1916 in Canada

Events from the year 1916 in Canada.

Crown

 * Monarch – George V

Federal government

 * Governor General – Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (until November 11) then Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire
 * Prime Minister – Robert Borden
 * Chief Justice – Charles Fitzpatrick (Quebec)
 * Parliament – 12th

Lieutenant governors

 * Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Robert Brett
 * Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Francis Stillman Barnard
 * Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Douglas Colin Cameron (until August 3) then James Albert Manning Aikins
 * Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Josiah Wood
 * Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – David MacKeen (until November 13) then MacCallum Grant (from November 29)
 * Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – John Strathearn Hendrie
 * Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Augustine Colin Macdonald
 * Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Pierre-Évariste Leblanc
 * Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Richard Stuart Lake

Premiers

 * Premier of Alberta – Arthur Sifton
 * Premier of British Columbia – William John Bowser (until November 23) then Harlan Brewster
 * Premier of Manitoba – Tobias Norris
 * Premier of New Brunswick – George Johnson Clarke
 * Premier of Nova Scotia – George Henry Murray
 * Premier of Ontario – William Hearst
 * Premier of Prince Edward Island – John Mathieson
 * Premier of Quebec – Lomer Gouin
 * Premier of Saskatchewan – Thomas Walter Scott (until October 20) then William Melville Martin

Commissioners

 * Commissioner of Yukon – George Black (until October 13) then George Norris Williams (acting)
 * Gold Commissioner of Yukon – George P. MacKenzie
 * Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Frederick D. White

January to June

 * January 28 – Women are given the right to vote in Manitoba, after protests by people such as Nellie McClung
 * February 3 – The Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa burns down
 * February 10 – An anti-German riot hits Calgary
 * March 14 – Saskatchewan women get the vote
 * April 19 – Alberta women get the vote
 * June – Rodeo's first side-delivery chute is designed and made by the Bascom brothers on their Bar-B-3 Ranch at Welling, Alberta.
 * May 7 – The Government of Canada authorizes the creation of an all black battalion that became No. 2 Construction Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force.
 * June 1 – June 13 – WWI: Canadians fight in the Battle of Mont Sorrel

July to December

 * July 1 – Prohibition of alcohol introduced in Alberta
 * July 1 – November 18 25,000 Canadians and Newfoundlanders are casualties at the Battle of the Somme
 * July 24 – Earl Bascom enters his first steer riding contest at Welling, Alberta.
 * July 29 – The Matheson Fire in the region northwest of North Bay, Ontario, begins. It eventually kills between 200 and 250 people and destroys six towns, including Matheson and Cochrane
 * August 11 – The 4th Canadian Division arrives in France
 * October 20 – William M. Martin becomes premier of Saskatchewan, replacing Walter Scott
 * November 23 – Harlan Brewster becomes premier of British Columbia, replacing William John Bowser
 * December 1 – An Order in Council authorizes an increase of troops to 500,000 in the First World War

Full date unknown

 * Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire becomes Governor General of Canada replacing Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught
 * The National Research Council of Canada is established.
 * The first Doukhobors arrive in Alberta
 * Emily Murphy became the first female magistrate in Canada, and in the British Empire.

New works

 * Lucy Maud Montgomery – The Watchman & Other Poems
 * Max Aitken – Canada in Flanders
 * Alfred Laliberté – Les petits Baigneurs

Sport

 * March 30 – The National Hockey Association's Montreal Canadiens beat the Portland Rosebuds of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association 3 games to 2  to win their first Stanley Cup. All Games were played at the Montreal Arena

January to June

 * January 22 – Bill Durnan, ice hockey player (d.1972)
 * February 4 – Pudlo Pudlat, artist (d.1992)


 * February 10 – Claude Bissell, author and educator (d.2000)
 * February 18 – Jean Drapeau, lawyer, politician and Mayor of Montreal (d.1999)
 * February 23 – Molly Kool, North America's first registered female sea captain (d.2009)
 * March 10 – Davie Fulton, politician and judge (d.2000)
 * April 18 – Ian Wahn, politician and lawyer (d.1999)
 * April 27 – Myfanwy Pavelic, artist (d.2007)
 * May 3 – Léopold Simoneau, lyric tenor (d.2006)
 * May 4 – Jane Jacobs, urbanist, writer and activist (d.2006)
 * May 30 – Jack Dennett, radio and television announcer (d.1975)
 * June 20 – Jean-Jacques Bertrand, politician and 21st Premier of Quebec (d.1973)

July to December

 * July 16 – John Gallagher, geologist and businessman (d.1998)
 * July 21 – Wilfred Cantwell Smith, professor of comparative religion (d.2000)
 * August 1 – Anne Hébert, author and poet (d.2000)
 * September 5 – Frank Shuster, comedian (d.2002)
 * September 18 – Laura Sabia, social activist and feminist (d.1996)
 * October 9 – Bill Allum, ice hockey player (d.1992)
 * October 30 – Roy Brown Jr., car design engineer (Edsel, Ford Consul, Ford Cortina) (d.2013)
 * November 17 – Martin J. Légère, businessman (d.2013)
 * November 23 – P. K. Page, poet (d.2010)
 * December 5 – Lomer Brisson, politician and lawyer (d.1981)
 * December 7 – Margaret Carse, dancer
 * December 16 – Harry Gunning, scientist and administrator (d.2002)
 * December 20 – Michel Chartrand, activist (d.2010)
 * December 23 – Ruth Dawson, artist

Full date unknown

 * John Wintermeyer, politician (d.1994)

Deaths

 * February 3 – Bowman Brown Law, politician (b.1855)
 * May 12 – Joseph-Aldric Ouimet, politician (b.1848)
 * May 29 – Louis-Alphonse Boyer, politician (b.1839)
 * June 27 – Daniel Webster Marsh, businessman and Mayor of Calgary (b.1838)
 * July 28 – Pierre-Amand Landry, lawyer, judge and politician (b.1846)
 * August 8 – Edgar Dewdney, politician, Lieutenant Governor of Northwest Territories and Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia (b.1835)
 * December 12 – Albert Lacombe, missionary (b.1827)

Full date unknown

 * Grace Annie Lockhart, first woman in the British Empire to receive a Bachelor's degree (b.1855)

Historical documents

 * "There is a big fire" - Parliamentary officer warns MPs sitting in session to get out as fatal fire begins to destroy Centre Block of Parliament buildings
 * Prime Minister Borden appeals to Canadians for service abroad and at home.
 * Prime Minister Borden fires militia minister Lt. Gen. Sam Hughes for insubordination.
 * Warning to Imperial Munitions Board head about Ross rifle's dangerous failings.
 * Charles K. Clarke calls for small hospitals to treat veterans with "intense nervous troubles" that are rapidly curable.
 * Arthur Pearson's letter praising soldier for his rapid progress adjusting to his blindness.
 * 120th City of Hamilton Battalion recruiting advertisement.
 * Cartoonist imagines soldier's vision of Christmas at home.
 * Orderly in Canadian hospital brags about its superiority over British facilities, and his bandaging technique.
 * Canadian nurse in Petrograd's Anglo-Russian Hospital enjoys much local culture.
 * Canadian nurse serving in French army hospital gives poignant description of soldier's funeral.
 * Renaming Berlin (Kitchener), Ont.: anti-change ad, and list of suggested new names.
 * Senator objects to Ontario policy restricting education in French.
 * Testimony regarding sale of Squamish land in Vancouver area.
 * Scores killed as huge forest fire destroys northern Ontario towns.
 * U.S.A. and U.K. sign agreement to conserve North American migratory birds.
 * Political cartoon warns Western Canadian drinkers that prohibition is coming in 1916.