1949 in Canada

Events from the year 1949 in Canada.

← 1948 1947 1946 1949 in Canada → 1950 1951 1952
Decades:	1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s
See also:	History of Canada Timeline of Canadian history List of years in Canada

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – George VI^[1]

Federal government

• Governor General – the Viscount Alexander of Tunis^[2]
• Prime Minister – Louis St. Laurent
• Chief Justice – Thibaudeau Rinfret (Quebec)
• Parliament – 20th (until 30 April) then 21st (from 15 September)

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John C. Bowen
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Charles Arthur Banks
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Roland Fairbairn McWilliams
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – David Laurence MacLaren
• Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Albert Walsh (until September 15) then Leonard Outerbridge
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – John Alexander Douglas McCurdy
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Ray Lawson
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Joseph Alphonsus Bernard
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Eugène Fiset
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – John Michael Uhrich

Premiers

• Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning
• Premier of British Columbia – Boss Johnson
• Premier of Manitoba – Douglas Campbell
• Premier of New Brunswick – John McNair
• Premier of Newfoundland – Joey Smallwood
• Premier of Nova Scotia – Angus Macdonald
• Premier of Ontario – Thomas Laird Kennedy (until May 4) then Leslie Frost
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – J. Walter Jones
• Premier of Quebec – Maurice Duplessis
• Premier of Saskatchewan – Tommy Douglas

Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Commissioner of Yukon – John Edward Gibben
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Hugh Llewellyn Keenleyside

Events

Joseph Smallwood signs the document bringing Newfoundland into Confederation

• March 31 - Newfoundland becomes Canada's 10th province at a fraction of a second from April 1
• April 1 - Joey Smallwood becomes the first premier of Newfoundland as a Canadian province
• April 4 - Canada joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
• May 4 - Leslie Frost becomes premier of Ontario, replacing Thomas Kennedy
• June 27 - Federal election: Louis Saint Laurent's Liberals win a fourth consecutive majority
• August 22 - Queen Charlotte earthquake: Canada's largest earthquake since the 1700 Cascadia earthquake
• September 9 - Albert Guay affair: in-flight bombing of a Canadian Pacific Airlines DC-3 en route from Quebec City to Baie-Comeau
• September 14 - The Noronic, the largest Canadian passenger ship on the Great Lakes, is destroyed by a fire while docked in Toronto, killing 118

Full date unknown

• Canadian appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council are abolished, making the Supreme Court of Canada the country's top court
• British Columbia gives Asian-Canadians the vote
• Gustave Sherman establishes his custume jewellery business, Sherman & Company Ltd. in Montreal

Arts and literature

Pauline Marois

Awards

• See 1949 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Stephen Leacock Award: Angeline Hango, Truthfully Yours

Sport

• April 16 – The Toronto Maple Leafs win their eighth (third consecutive) Stanley Cup by defeating the Detroit Red Wings 4 games to 0. The deciding Game 4 was played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto
• May 16 – The Quebec Junior Hockey League's Montreal Royals win their only Memorial Cup by defeating the Manitoba Junior Hockey League's Brandon Wheat Kings 4 games to 3 (with 1 tie). The deciding game was played Shea's Amphitheatre in Winnipeg
• November 26 – The Montreal Alouettes win their first Grey Cup by defeating the Calgary Stampeders 28–15 in the 37th Grey Cup played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto
• Date unknown – The Edmonton Eskimos join the Western Interprovincial Football Union

Births

January to March

Marc Garneau

• January 24 - Guy Charron, ice hockey player
• February 14 - Denis Rocan, politician
• February 23 - Marc Garneau, astronaut, engineer and politician (d. 2025)
• March 1 - Jane Haist, discus thrower and shot putter (d. 2022)
• March 3 - Elijah Harper, politician (d. 2013)
• March 16 - Victor Garber, actor and singer
• March 25 - Jean Potvin, ice hockey player (d. 2022)
• March 29 - Pauline Marois, social worker, civil servant and 30th premier of Quebec
• March 30 - Liza Frulla, politician

April to June

Ray Henault

• April 4 - Nava Starr, chess player and a Women's International Master
• April 6 - Réginald Bélair, politician
• April 8 - Claudette Bradshaw, politician
• April 14 - Percy Mockler, politician and Senator
• April 16 - Sandy Hawley, jockey
• April 18 - Jean-Paul Saint-Pierre, politician, Mayor of Russell, Ontario (since 2010) (d. 2014)
• April 26 - Ray Henault, general and Chief of Defence Staff
• May 6 - Diane Ablonczy, politician
• May 20 - Sheldon Oberman, children's writer (d. 2004)
• May 20 - Dave Thomas, comedian and actor
• June 7 - Christopher W. Morris, philosopher and academic
• June 21 - Jane Urquhart, writer
• June 22 - Wayne Easter, politician

July to September

Danny Williams

• July 3 - Jan Smithers, actress
• July 11 - Liona Boyd, classical guitarist
• July 12 - Ted Barris, writer, journalist, professor, and broadcaster
• August 4 - Danny Williams, politician and 9th Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador
• August 13 - Bobby Clarke, ice hockey player
• August 21 - Larry Fisher, murderer (d. 2015)
• August 30 - Don Boudria, politician and Minister
• September 6 - Carole-Marie Allard, politician
• September 12 - Kevin Major, author
• September 26 - Marie Tifo, actress

October to December

Jim Flaherty

• October 10 - Michel Létourneau, politician (d. 2019)
• October 24 - Robert Pickton, serial killer and pig farmer (d. 2024)
• October 25 - Laurie Skreslet, mountaineer, first Canadian to reach the summit of Mount Everest
• October 27 - Garth Drabinsky, film and theatrical producer and entrepreneur
• November 27 - Nick Discepola, politician
• November 28 - Paul Shaffer, musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian and composer
• November 29 - Stan Rogers, folk musician and songwriter (d. 1983)
• December 13 - Denise Leblanc-Bantey, politician (d. 1999)
• December 19 - Larry Bagnell, politician
• December 21 - John Loewen, businessman and politician
• December 30 - Jim Flaherty, politician and Minister (d. 2014)

Full date unknown

• Zahra Kazemi, photographer, died in Iranian custody (d. 2003)

Deaths

January to June

• January 9 - Tom Longboat, long-distance runner (b. 1887)
• January 11 - John Wesley Brien, physician and politician (b. 1864)
• February 12 - Pegi Nicol MacLeod, artist (b. 1904)
• May 22 - Sir Douglas Alexander, 1st Baronet, British-born Canadian industrialist (b. 1864)^[3]
• June 2 - François Blais, politician (b. 1875)

July to December

• July 7 - Fred Wellington Bowen, politician (b. 1877)
• August 23 - Herbert Greenfield, politician and 4th Premier of Alberta (b. 1869)
• September 2 - Ian Alistair Mackenzie, politician and Minister (b. 1890)
• December 7 - Stanislas Blanchard, politician (b. 1871)
• December 16 - Albert Edward Matthews, 16th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (b. 1873)
• December 16 - Sidney Olcott, film producer, director, actor and screenwriter (b. 1873)

See also

• List of Canadian films

Historical documents

Illingworth cartoon depicts Stalin-shaped mushroom cloud overshadowing western Europe and North America^[4]

Joint US-Canadian defence strategy must address not only huge Soviet force in Europe, but its recently revealed atomic weapon capability^[5]

"This struggle [with Communism] is coming closer and closer" - Canada should be aware that it has U.S.S.R. on its northern border^[6]

Denial of NATO "automatic commitment" comes from old idea of U.S.A. and Canada as "producers and not consumers of security"^[7]

Despite disapproval, Canada would strengthen its Article 2 on cultural, economic and social collaboration in draft NATO treaty^[8]

After prolonged objection to NATO treaty Article 2 by U.S. Senators, they publicly praise it as one reason for ratification^[9]

U.S.A. undermines Canada's export economy and aid to European recovery, and unfairly criticizes defence spending^[10]

Discussion of suggested USA-UK-Canada federation, UK's place in Europe, and Europe's economic decline as world industrializes^[11]

"Spectre of starvation, not only of the body, but also of the mind" - Canadians organize for cultural reconstruction of Europe^[12]

Canada raises $1 million for aid to devastated countries, including 5,000 school food boxes, 30,000 library books, and artists' equipment^[13]

PM Nehru explains India's "championship of freedom and racial equality in Asia" and asks Canada's support for liberty and against want^[14]

National Film Board's history of independent international distribution bothers Department of External Affairs^[15]

"(UNESCO should reject) projects not likely to achieve immediately useful results" - Example of Canada's role as helpful fixer^[16]

Letters of appreciation about (and from) displaced persons brought from Europe by government to work in Canada^[17]

Cabinet orders immigration officials to "deal favourably" with German husbands, wives, children (under 18) and senior parents of legal residents^[18]

Given their unpopularity in Canada, External Affairs urged to be judicious about allowing Germans in^[19]

"Running a war and a wide-open immigration policy at the same time[ – there's] no alternative" - Newspaper columnist on Israel^[20]

Canadian leadership tries to settle dispute in refugee organization over Jewish emigration to Palestine conflict zone^[21]

Canadian diplomat on elimination of corruption and black market and other positive changes in China following Communist takeover^[22]

"Undesirable contacts" - Federal official is leery about stationing Black U.S. troops near Inuit^[23]

Hydro-electricity, boundary waters, roads and railways: Canada wants information on U.S. interest in northwestern North America^[24]

Historical and diplomatic reasons for retaining "Alert" name for joint U.S.-Canadian weather station on Ellesmere Island^[25]

"You are joining a good country" - Prime Minister St. Laurent's speech on Newfoundland's entry into Confederation^[26]

"The Catholic Syndicates appear to have shunned [a] settlement" - Violence and unspoken motivation behind Quebec's Asbestos Strike^[27]

Film: newsreel of strikers, strikebreakers and police in Asbestos, Quebec^[28]

"The most powerful social and moral authority in the community" - Sociologist says unions are replacing church in Windsor, Ont.^[29]

Discussions between George Hislop and Jim Egan are roots of Toronto-area gay liberation^[30]

Fearing recent total war effort may result in permanent checks on individual rights, senator introduces draft bill of rights^[31]

"A more complete[...]Canadian democracy" - Canadian Jewish Congress promotes national institutions for cultural understanding^[32]

Massey Commission suggests questions on influences and possibilities to Ernest MacMillan for his critical study of Canadian music^[33]

"A cultural renaissance[...]from the grass roots" - Calgary Allied Arts Council urges Massey Commission to back community arts^[34]

"A new and gifted player" - Jazz at the Philharmonic presents Oscar Peterson's debut at Carnegie Hall, New York^[35]

Film: newsreel of cruise ship burning in Toronto harbour with scores of lives lost^[36]

Advertisement: CP Air staged flight to Australia with Honolulu and Fiji stopovers^[37]