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1941 in Canada

Events from the year 1941 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

Federal government

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

Premiers

Territorial governments

Commissioners

Events

  • January 1 – The CBC News Service officially begins operations in English; operations in French begin the following day. CBC's board of governors determined that a national news service would assist in reporting the war.
  • March 4 –The Royal Canadian Mounted Police begin to register Japanese Canadians; registration is completed by the end of August.
  • April 29 – Quebec, the last province to exclude women from the legal profession, allow women to practise law. The first Quebec woman lawyer is Elizabeth Monk, who is called to the bar the next year.
  • July 24 – Workers began an illegal strike at the Alcan aluminum complex at Arvida, Quebec, when 700 workers walk off the job. Some 4,500 workers occupy the factory the next day. Minister of Munitions and Supply C.D. Howe says that enemy sabotage was responsible for the work stoppage, and soldiers are sent to secure the facility. Work resumes on July 29 as workers and management negotiate, assisted by federal conciliators. A subsequent royal commission rejects the sabotage theory and finds that the strike was the result of worker dissatisfaction with wages and working conditions, as well as a heat wave that occurred immediately before the strike.
  • August 9–12 – The Atlantic Conference meeting between Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Hopkins, as well as their civilian and military advisers, is held secretly aboard the USS Augusta docked in Ship Harbour, Placentia Bay, Argentia in the Dominion of Newfoundland. The leaders discuss Lend-Lease and the war in Europe. The conference was the first of nine wartime meetings between FDR and Churchill. On August 14, the leaders publicly issue the Atlantic Charter, a joint declaration of Anglo-American aims, including freedom of the seas, self-determination, free government, and liberal trade.
  • August 12 – All Japanese Canadians are ordered to carry identity cards with their thumbprint and photo.
  • August 13 – An order-in-council (PC 6289) establishes the Canadian Women's Army Corps. The Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service is established the following year.
  • September 19 – torpedoes and sinks , killing 18 sailors.
  • December 7 – collides with a merchant ship and sinks in the North Atlantic, killing 23 sailors.
  • December 7(North America time)/December 8 (Hong Kong time) – Battle of Hong Kong: On the same morning as the attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese attack British Hong Kong, with relentless air raids for the next days. Hong Kong surrenders on December 25. Some 1,975 Canadian soldiers are posted in the colony, mostly infantry with the Royal Rifles of Canada and Winnipeg Grenadiers, who had arrived to reinforce the colony on October 27 aboard the Awatea, escorted by . The Japanese attack is a disaster for the Canadians, who were greatly outnumbered by the Japanese. Of the 1,975 Canadians who went to Hong Kong, more than 1,050 were killed or wounded, and many are taken prisoner by Japan.
  • December 8 – Immediately following the Japanese attack on Hong Kong, Canada declares war on Japan, on the same day that Britain and the United States do so.
  • December 8 – The day after Japanese attacks on Hong King and Pearl Harbor, all fishing boats owned by Japanese Canadians are impounded by the Royal Canadian Navy.
  • December 9 – John Hart becomes Premier of British Columbia, replacing Thomas "Duff" Pattullo, after a Liberal convention dumps Pattullo as leader and replaces him with Hart. Following the October 21 provincial election in which the Liberals fell to 21 seats while the CCF won 14 and the Conservatives 12, Pattullo's government had faltered. Hart forms a coalition between the Liberals and the Conservatives.

Undated

Sports

Births

January to June

  • June 25 - Denys Arcand, film director, screenwriter and producer

July to December

Date unknown

Deaths

January to June

July to December

Full date unknown

See also

References