On Jan. 21, Donald Smith, Lord Strathcona, died. Born in Scotland, he became one of the foremost builders and philanthropists in the British Empire in his life. He served as the commissioner, governor and main shareholder of the Hudson’s Bay Company. He also served as the president of the Bank of Montreal and he co-founded the Canadian Pacific Railway. In the famous photo of The Last Spike from 1885, it was Donald Smith who hammered in the spike. From 1870 to 1873, he served in the Manitoba Legislature. From 1871 to 1880 and 1887 to 1896, he sat in Parliament. From 1896 to his death in 1914, he was the Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Smith was very close with the Royal Family and King Edward VII referred to him as Uncle Donald.
At the time of his death, Smith was worth $5.5 million. He gave away much of his fortune leading up to his death. He funded the building of several hospitals, donated to universities across Canada and personally raised Strathcona’s Horse who first served in the Second Boer War.
On Jan. 28, Nellie McClung and several other suffragists held a Mock Parliament at the Walker Theatre in Winnipeg. McClung played the part of the premier Sir Rodmond Roblin. The Manitoba Free Press called her performance eloquent, logical and dramatic.
On March 13, William Ormond Mitchell, better known as W.O. Mitchell, was born in Weyburn, Saskatchewan. A gifted writer and one of the most celebrated authors in Canadian history, he was teaching high school in 1942 when his first short stories were published. In 1947, he published Who Has Seen The Wind, considered one of the greatest Canadian novels. In 1948, Mitchell began to work for Macleans. While in Toronto working for the magazine, he created Jake and the Kid, a radio series for CBC. From 1950 to 1956, 320 episodes aired on the radio. In his life, he wrote nine books and two plays, one of which won the Chalmers Award.
In 1973, Mitchell received the Order of Canada. He also received five honorary degrees, and had a postage stamp issued to honour him. Two schools are also named for him. Mitchell died in 1998 in Calgary.
On March 19, the Royal Ontario Museum was opened, two years after it was established. The Duke of Connaught, the Governor General of Canada, opened the museum. Located on the edge of Toronto’s downtown at the time, the original building was built with its main entrance facing Bloor Street. It cost $400,000 to build.
On April 11, Margaret MacDonald was appointed the Matron-in-Chief of the Canadian Army Medical Corps. Through the First World War, the amount of nurses in the Canadian military reached 3,000, all under the command of McDonald. She became the first woman promoted to the rank of major in the British Empire. In 1916, she received the Royal Red Cross and two years later received the Florence Nightingale Medal.
Also on April 11, Norman McLaren was born in Scotland. He began to experiment with animation in the 1930s. He released Seven Till Five and Camera Makes Whoopee in 1933 and 1935.
Both films won prizes at the Scottish Amateur Film Festival.
After spending time covering the Spanish Civil War as a cameraman, and then working as an animator in New York City, he was invited by the NFB to come to Canada.
McLaren was asked to create a promotional film to remind Canadians to mail their Christmas cards early. This became the 1941 film, Mail Early and it was the start of his career that would alter the National Film Board and animation forever.
After several more films in 1942 and 1943, McLaren could no longer keep up with the demands for animation a the NFB. He asked his bosses to recruit art students so he could start a small animation team.
This request was approved and Studio A, the first animation studio for the NFB, was created in January 1943 with McLaren as its head.
McLaren was a pioneer. His use of visual music, abstract film, graphical sound, and drawn-on-film animation were revolutionary for their time, and he was instrumental in making the NFB a world leader in the world of animation.
McLaren won one Oscar for his work and was nominated for four others between 1953 and 1968. His 1952 film Neighbours is considered a masterpiece. McLaren died on Jan. 27, 1987 at the age of 72.
The NFB named its Montreal head office building the Norman McLaren Building to honour him and his impact on the organization.
Also on April 11, Robert Stanfield was born in 1914 in Nova Scotia. Born into the wealthy Stanfield family, he attended law school in the 1930s and worked as a lawyer before getting into politics. In 1948, he became the leader of the Nova Scotia Progressive Conservatives. At the time, the party had no seats in the legislature. Under Stanfield, who rebuilt the party, the PCs won a majority government in 1956. This was the party’s first election win since 1928. With Stanfield as leader, the party won four straight majority governments. His government established Industrial Estates Limited to attract new investment, introduced a provincial sales tax and hospital insurance, brought in new civil rights legislation and increased funding for education.
In 1967, he succeeded John Diefenbaker as leader of the federal Progressive Conservatives. Elected to Parliament, he led the Progressive Conservatives into the 1968 federal election. They were defeated in a landslide victory by the Liberals under Pierre Trudeau.
In the 1972 federal election, his party finished with just two less seats than the Liberals. Two years later, he went through a third election but once again lost to Trudeau and the Liberals.
He resigned as leader in 1976 and from politics completely in 1979. Granted the title The Right Honourable, he died on Sept. 16, 2003.
On May 9, Hank Snow was born in Brooklyn, Nova Scotia. As a songwriter, he recorded 140 albums and had 85 singles chart on the Billboard country charts from 1950 to 1980. His most famous songs include I’ve Been Everywhere and I’m Moving On. Considered one of the greatest country singers of all-time, he inspired many artists including Stompin’ Tom Connors. In 1954, he convinced the directors of the Grand Ole Opry to allow Elvis Presley to perform. He also introduced Presley to Colonel Tom Parker. Years later, he did not speak highly of Parker stating,
“I have worked with several managers over the years and have had respect for them all except one. Tom Parker was the most egotistical, obnoxious human being I’ve ever had dealings with.”
A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame, he also won numerous awards for his music.
Snow died in Tennessee on Dec. 20, 1999.
On May 14, Calgary Petroleum Products Company Limited struck oil in Turner Valley, Alberta after three years of drilling. One of the company’s investors was future prime minister R.B. Bennett. The oil discovery sparked an oil boom that saw 500 oil exploration companies formed within a few days. Most of these companies were shams to get money from investors who did not know the company owned no land and was not planning on drilling for oil.
On May 20, the Niagara Falls Peace Conference was held in Niagara Falls. The conference brought Brazil, Argentina and Chile to Canada to begin diplomatic negotiations in the hope of avoiding war between the United States and Mexico following the Mexican Revolution. The United States sent representatives to the conference. On May 27, an agreement was reached and the representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and the United States held a conference with the Governor General of Canada, the Duke of Connaught, at the King Edward Hotel in Toronto to announce the agreement.
On May 23, the Komagata Maru arrived in Canadian waters at Vancouver. It had arrived from British Hong Kong via Shanghai, China and Yokohama, Japan. On board were 337 Sikhs, 27 Muslims and 12 Hindus. They were all British subjects but they were denied the opportunity to disembark into Canada. The ship remained in Canadian waters until it was forced to depart on July 23 and return back to India.
Of the 376 passengers, only 24 were admitted into Canada. The ship was escorted out of Canadian waters by HMCS Rainbow, one of Canada’s first naval vessels. On their return to India, Indian Imperial Police attempt to arrest the leaders on the ship, including Baba Gurdit Singh. When they resisted, they were fired upon. Several passengers were killed, others escaped. Gurdit Singh Mandhu escaped and lived in hiding until 1922 when Mahatma Gandhi urged him to give himself up. He did and was imprisoned for five years. In 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized for the Komagata Maru incident.
On May 29, RMS Empress of Ireland collided with the Storstad in the St. Lawrence River. The collision left a massive hole in the Empress and 270,000 litres of water per second flowed into the ship. The Empress quickly began to tilt to one side and the entire ship sank in only 14 minutes. Over 1,000 people died in the disaster, and it has been called Canada’s Titanic.
Today, the ship lies only 40 metres under water. Many artifacts have been taken from the ship and placed in museums.
On June 19 at 9:30 a.m., an explosion tore through the Hillcrest Mine in Alberta. The explosion burst out the entrances of the mine. Of the 237 men who went into the mine, only 49 were rescued. The rest died in the explosion or from the effects of toxic gases. The Town of Hillcrest only had 1,000 residents and no family was not impacted by the disaster. It remains the deadliest mining disaster in Canadian history.
You can listen to my episode about the disaster, which goes into much more detail.
On June 29, James Whitney and the Conservatives won another majority election in Ontario. The party picked up 84 seats, while Newton Rowell and the Liberals won 24 seats. was the Conservatives last election victory until 1923.
On July 6, Viola Desmond was born. As an adult, she saw there was a lack of professional hair services for black women in Nova Scotia. Unable to train as a beautician in Halifax due to her race, she trained in Montreal, Atlantic City and New York.
She opened a salon in Halifax after she was trained. Viola also started her own training school & line of beauty products. On Nov. 8, 1946, while in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia on a business trip to sell her products, her car broke down.
Waiting for repairs, she decided to see a movie at the Roseland Film Theatre. There were no official segregation laws in Nova Scotia, nor any signs dictating it but the theatre only sold floor seats to white patrons. Due to being nearsighted, Viola took a floor seat.
Asked to move, she refused and offered to pay extra for a floor seat but this was refused. She was then forcefully removed from the theatre, injuring her hip. She spent 12 hours in jail on a charge of tax evasion because floor seats were one cent more in tax.
The next day, she was taken to court and ordered to pay $26 in fines by the judge. She was given no legal representation. Viola fought the charge and Carrie Best, editor of The Clarion, broke the story.
Viola hired lawyer Frederick William Bissett and filed a lawsuit against the theatre. Her lawsuit was dismissed and Bissett refused to bill her for his services. After the trial, Viola’s marriage ended, she closed her business and moved to Montreal.
She later settled in New York City where she died from gastrointestinal bleeding on Feb. 7, 1965. Viola has been honoured since her death. Her portrait hangs in Government House in Halifax, and a stamp was issued. A ferry is also named for her.
On April 14, 2010, Lt. Governor Mayann Francis granted Viola Desmond a posthumous free pardon, the first granted in Canada. In 2018, she was chosen for the $10 note. That same year, she was named a National Historic Person and has a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame.
On July 10, Joe Shuster was born in Toronto. With Jerry Siegel, he co-created Superman, who appeared in Action Comics #1. Many aspects of Superman come from Shuster’s time living in Toronto. Metropolis is modelled on Toronto, and the Daily Planet is modelled on the Toronto Star.
As part of their deal with Action Comics, the two men sold the rights to Superman for $130. Shuster and Siegel eventually sued Detective Comics Inc. to have their contract annulled so they could regain the rights to Superman. The New York State Supreme Court ruled against them in 1947.
By 1976, Shuster was living in a nursing home and almost blind. Several comic book artists began to rally around him and public pressure along with the release of the new Superman movie, pushed Warner Communications, the owners of DC, to reinstate the bylines of the creators. They were both granted a lifetime pension of $20,000 a year, which was increased to $30,000 with health benefits. At the time of Shuster’s death in 1992, DC Comics agreed to pay off his debts if the family agreed to not challenge ownership over Superman.
One of his cousins was Frank Shuster, of the comedy team Wayne and Shuster.
On Aug. 4, Canada declared war on Germany. Due to the dominion status of Canada at the time, when Britain went to war, so did Canada. Whether it wanted to or not, Canada had entered into the First World War and by the end of the war, the country would be changed forever. Almost immediately, the Union Jack was put up the flagpole at Parliament Hill. Parliament was convened and the MPs reacted with enthusiasm, more so for the English MPs than the French ones.
Throughout the country, the patriotic spirit was extremely high. Most felt that the war would be a quick affair and those who enlisted would be home by Christmas.
The Canadian government quickly responded with the need for not only troops, but ships, munitions and much more. On Aug. 5, the day Canada was thrust into the war by the declaration from Britain, Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden announced that the government had purchased two torpedo boat destroyers from Chile. The ships had just been completed in the Seattle shipyards for the Chilean government. The ships would immediately travel to British Columbia, to be manned by naval reservists.
Col. Sam Hughes announced the same day that Canada would be mustering a force of 20,000 men from the reserves and militias. Col. Hughes also stated that he had already offers of enlistment from over 100,000 men.
A force was quickly mobilized in Canada, but from the beginning it was beset with political patronage, with friends of powerful politicians serving in the higher ranks, resulting in a lack of professional officers and non-commissioned officers with any experience or skill in the tactics of war.
Only one day after Canada, or at the least Britain, declared war on Germany, Captain Andrew Hamilton Gault organized a new military unit, offering $100,000, or $2.2 million today, to finance and equip this new battalion to participate in the Canadian war effort. That unit would become the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, which exists to this day. The charter was signed on Aug. 10 and the Governor General approved the creation of the regiment.
On Aug. 19, Charles Doherty, the Minister of Justice, tabled the resolution that created the War Measures Act.
Doherty stated quote:
“We are asking the people of Canada to entrust us with a very wide power.”
The bill passed completely with unanimous support in the House on Aug. 22, and it was implemented retroactively to Aug. 4, which gave legality to the actions of the government since the start of the war.
Under the Act, the government had the power to censor and suppress publications, writings, maps, plans, photographs, communications and the means of communication. It allowed the government to control the harbours and ports of the country and the movement of vessels, as well as transportation on land, air and water within the country. The most controversial aspect of the Act was that it gave the government the ability to arrest, detain and deport anyone deemed to be an enemy of the state. I will go into greater detail regarding the impact of the war on German immigrants later in this series, including their internment during the war. The country remained under this act for the next six years, including over a year after the war ended.
The War Measures Act was implemented again during the Second World War and used to detain Japanese-Canadians in internment camps. In 1970, it was again enacted during the October Crisis. The Act was repealed in 1988 and replaced with the Emergencies Act.
On Sept. 25, Ontario premier James Whitney died at the age of 70. He had just another majority government a few months previous. A member of Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1888, he had served as premier of the province since 1905. Whitney had dealt with a heart attack in 1913, and was staying at the Toronto General Hospital. He was succeeded by William Howard Hearst.
On Dec. 17, George Johnson Clarke became the 15th premier of New Brunswick. A member of the Legislature since 1903, he succeeded James Kidd Flemming who resigned due to a scandal. Clarke was in poor health for most of the time he was premier, and he eventually stepped down in 1917.
