1917 in Canada

Years in Canada:	1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920
Centuries:	19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s
Years:	1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920

Events from the year 1917 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

• Head of state (monarch) – King George V (consort – Mary of Teck)

Federal government

• Governor general – Victor Cavendish (viceregal consort – Evelyn Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire)
• Prime minister – Robert Borden

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Robert Brett
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Francis Stillman Barnard
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – James Albert Manning Aikins
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Josiah Wood (until June 29) then Gilbert Ganong (June 29 to October 31) then William Pugsley (from November 6)
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – MacCallum Grant
• 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 (until October 30) then Charles Stewart
• Premier of British Columbia – Harlan Brewster
• Premier of Manitoba – Tobias Norris
• Premier of New Brunswick – George Johnson Clarke (until February 1) then James A. Murray (February 1 to April 4) then Walter Foster
• Premier of Nova Scotia – George Henry Murray
• Premier of Ontario – William Hearst
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – John Mathieson (until June 21) then Aubin Arsenault
• Premier of Quebec – Lomer Gouin
• Premier of Saskatchewan – William Melville Martin

Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Commissioner of Yukon - George Norris Williams (acting)
• Gold Commissioner of Yukon – George P. MacKenzie
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Frederick D. White

Events

January to June

• February 1 - James Alexander Murray becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing George Johnson Clarke
• April 4 - Walter Foster becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing Murray
• April 9 - April 14 - Battle of Vimy Ridge.
• June 7 - Alberta election: Arthur Sifton's Liberals win a fourth consecutive majority. Louise McKinney and Roberta MacAdams are elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and the first woman on elected in Canadian history.
• June 21 - Aubin Arsenault becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing John Mathieson
• June 26 - Saskatchewan election: William Martin's Liberals win a fourth consecutive majority.

July to December

• August: The government introduces conscription triggering the Conscription Crisis of 1917
• September 20: The Income War Tax Act receives royal assent, establishing a “temporary” tax, which remains in force to this day.
• September 20: The Wartime Elections Act gives female relatives of servicemen the vote.
• October 26 - November 10: Second Battle of Passchendaele.
• October 30: Charles Stewart (1868–1946) becomes premier of Alberta, replacing Arthur Sifton
• November 1 to 30: Swanson Bay, British Columbia records 88.01 inches (2,235.5 mm) of precipitation for the month, which remains the highest officially recorded for one calendar month in North America.
• December 6: Halifax Explosion kills 1900 people and injures 9000. The largest ever man-made explosion pre-Hiroshima atomic bomb.
• December 17: Federal election: Robert Borden’s Conservatives win a second consecutive majority

Sport

• November 26 - The NHL is established in Montreal.
• December 19 - The first NHL game is played: Montreal Wanderers 10, Toronto Arenas 9.

Births

January to June

• January 6 - Sydney Banks, broadcaster and producer (d.2006)
• January 11 - John Robarts, lawyer, politician and 17th Premier of Ontario (d.1982)
• April 25 - George R. Gardiner, businessman, philanthropist and co-founder of the Gardiner Museum (d.1997)
• May 12 - Frank Clair, Canadian Football League coach (d.2005)
• May 19 - Robert Gordon Robertson, civil servant and 7th Commissioner of the Northwest Territories (d.2013)
• May 21 - Raymond Burr, actor (d.1993)
• May 22 - Lude Check, ice hockey player (d.2009)
• May 24 - W. Ross Thatcher, politician and 9th Premier of Saskatchewan (d.1971)
• June 17 - Dufferin Roblin, businessman, politician and 14th Premier of Manitoba (d.2010)
• June 18 - Arthur Tremblay, politician and Senator (d.1996)
• June 29 - Archie Green, folklorist and musicologist (d.2009)

July to December

• September 12 - Pierre Sévigny, soldier, author, politician and academic (d.2004)
• September 15 - Alf Pike, ice hockey player and coach (d.2009)
• September 26 - Réal Caouette, politician (d.1976)
• November 2 - Ann Rutherford, actress (Gone with the Wind, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty). (d. 2012)
• November 11 - Abram Hoffer, orthomolecular psychiatrist (d.2009)
• November 28 - Jacob Froese, politician (d.2003)

Full date unknown

• John Hayes, harness racing driver, trainer and owner (d.1998)
• Jack Singer, businessman and philanthropist (d.2013)

Deaths

January to June

• January 14 - Alexander Cameron, physician and politician (b.1834)
• February 17 - Ralph Smith, coal miner, labour leader and politician (b.1858)
• February 26 - George Johnson Clarke, lawyer, journalist, politician and 14th Premier of New Brunswick (b.1857)
• June 13 - Louis-Philippe Hébert, sculptor (b.1850)

July to December

• July 8 - Tom Thomson, artist (b.1877)
• July 15 - Lemuel John Tweedie, politician and 9th Premier of New Brunswick (b.1849)
• August 6 - Richard McBride, politician and Premier of British Columbia (b.1870)

Mackenzie Bowell

• August 29 - Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey, 9th Governor General of Canada (b.1851)
• October 31 - Gilbert Ganong, businessman, politician and Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick (b.1851)
• November 10 - Thomas Simpson Sproule, politician and Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons (b.1843)
• December 10 - Mackenzie Bowell, politician and 5th Prime Minister of Canada (b.1823)