1969

From the big scrapbook of time, here’s a look at Canada in 1969-

January 1: The CBC and Radio-Canada’s television signals blanket 98.8 percent of all homes. CTV and its 48 affiliate stations now reach more than half of the homes in the nation.

Heinz will mark 100 years in Canada in 2009.

January 8: Citing growth and an expanding economy, food giant Heinz moves its headquarters from Leamington, Ontario to Mississauga. The company processes 100,000 tonnes of food annually in its Leamington factories. 

The Henry F. Hall Building at Sir George Williams University in downtown Montreal.

January 29: Some 400 students occupy the computer lab at Sir George Williams (Concordia) University in Montreal. They object to the administration’s poor handling of a professor who made a racist remark.

February 1: The Post Office will no longer deliver letters on Saturday. It’s part of the Postmaster General’s bid to save money. Her Majesty’s Royal Canadian Post will run its fourth deficit in a row—the Crown corporation will lose an unprecedented $90 million this year.

February 11: Student protesters destroy the main computer and set fire to the data centre at Sir George Williams (Concordia) University in Montreal. Riot police arrest 97 people. School officials estimate damage to be more than $2 million.

February 13: A massive bomb is set off at the Montreal Stock Exchange, ripping away the northeast wall. Though 27 people are seriously injured in the blast, no one is killed. Police suspect the FLQ, a group that wants an independent Quebec. Damage is estimated at $1 million.

February 19: The strike has lasted 18 months but teachers in Quebec are now ready to sign a new contract and go back into their classrooms. 

February 20:  Police forcibly remove student protesters who are barricaded in the president's office at the University of Windsor.

March 7: The 21st-millionth Canadian is born in Winnipeg. The Dominion Bureau of Statistics says there is a birth every 87 seconds somewhere in the country. 

March 7: Pierre-Paul Geoffroy—an admitted member of the Front du Liberation du Quebec (FLQ)--pleads guilty to charges connected with 31 bombings.

March 11: Gasoline will replace Gravy Train as the last of the RCMP dogsled teams are retired in favour of snowmobiles.

March 14: Megan Follows is born in Toronto. She will grow up to be a Gemini winning actress, best known for her portrayal of Anne of Green Gables, the heartwarming classic story set in Prince Edward Island.

Bright Land painted by Arthur Lismer in 1938.

March 23: Arthur Lismer is dead at the age of 84. The influential artist and writer belonged to the fabled Group of Seven who interpreted Canada’s wilderness through their unique style of paintings.

Parliament in Ottawa

March 26: Justice Minister Pierre Trudeau introduces his controversial Omnibus Bill into the House of Commons. Designed to overhaul the criminal code, it includes a provision to decriminalize homosexuality. 

March 27: Ottawa announces it will build an international airport outside of Montreal near the town of Mirabel. Plans call for it to be the largest airport in the world. It will open in 1975 but declining fortunes will cause the facility to be downgraded to cargo flights in 2004.

April 1: Quebec now recognizes civil marriages as being legal.

April 6: More than 5,000 angry citizens gather in Toronto to protest the United States’ military presence in Vietnam. 

April 8: Play ball! The Montreal Expos play their first game against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium.  New York fans are stunned as the Expos shut out the Mets 11 to nothing. The Expos will move to Washington, DC in 2004.

April 14: The Montreal Expos play their first home game at Jarry Park Stadium. The game is broadcast across the country. Many new terms have had to be created in French. The Expos beat the St. Louis Cardinals 8 to 7. 

May 2: Telesat Canada is established in Ottawa. In 2008 it will be the fourth-largest communication satellite company in the world. Its customers will include Bell ExpressVu, Star Choice and more than 200 TV stations.

May 3:  Jimi Hendrix is arrested for heroin possession at Toronto International Airport; The rock star is released on $10,000 bail.

May 4: The Stanley Cup goes home with the Habs as they trounce St. Louis four games to zip.

May 7: It is time to butt out as the CBC and Radio-Canada ban tobacco adverts on all of the public broadcasters' networks.

May 15: Maurice Joseph ‘Joe’ 'Phantom' Malone is dead in Montreal at the age of 79. The Sillery, Quebec native played centre. He held the record for second highest career goals in the first 50 years of the National Hockey Association--the NHL.

May 16: Yannick Bisson is born in Montreal. He will grow up to become an actor playing roles such as Agent Jack Hudson in the TV series Sue Thomas F.B. Eye and Inspector Murdoch in The Murdoch Mysteries. 

The Forillon Park covers 244 square kilometres.

May 23: Ottawa and Quebec City jointly announce plans to create the Forillon Park in the Gaspe—the first national park to be established in Quebec.

June 1: John Lennon and Yoko Ono mark the last day of their seven-day “Bed-in for Peace” in Suite 1742 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal. Today-in bed--they record the hit song Give Peace a Chance. 

 

June 2: The National Arts Centre opens in Ottawa. The $46 million building features rooftop gardens and spectacular views of the Rideau Canal.

June 9: Premier W. A. C. Bennett is in Castlegar, BC to dedicate the Keenleyside Dam on the Columbia River. Named for Hugh Keenleyside, Canada’s Ambassador to Mexico from 1944 to 1947, the dam is designed to control the flow of water into the Columbia River system, but a 185-mw power plant will be added in 2002.

June 25: Citizens of Manitoba elect their first-ever New Democratic government. Edward Richard Schreyer will be the NDP Premier.

June 27: By Royal Assent the law now legalizes birth control.

July 2: The University of Saskatchewan begins to operate the first school of veterinary medicine in western Canada.

July 3: Ending 71 years of service, the Caribou, a.k.a. the Newfie Bullet pulls into the St. John’s railway station for the very last time at eight o’clock this morning. The diesel engine has pulled four coaches, two dining cars, eight sleepers and a baggage car across the 881.599 kilometres (547.8 miles) of narrow gauge track. The train earned the nickname “Bullet” because it was so slow, taking 27 hours to cross the island of Newfoundland. Folks will now ride CN Roadcruisers—a fancy name for buses. The Bullet will become a tourist attraction at the Coastal Railway Museum in St. John's.

July 7: C’est la vie! Canada is officially bilingual. Civil servants will take language courses and whole generations of kids will attend bilingual immersion schools as the Official Languages Act receives Royal Assent.

July 20: More than 35,000 spectators gather around a large screen in Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square to watch American astronauts walk on the moon.

July 24: Rick Fox is born in Toronto. He will grow up to be an NBA star, playing for the Celtics and the Lakers before becoming a well-known actor.

August 19: It’s a boy for journalist Suzanne Perry and her actor/model husband John. Matthew will grow up in Ottawa and become a TV and movie star, best known for his roles on Friends and The West Wing.

August 25: Cameron Mathison is born in Sarnia, Ontario. He will graduate with a degree in Civil Engineering at McGill University before becoming a soap star on All My Children and then a TV game show and reality show host.

September – Toyota begins assembly of the Corolla in Point Edward, Nova Scotia.

September 1: Cable TV is a fast growing phenomenon. A total of 22.6 percent of all domestic households are wired for cable to date, a 3.5 percent increase over last year. Installation costs $5 in most parts of the country.

September 14: Ottawa and Washington exchange a flurry of diplomatic notes as an American oil tanker, Manhattan, negotiates the Northwest Passage without Canada’s permission. The United States considers the Arctic waterways to be open to international traffic. Canada does not.

October 8: Dylan Neal is born in Richmond Hill, Ontario. He will grow up to be an actor, best known for his roles on the TV shows Dawson Creek and Blood Ties.

October 13: A massive wave of riots takes place in Montreal. McGill University and the United States Consulate are stormed by furious crowds who object to Anglophone rights. Overwhelmed local law enforcement agencies receive assistance from the Ontario Provincial Police and 600 soldiers.

October 13: Police disperse more than 20,000 protesters in Quebec City. The crowd is opposed to a government bill to allow university students the right to study in English.

October 17: Rick Mercer is born in St. John’s, Newfoundland. He will grow up to become a comic, a network TV star best known for his roles on This Hour Has 22 Minutes and The Rick Mercer Report aired on the CBC.

October 23: During a power trial off the coast of Britain, the gearbox on the HMCS Kootenay explodes, killing nine sailors and injuring another 53. It is the worst peacetime disaster in Canadian Forces Maritime Command. The destroyer escort will be decommissioned in 1995.

November 1: Tahir “Tie” Domi is born in Windsor, Ontario. He will grow up to be an NHL player. He will skate for 17 seasons before retiring in 2006 to be a TSN broadcaster.

November 14: Athlete Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld has died in Toronto. She earned gold and silver medals at the 1928 Olympic Games held in Amsterdam. Voted “Female Athlete of the First Half of the 20^th Century,” she wrote a sports column for the Globe & Mail until 1966.

Quarterback Russ Jackson throws a record breaking four touchdowns during the 57th Grey Cup match.

November 30: The Ottawa Roughriders beat the Saskatchewan Roughriders for the right to take home the Grey Cup. The final score is 24 to 21.

December 1: Police may now administer Breathalyzer tests to drivers they believe to operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol.

December 9:  It’s a boy for Newfoundland playwright Michael Cook and partner Janis Spence. Son Sebastian Spence will grow up to will become an actor starring in popular TV shows including Dawson’s Creek, First Wave, Battlestar Galactica and Sophie.

December 22: Myriam Bedard is born in Neufchatel, Quebec. She will grow up to become a biathlete, bringing home two gold medals from the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway.

December 30: Canada’s most shameful slum neighbourhood will soon be razed. Africville—located near the city dump in Halifax—has been home to African Canadians for more than 150 years.

December 31: The Province of Ontario collects $411 million in driver’s permit and license fees. Prince Edward Island pockets $5.1 million.