On Jan. 22, Bill Durnan was born in Toronto. He entered the NHL at the age of 27 and only played in seven seasons but he became one of the greatest NHL players in history. As a goalie, he played his entire career with the Montreal Canadiens from 1943 to 1950. In that time, he won the Vezina Trophy six times, including four times in a row. He also won the Stanley Cup twice. He was named a First All-Star Team six times during his career. He played in three All-Star Games. He was an ambidextrous goalie, and could catch and stickhandle with either hand. He wore gloves that allowed him to switch hands instantly. At one point he didn’t allow a goal to be scored against him for 309 minutes and 21 seconds. That record stood until 2004. Due to being nervous before each game, he eventually retired in 1950 citing stress from playing professional hockey. Upon his retirement, he had 208 wins, 112 losses and 34 shutouts in 383 games. At the time of his retirement, he had ranked fifth all-time in wins, shutouts and goals-against-average. He died on Oct. 31, 1972 in North York, Ontario.
On Jan. 28, women in Manitoba became the first in Canada to gain the vote. When the final vote was done on the new law, several seats in the legislature were set aside for women to sit at. As the bill was read for a third time, the women rose in the Legislature and sang O’ Canada and then cheered the members of the Legislature. The MPs then responded with a cheer of their own for the women.
Dr. Mary Crawford, president of the Political Equality League in Winnipeg would say quote:
“Heartiest congratulations to the women of Manitoba on the passage of the suffrage bill. Through the efforts of its women, Manitoba has gained the enviable distinction of being the most progressive province in the Dominion. We rejoice with you!”
On Feb. 3, a fire broke out in the Parliament Building in Ottawa. Parliament was evacuated as the fire began to spread, causing many to have to make their way out surrounded by black smoke. The fire had started in the reading room, where members were known to smoke cigars despite rules against doing so. At some point, the fire started when someone put a lit cigar in a waste basket, which quickly spread through the room due to loose papers. Before long, the room was filled with flames. The roof started to collapse, and the fire spread throughout the building. The clock on the tower struck 11 p.m. before it fell before it could strike midnight. The bell crashed into the rubble and at 1:21 a.m., the entire tower crumbled.
Thankfully, a slight breeze moved the fire away from the Parliamentary Library and the great iron doors were closed to protect the priceless documents and books inside. After the fire happened, many people blamed German spies due to the First World War raging at the time. Sadly, the fire killed a police officer, three government employees and Member of Parliament Bowman Brown Law.
Work began on rebuilding Parliament soon after the fire. On July 1, 1917, the site for the new tower was dedicated. Two years later, the cornerstone was laid down by Prince Edward, later the King Edward VIII. The Peace Tower was completed in 1925.
On Feb. 23, Molly Kool was born in Alma, New Brunswick. The daughter of Paul Kool, a Dutch sailor, she joined the Merchant Marine School when she was 21, the first woman to ever do so. In 1939, she received her Master Mariner’s papers. She then captained her father’s ship for five years, and became the first registered female sea captain in North America. Due to Molly Kool, the Canadian Shipping Act was amended to read “he or she”. She retired from a life at sea in 1944 to marry. She died in Maine on Feb. 25, 2009. In 2018, CGS Captain Molly Kool was named for her.
On March 14, Saskatchewan followed Manitoba in giving women the right to vote.
On March 30, the Montreal Canadiens won their first Stanley Cup, the first of 24 to be won by the team. The team at the time was filled with Hall of Famers like Newsy Lalonde, Jack Laviolette and George Vezina. The team had won the O’Brien Trophy for being the champion of the National Hockey Association with a record of 16-7-1 to finish first. In the Stanley Cup series against the Portland Rosebuds, Montreal won three-games-to-two.
On April 19, Alberta became the third province in Canada to extend the vote to women.
On May 7, the No. 2 Construction Battalion was created. Raised in Nova Scotia, it was the only Canadian battalion composed of Black soldiers to serve in the First World War. The battalion’s strength was 729 men, but all but one of the unit’s 19 officers were white. Only Captain William A. White, father of Portia White, was the unit’s chaplain.
The unit left Halifax on the SS Southland on March 28, 1917 and arrived in Liverpool ten days later. The unit was attached to the Canadian Forestry Corps. They unit cut down trees, transported logs and milled the lumber for use by the Allies. The unit also cared for 70 to 100 horses that helped with the work. Despite terrible work conditions, the men worked hard and at one point cut 95,000 board measures of wood in 10 hours. The company returned to Canada in early 1919 and disbanded on Sept. 15, 1919.
You can learn more about the unit in my episode about it on Canada’s Great War.
On May 15, Quebec held a provincial election. The Liberals won 62 seats, to maintain their majority, while the Conservatives won 16 seats to remain the Official Opposition. The Liberals had won every election since 1897, and would continue to win until 1935. The Conservatives last won an election in 1892, and would never win another one in Quebec’s history.
On June 2, the Germans began a bombardment to begin the Battle of Mont Sorrel. In this initial attack, 90 per cent of the Canadian forward reconnaissance battalion became casualties. The Fourth Canadian Mounted Rifles would be nearly wiped out. Major General Malcolm Mercer and Eighth Canadian Brigade commander Brigadier-General Arthur Williams were doing an inspection on the front line when the attack began. Mercer would be hit three times and die the next day, while Williams would be wounded in the face and taken prisoner. Of the 702 soldiers in the regiment who were attacked, 76 were unhurt.
At 1 p.m. that same day, the Germans would detonate four mines near the Canadian trenches.
The Germans then attacked with six battalions, with another five battalions in support and six more in reserve. In the detonation of the mines, the Royal Regina Rifles would lose 168 men. By the end of the entire battle, the Royal Regina Rifles would lose over 300 men, including three officers being taken prisoner.
Resistance on positions held by the Eighth Canadian Brigade were minimal and for hours both the Eighth and the Third Canadian Brigades were without a leader to help coordinate their defence.
German forces were able to take Mount Sorrel and Hill 61, advancing 1,100 metres.
Byng then began working on a quickly organized counterattack on June 3. Two brigades of the First Canadian Division were placed under the control of Brigadier-General Hoare Nairn, who had assumed command of the Third Canadian Division. The counter attack would happen at 2 a.m. of June 3, 1916. Due to issues with the distance to travel, and difficulties with communications, the attack was moved to 7 a.m.
The signal of the attack would be six green rockets. Unfortunately, some of the rockets did not burst, resulting in an uneven assault with each unit leaving at a different time from their start line.
Advancing over open ground in broad daylight towards the Germans, the attacking battalions suffered heavy casualties, failed to regain any lost territory but they did manage to close a 550 metre gap in the line and advance the Canadian front 910 metres from the positions it had retreated to after the German attack.
On July 1, the Battle of Albert began. Originally, the attack was supposed to occur in the last days of June but it was moved to July 1. It was decided to extend the five days of bombardment to seven days. While this may seem like a good idea at the time, it actually meant there was a limited number of shells for the actual assault. The additional shelling did result in heavy casualties and damage to wiring and trenches on the German side though. The deep dugouts were relatively untouched and this still allowed for supply lines to come to the front.
On the morning of July 1, the British began a one hour bombardment of the Germans at 6:25 a.m. At 7:20 a.m., an underground mine was detonated 900 metres from the Newfoundlanders, creating a crater that was 40 metres wide and 18 metres deep. The force of the 40,000 pounds of explosives sent debris high into the air. Then minutes later, the bombardment of the Germans ceased.
All of this allowed the Germans to realize that an attack was about to take place, and they began to prepare. The Germans then began to bombard the British lines and No Man’s Land.
At 9:15 a.m., the Newfoundlanders began their assault without artillery or support. The Newfoundlanders went over the top at their position at St. John’s Road. The Germans, because of their position, could easily see the enemy leaving the trenches against the skyline. This meant the Newfoundlanders were completely exposed to machine gun fire. Four companies of Newfoundlanders were marching directly into a hail of bullets and many of the regiment never even made it past their own front line. Dead and wounded soldiers from the previous assaults were blocking gaps in the wire, slowing the advance and allowing the Germans to gun them down.
A tree sat in No Man’s Land, that had survived the war so far. It earned the name Danger Tree and it was as far as the Newfoundlanders reached on that day.
Within 30 minutes of the Newfoundlanders beginning their attack, the attack was over.
721 Newfoundlanders went over the top in the battle and by the next day, only 68 men were available for roll call. Every officer who went over the top became a casualty with 14 dead and 12 wounded. No other regiment suffered more on that day than the Newfoundlanders. In all, the casualty rate of the Newfoundlanders was put at 85 per cent.
On July 11, Skookum Jim, known as Keish, died. Keish was born around 1855 near Bennett Lake, Yukon,
In the mid-1880s, Keish was working as a packer, carrying supplies through the backcountry. It was doing this where he earned his nickname Skookum Jim, for his strength. The word means strong & reliable in Chinook jargon. He soon began working with George Carmack.
His sister, Kate married George & the three began prospecting. In mid-August 1896, they struck gold at Rabbit (Bonanza) Creek. While Carmack said he saw it first, witnesses say it was Keish who discovered gold.
Some stories state that George was given credit for the gold find because it was unlikely that the claim of an Indigenous man like Keish would be accepted.
Carmack staked a double claim, and Keish staked his own claim. As they worked their claims, they pulled $1 million worth of gold out, starting the Klondike Gold Rush. The sudden wealth changed everything. Keish built a large house where he lived during the winters.
Known for his generosity, when Carmack abandoned Kate & left her penniless, Keish built her a cabin. He eventually created the Daisy Mason Trust so his fortune could be given to his daughter for her education and adult life.
After his death, left money to several relatives to help them. When his daughter died in 1938, as per Keish’s instructions, the remaining money in the trust was used to help the Indigenous people of the Yukon.
On Sept. 1, Berlin changed its name to Kitchener. In the community with a large population of German-Canadians, it was decided to change the name to be more patriotic. In June 1916, various alternative names were put forward including Canada, Brief, Imperial City, Georgia, Cameo, Huronto, Ontario, Ontario City and Kitchener.
Rather than choose the very confusing name of Ontario, Ontario or Ontario City, Ontario, the residents were in favour of Kitchener. Field Marshal Kitchener was a British Army officer who died on June 5, 1916.
On Sept. 18, Laura Sabia was born in Montreal. The daughter of Italian immigrants, she rebelled against the patriarchal restrictions of the Catholic Church. She refused to play with dolls and fought neighborhood boys when they called her names.
While her father supported her rebellious nature, her mother did not. She put Laura into a convent boarding school to encourage her to act “more like a lady”. At the convent, Laura refused to bow to visiting priests. She was often at odds with the nuns there.
Her father often came to get her and took her to Montreal to visit places like the Montreal Stock Exchange. He also smuggled in stock market reports for her in boxes of candy, which angered the Mother Superior to no end.
As an adult, Laura made gender equality her passion and mission. In the 1960s, she convinced the Ontario government to provide her with $30,000 to conduct a study on women returning to work. She also united several women’s groups to push for change.
In 1963, she was elected as a city councilor for St. Catharines, Ontario. She served until 1968. She also ran in two federal elections in 1968 and 1981, losing both times. She was also the National Chair of the Committee for the Equality of Women.
As chair, she convinced the federal government to create the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in 1967. She did this by telling Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson that if he did not create the commission, two million women would march on Parliament Hill.
In 1970, the Commission released a report that had 167 recommendations to ensure men and women had equal opportunities. Throughout the 1970s, many of these recommendations were implemented. During the 1970s and 1980s, Laura wrote columns for the Toronto Star.
In 1974, Laura received the Order of Canada. In 1983, she was awarded the Governor General’s Awards in Commemoration of the Persons Case. She died on Oct. 17, 1996 in Toronto. Today, she is remembered for her unwavering work to bring gender equality to Canada.
