1904

From the big scrapbook of time, here’s a look at Canada in 1904-

Canadian Winter, 1931.

January 4: Margaret Nicol is born in Listowel, Ontario. She will grow up to become an artist, Marry Norman Macleod in 1940 and establish an arts centre for students attending the University of New Brunswick. She will die of cancer in 1949, leaving behind a rich legacy of more than 100 paintings.

March 11: The Ottawa Silver Seven beat the Brandon Wheat Kings two games to zip and lay claim to Lord Stanley’s Cup.

A modern seismometer.

March 21: At 2.04 Atlantic Time an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 on the Richter scale is felt through much of the Maritimes and New England. Covering some 400,000 square kilometres, the epicentre is Passamaquoddy Bay, separating the State of Maine from the Province of New Brunswick. Fortunately, damage is light—there are reports of damaged chimneys up and down the coast.

March 21: Jehane Patenaude Benoît is born in Montréal. She will study at the Cordon Bleu in Paris and receive a degree in food science from the Sorbonne in 1925. The renowned chef will write more than 30 cookbooks, run a vegetarian restaurant in the 1930s and become a well-loved TV chef on Radio-Canada and CBC-TV before her death in 1987.

April 8:  After 200 years of wrangling with Britain, France signs an agreement to give up some of its territorial claims on Newfoundland in exchange for cash and territories in Africa.

April 11: Founded in 1785 as the capital of the Colony of Cape Breton, the City of Sydney is incorporated. It will be merged into a regional municipality on August 1, 1995.

A 1904 Packard Model L. 

April 15: The first Toronto Automobile Show opens. Ford, Packard and Ivanhoe are among the exhibits on display. 

April 16: Marie-Rose Angelina Yvonne Lussier is born in Montréal. She will grow up to become an actress, change her name Fifi D’Orsay and star in many Hollywood movies. She will die of cancer in 1983 and be buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California.

April 19: Fire breaks out at 58 Wellington Street West in Toronto. The flames spread quickly, fanned by strong winds. Firefighters from as far away as Hamilton and Buffalo, New York come to the rescue. By the time the blaze is out, 104 buildings have been destroyed and more than $10 million in damage is done. Astonishingly there is no loss of life in the Great Toronto Fire.

April 24: Paul-Émile Léger is born in Valleyfield, Québec. He will grow up to become a Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church. Cardinal Leger will die of pneumonia in 1991 and his remains will be interred in Mary Queen of the World Cathedral in Montreal. 

May 14: Canada participates in the Olympics for the first time as an independent nation. Montréal fireman Étienne Desmarteau brings home our first-ever gold medal for the hammer throw.  George Seymour Lyon will also earn gold for golf during the Olympiad.

May 14: A pair of moose is imported to the Dominion of Newfoundland from the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The mighty beasts are not native to the island and with no natural predators, they will be responsible for many highway deaths over the years.

July 9: The Peterborough Lift Lock is open to marine traffic. The boat lift was built on the Otonabee River in the Town of Peterborough, Ontario.  Lock number 21 on the Trent-Severn Waterway, it features dual lifts and is the highest hydraulic boat lifts in the world, rising 19.8 metres.  Using 15,000 tonnes of metal and 20,000 square metres of concrete, the Peterborough Lock is the largest in the world. When complete, the waterway will stretch all the way to Lake Huron.

June 11: The Turbine docks in Sydney, Nova Scotia. The fastest ship in the world, she is the first steam turbine ship to ever cross the Atlantic Ocean. 

June 15: Medicine Hat in the North-West Territories is the scene of a great deal of excitement as drillers find a large gas field. An economic boom is expected.

June 18: The last of the square timber rafts departs the nation’s capital, headed down the Ottawa River.

June 24: The North West Mounted Police become the Royal Northwest Mounted Police by decree of King Edward VII, as the force marks 30 years of service. The nation’s law and order organization will become the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1920.

July 3: The Intercolonial Railway begins service of its posh new Halifax to Montréal passenger service. The trip is 1,400 kilometres long. The Ocean Limited will run six days a week and stop only at selected urban centres along the way.

July 22: Donald Hebb is born in Chester, Nova Scotia. He will grow up to be an eminent psychologist, spending his entire life studying neurons and their connection to learning. The Father of Neuropsychology will be laid to rest in 1985.

August 17: The Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited opens its doors in Windsor, Ontario. The deal struck between Henry Ford and Gordon McGregor will endure into the 21st Century. 

August 31: The Canadian Pacific Railway begins its annual Harvest Excursion from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Hundreds of young men from the Martimes take the trip to the Northwest (Saskatchewan and Alberta) to help reap the grain. It is hoped that “weird tales from along the route of fighting, stealing, blood, and carnage will be lacking this year.”

September 2: Thousands of Londoners are on hand to welcome Captain John Voss as he docks in a 10.9-metre red cedar dugout Nootka Indian canoe. The 65,000-kilometre voyage of the Tilikum, from Vancouver, by way of Australia, has taken three years, three months and twelve days. The craft will go on display at the Maritime Museum in Victoria, British Columbia on January 8, 1965.

September 7:  Matthew Henry Halton is born in Pincher Creek, Alberta. He will grow up to become a newspaper journalist and start work as a radio reporter for the CBC in 1938. His reports from the front during World War Two will make him a household name. The internationally renowned broadcaster will die in 1956.

September 14: Francis “Frank” Amyot is born in Ottawa. He will grow up to become an athlete, winning the only gold medal for Canada at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. The world’s best canoe racer will be inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1955 and die in 1962.

September 29: Lord Grey is named the new Governor General. He will replace his brother-in-law, Lord Minto.  

October 1: The price of kerosene oil for lamps in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia is 26 cents for an Imperial gallon or 5.7 cents a litre.

October 8: Edmonton is incorporated as a city in the North-West Territories. Established in 1795 as a Hudson Bay Post, the current population is 8,350 people. 

The CGS Neptune in Hudson Bay.

October 12: The CGS Neptune arrives in Halifax harbour. The ship has returned from the Arctic where it laid claim for Canada to the eastern Arctic and Hudson Bay. A Royal North-West Mounted Police detachment was established in Fullerton Bay.

October 20: Thomas Clement Douglas is born in Scotland. He will come to Canada with his family when he is six. He will grow up to become a Baptist minister and then enter politics to become leader of the Cooperative of Commonwealth Farmers—today’s New Democratic Party. He will be premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961 and introduce the radical idea of universal health care to its citizens.  Leading the NDP federally until 1979, he will die of cancer in 1983. Douglas will be voted the most influential Canadian of the 20^th Century in a 2004 survey conducted by the CBC.

A Laurier election poster. 

November 3: Prime Minister Sir Wilfred Laurier and his Liberals win the federal election, taking Robert Borden and his Conservatives down to defeat. The Grits hold 139 seats and the Tories will have 75 when the House of Commons next sits. 

Sunday Drive by Jean-Paul Lemieux.

November 18: Jean-Paul Lemieux is born in Québec City. He will grow up to become an artist—one of the most important in  the 20^th Century.

November 26: Armand Frappier is born in Valleyfield, Québec. His mother will die of tuberculosis when he is quite young and he will vow to eradicate the disease by becoming a doctor. Armand will become a world expert in the field of tuberculosis, establishing the Institut de microbioligie et d’hygiène de Montréal and serve as director for nearly 40 years. King George VI will make him an officer in the Order of the British Empire. Dr. Frappier will die in 1991. The Québec government will establish the Frappier Prize in 1993, an award given to scientists in honour of their careers. Canada Post will honour the pioneer physician with a stamp in 2003.

December 15: The Royal Navy announces it will close its Imperial dockyard in Halifax by year’s end. More than 300 men will lose their jobs as a result. It is hoped the newly formed Canadian Navy will take over the sprawling facility, established in 1770. 

December 18: Wilfred Arthur Charles Carter is born in Port Hilford, Nova Scotia. He will grow up to become a country singer, famous for his three-in-one yodeling technique. Wilf will win many awards and perform for millions of fans until he is 86 years old and die in 1996 at the age of 91.

December 31: The year has closed and workers at the Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited has built approximately 25 horseless carriages, though none has sold, yet.

1986

From the big scrapbook of time, here’s a look at Canada in 1986—

The 1986 Dodge Caravan is built in Windsor, Ontario. The minivan is so popular, a third shift will have to be added.

 January 9: Health workers attending the Ontario Hospital Association Conference in Toronto are assured that contracting AIDS from non-sexual contact with a patient is a very low risk.

January 20: The federal government cuts family allowances. Critics point out that the $16 million saved this year will force many poor families into deeper poverty. 

January 22: Police investigation reveals that Air India Flight 182 crashed as a result of a bomb exploding on board. A total of 329 people were killed—280 of them Canadians.

January 31:  The Canadian dollar hits an all-time low. Our dollar is worth only 70.2 cents US in international markets.

It's one of the worst rail disasters in national history; 23 are dead and 71 injured.

 February 8: At 8.43 MST, a VIA Rail passenger train hits a CN freight train head on, 17 kilometres east of Hinton, Albert.

Tommy Douglas will be voted the most important politician of the 20th Century.

February 24: After a five-year battle with cancer, former New Democratic Party leader Tommy Douglas is dead. Douglas was the man responsible for bring Medicare to all Canadians. Prime Minister Mulroney pays tribute, calling him one of the nation’s “great humanitarians and a truly great parliamentarian.” 

February 27: Hockey star Jacques Plante is dead in Switzerland at the age of 57.  “Jake the Snake’s” NHL career stretched from 1952 to 1975. He started wearing a goalie’s mask in 1959 after an on-ice incident and made it part of everyday equipment. 

The Honourable John Crosbie will be appointed as the 12th Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland & Labrador in 2008.

 March 4: Justice Minister John Crosbie announces sweeping changes. Mandatory retirement at the age of 65 and discrimination against homosexuals will be illegal in all areas where Ottawa has jurisdiction.

March 10: Senator Jacques Hebert starts a 21-day hunger strike. He is protesting Ottawa’s cancellation of the highly popular Katimavik youth exchange programme, founded as  non-profit organization by the Liberal Government in 1977.

March 15: Our women’s field hockey team beats England 3 to 1 at Wembley Stadium.

March 19: Prime Minister Mulroney and US President Reagan ink a deal to tackle the international issue of acid rain.

Shirley Carr, 1929-2010

May 1: Shirley Carr is elected president of the powerful Canadian Labour Congress. She is the first woman to hold the position.  The CLC speaks for nearly 60 percent of all unionized workers across the country.

May 23:  Simon Reisman represents Canada and Peter O. Murphy represents the United States. The two men and their teams sit down to the table and begin to negotiate the Free Trade Agreement.

May 2: Anne Murray has another Number One song as Now and Forever (You and Me) hits the top of the charts in the United States. The Nova Scotia songbird will sell more than 54 million albums by 2009.

Prince Charles and Princess Diana ride Vancouver's new SkyTrain. They are seen here at Patterson Station.

May 2: Prince Charles and Princess Diana are in Vancouver to open Expo 86. The 60,000 people on hand for the ceremonies don’t appear to mind the wind and rain any more than the royal couple.

May 2: Dr. Wilbert Keon performs the nation’s first artificial heart transplant at the Ottawa Civic Hospital. Noella Leclair, age 42, is implanted with a Jarvik 7- 70 heart that will keep her alive until a human heart can be found.

May 8: Health and Welfare Canada issues a warning that people should not drink rainwater because of high levels of radioactive iodine are present—most likely from the recent Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union.

May 23: The US Department of Commerce slaps a 15-percent tariff on cedar shakes and shingles coming into the country from Canada. The softwood lumber dispute will become one of the longest trade ‘wars’ in history. The London Court of International Arbitration will rule in favour of the United States in 2009.

May 24: The Habs whip the Calgary Flames four games to one and earn the Stanley Cup.

June 1: Divorce laws in Quebec get a complete overhaul. Marriage breakdown is now the sole reason for ending a relationship. Couples may petition jointly to dissolve a marriage.

June 1: Canada makes its first showing at the FIFA Soccer World Cup match. We lose to Mexico two to zip. Argentina will go on to beat England, when goalie Diego Maradona makes his famous "hand of God"goal.

June 3:  Writer Margaret Atwood receives the Governor General Award for The Handmaid’s Tale. It is her second time to receive the prestigious prize. The science fiction story will be made into an award-winning movie in 1990.

June --: The first Subway restaurant in Canada opens in St. John’s, Newfoundland.  In 2013 the fast food chain will operate 2,891 restaurants throughout the country.

The Prince County Hospital in Summerside, Prince Edward Island opened in 1912. It was the first hospital in the province outside of Charlottetown.

June 4: The Prince County Hospital in Summerside will no longer offer abortions. Women from PEI will have to travel to another province for the procedure.

June 12: Doctors in Ontario walk off the job to protest Queen Park’s legislation that forbids extra

billing for medical procedures and consultations.

June 20: He has been mayor of Montreal for 32 years but ill health forces His Worship, Jean Drapeau to announce his retirement from public life. 

Hank Snow's first guitar cost $12.95.

July 21: It is Hank Snow Week in Nova Scotia says Premier John Buchanan to the 500 people gathered at a banquet in Halifax to honour the 72-year old country legend. Snow was born in Liverpool, Nova Scotia and ordered his first guitar from the Eaton’s Catalogue.

Nations belonging to the British Commonwealth are shown in the olive green colour.

August 4: Canada and five other Commonwealth countries impose economic sanctions on the Republic of South Africa to protest that nation’s apartheid practices.

August 11: Two lifeboats crammed with 155 Tamil refugees are discovered adrift 11 kilometres off the coast of St. Shotts, Newfoundland.  They had been dumped off a German cargo ship three days ago. Captain Gus Dalton brings the women and children aboard the Atlantic Reaper. The Canadian Coast Guard brings the men safely to shore.

The first World AIDS Day will be marked in 1988.

August 12: The Canadian Medical Association requires any doctor treating someone with AIDS to report the case to health authorities because the epidemic outweighs doctor-patient confidentiality. A spokesman for the CMA tells reporters there are currently 662 cases of the mystery disease and 339 Canadians have died.

August 17: the United Church of Canada is the nation's largest Protestant denomination. Leaders announce the church will eliminate male-dominant references in worship, literature and song. King will become God and kingdom will become Dominion. The Father, the Son and Holy Spirit can stay--for the time being.

Axel Heiberg Island was claimed by Norway until 1930 when it became part of Canada.

August 29: Excited but very puzzled scientists have discovered the mummified remains of a tropical forest on Axel Heiberg Island in the Northwest Territories—1,100 kilometres from the North Pole. The trees were 35 metres tall and at least 500 years old.

September 14: The Toronto Festival of Festivals awards its two top prizes to The Decline of the American Empire—a Denys Arcand movie about modern sexual attitudes.The film will win nine Genies and be nominated for an Oscar.

September 16: Thanks to Queen Elizabeth, the Saskatchewan coat of arms is now augmented with a crest and supporters.

The Terror and the Erebus were last seen in August of 1845. The remains of the ill-fated expedition will be discovered in 1985.

 September 23: An anthropologist at the University of Alberta tells the press that the crew members of the long-lost 1845 Franklin expedition, found last summer, were not cannibals but died of hunger and tuberculosis. Captain Franklin had hoped to find the Northwest Passage to China.

The Speaker's Chair in the House of Commons is an exact replica of the chair in Britain's Parliament. It was presented as a gift to Canada on May 20th, 1921 by the United Kingdom Branch of the Empire Parliamentary Association.

September 30: For the first time in parliamentary history, MPs vote for the Speaker of the House by casting secret ballots. The Speaker's job is to hear questions from the Members of Parliament and pose them to the Government of the Day.

The Nansen Refuge Award was established in 1954 in honour of Fridtjof Nansen, the first League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the 1922 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

October 6: The UN honours Canada with an award for our generosity in sheltering refugees.

October 7:  A Royal Commission on employment in Newfoundland and Labrador reveals that one in three Newfoundlanders is functionally illiterate. That helps to explain why unemployment is 33.2 percent and only six percent of Newfoundlanders go to university.

October 13: Expo 86 is over. The 22 million visitors had a good time in Vancouver. The World’s Fair is $310 million in the red but the shortfall will be recouped through future lottery earnings.

Richard Manuel played with The Band and Ronnie Hawkins & the Hawks.

October 28: Rock star Richard Manuel commits suicide in a Florida motel room at the age. His wife will wake up in the morning to find his body hanging from a noose. The singer, keyboard and drum will be buried in his hometown of Stratford, Ontario.

Claude Jutra's body will be identified by a note found in his pocket that read, "I am Claude Jutra."

November 5: Claude Jutra dies by his own hand. He swam out into the St. Lawrence River and disappeared. The celebrated writer, actor and director had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. He is remembered for such movie classics as Mon Oncle Antoine, Kamouraska and Riel. The Prix Jutra will be named for him, to honour his importance in Quebec’s film world.

November 10: The Juno Awards are hosted by Howie Mandel at the Harbour Castle Hilton in Toronto. Like last year, Luba and Bryan Adams win Best Male and Female Vocalist Junos. Album of the Year Juno goes to The Thin Red Line by Glass Tiger and Best Single goes to Glass Tiger for their hit, Don’t Forget Me When I’m Gone.

The Franco-Ontarian flag was hoisted up the flagpole for the first time at Sudbury University on September 25, 1975.

November 18:  Franco-Ontarians get an early Christmas present. Queen’s Park will offer services in French as well as English. MPPs from all parties approved Bill 8 unanimously. It is expected to take three years to implement the legislation.

The Ti-Cats win the Grey Cup for the first time since 1972.

November 30:  The Edmonton Eskimos and the Hamilton Tiger Cats square off for Lord Grey’s Cup in Vancouver's BC Place in front of a crowd of 59,000 fans. The Ti-Cats trounce the Eskimos, the final score is 39 to 15.

Ford’s 1986 Bronco, the last year for the third generation in the series, is popular with the 4x4 crowd for on-road and off-road expeditions.

December 2:  A six-volume report on pollution is released by the federal government. The study shows that 14,000 lakes from Ontario to Nova Scotia are dead and another 40,000 “seriously threatened.” In some parts of the country, the “veil of acidity” is as strong as vinegar.

Canda Post will honour John C. Polanyi with a stamp on October 1st, 2011.

December 10:  King Carl Gustav XIV of Sweden presents the Nobel Prize for chemistry to John Polanyi. The modest scientist from the University of Toronto discovered that molecules interact in chemical reactions, giving us the chemical laser.