1949 in Canada

Events from the year 1949 in Canada.

Crown

 * Monarch – George VI

Federal government

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

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

Commissioners

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

Events

 * 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.

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

January to March

 * January 24 - Guy Charron, ice hockey player
 * February 14 - Denis Rocan, politician
 * February 23 - Marc Garneau, astronaut, engineer and politician
 * March 3 - Elijah Harper, politician (d. 2013)
 * March 16 - Victor Garber, actor and singer
 * March 16 - Jane Haist, discus thrower and shot putter
 * 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

 * 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

 * 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

 * 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)

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)
 * 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)

Historical documents
Illingworth cartoon depicts Stalin-shaped mushroom cloud overshadowing western Europe and North America

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

National Film Board's history of independent international distribution bothers Department of External Affairs

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

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

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

Given their unpopularity in Canada, External Affairs urged to be judicious about allowing Germans in

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

Canadian leadership tries to settle dispute in refugee organization over Jewish emigration to Palestine conflict zone

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

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

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

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

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

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

Film: newsreel of strikers, strikebreakers and police in Asbestos, Quebec

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

Discussions between George Hislop and Jim Egan are roots of Toronto-area gay liberation

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

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

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

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

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

Film: newsreel of cruise ship burning in Toronto harbour with scores of lives lost

Advertisement: CP Air staged flight to Australia with Honolulu and Fiji stopovers