1911 in Canada explained

Events from the year 1911 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – George V^[1]

Federal government

• • Governor General – Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey (until October 13) then Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn Prime Minister – Wilfrid Laurier (until October 6) then Robert Borden (from October 10)
• Chief Justice – Charles Fitzpatrick (Quebec)
• Parliament – 11th (until 29 July) then 12th (from 15 November)

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• • • • • Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – George Hedley Vicars Bulyea Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Thomas Wilson Paterson Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Daniel Hunter McMillan (until August 1) then Douglas Colin Cameron Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Lemuel John Tweedie Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – James Drummond McGregor
    • Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – John Morison Gibson Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Benjamin Rogers Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Charles Alphonse Pantaléon Pelletier (until May 5) then François Langelier
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – George William Brown

Premiers

• Premier of Alberta – Arthur Sifton
  • • Premier of British Columbia – Richard McBride Premier of Manitoba – Rodmond Roblin Premier of New Brunswick – John Douglas Hazen (until October 16) then James Kidd Flemming
  • Premier of Nova Scotia – George Henry Murray Premier of Ontario – James Whitney
    • Premier of Prince Edward Island – Francis Haszard (until May 16) then Herbert James Palmer (May 16 to December 2) then John Mathieson Premier of Quebec – Lomer Gouin Premier of Saskatchewan – Thomas Walter Scott

Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Commissioner of Yukon – Alexander Henderson (until June 1) then Arthur Wilson (acting)
  • Gold Commissioner of Yukon – F.X. Gosselin Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Frederick D. White

Events

• January 11 – Fort Vermilion records the coldest temperature in North America at -78.2F, holding the record until 1947.
• May 16 – James Palmer becomes Premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing F. L. Haszard
• June 14 – Nova Scotia election: George Henry Murray's Liberals win a second consecutive majority
• September 21 – Federal election: Robert Borden's Conservatives win a majority, defeating Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Liberals
• October 4 – John Young Monument unveiled
• October 10 – Robert Borden becomes prime minister, replacing Sir Wilfrid Laurier
• October 16 – James Flemming becomes Premier of New Brunswick, replacing Sir John Hazen
• December 2 – John Mathieson becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing James Palmer
• December 11 – Ontario election: Sir James Whitney's Conservatives win a third consecutive majority

Sport

• November 25 – University of Toronto Varsity Blues defeated the Toronto Argonauts 14 to 7 in the 3rd Grey Cup played at Toronto's Varsity Stadium

Full date unknown

• Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada is founded.
• Dominion Parks Branch is established, the world's first national park service, now called Parks Canada.

Arts and literature

Popular artworks

• Autumn In France by Emily Carr.^[2]

Births

Unknown date

• Stuart Trueman, journalist and writer

January to June

• January 3 – Jean Bourcier, ice hockey player
• January 27 – Blanche Meagher, diplomat
• February 3 – Robert Charboneau, writer
• March 12 – Stanley Bréhaut Ryerson, historian, educator and political activist (d.1998)
• April 22 – Alexander Bell Patterson, politician (d.1993)
• April 29 – Andrew Hill Clark, geographer
• May 11 – William Cecil Ross, politician (d.1998)
• May 11 – Mitchell Sharp, politician and Minister (d.2004)
• June 24 – Portia White, singer (d.1968)
• June 28 – Czeslaw Brzozowicz, engineer (d.1997)

July to December

• July 18 – Hume Cronyn, actor (d.2003)
• July 21 – Marshall McLuhan, educator, philosopher, and scholar (d.1980)
• August 5 – Albert Sanschagrin, Bishop of Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec (d.2009)
• August 28 – Nérée Arsenault, politician

Deaths

• March 11 – Théotime Blanchard, farmer, merchant and politician (b.1844)
• April 14 – Henri Elzéar Taschereau, jurist and 4th Chief Justice of Canada (b.1836)
• April 29 – Charles Alphonse Pantaléon Pelletier, lawyer, militia officer, politician, publisher, judge, and the 9th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (b.1837)
• November 6 – John Carling, businessman and politician (b.1828)
• December 12 – Daniel J. Greene, politician and Prime Minister of Newfoundland (b.1850)

Historical documents

With "unenviable record for deaths," residential school principal blames drafty building and its "sanitary and heating appliances"^[3]

Henri Bourassa denounces prejudiced attacks on French Canadian nationalism^[4]

Order in Council cancels previous order prohibiting entry for one year of "any immigrant belonging to the Negro race"^[5]

Cartoon: anti-reciprocity depiction of Johnny Canuck and Uncle Sam cutting up watermelon (Note: racial stereotypes and blackface)^[6]

Saskatchewan premier and farmers disappointed federal election has ruled out reciprocity with U.S.A.^[7]

Nellie McClung speaks on importance of social life in rural areas^[8]

Fruit co-operative manager says co-ops would do better if farmers valued business methods more and self-reliance less^[9]

British woman fired from first au pair job on her undercover investigation of domestic work in Manitoba^[10]

U.S. reporter explains how church-going, law-abiding Canadians had no Wild West^[11]

U.S. reporter calls Quebec City economic backwater with fine sightseeing^[12]

Ancient farms and conservative rural ways on St. Lawrence River near Quebec City^[13]

Terrible fire does not discourage exploitation of immense mineral wealth in Timmins area of northern Ontario^[14]

Great healing powers (and products) found in Manitou Lake, near Watrous, Saskatchewan^[15]

Mackenzie King falls for his ideal woman^[16]

Notes and References

1. Web site: King George V The Canadian Encyclopedia . www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca . 4 December 2022.
2. Web site: AUTUMN IN FRANCE 1911. Baldissera. Lisa. aci-iac.ca/.
3. Letter of Walter McLaren (December 26, 1911), United Church of Canada Central Archives, in Denise Hildebrand, Staff Perspectives of the Aboriginal Residential School Experience: A Study of Four Presbyterian Schools, 1888-1923 pg. 171. Accessed 10 June 2021
4. Henri Bourassa, "To the English Speaking Reader" The Reciprocity Agreement and Its Consequences As Viewed from the Nationalist Standpoint (1911), pgs. I-IV. Accessed 21 February 2020
5. https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/politics-government/orders-council/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=302367 "Negro Immigration cancellation O.C. 1911/08/12 prohibiting - M. Int. 1911/10/04"
6. Newton McConnell, "Uncle Sam: 'Lemme divide tha mellion foh yo' Johnnie I'se had sperience'" (ca. 1911). Accessed 2 May 2021 https://www.picturingpolitics.com/whose-story/ (scroll down to Racism in Editorial Cartoons)
7. Walter Scott, "Address to the People of Saskatchewan" (1911). Accessed 21 February 2020
8. Nellie McClung, "The Importance of Social Life in Country Homes" Report of the First Annual Convention of the Homemakers' Club of Saskatchewan[....] (1911), pgs. 36-9. Accessed 21 February 2020
9. James E. Johnson, "Co-Operative Fruit Culture; Why Co-Operation Is Not More Successful among Farmers" (February 1, 1911), Report of the [House] Select Standing Committee on Agriculture and Colonization[;] 1910-11, pgs. 90-1. Accessed 14 October 2020
10. Ella Constance Sykes, "My First Post as a Home-Help" A Home-Help in Canada (1912), pgs. 43-52. Accessed 21 February 2020
11. William E. Curtis, "Western Canada Life Free from Disorder" (September 25, 1911), Letters on Canada, pgs. 139-42. Accessed 21 February 2020
12. William E. Curtis, "Yankee Visitors' Dollars Help to Support Quebec" (August 22, 1911), Letters on Canada, pgs. 11-16. Accessed 21 February 2020
13. William E. Curtis, "Farm in Quebec Is Like a Ribbon, Ending at River" (August 28, 1911), Letters on Canada, pgs. 33-7. Accessed 21 February 2020
14. William E. Curtis, "Mines of Ontario Set a High Mark by Their Output" (September 5, 1911), Letters on Canada, pgs. 77-9. Accessed 21 February 2020
15. William E. Curtis, "Lake of Healing Aid in Boosting Watrous, Canada" (September 21, 1911), Letters on Canada, pgs. 125-9. Accessed 21 February 2020
16. Diaries of William Lyon Mackenzie King; 1911, pgs. "13-17" (one page is reproduced twice). Accessed 21 February 2020