On Jan. 13, Igor Gouzenko was born in Russia near Moscow. In school, he did well in his academic performance. This gained him training as a cipher clerk. Drafted into the Red Army, he was sent to Ottawa in 1943 to work at the Soviet Embassy. Gouzenko and his family were allowed to live outside the embassy compound, where he interacted with Canadian families. He learned he was being recalled to the Soviet Union. Not wanting to return, he decided to defect.
On Sept. 5, 1945, three days after the end of the Second World War, Gouzenko walked out of the embassy with a briefcase of Soviet code books, decryption materials and 109 documents.
By noon the next day, the Canadian government was aware of the defection. That night, he hid his family in an apartment across the hall from their apartment.
Four Soviet men broke into the apartment, but the Ottawa Police and RCMP soon arrived.
The evidence provided by Gouzenko led to several arrests, including that of Fred Rose, a Member of Parliament. Others included a radar engineer with the National Research Council, a clerk at External Affairs and a Canadian Army captain.
A Royal Commission was formed to look into the entire affair and evidence of a Soviet spy ring. Canada also alerted other allies to the fact Soviet agents were likely in their nations as well.
Gouzenko and his family were given a new identity and Igor Gouzenko became George Brown.
He settled down with his wife in Port Credit, where they raised eight children.
Gouzenko wrote two books, including the novel The Fall of a Titan, which won the Governor General’s Award in 1954. The book was also nominated for the Nobel Prize.
Whenever he appeared on television for his book, he wore a hood over his head to hide his identity.
Gouzenko died of a heart attack in Mississauga in 1982.
On January 23, actress Frances Bay was born in Alberta. In her acting career, which spanned decades, she became known for her warm presence on camera.
She didn’t start her professional acting career until she was in her 60s.
Bay’s breakthrough came with her role in David Lynch’s surreal film “Eraserhead” (1977), where she played the Lady in the Radiator. This character, with her haunting song “In Heaven,” became iconic.Her performance in “Eraserhead” marked the beginning of a fruitful collaboration with Lynch, leading to roles in several of his other works, including “Blue Velvet” where she played Mrs. Beatrice “Bea” Stockwell, and “Twin Peaks” where she portrayed the memorable character of Mrs. Tremond.
Beyond her work with David Lynch, Frances Bay appeared in numerous television shows and films, often in roles that might have been overlooked but for her unique touch.
Bay portrayed the character of Grandma Nussbaum on the television show Happy Days, the grandmother to Fonzie.
She also had guest spots in popular series like “The Golden Girls,” “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” and “Married… with Children.”
A memorable role for her was on Seinfeld. She portrayed Mabel, where she tussled with Jerry over a loaf of marble rye, showcasing her talent for comedic timing.
Another very famous role was when she played Grandma Gilmore in the film “Happy Gilmore,” where she played Adam Sandler’s character’s grandmother.
In 1997, she won a Gemini Award for her role on Road to Avonlea as a guest actress.
On Sept. 6, 2008, Frances Bay was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame. This was thanks to a 10,000 signature petition on her behalf and personal letters from Henry Winkler, David Lynch, Jerry Seinfeld and Adam Sandler.
Frances Bay died on Sept. 15, 2011 in California at the age of 92.
On Jan. 30, Sir Sam Steele died from the Spanish Flu. Steele was born in the Province of Canada on Jan. 5, 1848. He came from a military family and attended the Royal Military College of Canada. He served in the Canadian militia during the Fenian Raids in the 1860s, and also served in the Red River Resistance with the Canadians in 1870 although he arrived after the resistance was over.
In 1873, he became the third officer sworn into the North West Mounted Police. Starting as a staff constable, he was given his own command at Fort Qu’Appelle in 1878. He also met Sitting Bull when he and his people came to Canada for refuge.
During the North West Resistance, he participated in the Battle of Frenchman’s Butte. In the late-1890s, he became the commissioner of the Yukon and he helped make the Yukon Gold Rush the most orderly gold rush in history.
He then served in the Boer War with Strathcona’s Horse and was promoted to Lt. Colonel on March 7, 1900. Through the 1910s, he had various military commands in Canada and began to write his memoirs.
Steele enlisted to serve in the First World War and was made commander of the Second Canadian Division until it reached France. On Jan. 1, 1918, just over one year before he died, Steele was knighted.
On Feb. 17, Wilfrid Laurier died while serving as Liberal Leader and Leader of the Official Opposition. One of Canada’s greatest prime ministers, he served as Prime Minister from 1896 to 1911. His 15 straight years as Prime Minister is unequaled in Canadian history. He was succeeded by William Lyon Mackenzie King, who went on to serve as Prime Minister for 21 years, longer than anyone else.
He had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and paralysis the day before his death, saying to his wife, “this is the end.”
Upon his death, 50,000 people jammed the streets of Ottawa as his funeral procession marched to his final resting place at the Notre Dame Cemetery. His tomb features a stone sarcophagus, adorned by the sculptures of nine mourning female figures that represented the provinces in Canada at the time. The funeral procession of Laurier was one of the first public events in Canadian history to be captured on film.
During his time in the House of Commons, Laurier set many records. Not only the first Francophone prime minister, but he is also tied with Sir John A Macdonald for most consecutive federal elections won with four. His 45 years within the House of Commons remains a record and at 31 years and eight months, he is the longest serving leader of a major political party in Canada. With William Lyon Mackenzie King, he holds the distinction of serving during the reigns of three Canadian Monarchs. Overall, he is the fourth longest serving Prime Minister of Canada behind only King, Macdonald and Pierre Trudeau.
As Henry Bourassa, a long-time rival, would say, quote:
“The private virtues of the eminent statesman, his admirable qualities of the heart, that tireless, modest charity, the great dignity of his life, are reasons for trust and consolation of those who loved him.”
On April 17, New Brunswick gave the vote to most women. The vote came one year after Nova Scotia had given women the right to vote. It would be three years before Prince Edward Island followed suit and gave women the vote.
On May 3, the Yukon gave the vote to most women. Like most places, the vote was not extended to Indigenous or Asian women. The Yukon was the first territory to give women the vote. The Northwest Territories did not give women the vote until 1951.
On May 15 at 11 a.m., the Winnipeg General Strike began. Nearly everyone in the workforce of Winnipeg left the job and went on strike. This amounted to 30,000 workers in both the public and private sectors. This naturally caused a complete cessation of normal activities within the city. The police force voted in favour of the strike, and this is important for developments later, but the strike committee asked that they remain on duty. Workers in the water works for the city also remained on the job, but provided water service at a reduced pressure. Firefighters, postal workers and telegraph operators all took part in the strike.
At the start of the strike, participants would assemble in parks and listen to speakers provide reports on the strike, and to discuss social reforms. The strike committee also released a newspaper called the Strike Bulletin, which was published daily.
Unlike strikes of the past, women played a very important role and helped to build solidarity among the strikers. Helen Armstrong, known as Ma, was one of two women on the strike committee and she encouraged young women to join the strike and would often speak at meetings and street corners during the strike. The Women’s Labour League helped to raise money so women could pay their rent during the strike, and they also set up a kitchen that provided hundreds of meals a day to strikers.
Negotiations between the strike committee, city council and some businesses quickly started and it was agreed that milk and bread deliveries would continue and that the delivery men would not be seen as strike breakers. Each delivery wagon had a poster that stated, “Permitted by authority of strike committee”.
Opposition to the strike came together as its own committee of businessmen and professionals, who called themselves the Citizens’ Committee of One Thousand. They encouraged the businesses not to give in to the strikers, and they attempted to place the blame on immigrants coming to the city for the problems facing the working class. They stated that the immigrants were also the leaders of the strike.
By the end of the week, the acting Minister of Justice Arthur Meighen, future prime minister of Canada, and Minister of Labour Gideon Robertson, came to the Winnipeg and refused to meet with the Strike Committee, choosing instead to meet with the Citizen’s Committee of One Thousand.
The Canadian government then passed an amendment on the advice of the Citizen’s Committee, to the Immigration Act. This change allowed for the deportation, without trial, of any British citizen not born in Canada who were charged with a crime. In addition, the provincial government ordered all telephone employees to return to their job or lose employment. The government also broadened the definition of sedition against the government under the Criminal Code.
On June 5, Mayor Charles F Gray announced a complete ban on public demonstrations.
Four days after, the city dismissed the entire police force of Winnipeg because officers would not sign a pledge promising to neither belong to a union, or participate in a strike.
On June 17, the Royal North West Mounted Police arrested several prominent leaders of the strike including George Armstrong, R.B. Russell and others. Armstrong was the only among them who was not a British immigrant.
Two days later, the strike would reach its destructive climax.
On June 21, in the early hours of the day, several World War One veterans took to the street to demonstrate in a silent parade over the arrest of the strike leaders. Thousands of people came out in support and Mayor Gray demanded the end of the demonstration, which the soldiers refused to do. A streetcar driven by one of the members of the Committee of One Thousand came down Main Street to City Hall. Strikers saw this as a provocation and surrounded it, tipped it slightly and lit it on fire. Gray then told the Royal North West Mounted Police to go into the crowd on horseback, with clubs, to disperse them. After this failed, the mayor read the Riot Act from the steps of City Hall and the Mounted Police rode back into the he crowd, firing 120 shots from their revolvers as the protesters threw sticks and rocks. Two people were killed. In all, 30 people were injured, including four police officers. As well, 80 people were arrested by military patrols at Portage and Main.
On June 25 at 11 a.m., the strike was ended and workers went back to their jobs, if they had any. Many were blacklisted or punished by their employers. The metalworkers went back to work with no pay increase, many workers were jailed or deported and thousands lost their jobs.
Following the strike eight of the leaders were put on trial for conspiracy and prosecuted by members of the Citizen’s Committee. Seven, including Armstrong, were found guilty and sentenced to one year in jail, while Russell was given two. Abraham Heaps was the only one to serve as his own lawyer, and was the only one charged who did not do jail time.
On May 22, the Nickle Resolution was passed. It was put forward by Conservative MP William Folger Nickle put forward a motion regarding the honouring of Canadians. This came about after the knighting of Sam Hughes, who was the Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence during the war, serving from 1911 to 1916 until he was dismissed. He had been knighted in 1915 but mounting criticism for how he ran the Defense Department during the war would lead to his dismissal.
Prime Minister Borden disagreed with the process by which Canadians received the knighthood honour and in March of 1917 he would draft a policy that stated all names had to be put through the prime minister first, before going to Westminster.
Nickle disagreed with this, feeling that even the granting of hereditary titles was itself against the democratic values of Canada.
Those that disagreed with Nickle stated that he was only doing this out of spite because he had been unsuccessful in getting his father-in-law, Daniel Gordon, the principle of Queen’s University, a knighthood.
Despite these criticisms, Nickle was able to move his resolution the House of Commons, and he called for an address to be made to King George V that no knighthoods be grated to Canadians and that all titles held by Canadians at that point become extinct upon the death of the person.
The House of Commons passed the resolution, although oddly Nickel voted against the version put through. The motion never advanced on to the Senate and no address to the King was ever done.
On June 6, 1919, Canadian National Railway was formed, comprising several railroads that had gone bankrupt and fallen into the Government of Canada’s hands. It is Canada’s largest railway in terms of revenue and physical size, covering 32,000 kilometres of track and employing 22,600 people.
On June 28, Canada was one of the countries to sign the Treaty of Versailles. This marked another step for the country in a growing movement for more independence from the United Kingdom. While Canada had little input in the final treaty, Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden pushed for Canada to represent itself on the treaty. He believed that Canada paid a high price for representation through 60,000 dead. In the treaty, Canada was given its own membership at the League of Nations, the precursor to the United Nations.
On Sept. 9, John Howatt Bell became the 14th premier of Prince Edward Island. He had served in the General Assembly of Prince Edward Island from 1893 to 1898. From 1898 to 1900, he was in Parliament. then returned to the legislature in 1915. He led the Liberals in the Opposition since 1915 but in the 1919 election, he led the Liberals to their first election win since 1908. This made him the premier of the province, a role he served in until 1923. His government would give the vote to most women in the province. He also extended a road system for the province and highway improvement policy. He died six years after his election loss.
On Sept. 11, Daphne Odjig, one of Canada’s most celebrated Indigenous artists, was born. Born to Dominic & Joyce Odjig, her father met her mother while in England during the First World War. When Odjig was 13, she contracted rheumatic fever & had to stay at home recovering. It was there her grandfather Jonas & her parents encouraged her to explore art.
She called her grandfather her first mentor who nurtured her creative spirit. Her mother also embroidered and her father drew scenes from the First World War. Sadly, when she was 18, her mother and grandfather died and Odjig moved to Parry Sound, then Toronto.
While working in factories during the Second World War, she spent her spare time at art galleries. She moved to British Columbia after the war, and then to Manitoba in the 1960s. It was in Manitoba she earned acclaim for her pen and ink drawings of the Cree people.
In 1971, she opened Odjig Indian Prints of Canada in Winnipeg. Two years later, she co-founded the Professional Native Indian Artists Association. With this association, she is considered one of the Indigenous Group of Seven. The organization helped bring First Nations art to a wider art scene in Canada. In 1974, Odjig expanded her store and named it New Warehouse Gallery. It was the first Canadian gallery exclusively representing First Nations art.
Throughout the 1970s, Odjig’s art earned acclaim and her fame as an artist increased. Her style fused elements of pictographs with European techniques and 20th century styles. She was described as having an unsurpassed sense of colour in her artwork.
She had over 30 solo exhibitions and was part of over 50 group exhibitions during her career. From 2009 to 2010, The Drawings and Paintings of Daphne Odjig: A Retrospective Exhibition was held at the National Gallery of Canada.
Odjig continued to create art late in life, even as arthritis made painting difficult. She died in Kelowna on Oct. 1, 2016.
On Oct. 17, Violet Milstead was born in Toronto. Leaving school at 15 to work in her mother’s mill shop, she wanted to be a surgeon but then turned to aviation.
She saved up her money and took her 1st flying lesson on Sept. 4, 1939. Six months later, she had earned both her private & commercial aviation licenses. She began giving flight lessons to military personnel in 1941. In 1943, she joined the Air Transport Auxiliary.
During the war, she flew 47 different types of aircraft for wartime ferrying, including Hellcats, Mosquitos and Hawker Tempests. She had to learn the controls for each plane quickly. She typically flew 8 flights a day but earned 20% less than her male co-workers.
She logged 600 hours of flight time & was the longest serving female Canadian pilot in the ATA. After the war, she became a flight instructor. She then became the 1st female Canadian bush pilot. Working with men, she often dealt with sexual harassment.
In one incident, a male coworker grabbed her and tried to kiss her. She spun him around and threw him out the door. As time went on, these incidents steadily decreased. Milstead also taught other women to fly including Molly Reilly and June Callwood.
Today, Milstead is a member of the Bush Pilots Hall of Fame. In 2004, she was awarded the Order of Canada. In 2009, Canada Post released a stamp honouring her. In 2010, she was inducted into the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame.
On Oct. 18, 1919, Pierre Trudeau was born.
His father, Charles-Emile, owned a chain of gas stations, as well as the Montreal Royals baseball team.
Charles-Emile died when Pierre was 15 and he inherited $5,000.
As a university student, Trudeau joined the Canadian Officers’ Training Corp. In 1943, he graduated from Université de Montréal. He later attended Harvard and a university in Paris.
In 1948, Trudeau began to travel the world, returning in 1949 just in time for the Asbestos Strike. Trudeau took part in the strike, where the workers called him St. Joseph for how he dressed.
In 1965, Trudeau was recruited to join Liberal Party by Lester B. Pearson. He quickly rose in the party and in 1967, was appointed as the Minister of Justice.
As Minister of Justice, he put forward the massive Criminal Code amendment that, among other things, legalized homosexuality.
In 1968, only three years after he joined Parliament, Trudeau was chosen to replace Pearson, becoming Prime Minister.
Soon after he was sworn in, Trudeau called an election. Trudeaumania swept the country and he was able to guide the Liberals to their first majority government win since 1953.
For the next 11 years, Trudeau served as Prime Minister of Canada, winning elections in 1972 and 1974. During this first stretch as prime minister, Trudeau implemented official bilingualism in Canada. He also established a multicultural policy for the country, the first of its kind in Canada.
In addition, his government also abolished the death penalty in Canada and created Petro-Canada.
In 1970, the October Crisis erupted when the FLQ took British Trade Consul James Cross & Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte hostage. Laporte was later murdered. Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act, its first and only use in peacetime, to give the government sweeping powers during the crisis.
Trudeau’s government during this time also expanded unemployment insurance and amended the National Housing Act.
In 1971, he married Margaret Sinclair. The couple had three children together, including future prime minister Justin Trudeau. Pierre and Margaret separated in 1977 & divorced in 1984. Trudeau also had relationships with Margot Kidder and Barbara Streisand.
In 1991, with Deborah Coyne, he had a daughter, Sarah.
After losing the 1979 election, Pierre briefly led the Official Opposition before returning to power in 1980. During this next stretch as Prime Minister, he successfully campaigned for the Non side in the Quebec Referendum of 1980.
That same year, his government introduced the National Energy Program that received immense backlash from the Western Provinces, especially Alberta.
In 1982, his government succeeded in patriating the Constitution and created the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In 1984, Trudeau officially retired as Prime Minister and mostly moved away from the public eye.
He died on Sept. 28, 2000.
On Oct. 20, Ontario went through a provincial election. The election was won by the United Farmers of Ontario, a new party that had formed only recently. The party won 44 seats, to form a minority government. The party was able to govern with the help of 11 Labour MPPs and three independents to form a coalition government. The party’s leader, R.H. Halbert, did not run as he was a member of the House of Commons. Ernest Drury was chosen to lead the party and became the new premier of the province. The Conservatives finished with 25 seats, ending their 14 years in power after four straight majority governments. This would be the only election win for the United Farmers and the party would be out of the Legislature by 1943.
On Nov. 21, 1919, Eleanor Collins was born in Edmonton. When she was 15, she won a talent contest in the city. In 1938, she moved to Vancouver to pursue her singing career & began to sing on CBC Radio.
In 1948, she and her husband moved to Vancouver & her neighbours started a petition to prevent the family from moving in. In 1955, she was given her own show by CBC, The Eleanor Show. She was the first woman & first person of colour to host a TV show in North America.
Now called the First Lady of Jazz, Collins performed across Canada throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Often compared to Ella Fitzgerald, she performed for 80,000 people on Canada Day 1971 on Parliament Hill. She often performed with Oscar Peterson as well.
In 1992, she was inducted into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame. In 2014, she was awarded the Order of Canada, and in 2022, she was honoured with a commemorative stamp.
She died on March 3, 2024 at the age of 104.
On Dec. 13, 1919, the NHL approved the sale of the Arenas to Charles Querrie, who put up $5,000 for the team. The money was supposed to go to Eddie Livingstone but it is not believed that he ever received it. Many think that Frank Calder, president of the NHL, simply took the money for himself.
Nonetheless, the team was sold and it began operating on Dec. 22, 1919 under a new name, the Toronto St. Patricks.
Unfortunately for the Toronto St. Patricks, the Quebec Bulldogs returned to the NHL in the 1919-20 season and most of Toronto’s players went over to the Bulldogs. Coupled with new management and the poor performance from the previous season, the team was starting over as what would constitute an expansion team.
The St. Pats signed Cully Wilson who had been expelled from the Pacific Coast Hockey Association for giving a cheap shot on Mickey MacKay.
In the team’s first season under their new name, they finished third in the NHL in the first half of the season, and second in the second half of the season. Their combined record was 12 wins and 12 losses, but it was not good enough to make the playoffs.
As for Cully Wilson, he had a league leading 86 penalty minutes in 23 games, along with 26 points.
Throughout the entire year, the Spanish Flu raged through Canada, spread by returning soldiers to the country from the First World War. What began in 1918 got worse in 1919, leaving 50,000 Canadians dead. Unusual for other strains of influenza, this flu attacked those who were young and healthy, rather than the elderly, very young or those with pre-existing conditions. The spread of the Spanish Flu in Canada not only impacted many families, it also led to the establishment of the Department of Health in 1919.
