1922 in Canada

Events from the year 1922 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

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

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Federal government

• Governor General – Julian Byng
• Prime Minister – William Lyon Mackenzie King
• Chief Justice – Louis Henry Davies (Prince Edward Island)
• Parliament – 14th (from 8 March)

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Robert Brett
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Walter Cameron Nichol
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – James Albert Manning Aikins
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – William Pugsley
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – MacCallum Grant
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Henry Cockshutt
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Murdock MacKinnon
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Charles Fitzpatrick
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Henry William Newlands

Premiers

• Premier of Alberta – Herbert Greenfield
• Premier of British Columbia – John Oliver
• Premier of Manitoba – Tobias Norris (until August 8) then John Bracken
• Premier of New Brunswick – Walter Foster
• Premier of Nova Scotia – George Henry Murray
• Premier of Ontario – Ernest Drury
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – John Howatt Bell
• Premier of Quebec – Louis-Alexandre Taschereau
• Premier of Saskatchewan – William Melville Martin (until April 5) then Charles Avery Dunning

Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Gold Commissioner of Yukon – George P. MacKenzie
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – William Wallace Cory

Events

• January 1 – British Columbia changes from driving on the left to the right
• January 11 – The world's first insulin treatment is made at the Toronto General Hospital. The successful technique would later win a Nobel Prize for its creators, Frederick Banting and Charles Best.
• April 5 – Charles Dunning becomes premier of Saskatchewan, replacing William Martin
• May 3 – The women of Prince Edward Island win the right to vote
• July – Rodeo's first hornless bronc saddle is designed and made by rodeo cowboy and saddle maker Earl Bascom at the Bascom Ranch, Lethbridge, Alberta
• August 8 – John Bracken becomes premier of Manitoba, replacing Tobias Norris
• September 15 – Prime Minister Mackenzie King refuses to support the British in the Chanak Affair, asserting foreign policy independence for the first time
• October 9 – Prairie Bible College opens with eight students in Three Hills, Alberta
• October 22 – Dante Monument unveiled in Montreal
• December 1 – New Brunswick changes from driving on the left to the right
• December 5 – The land around Vimy Ridge is given to Canada by France in gratitude for the Canadian sacrifices during World War I

Full date unknown

• Montreal Clock Tower completed
• The first licences for private commercial radio stations are issued<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Sport

• March 20–22 – The Ontario Hockey Association's Fort William War Veterans win their only Memorial Cup by defeating the South Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's Regina Pats 8 to 7 in a two-game aggregate played at Shea's Amphitheatre in Winnipeg
• March 28 – The NHL's Toronto St. Pats win their first Stanley Cup by defeating the Pacific Coast Hockey Association's Vancouver Millionaires 3 games to 2. The deciding game was played at Toronto's Arena Gardens
• December 2 – Queen's University win their first Grey Cup by defeating the Edmonton Elks 13 to 1 in the 10th Grey Cup played at Kingston's Richardson Memorial Stadium

Arts and literature

• Nanook of the North is released, the first film to be called a documentary

Births

January to June

• January 21
  • Lincoln Alexander, politician and 24th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (d. 2012)
  • Rhoda Wurtele and Rhona Wurtele (d. 2020), skiers
• February 13 – Fred E. Soucy, politician (d. 1993)
• February 18 – J. Keith Fraser, physical geographer
• February 25
  • Molly Bobak, teacher, writer, printmaker and painter (d. 2015)
  • Molly Reilly, aviator (d. 1980)
• April 3 – Maurice Riel, senator (d. 2007)
• April 7 – Nancy Mackay, athlete (d. 2016)
• April 24 – Philip Givens, politician, judge and Mayor of Toronto (d. 1995)
• April 26 – Jeanne Sauvé, politician and first female Governor General of Canada (d. 1993)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• April 28 – Daryl Seaman, businessman (d. 2009)
• May 2 – Alastair Gillespie, businessman and politician (d. 2018)
• May 2 – A. M. Rosenthal, columnist and newspaper editor (d. 2006)
• May 3 – Jeanne Landry, composer, pianist and teacher (d. 2011)
• May 26 – Lorraine Monk, photographer (d. 2020)
• June 9 – Fernand Seguin, biochemist, professor and television host (d. 1988)
• June 11 – Erving Goffman, sociologist and writer (d. 1982)
• June 22 – Richard Vollenweider, limnologist (d. 2007)

July to September

• July 1 – Derek Riley, rower (d. 2018)
• July 5 – Doris Margaret Anderson, nutritionist and politician (d. 2022)
• July 13 – Ken Mosdell, ice hockey player (d. 2006)
• July 14
  • Bill Millin, piper (d. 2010)
  • Gerald Myrden, businessman (d. 2016)
• July 16 – Augustin Brassard, politician (d. 1971)
• July 18 – Harry Kermode, basketball player (d. 2009)
• July 23 – Jenny Pike, WWII servicewoman and photographer (d. 2004)
• July 30 – Jack McClelland, publisher (d. 2004)
• August 7 – Helmut Kallmann, historian (d. 2012)
• August 11 – Mavis Gallant, writer (d. 2014)
• August 24 – René Lévesque, politician, Minister and 23rd Premier of Quebec (d. 1987)
• September 1 – Yvonne De Carlo, actress, dancer and singer (d. 2007)
• September 3 – Salli Terri, singer, arranger, recording artist and songwriter (d. 1996)
• September 16 – Alex Barris, actor and writer (d. 2004)

October to December

• October 9 – Léon Dion, political scientist (d. 1997)
• October 17 – Pierre Juneau, politician and film and broadcast executive (d. 2012)
• November 12 – Charlotte MacLeod, writer (d. 2005)
• December 3 – Muriel Millard, actress, dancer, painter, singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
• December 11 – Pauline Jewett, politician and educator (d. 1992)
• December 22 – Percy Smith, barrister, lawyer and politician (d. 2009)
• December 25 – Steve Wochy, ice hockey player

Full date unknown

• Milt Harradence, lawyer, pilot, politician and judge (d. 2008)
• Hilda Watson, leader of the Yukon Progressive Conservative Party (d. 1997)

Deaths

• January 26 – Robert Beith, politician (b. 1843)
• February 4 – Joe Fortes, lifeguard (b. 1863)
• April 12 – Robert Boston, politician (b. 1836)
• May 23 – Robert Franklin Sutherland, politician and Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada (b. 1859)
• July 22 – Sara Jeannette Duncan, author and journalist (b. 1861)
• August 2 – Alexander Graham Bell, scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone (b. 1847)
• December 3 – William Proudfoot, politician and barrister (b. 1859)

See also

• List of Canadian films

Historical documents

With words like "hypocrisy" and "criminal disregard," Peter Bryce outlines his efforts to end government inaction on Indigenous health<ref>P.H. Bryce, The Story of a National Crime (1922). Accessed 9 June 2021</ref>

Letter criticizes failure to assist homeless veterans in Montreal<ref>Leslie M. Roberts, "Poppy Day 'Poppy Cock'" The Axe; A Journal of Action against Reaction, No. 4 (February 3, 1922), pg. 3. Accessed 17 April 2020</ref>

Dominion Veterans' Alliance calls for no fishing licences to "Orientals" (unless veterans of France) and exclusion of "alien Asiatics"<ref>"Proceedings and Minutes of Evidence" (April 26, 1922), Pensions, Soldiers' Insurance and Re-Establishment; Proceedings of the [House] Special Committee[....], pg. 177. Accessed 15 October 2020 (See also Commons debate citing calls for "oriental exclusion" from Retail Merchants' Association of Canada, Great War Veterans Association, Trades and Labour Congress of Canada and United Farmers of British Columbia)</ref>

Observations of artist Mary Riter Hamilton, returned from painting tour of First World War battlefields<ref>"Mary Riter Hamilton: Traces of War," Library and Archives Canada. Accessed 17 April 2020 https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/mary-riter-hamilton/Pages/introduction.aspx (click on each of the Thematic Galleries)</ref>

"A stalwart peasant in a sheep-skin coat, born on the soil,[...]is good quality" - Clifford Sifton's idea of good choices for agricultural immigration<ref>Clifford Sifton, "The Immigrants Canada Wants" Maclean's (April 1, 1922). Accessed 8 January 2023</ref>

Sifton speaks on Canada's conflicted status as both sovereign country and British dominion<ref>Clifford Sifton, "The Political Status of Canada; Address before the Canadian Club of Ottawa; April 8, 1922. Accessed 21 April 2020 http://www.archive.org/details/politicalstatuso00siftuoft (note: pgs. 2-3 missing)</ref>

Tight money causes U.S. farmers to consider Canada<ref>"Canada Lands Attractive to U.S. Farmers" The (Edmonton) Morning Bulletin (January 27, 1922), pg. 1. Accessed 21 April 2020</ref>

Call for return of Wheat Board to help near-bankrupt western farmers forced to sell wheat below world price<ref>"Minutes of Evidence" (April 6, 1922), [House Select Standing Committee on Agriculture and Colonization; Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence, pgs. 5. Accessed 15 October 2020</ref>

B.C. MP claims canneries favour Japanese Canadians to exclusion of whites, but cannery president says whites are just lazy<ref>"Minutes of Evidence" (April 21, 1922), Official Report of Evidence Taken by the Marine and Fisheries Committee of the House[,] Respecting Fisheries of British Columbia, pgs. 6, 17-18. (See also film on halibut fishing off British Columbia) Accessed 15 October 2020</ref>

Film: manufacturing process at automotive plant near Toronto<ref>Province of Ontario Pictures, "Your Future Car" (1922), Library and Archives Canada. Accessed 22 September 2024</ref>

First human insulin trial on young diabetes patient is encouraging<ref>"Work on Diabetes Shows Progress against Disease" (Toronto) Star Weekly (January 14, 1922). Accessed 21 April 2020</ref>

Article about Jews who made Quebec "the cradle of Jewish political emancipation in the British Empire"<ref>"When Quebec Led the World" Montreal Daily Star (December 16, 1922). Accessed 21 April 2020</ref>

Sen. Raoul Dandurand advises colleagues to keep Senate non-partisan, without "victors and vanquished"<ref>Raoul Dandurand (March 14, 1922) Senate Debates, 14th Parliament, 1st Session: Vol. 1, pgs. 15-16. Accessed 8 November 2020</ref>

At its founding convention, Canadian Trotskyist tells Workers Party of Canada it will unify labour for international revolution<ref>Maurice Spector address taken from The Worker (March 15, 1922). Accessed 21 April 2020</ref>

Call for women to fight capitalism, "the home-wrecker"<ref>Florence Custance, "Women and The New Age" The Worker (May 1, 1922). Accessed 21 April 2020</ref>

Premier details origins and successes of prohibition in Ontario<ref>E.C. Drury, "Prohibition in the Province of Ontario" International Convention; The World League Against Alcoholism; Toronto, Canada; November 24th-29th, 1922. Accessed 21 April 2020</ref>

Film: creating playgrounds and recreation centres for child supervision<ref>Province of Ontario Pictures, "The Educational Playground" (1922), Library and Archives Canada. Accessed 22 September 2024</ref>

Article reports activities of arsonist ghost in Antigonish County, Nova Scotia<ref>Harold B. Whidden, "My Experiences at the MacDonald Homestead" (1922). Accessed 22 April 2020</ref>

Mysterious wreck in upper St. Lawrence River may be British warship<ref>"Sunken Craft Still Visible" Daily (Kingston, Ont.) British Whig (November 20, 1922). Accessed 22 April 2020</ref>