1927 in Canada

Events from the year 1927 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

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

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Federal government

• Governor General – Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon
• Prime Minister – William Lyon Mackenzie King
• Chief Justice – Francis Alexander Anglin (Ontario)
• Parliament – 16th

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – William Egbert
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Robert Randolph Bruce
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Theodore Arthur Burrows
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – William Frederick Todd
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – James Cranswick Tory
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Henry Cockshutt (until January 12) then William Donald Ross
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Frank Richard Heartz
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Narcisse Pérodeau
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Henry William Newlands

Premiers

• Premier of Alberta – John Edward Brownlee
• Premier of British Columbia – John Oliver (until August 17) then John Duncan MacLean (from August 20)
• Premier of Manitoba – John Bracken
• Premier of New Brunswick – John Baxter
• Premier of Nova Scotia – Edgar Nelson Rhodes
• Premier of Ontario – George Howard Ferguson
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – James D. Stewart (until August 12) then Albert Charles Saunders
• Premier of Quebec – Louis-Alexandre Taschereau
• Premier of Saskatchewan – James Garfield Gardiner

Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Gold Commissioner of Yukon – Percy Reid (until November 13) then George A. Jeckell
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – William Wallace Cory

Events

• January 5 – The National Museum of Canada is created.
• January 9 – 76 people are killed when a fire breaks out at the Laurier Palace Theatre in Montreal.
• March 1 – The location of the boundary between Labrador and Quebec is settled by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, accepting the Dominion of Newfoundland's claim rather than Canada's.
• May 28 – The Old Age Pensions Act is introduced.
• July 1 – Confederation celebration marked by the first cross country radio broadcast.
• August 6 – Toronto Union Station is officially opened, by Prince Edward, Prince of Wales.
• August 12 – Albert Saunders becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing James D. Stewart.
• August 17 – John Oliver, Premier of British Columbia, dies in office.
• August 20 – John Duncan MacLean becomes premier of British Columbia.
• September 21 – Ten Canadian Pacific Railway cars carrying a valuable cargo of silk goes off the rails near Yale, British Columbia. Five of the cars land in the Fraser River.
• October 4 – Worthington mine disaster occurs.
• October 11 – Richard Bedford Bennett, becomes leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Arts and literature

• Mazo de la Roche publishes Jalna
• December 5 – The National Gallery of Canada opened an exhibit featuring the work of Emily Carr, bringing her out of obscurity.

Science and technology

• Canadian anthropologist Davidson Black discovered a fossil molar of Peking Man in a cave near Beijing, China
• Wallace Rupert Turnbull tested the second design of his variable-pitch propeller, a key development in aviation

Sport

• February 14 – Conn Smythe takes control of the Toronto St. Patricks and renames them to the Toronto Maple Leafs
• March 28 – Ontario Hockey Association's Owen Sound Greys win their second Memorial Cup by defeating Thunder Bay Junior Hockey League's Port Arthur West Ends 2 game to 0. All games were played at Arena Gardens in Toronto
• April 13 – Ottawa Senators win their 11th and final Stanley Cup by defeating the Boston Bruins 2 game to 0 (with 2 ties). The deciding game was played at the Ottawa Auditorium
• November 26 – Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers win their first Grey Cup by defeating the Hamilton Tigers 9 to 6 in the 15th Grey Cup played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto.

Births

January to March

• January 1
  • Calum MacKay, ice hockey player (d. 2001)
  • Jean-Paul Mousseau, artist (d. 1991)
• January 4 – Paul Desmarais, financier (d. 2013)
• January 6 – John W. Grace, first Privacy Commissioner of Canada (d. 2009)
• January 10 – Gisele MacKenzie, singer (d. 2003)
• January 17 – Stan Roberts, politician (d. 1990)
• January 24 – Phyllis Lambert, architect and philanthropist
• January 25 – Gildas Molgat, politician (d. 2001)
• January 28 – Sheila Finestone, politician and Senator (d. 2009)
• January 29 – Lewis Urry, chemical engineer and inventor (d. 2004)
• January 30 – Sterling Lyon, politician and 17th Premier of Manitoba (d. 2010)
• February 11 – Sinclair Stevens, politician (d. 2016)
• March 3 – William Kurelek, artist and writer (d. 1977)
• March 9 – John Beckwith, composer, writer, pianist, teacher and administrator (d. 2022)
• March 25 – Bill Barilko, ice hockey player (d. 1951)
• March 27 – Eugène Philippe LaRocque, Roman Catholic priest (d. 2018)
• March 28 – Fernande Saint-Martin, art critic, museologist, semiologist, visual arts theorist and writer (d. 2019)

April to June

• April 6
  • E. K. Turner, businessman and educator (d. 2018)
  • Dorothy Knowles, artist (d. 2023)
• April 8
  • Phyllis Webb, poet and broadcaster (d. 2021)
  • Lois Miriam Wilson, first female Moderator of the United Church of Canada and Senator (d. 2024)
• April 13 – Ronald Stewart, businessman and politician (d. 2022)
• April 25 – Frances Hyland, actress (d. 2004)
• May 2 – Budge Wilson, writer (d. 2021)
• May 5 – Sylvia Fedoruk, scientist, curler and Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan (d. 2012)
• May 14 – Frank Miller, politician and 19th Premier of Ontario (d. 2000)
• June 3 – George Hislop, gay activist (d. 2005)
• June 17 – Jean Robert Beaulé, politician (d. 2005)
• June 24 – Fernand Dumont, sociologist, philosopher, theologian and poet (d. 1997)
• June 25 – Nora McDermott basketball player, volleyball player, coach and physical education teacher (d. 2013)
• June 26 – Robert Kroetsch, novelist, poet and non-fiction writer (d. 2011)
• June 29
  • Marie Thérèse Killens, politician
  • Viola Myers, sprinter (d. 1993)
  • Pierre Savard, politician

July to December

• July 2 – Fern Villeneuve, aviator (d. 2019)
• July 18 – Keith MacDonald, politician (d. 2021)
• July 20 – Jack Horner, politician and Minister (d. 2004)
• July 21 – Hal Hatfield, football player
• August 17 – John Alan Beesley, diplomat and civil servant (d. 2009)
• September 1 – Chuck Dalton, basketball player, member of Olympic team (1952) (d. 2013)
• September 7 – Claire L'Heureux-Dubé, justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
• October 3 – Kenojuak Ashevak, artist (d. 2013)
• October 14 – Elmer Iseler, choir conductor and choral editor (d. 1998)
• October 15 – Peter Pollen, politician (d. 2017)
• November 3 – Harrison McCain, businessman (d. 2004)
• November 8 – Peter Munk, businessman and philanthropist (d. 2018)
• November 10
  • Gerry Glaude, professional ice hockey defenceman (d. 2017)
  • Joyce Trimmer, politician and first female mayor of Scarborough, Ontario (d. 2008)
• November 17 – Nicholas Taylor, geologist, businessman, politician and Senator (d. 2020)
• November 18 – Knowlton Nash, journalist, author and television news anchor (d. 2014)
• November 26 – Ernie Coombs, children's entertainer Mr. Dressup (d. 2001)
• November 30 – Tod Sloan, ice hockey player (d. 2017)
• December 6 – Marcel Pelletier, ice hockey player (d. 2017)
• December 7 – Grant Strate, dancer, choreographer and academic (d. 2015)
• December 18 – Roméo LeBlanc, politician and 25th Governor General of Canada (d. 2009)
• December 24 – Geoffrey Pearson, diplomat (d. 2008)

Deaths

January to June

• January 24 – Agnes Maule Machar, author (b. 1837)
• February 10 – James Kidd Flemming, businessman, politician and 13th Premier of New Brunswick (b. 1868)
• March 8 – James Fisher, politician (b. 1840)
• March 16 – Robert Bond, politician and Prime Minister of Newfoundland (b. 1857)
• March 30 – Charles Hibbert Tupper, politician (b. 1855)
• June 3 – Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, Governor General of Canada (b. 1845)
• June 7 – Edmund James Flynn, politician and Premier of Quebec (b. 1847)

July to December

• August 17 – John Oliver, politician and Premier of British Columbia (b. 1856)
• November 2 – Charles Augustus Semlin, politician and Premier of British Columbia (b. 1836)
• November 5 – Jérémie-Louis Décarie, judge and lawyer (b. 1870)
• December 21 – Félix Gatineau, statesman (b. 1857)
• December 31 – William Warren, lawyer, politician, judge and Prime Minister of Newfoundland (b. 1879)

See also

• List of Canadian films

Historical documents

Popular infant care author writes government guide to raising babies, including growth, health, habits, and "character and disposition"<ref>Helen MacMurchy, The Canadian Mother's Book (1927). Accessed 6 December 2019</ref>

Speaker delivers strongly anti-Catholic commentary at packed Ku Klux Klan meeting in Regina<ref>"Ku Klux Klan Not Dead Yet, Meeting Told" Regina Morning Leader (October 5, 1927), pg. 8. Accessed 12 May 2020</ref>

MP Agnes Macphail calls for government pension coverage for war veterans unable to work<ref>"Old Age Pensions" (March 3, 1927), House of Commons Debates, 16th Parliament, 1st Session: Vol. 1, pg. 882 Accessed 7 March 2020</ref>

British privy council renders decision on long-disputed Labrador border between Newfoundland and Canada<ref>"Labrador; A Source of Wealth; The Boundary Dispute; Privy Council Decision" The (Wellington, N.Z.) Evening Post, Vol. CXIII, No. 94 (April 22, 1927), pg. 9. Accessed 12 May 2020</ref>

U.S. border restrictions force Canadian residents working in U.S.A. to qualify for immigration<ref>"The Canadian Minister (Massey) to Secretary of State" (No. 149, June 8, 1927), Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1927, Volume 1, pgs. 502-6. Accessed 12 May 2020</ref>

Film: cottage life in Ontario<ref>Canadian Government Motion Picture Bureau, "A Region of Romance" (1927), Library and Archives Canada. Accessed 22 September 2024</ref>

Illustration: A.Y. Jackson's painting of Mount Robson is among Group of Seven art in Canadian National Railway guide to Jasper National Park<ref>"Mount Robson (12,972 Feet) - The Monarch of the Canadian Rockies - Jasper National Park - Canadian National Railways" (1927), Library and Archives Canada. Accessed 28 July 2024</ref>

Photograph: Canadian Olympic figure skater Cecil Eustace Smith (Note: click on photo for clearer image)<ref>"Preston - Miss Cecile Eustace Smith, skating pose" (January 29, 1927), City of Toronto Archives. https://gencat4.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/request/Action?SystemName=City+of+Toronto+Archives&UserName=wa+public&Password=&TemplateProcessID=6000_3355&PromptID=&ParamID=&TemplateProcessID=6000_1051_1051&PromptID=&ParamID=&CMD_(DetailRequest)[0]=&ProcessID=6000_3363(0)&KeyValues=KEY_284976 (Note: URL included in this reference because it contains brackets; do not click on linked portion of URL - cut and paste entire URL) Accessed 28 July 2024</ref>

Hunter regrets killing one of Jack Miner's "noble" Canada geese<ref>Letter in "The Canada Goose as Canada's Emblem," Jack Miner on Current Topics, pgs. 48-50 Accessed 12 May 2020</ref>

Son of "dead" man who skippered schooner lost in Lake Ontario gale learns he started life anew in Oklahoma<ref>"Ten Year Old Mystery of Wreck Expected to Be Cleared Up Now" The (Belleville, Ont.) Intelligencer (March 7, 1927). Accessed 12 May 2020</ref>

Map: Discoveries in the Arctic Sea; 1616-1927 (1855 map with information to 1927 and "North West Passage tracks" to 1954)<ref>U.K. Hydrographic Office, Discoveries in the Arctic Sea; 1616-1927 (1956), National Library of Australia. Accessed 16 August 2024</ref>