1944 in Canada

Events from the year 1944 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – George VI

Federal government

• Governor General – Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone
• Prime Minister – William Lyon Mackenzie King
• Chief Justice – Lyman Poore Duff (British Columbia) (until 7 January) then Thibaudeau Rinfret (Quebec)
• Parliament – 19th

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John C. Bowen
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – William Culham Woodward
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Roland Fairbairn McWilliams
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – William George Clark
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Henry Ernest Kendall
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Albert Edward Matthews
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Bradford William LePage
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Eugène Fiset
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Archibald Peter McNab

Premiers

• Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning
• Premier of British Columbia – John Hart
• Premier of Manitoba – Stuart Garson
• Premier of New Brunswick – John McNair
• Premier of Nova Scotia – A.S. MacMillan
• Premier of Ontario – George A. Drew
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – J. Walter Jones
• Premier of Quebec – Adélard Godbout (until August 30) then Maurice Duplessis
• Premier of Saskatchewan – William John Patterson (until July 10) then Tommy Douglas

Territorial governments

Commissioners

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

Events

• Conscription Crisis of 1944
• March 20 – Henry Duncan Graham Crerar becomes chief of the Canadian Army
• April 29 – World War II: is sunk in the English Channel
• June 6 – World War II: The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division lands at Juno Beach, part of the Invasion of Normandy
• June 7–17 – World War II: In the Ardenne Abbey massacre Waffen SS soldiers murder 20 Canadian prisoners of war.
• June 15 – Saskatchewan election: Tommy Douglas's Co-operative Commonwealth Federation wins a landslide majority, defeating William John Patterson's Liberals
• July 10 – Tommy Douglas becomes premier of Saskatchewan, replacing William Patterson
• July 23 – The First Canadian Army is activated in Normandy, becoming the largest combat force to ever be placed under Canadian command.
• August 1 – The House of Commons approves the Family Allowance Act
• August 8
• Alberta election: Ernest Manning's Alberta Social Credit Party wins a third consecutive majority
• The sinks near Trevose Head, Cornwall, England, killing 30 sailors
• August 17 – World War II: The Canadian Army liberates Falaise
• August 30 – Maurice Duplessis becomes Premier of Quebec for the second time, replacing Adélard Godbout
• October 1 – World War II: The Battle of the Scheldt estuary begins
• October 13 – World War II: 1st Battalion The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada suffers significant casualties in the action known in regimental lore as Black Friday
• October 14 – World War II: The torpedoes in the St Lawrence River. Magog is damaged beyond repair and three sailors are killed.
• October 21 – World War II: Smokey Smith earns the Victoria Cross on the Savio River in Italy.
• November 24–29: Because of a rumour that conscripts are about to deployed for overseas service, a significant number of conscripts stationed in Terrace, British Columbia, mutiny.
• November 25 – World War II: sinks in the Cabot Strait. All 91 sailors of Shawinigans crew are killed: the worst case of military deaths in Canadian territory during the war.
• December 24 – World War II: HMCS Clayoquot sunk off Halifax by

Sports

• April 13 – Montreal Canadiens win their fifth Stanley Cup by defeating the Chicago Black Hawks 4 games to 0. The deciding Game 4 was played at the Montreal Forum
• April 22 – Ontario Hockey Association's Oshawa Generals win their second Memorial Cup by defeating the Western Kootenay Junior Hockey League's Trail Smoke Eaters 4 games to 0. The deciding Game 4 was played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto
• November 25 – St. Hyacinthe–Donnacona Navy win their only Grey Cup by defeating the Hamilton Flying Wildcats 7 to 6 in the 32nd Grey Cup played at Civic Stadium

Births

January to June

• January 6 - John Efford, politician (d.2022)
• February 17 - Bruce Fogle, vet and author
• February 27 - André Roy, writer
• March 15 - Francis Mankiewicz, film director, screenwriter and producer (d.1993)
• March 26 - Benjamin Chee Chee, artist (d.1977)
• March 29 - Terry Jacks, singer, songwriter, record producer and environmentalist
• April 12 - Glen Cummings, politician
• May 4 - Fred Stanfield, ice hockey player (d.2021)
• May 13 - Brian Fawcett, writer (d.2022)
• May 20 - Elinor Caplan, politician and businesswoman
• May 28 - Rita MacNeil, singer-songwriter (d.2013)
• June 1 - Aileen Carroll, politician
• June 8 - Marc Ouellet, cardinal
• June 29 - Bob Kilger, politician
• June 29 - Charlie Watt, Senator

July to September

• July 5
• Norma McCormick, politician
• Robbie Robertson, singer-songwriter and guitarist
• July 30 - Mendelson Joe, singer-songwriter, guitarist and painter
• August 11 - Alexa McDonough, politician (d.2022)
• August 18 - David Newman, politician
• August 25 - Conrad Black, historian, columnist and publisher, appealing a fraud conviction in the United States
• September 1 - Harvey Thomas Strosberg, lawyer and academic
• September 3 - Brian Linehan, television host (d.2004)
• September 12 - Ron Ward, ice hockey player
• September 20 - Phil Fontaine, Aboriginal Canadian leader
• September 30
• bpNichol, poet (d.1988)
• Diane Dufresne, singer and painter

October to December

• November 17 -Lorne Michaels, television producer, writer and comedian
• December 4 - Anna McGarrigle, singer-songwriter
• December 12 - Peter Goldring, politician
• December 16 - Judy Sgro, politician
• December 16 - Mike Radcliffe, politician
• December 19 - Zal Yanovsky, rock musician (d.2002)
• December 24 - Daniel Johnson, Jr., politician and 25th Premier of Quebec
• December 24 - Dan Miller, politician and 32nd Premier of British Columbia

Full date unknown

• Jorge Zontal, artist and co-founder of the artistic collective General Idea (b.1994)

Deaths

January to June

• January 9 - John Wesley Dafoe, journalist and author (b.1866)

• February 6 - Arthur Sauvé, politician (b.1874)
• March 9 - Roy Brown, World War I flying ace (b.1893)
• March 28 - Stephen Leacock, writer and economist (b.1869)

July to December

• July 27 - Clifford William Robinson, lawyer, businessman, politician and 11th Premier of New Brunswick (b.1866)
• September 5 - Gustave Biéler, Special Operations Executive agent during World War II (b.1904)
• September 9 - John Stuart Foster, physicist (b.1890)
• September 14 - John Kenneth Macalister, World War II hero (b.1914)
• September 14 - Frank Pickersgill, World War II hero (b.1915)
• September 14 - Roméo Sabourin, World War II hero (b.1923)
• September 27 - Aimee Semple McPherson, evangelist (b.1890)
• October 1 - William Mulock, politician and Minister (b.1844)
• November 3 - Jack Miner, conservationist (b.1865)
• November 26 - Henry Cockshutt, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (b.1868)

References