film: tractor use on farm and roadwork ^[10]

Film: silver mining in northern Ontario ^[11]

Film: highlights of tour by Edward, Prince of Wales to Prince Edward Island, Quebec and Ontario ^[12]

Prince of Wales makes very successful postwar visit to Regina (Note: racial stereotypes) ^[13]

Chronic illness resulting from influenza epidemic includes "Great White Plague" of tuberculosis ^[14]

Debate on creation of federal health ministry brings up infant mortality, tuberculosis and venereal disease as well as influenza ^[15]

Newspaper published "in the interest of the Citizens" opposes Winnipeg General Strike ^[16]

Solicitor-General says legislation against sedition targets "insidious agencies of crime and revolt," not Winnipeg General Strike ^[17]

Editorial insists Winnipeg General Strike leaders rightly charged with sedition, and trial will decide their guilt or innocence ^[18]

Indictment for seditious libel against J.S. Woodsworth quotes his newspaper's coverage of police attack on Winnipeg General Strikers ^[19]

Royal commission reports on causes and events of Winnipeg General Strike ^[20]

Alberta labour leader reports on convention discussing discrimination at home and internationalism abroad ^[21]

Communist Party of Canada program calls for rejection of reform in favour of revolution ^[22]

Professor says chemistry graduates will keep leaving Canada until domestic chemical industry is induced to exploit their research talent ^[23]

Stern warnings and instruction from Saskatoon Fire Department to combat "national disgrace of fire waste" ^[24]

Boy Scouts provide courier service after Maritimes storm breaks telegraph connection between Western and Eastern Hemispheres ^[25]

Opinion and possible legislation supports Canadian content in film-making ^[26]

References

1. "King George V | The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
2. Maslin Nir, Sarah (September 18, 2011). "Frances Bay, Actress Known for ‘Old Lady’ Roles, Dies at 92". The New York Times .
3. CBC article "Canadian Historian J. M.S. Careless dies"
4. "The most loved artist in B.C., Gordon Smith, turns 100 | Vancouver Sun". 2019-06-17. Archived from the original on 2019-06-22. Retrieved 2019-12-23.
5. The Associated Press, "Dominions Will Make Big Claims; Will Ask to Be Admitted to League as Individual Nations; Want Same Status as Other Powers" The Calgary Daily Herald, No. 4938 (January 21, 1919), pg. 1. Accessed 20 March 2020
6. John W. Dafoe, Paris Peace Conference Diary Transcriptions, pgs. 87 to 88. Accessed 20 March 2020
7. The Repatriation Committee, "War to Peace; Demobilizing Canada's Army" The (Edmonton) Morning Bulletin, Vol. IX, No. 228 (January 18, 1919), pg. 2. Accessed 20 March 2020
8. Letter of Harold Henry Simpson (April 13, 1919). Accessed 20 March 2020
9. Testimony of Roderick S. Kennedy (October 3, 1919), Soldiers' Civil Re-Establishment; Proceedings of the Special Committee[...]of the House of Commons[....], pg. 564. Accessed 12 October 2020 (See also "14. Rehabilitation of Returned Soldiers," Canada's Part in the Great War pgs. 49-58)
10. "Why Not Use a Tractor?" (1919), Ontario Motion Picture Bureau, Pathéscope of Canada Limited, Library and Archives Canada. Accessed 7 July 2024
11. Government of Ontario, "Silver Mining in Ontario" (1919), Library and Archives Canada. (See also fictional depiction of "Life in a Mining Camp") Accessed 22 September 2024
12. British Pathé, "Prince of Wales in Canada." Accessed 10 May 2020
13. "Greatest Crowd Ever Seen In Saskatchewan Welcomes The Prince" Regina Morning Leader (October 6, 1919), pgs. 9 & 10. Accessed 23 March 2020
14. "Results of Influenza" The (Weston, Ont.) Times & Guide (January 1, 1919), pg. 1. Accessed 30 March 2020.
15. Senate Debates, 13th Parliament, 2nd Session: Vol. 1 (May 1, 1919), pgs. 287-289. Accessed 30 March 2020.
16. The Winnipeg Citizen, Vol. 1, No. 21 (June 11, 1919). Accessed 23 March 2020
17. "Says Sedition Act Not Result of Strike Here" The Winnipeg Evening Tribune, Vol. XXX, No. 130 (June 11, 1919), pg. 11. Accessed 23 March 2020
18. "Most Serious Charges" The Winnipeg Evening Tribune, Vol. XXX, No. 136 (June 18, 1919), pg. 4. Accessed 23 March 2020
19. Indictment for: Publishing Seditious Libels; 6 Counts, The King vs J.S. Woodsworth, Court of King's Bench. Accessed 23 March 2020
20. "Royal Commission to Enquire into(...)the General Strike Which Recently Existed in the City of Winnipeg(...); Report of H.A. Robson, K.C., Commissioner" (November 6, 1919). Accessed 23 March 2020
21. Alex. Ross, MLA, "The Alberta Labor Convention" The Alberta Non Partisan, Vol. 3, No. 3 (January 30, 1919), pg. 4. Accessed 24 March 2020
22. Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada, "Programme of the Communist Party of Canada" Accessed 24 March 2020
23. Testimony of William Lash Miller (June 4, 1919), Proceedings of the [House] Special Committee [on] the Development in Canada of Scientific Research, pgs. 92-5. Accessed 15 October 2020
24. Saskatoon Fire Department, "Saskatoon Fire Prevention Bulletin," Souvenir; Saskatoon Fire Department; Fire Prevention and First Aid (1919), pg. 29 and after. Accessed 25 March 2020
25. "Canadian Scouts Save Wire Service" Scouting, Vol. 7, No. 1 (January 2, 1919), pg. 8. Accessed 12 February 2020
26. "Canadian Legislation May Cut U.S. Film Importations" Variety, Vol. LIII, No. 10 (January 31, 1919), pg. 57. Accessed 24 March 2020