1915 in Canada

Events from the year 1915 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – George V<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Federal government

• Governor General – Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
• Prime Minister – Robert Borden
• Chief Justice – Charles Fitzpatrick (Quebec)
• Parliament – 12th

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – George H. V. Bulyea (until October 20) then Robert Brett
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Francis Stillman Barnard
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Douglas Colin Cameron
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Josiah Wood
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – James Drummond McGregor (until October 19) then David MacKeen
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – John Strathearn Hendrie
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Benjamin Rogers (until June 3) then Augustine Colin Macdonald
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – François Langelier (until February 8) then Pierre-Évariste Leblanc
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – George W. Brown (until October 6) then Richard Stuart Lake

Premiers

• Premier of Alberta – Arthur Sifton
• Premier of British Columbia – Richard McBride (until December 15) then William John Bowser
• Premier of Manitoba – Rodmond Roblin (until May 12) then Tobias Norris
• Premier of New Brunswick – George Johnson Clarke
• Premier of Nova Scotia – George Henry Murray
• Premier of Ontario – William Hearst
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – John Alexander Mathieson
• Premier of Quebec – Lomer Gouin
• Premier of Saskatchewan – Thomas Walter Scott

Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Commissioner of Yukon – George Black
• Gold Commissioner of Yukon – George P. MacKenzie
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Frederick D. White

Events

• January 4 – WWI: Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry becomes the first Canadian troops sent to the front lines
• January 15 – The Canadian Northern Railway line to Vancouver, British Columbia, is completed
• February 2 – WW1: Attempt to bomb the Vanceboro international bridge between the Canadian-US border by a German spy
• February 4 – WW1: After a training accident, Lieutenant W. F. Sharpe becomes the first Canadian military airman killed
• February 14 – WW1: The 1st Canadian Division arrives in France
• February 21 – Nellie McClung presents a petition to the Alberta Legislature demanding women's suffrage
• February 28 – WWI: Canadian troops launch the first trench raid of the war; by the end of the conflict Canadian troops will be regarded as the experts at this manoeuvre
• April 22 – WWI: In the Second Battle of Ypres Canadian forces bear the brunt of the first large-scale chemical weapons attack on the Western Front. They devise makeshift gas masks of urine-soaked rags and hold their ground
• May 3 – "In Flanders Fields" is written by Canadian poet John McCrae.
• May 12 – Tobias Norris becomes premier of Manitoba, replacing Sir Rodmond Roblin
• July 5 – The Hotel Macdonald in Edmonton opens
• August 6 – Manitoba General Election
• September 13 – WWI: with the arrival of the 2nd Canadian Division a separate Canadian Corps is created
• October 9 – WWI: The 3rd Canadian Division arrives in France
• December 15 – William John Bowser becomes premier of British Columbia, replacing Richard McBride
• December 19 – WW1: Captain M.M. Bell-Irving, No.1 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, achieves the first aerial victory by a Canadian when he shot down a German aircraft

Full date unknown

• Fermière Monument (Montreal) unveiled
• World War I – Many Canadian soldiers grow upset at the inferior quality of their Ross Rifles

Arts and literature

New works

• "In Flanders Fields": John McCrae
• The Golden Road: Lucy Maud Montgomery

Sport

• March 26 – The Pacific Coast Hockey Association's Vancouver Millionaires win their first and only Stanley Cup by defeating the National Hockey Association's Ottawa Senators 3 games to 0. All games played at Vancouver's Denman Arena
• November 20 – The Hamilton Tigers win their 2nd Grey Cup by defeating the Toronto Rugby and Athletic Association 13 to 7 in the 7th Grey Cup played at Toronto's Varsity Stadium

Births

January to June

• January 12 – Joseph-Aurèle Plourde, Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Ottawa (1967Template:Ndash1989) (d.2013)
• January 18 – Syl Apps, pole vaulter and ice hockey player (d.1998)
• February 12 – Lorne Greene, actor (d.1987)
• March 10 – Maurice Camyré, Olympic boxer (d.2013)
• March 18 – Harold Crowchild, Tsuu T'ina elder and soldier, last Treaty 7 World War II veteran (d.2013)
• April 9 – Daniel Johnson, Sr., politician and 20th Premier of Quebec (d.1968)
• April 11 – Eddie Sargent, politician (d.1998)
• April 28 – Robina Higgins, track and field athlete (d.1990)
• May 3 – Stu Hart, wrestler, promoter and trainer (d.2003)
• May 28
  • Conrad Bourcier, ice hockey player (d.1987)
  • Frank Pickersgill, World War II hero (d.1944)
• June 22 – Arthur Gelber, philanthropist (d.1998)

July to December

• July 4 – Harold E. Johns, medical physicist (d.1998)
• July 6 – Leonard Birchall, World War II hero (d.2004)
• August 3 – Frank Arthur Calder, politician, first Status Indian to be elected to any legislature in Canada (d.2006)
• August 20 – H. Gordon Barrett, politician (d.1993)
• August 22
  • James Hillier, scientist and inventor, jointly designed and built first electron microscope (d.2007)
  • Jacques Flynn, politician and Senator (d.2000)
• August 25 – John W. H. Bassett, publisher and media baron (d.1998)
• October 7
  • Harry J. Boyle, broadcaster and writer (d.2005)
  • Charles Templeton, cartoonist, evangelist, agnostic, politician, newspaper editor, inventor, broadcaster and author (d.2001)
• October 25 – Tommy Prince, one of Canada's most decorated First Nations soldiers (d.1977)
• November 27 – Yves Thériault, author (d.1983)
• December 4 – Johnny Lombardi, CHIN-TV television personality (d.2002)
• December 13 – Ross Macdonald, novelist (d.1983)

Full date unknown

• Arthur Julian Andrew, diplomat and author (d.1994)
• Earl Cameron, broadcaster and news anchor (d.2005)
• Percy Saltzman, meteorologist and television personality, first weatherman in English-Canadian television history (d.2007)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Deaths

• January 18 – Thomas Bain, politician and Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada (b. 1834)

File:Tupper Portrait.jpg

Charles Tupper

• May 16 – Kit Coleman, journalist (b. 1864)
• June 14 – Antoine Audet, politician (b. 1846)
• July 21 – Jean Prévost, politician (b. 1870)
• July 22 – Sandford Fleming, engineer and inventor (b. 1827)
• August 10 – William Mortimer Clark, lawyer, politician and Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (b. 1836)
• September 10 – Charles Boucher de Boucherville, politician and 3rd Premier of Quebec (b. 1822)
• September 11 – William Cornelius Van Horne, pioneering railway executive (b. 1843)
• September 15 – Ernest Gagnon, folklorist (b. 1834)
• October 19 – Neil McLeod, lawyer, judge, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island (b. 1842)
• October 30 – Charles Tupper, politician, Premier of Nova Scotia and 6th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1821)
• December 25 – Graham Fraser (industrialist) (b. 1845)

See also

• List of Canadian films

Historical documents

"Canada First" - Henri Bourassa warns against involvement in war beyond what is good for Canada's finances, agriculture, industry, trade, military etc.<ref>Henri Bourassa, The Duty of Canada at the Present Hour (1915). Accessed 15 May 2022</ref>

Tests for tradesmen in Royal Flying Corps include coppersmiths making T pieces out of plate, tinsmiths making square funnels and painters signwriting<ref>"Schedule of Trades in Royal Flying Corps," The (Westville, N.S.) Recruiter Vol. 1, No. 2 (November 17, 1915), 7th-8th pgs. Accessed 15 May 2022</ref>

Federal cabinet's Order in Council censors printed texts mentioning military operations or anything to "hinder[...]the success of the forces"<ref>"War - Ordinance providing for appt Censor" (June 10, 1915), Library and Archives Canada. Accessed 16 February 2025</ref>

Canadian Lt. Col. John McCrae's poem "In Flanders Fields" is published in Punch magazine<ref>John McCrae, "In Flanders Fields" Punch, pg. 468 (December 8, 1915). Accessed 3 March 2020</ref>

Nursing sister Capt. Sophie Hoerner notes her hard work and praises her patients<ref>Letter of Sophie Hoerner (July 9, 1915). Accessed 3 March 2020</ref>

Canadian prisoners of war tell German captors why they're fighting against Germany<ref>Nellie McClung, "Chapter IX; Caught!" Three Times and Out: A Canadian Boy's Experience in Germany (1918). Accessed 3 March 2020</ref>

Future minister of national defence George Pearkes describes trench duty conditions<ref>Letter of George Pearkes (October 2, 1915). Accessed 3 March 2020 (See also Canadian Corps Trench Standing Orders))</ref>

Canadian soldier feels homicidal after friend's brother found dead on battlefield and their family perhaps lost in Lusitania sinking<ref>Letter of James Wells Ross (May 17, 1915). Accessed 3 March 2020</ref>

Brant County, Ont. leaders thank Six Nations following death of Lt. Cameron Brant<ref>Letter of Warden George E. Cooke and 14 others (May 1, 1915). Accessed 3 March 2020</ref>

Officer describes huge training camp at Valcartier, Quebec <ref>"To William MacIntosh from Doug Holman, Valcartier, Quebec" (June 19, 1915). Accessed 6 March 2020</ref>

Soldier's letter about visiting friends and touring palaces in England, then getting arrested for returning late to camp<ref>"A Letter Home,[...]Arthur Magee to His Mother[....]" (January 16, 1915). Accessed 6 March 2020 http://website.nbm-mnb.ca/mop/english/ww1/dosearch.asp?Results=50&q=January (scroll down to Magee)</ref>

Canada's hundreds of growing towns should deter growth of slums found in its big cities<ref>Thomas Adams, "Distribution of Population" Civic Improvement League for Canada; Report [from] the Commission of Conservation[...;]November 19, 1915 (1916), pgs. 10-11. Accessed 5 March 2020</ref>

Saskatchewan government revokes liquor licences<ref>"Deathknell Of Liquor Traffic Sounded In Saskatchewan...." Regina Morning Leader (March 19, 1915), pg. 1. Accessed 5 March 2020</ref>

Indian residential school principal criticized for allowing children to go home too often<ref>"Report of Dr. O.I. Grain" (excerpt; October 7, 1915), Department of Indian Affairs. Accessed 24 June 2021</ref>

Postcard: "Salmon Fishing on the Fraser River" shows cannery interior with piles of hundreds of cans<ref>Richard Broadbridge, "Salmon Fishing on the Fraser River" (created 1915, copyright 1913), University of British Columbia Library. Accessed 6 November 2022</ref>