1904 in Canada

Template:Short description Template:More citations needed Template:Year in Canada Template:History of Canada

Events from the year 1904 in Canada.

IncumbentsEdit

CrownEdit

Monarch – Edward VII<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Federal governmentEdit

Governor General – Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto (until December 10) then Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey
Prime Minister – Wilfrid Laurier
Chief Justice – Henri Elzéar Taschereau (Quebec)
Parliament – 9th (until 29 September)

Provincial governmentsEdit

Lieutenant governorsEdit

PremiersEdit

Territorial governmentsEdit

CommissionersEdit

Commissioner of Yukon – Frederick Tennyson Congdon (until October 29) then Zachary Taylor Wood (acting)

Lieutenant governorsEdit

PremiersEdit

Premier of North-West Territories – Frederick Haultain

EventsEdit

April 8 – In the Lansdowne-Cambon Convention France gives up some of its longstanding rights in Newfoundland
April 19 – The Great Toronto Fire destroys much of that city's downtown, but kills no one.
June 24 – The North-West Mounted Police become the Royal Northwest Mounted Police
September 10 – American criminal Bill Miner stages Canada's first-ever train robbery
October 8 – Edmonton is incorporated as a city of the North-West Territories.

Full date unknownEdit

Henry Ford opens an automobile manufacturing plant in Windsor, Ontario
Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg opens

BirthsEdit

January to JuneEdit

January 4 – Pegi Nicol MacLeod, artist (d.1949)
January 14 – Walter Harris, politician and lawyer (d.1999)
February 29 – Lloyd Stinson, politician (d.1976)
March 6 – Farquhar Oliver, politician (d.1989)
March 26 – Gustave Biéler, Special Operations Executive agent during World War II (d.1944)
April 16 – Fifi D'Orsay, actress (d.1983)
April 26 – Paul-Émile Léger, Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church (d.1991)
May 1 – Wally Downer, politician (d.1994)
May 13 – Earle Birney, poet (d.1995)

File:Eugene Alfred Forsey.jpg

Eugene Forsey

May 29 – Eugene Forsey, politician and constitutional expert (d.1991)
June 26 – Frank Scott Hogg, astrophysicist (d.1951)

July to DecemberEdit

July 22 – Donald O. Hebb, psychologist (d.1985)
August 15 – George Klein, inventor (d. 1992)
September 7 – Matthew Halton, radio and television journalist (d.1956)
September 14 – Frank Amyot, sprint canoer and Olympic gold medallist (d.1962)
September 23 – Geoffrey Waddington, conductor
September 29 – Robert Legget, civil engineer, historian and non-fiction writer (d.1994)
October 20 – Tommy Douglas, politician and Premier of Saskatchewan (d.1986)
November 18 – Jean Paul Lemieux, painter (d.1990)
November 26 – Armand Frappier, physician and microbiologist (d.1991)
December 18 – Wilf Carter, country music singer, songwriter, guitarist and yodeller (d.1996)
December 25 – Gerhard Herzberg, physicist and physical chemist (d.1999)
December 28 – Bobbie Rosenfeld, athlete and Olympic gold medallist (d.1969)
December 29 – Léo Gauthier, politician (d.1964)

DeathsEdit

January 9 – Christian Kumpf, mayor of Waterloo, Ontario (b. 1838)
February 9 – Erastus Wiman, journalist and businessman (b.1834)
March 9 – Robert Machray, clergyman, missionary and first Primate of the Church of England in Canada (b.1831)
April 17 – Joseph Brunet, politician and businessman (b.1834)
May 11 – David Breakenridge Read, lawyer and 14th Mayor of Toronto (b. 1823)
August 8 – James Cox Aikins, politician, Minister and Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba (b.1823)
August 31 – Jean-Baptiste Blanchet, politician (b.1842)
September 26 – John Fitzwilliam Stairs, entrepreneur and statesman (b.1848)

Historical documentsEdit

Great Toronto Fire and its aftermath, in eyewitness accounts and critical postmortem<ref>Fergus Kyle, "Incidents at a Great Fire" The Canadian Magazine, Vol. XXIII, No. 2 (June 1904), pgs. 136-40. Norman Patterson, "Toronto's Great Fire" The Canadian Magazine, Vol. XXIII, No. 2 (June 1904), pgs. 128-35. Accessed 24 January 2020</ref>

Film of Great Toronto Fire<ref>"Century Snapshots;(...)The Great Toronto Fire" Accessed 24 January 2020</ref>

Photo of Toronto fire ruins<ref>"Toronto Fire Ruins, Front Street" (April 19, 1904), British Library. Accessed 23 December 2021</ref>

Anaconda, B.C. forest fire starts in "dry brush several feet thick" made of fallen trees amid much scrubby pine and fir killed by smelter smoke<ref>"Forest Fire; Breaks Out in Woods Below Anaconda — Property Burned" The Anaconda News, Vol. 4, No. 25 (June 1, 1904), pgs. 1, 6. Accessed 1 August 2021</ref>

Dubious story about people smuggling prompts editorial on journalistic accuracy<ref>"Plea for Accuracy" The Canadian Printer and Publisher, Vol. XIV, No. 4 (April 1905), pg. 10. Accessed 24 January 2020</ref>

Cartoon: "Illustration shows Uncle Sam offering a bouquet of flowers labeled 'Reciprocity' to a woman labeled 'Canada'; Uncle Sam is being held back by a businessman labeled 'Trusts' whose feet are planted against a rock labeled 'High Protection' and is pulling on Sam's coattails, while the woman is being held back by a military officer labeled 'Toryism' pulling on her fur wrap"<ref>J.S. Pughe, "Flirtation under Difficulties" Puck (March 2, 1904). Accessed 25 May 2025</ref>

Burrowing owl increasing and Passenger pigeon disappearing in Manitoba<ref>George E. Atkinson, Rare Bird Records of Manitoba (1904), pgs. 6-8 Accessed 24 January 2020</ref>

Manitoba Free Press special Christmas issue contains goose quill pen<ref>Manitoba Free Press, "A Quill from a Canada Wild Goose: With the Cree Legend of Nih-Ka, the Wild Goose, Set Forth for the First Time in Print" (1904). Accessed 24 January 2020</ref>

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

Template:Canadian history Template:Canada year nav Template:North America topic