1939 in Canada

Events from the year 1939 in Canada.

← 1938 1937 1936 1939 in Canada → 1940 1941 1942
Decades:	1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s
See also:	History of Canada Timeline of Canadian history List of years in Canada

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – George VI^[1]

Federal government

• Governor General – John Buchan^[2]
• Prime Minister – William Lyon Mackenzie King
• Chief Justice – Lyman Poore Duff (British Columbia)
• Parliament – 18th

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John C. Bowen
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Eric Hamber
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – William Johnston Tupper
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Murray MacLaren
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Robert Irwin
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Albert Edward Matthews
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – George DesBrisay DeBlois (until September 11) then Bradford William LePage
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Esioff-Léon Patenaude (until December 30) then Eugène Fiset
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Archibald Peter McNab

Premiers

• Premier of Alberta – William Aberhart
• Premier of British Columbia – Thomas Dufferin Pattullo
• Premier of Manitoba – John Bracken
• Premier of New Brunswick – Allison Dysart
• Premier of Nova Scotia – Angus Lewis Macdonald
• Premier of Ontario – Mitchell Hepburn
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – Thane Campbell
• Premier of Quebec – Maurice Duplessis (until November 9) then Adélard Godbout
• Premier of Saskatchewan – William John Patterson

Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Controller of Yukon – George A. Jeckell
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Charles Camsell

Events

• May 17 – King George VI and Queen Elizabeth begin their royal tour of Canada, eventually visiting every province and Newfoundland.
• September 3 – The Department of Labour establishes the Wartime Prices and Trade Board to control inflation.
• September 7 – Prime Minister Mackenzie King calls for a special session of Parliament, to discuss a declaration of war versus Nazi Germany. The session lasts until September 13.^[3]
• September 10 – World War II: Canada declares war on Germany, one week after the United Kingdom does so.
• September 11 – World War II: Canada establishes a High Commission of Canada in Australia. Australia reciprocates the next day.^[4]
• September 16 – World War II: The Royal Canadian Navy escorts the first of many transatlantic convoys.
• September 28 – World War II: Air training facilities are set up in Canada to train pilots from Britain and the rest of the Empire.
• October 25 – The Quebec election is won by the Liberals under Joseph-Adélard Godbout.
• December 17 – World War II: The 1st Canadian Infantry Division lands in Scotland en route to England. The division is accompanied by a team of announcers and technicians, who set up Radio Canada's overseas service.
• November 9 – Adélard Godbout becomes premier of Quebec for the second time, replacing Maurice Duplessis.

Year-long

• Canada expands its international presence by establishing High Commissions in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa.

Sport

• February 12 – The Trail Smoke Eaters win the 1939 Ice Hockey World Championships for Canada.
• April 16 – The Boston Bruins win their second Stanley Cup (and last until 1970) by defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 4 games to 1.
• April 17 – The Ontario Hockey Association's Oshawa Generals win their first Memorial Cup by defeating the Edmonton Junior Hockey League's Edmonton Athletic Club Roamers 3 games to 1. The deciding Game 4 was played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
• December 9 – The Winnipeg Blue Bombers win their second Grey Cup by defeating the Ottawa Rough Riders 8 to 7 in the 27th Grey Cup played in Lansdowne Park in Ottawa.

Births

January to March

• January 3 - Bobby Hull, ice hockey player (d. 2023)
• January 11 - Anne Heggtveit, alpine skier and Olympic gold medalist

Brian Mulroney

• January 14 - Martha Gibson, actress
• January 19 - Grant Notley, politician (d. 1984)
• February 3 - Ovid Jackson, politician
• February 10 - Adrienne Clarkson, journalist and 26th Governor General of Canada
• March 1 - Marlene Catterall, politician
• March 5 - Peter Woodcock, serial killer and child rapist (d. 2010)
• March 8 - Lynn Seymour, ballerina (d. 2023)
• March 17 - Bill Graham, politician (d. 2022)
• March 20 - Brian Mulroney, politician and 18th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 2024)
• March 26 - Patrick Lane, poet (d. 2019)

April to June

Joe Clark

• April 14 - Ian Binnie, jurist and puisne justice on the Supreme Court of Canada
• April 20 - Wayson Choy, writer (d. 2019)
• April 24 - Dan Hays, politician
• April 24 - Ernst Zündel, German-born neo-Nazi, Holocaust denier and pamphleteer (d. 2017)
• May 7 - Sidney Altman, molecular biologist, joint 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate (d. 2022)
• May 11 - Ken Epp, politician (d. 2022)
• May 16 - Roger Soloman, politician (d. 2021)
• May 26 - Gerry McAlpine, politician
• June 5 - Joe Clark, journalist, politician, statesman, businessman, professor and 16th Prime Minister of Canada
• June 23 - Jack MacIsaac, politician

July to September

• July 12 - David Bazay, television journalist (d. 2005)
• July 19 - Ray Turnbull, curler (d. 2017)
• July 25 - Catherine Callbeck, politician and 30th Premier of Prince Edward Island
• August 12 - Roy Romanow, politician and 12th Premier of Saskatchewan
• August 15 - Hardial Bains, founder and leader of Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) (d. 1997)
• August 21 - JoAnn Wilson, murder victim (d. 1983)
• August 23 - Isabel Bassett, broadcaster and politician
• August 31 - Dennis Lee, poet and children's writer
• September 1 - Jake Epp, politician
• September 2 - Henry Mintzberg, academic and author on business and management
• September 4 - Jim Penner, businessman and politician (d. 2004)
• September 10 – Jim Pappin, ice hockey player (d. 2022)
• September 11 – Lyse Richer, administrator and music teacher
• September 30 - Len Cariou, actor

October to December

• October 5 - Marie-Claire Blais, novelist, poet and playwright (d. 2021)
• November 6 - Joyce Fairbairn, Senator and first woman to serve as Leader of the Government in the Senate (d. 2022)
• November 18 - Margaret Atwood, author, poet, critic, feminist and social campaigner
• November 23 - Bill Bissett, poet
• November 30 - Louis LeBel, jurist and puisne justice on the Supreme Court of Canada
• December 2 - Francis Fox, politician, minister and senator
• December 21 - Lloyd Axworthy, politician and minister
• December 24 - James Bartleman, diplomat, author and 27th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario

Full date unknown

• Michael Estok, poet (d. 1989)
• Michael Overs, businessman, founder and owner of Pizza Pizza Limited (d. 2010)
• Tony Parsons, journalist and television news anchor
• Robin Spry, filmmaker and television producer (d. 2005)

Deaths

• January 24 - Alfred Edmond Bourgeois, politician (b. 1872)
• March 7 - Sir Joseph Flavelle, businessman (b. 1858)
• March 8 - Henry Pellatt, financier and soldier (b. 1859)
• May 6 - Edward S. Rogers, Sr., inventor and radio pioneer (b. 1900)
• July 12 - Fernand Rinfret, politician (b. 1883)
• August 21 - Francis Patrick O'Connor, businessman, politician and philanthropist (b. 1885)
• November 12 - Norman Bethune, physician and medical innovator (b. 1890)
• November 28 - James Naismith, sports coach and innovator, inventor of basketball (b. 1861)
• December 22 - Herbert James Palmer, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island (b. 1851)
• December 27 – Napoléon Turcot, politician (b. 1867)

Full date unknown

• Constance Piers, journalist, poet and editor (b. 1866)^[5]

See also

• List of Canadian films

Historical documents

With crisis in Europe, MP suggests Canada follow up on Statute of Westminster by declaring neutrality and following America-oriented defence policy^[6]

Labour Day finds fighters and nurses enlisting for overseas service and Red Cross rushing its wartime planning^[7]

Editorial says Canada and Commonwealth are "one and indivisible, [and] pledged unwaveringly to the support of the Mother Country"^[8]

Before declaring war, PM King asks Commons for "authority for effective cooperation by Canada at the side of Britain"^[9]

MP J.S. Woodsworth interrogates "cooperation," unspoken government policy, and whether Canada is already in war^[10]

"We cannot be at peace while the head of this Empire is at war" - Sen. Arthur Meighen insists Canada enter European conflict^[11]

Canada's declaration of war against German Reich^[12]

Editorial says PM King, in choosing home defence over expeditionary force, is not giving "definite leadership"^[13]

Regimen for Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry's transport ship includes lectures, training and organized games^[14]

Enlisted man's 1939 surprises: Poland's fall weeks after invasion, and Christmas invitation given on his first day in England^[15]

Editorial says "equality of sacrifice," essential to war effort, must include fairness in agricultural costs, prices and margins^[16]

British meals depend on Canada for breakfast porridge and (with other wheat exporters) bread, and cheese, tinned soup, and suet in pudding at tea^[17]

MP A.A. Heaps advocates joining other countries in welcoming refugees from persecution^[18]

Mentioning uranium ore in Canada and German-occupied Czechoslovakia, Einstein urges President Roosevelt to back atomic energy research^[19]

"Only a mile from home" - Eleven-year-old student Andrew Gordon from Gordon's reserve residential school dies of exposure walking home^[20]

Supreme Court finds tavern, in absence of specific law, has "freedom of commerce" to not serve Black man^[21]

Law professor comments on Quebec's Padlock Law allowing police to seal premises and arrest occupants deemed "communistic"^[22]

Private intelligence agency offers to spy on corporation's workers to detect "plots, plans and unrest"^[23]

Mao's appreciation of Norman Bethune - "We must all learn the spirit of absolute selflessness from him"^[24]

Poster: "Time Is Life" depicts Bethune riding a galloping horse^[25]

King George VI - "It is my earnest hope that my present visit may give my Canadian people a deeper conception of their unity as a nation."^[26]

Woman records her excitement over 1939 royal tour of George VI and Elizabeth in her diary^[27]

Film of royal tour's stops in Calgary, Banff, Vancouver and Victoria^[28]

CBC chairman tells House committee move into television will not come soon because of its current technical and financial limitations^[29]

Course in interior decoration includes hands-on stitching, glazing, block-printing, weaving, lettering, etc., etc.^[30]

Photo: children work on their art projects in Arthur Lismer's children's art classes in Toronto^[31]

Calling "more friendly relations" essential to world progress, bank's advertisement pledges friendship in its service^[32]