1879 in Canada explained

Events from the year 1879 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – Victoria^[1]

Federal government

• • Governor General – John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne Prime Minister – John A. Macdonald
• Chief Justice – William Buell Richards (Ontario) (until 10 January) then William Johnstone Ritchie (New Brunswick) (from 11 January)
• Parliament – 4th (from 13 February)

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• • • • • • • Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Albert Norton Richards Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Joseph-Édouard Cauchon Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Edward Barron Chandler Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Adams George Archibald Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Donald Alexander Macdonald Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Robert Hodgson (until July 10) then Thomas Heath Haviland Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Luc Letellier de St-Just (until July 26) then Théodore Robitaille

Premiers

• • • • • • • Premier of British Columbia – George Anthony Walkem Premier of Manitoba – John Norquay Premier of New Brunswick – John James Fraser Premier of Nova Scotia – Simon Hugh Holmes Premier of Ontario – Oliver Mowat Premier of Prince Edward Island – Louis Henry Davies (until April 25) then William Wilfred Sullivan Premier of Quebec – Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière (until October 31) then Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau

Territorial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Keewatin – Joseph-Édouard Cauchon
• Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories – David Laird

Events

• February 4 – Prince Edward Island election: William Wilfred Sullivan's Conservatives win a third consecutive majority.
• March 12 – Sir John A. Macdonald introduces protective tariffs on manufactured goods being imported into Canada, a transcontinental railway, and immigration to the west in his National Policy.
• April 25 – Sir William Wilfred Sullivan becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing Sir Louis Davies.
• June 5 – Ontario election: Sir Oliver Mowat's Liberals win a third consecutive majority.
• (date unknown) – The Toronto Industrial Exhibition opens for the first time, precursor to the Canadian National Exhibition.
• October 31 – Sir Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau becomes premier of Quebec, replacing Henri-Gustave de Lotbinière.
• December 16 – Manitoba election.
• December 19 – Swift Runner is hanged in Fort Saskatchewan, NWT, for murdering and then eating eight members of his own family over the previous winter. He believed he was possessed by Wendigo, a terrifying mythological creature with a ravenous appetite for human flesh.

Births

January to June

• January 15 – Mazo de la Roche, author (d.1961)
• January 17 – Richard Gavin Reid, politician and 7th Premier of Alberta (d.1980)
• January 25 – Humphrey T. Walwyn, naval officer and Governor of Newfoundland (d.1957)
• February 14 – Eli Burton, physicist
• March 20 – Maud Menten, medical scientist (d.1960)
• May 25 – Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, business tycoon, politician and writer (d.1964)
• June 12 – Charles Dow Richards, judge, politician and 18th Premier of New Brunswick (d.1956)

July to December

• August 1 – Eva Tanguay, singer and entertainer (d.1947)
• August 16 – Samuel Lawrence, politician and trade unionist (d.1959)
• October 6 – James Langstaff Bowman, politician and Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada (d.1951)
• October 9 – William Warren, lawyer, politician, judge and Prime Minister of Newfoundland (d.1927)
• November 3 – Vilhjalmur Stefansson, Arctic explorer and ethnologist (d.1962)
• November 11 – Violet McNaughton, feminist (d. 1953)
• November 25 – Joseph-Arsène Bonnier, politician (d.1962)
• December 10 – P. L. Robertson, inventor (d. 1951)
• December 24 – Émile Nelligan, poet (d.1941)^[2]

Deaths

• January 4 – Pierre-Alexis Tremblay, politician (b.1827)
• January 16 – Octave Crémazie, poet (b.1827)
• April 4 – Jean-Baptiste Thibault, missionary and a Father of Confederation (b.1810)
• October 7 – William Henry Pope, lawyer, politician, judge and a Father of Confederation (b.1825)

Historical documents

• The federal government proposes to provide 100 million acres of Dominion land for the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway for settlement.^[3]
• Report claims only self-reliance and industry can relieve distress of Indigenous people and anxiety of Metis (Note: racial stereotypes)^[4]
• Ottawa memo outlines the "utter destitution" of some Indigenous people in the Northwest Territories^[5]
• Federal commissioner reports on the dependency of Indigenous people at Fort Walsh^[6]
• Visitor fears the Metis on the Assiniboine River will not hold on to their lands much longer^[7]
• Description of Mennonite cooperative farming near Winnipeg^[8]
• All aboard the steamer Waubuno are lost in a gale on Georgian Bay^[9]
• Anti-Irish-Catholic opinion is published in the Irish Canadian^[10]
• "Alouette" first sung as a Canadian folk song.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Queen Victoria The Canadian Encyclopedia . www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca . 5 December 2022.
2. Web site: Émile Nelligan Canadian poet . Encyclopedia Britannica . 17 April 2019 . en.
3. Web site: John A. Macdonald, Minister of the Interior . ...100,000,000 Acres of Land Required . June 25, 1879 . February 27, 2023.
4. Nicholas Flood Davin, "Report on Industrial Schools for Indians and Half-Breeds" (March 14, 1879), pg. 9. Accessed 23 June 2021
5. J.S. Dennis, "152 N.W.T.; Memorandum" Northwest Territories - Correspondence, Memoranda, Reports, Minutes and Requisitions Regarding the Distress of Indians in the Territories Due to Lack of Food, pgs. 20-1. Accessed 19 September 2018
6. http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/aboriginal-heritage/first-nations/indian-affairs-annual-reports/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=1418 "No. 46"
7. http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/889/12.html "Letter IV"
8. David Currie, The Letters of Rusticus: Investigations in Manitoba and the North-West, for the Benefit of Intending Emigrants (Montreal: John Dougall & Son, 1880), pgs. 67-8. Accessed 18 September 2018
9. http://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/details.asp?ID=7072 "Wreck of the Waubuno; All the Passengers and Crew Lost"
10. https://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/donnellys/archives/newspaperormagazinearticle/1511en.html "Are Irish Catholics A Menace"