1943 in Canada explained
Events from the year 1943 in Canada.
Incumbents
Crown
Federal government
Provincial governments
Lieutenant governors
Premiers
Territorial governments
Commissioners
Events
- January 8 – Stuart Garson becomes premier of Manitoba, replacing John Bracken, who had governed for 21 years
- May 11 – J. Walter Jones becomes premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing Thane Campbell
- May 18 – Harry Nixon becomes premier of Ontario, replacing Gordon Conant
- May 23 – William Aberhart, premier of Alberta, dies in office
- May 31 – Ernest Manning becomes premier of Alberta
- July – The 1st Canadian Infantry Division is part of the invasion of Sicily.
- August 4 – Ontario election: George Drew's PCs win a minority, defeating Harry Nixon's Liberals
- August 17 – George Drew becomes premier of Ontario, replacing Harry Nixon
- August 19 – The Quebec Agreement is signed in Quebec City, between Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.
- October 21 – sinks near Rimouski after an accidental collision with another ship.
- October 22 – The crew of set up Weather Station Kurt near Martin Bay in Labrador
- December 20 – December 27 – Battle of Ortona rages in Italy.
Sport
Births
January to March
- January 9 – Elmer MacFadyen, politician (d. 2007)
- January 10 – Carl Ray, artist (d. 1978)
- January 23 – Bill Cameron, news anchor, television producer, columnist and author (d. 2005)
- January 28 – Paul Henderson, ice hockey player
- February 19 – Art Hanger, politician
- February 23 – Charles Dalfen, chairperson of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (d. 2009)
- February 27 – Gordon Earle, politician
- March 7 – Billy MacMillan, ice hockey coach and player (d. 2023)
- March 11 – Bob Plager, ice hockey player (d. 2021)
- March 15 – David Cronenberg, filmmaker, screenwriter and occasional actor
- March 25 – Loyola Hearn, diplomat and politician
April to June
- April 1 – Shirley Render, politician
- April 2 – Alan Tonks, politician
- April 3 – Richard Manuel, composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist (d. 1986)
- April 12 – Jenny Meldrum, hurdler and heptathlete
- April 17 – Bobby Curtola, singer (d. 2016)
- April 22 – Edwin Tchorzewski, politician (d. 2008)
- May 11 – Nancy Greene Raine, alpine skier, Olympic gold medallist and World Champion, Senator
- June 5 – Jean-Claude Lord, film director and screenwriter (d. 2022)
- June 21 – Diane Marleau, politician and Minister (d. 2013)
July to September
- July 15 – John H. Bryden, politician, journalist and historian
- July 30 – Jean Friesen, politician
- July 31 – Ryan Larkin, animator, artist and sculptor (d. 2007)
- August 9 – Joe Handley, politician and 10th Premier of the Northwest Territories
- August 12 – Anne Cools, Senator
- August 29 – Arthur B. McDonald, astrophysicist, Nobel Prize in Physics winner
- September 9 – Daurene Lewis, politician and nation's first black female mayor (d. 2013)
- September 12 – Alain Dostie, cinematographer, film director and screenwriter
- September 12 – Michael Ondaatje, novelist and poet
- September 19 – Lyle Vanclief, politician and Minister
- September 22 – Maurice Baril, General and Chief of the Defence Staff
- September 27 – Randy Bachman, guitarist and songwriter
October to December
- October 16 – Paul Rose, convicted of murder and kidnapping of Pierre Laporte in 1970 and leader of PDS (1996–2002) (d. 2013)
- October 24 – Frank Pitura, politician (d. 2019)
- October 26 – Diane Gerace, high jumper
- November 7 – Joni Mitchell, musician, songwriter and painter
- November 13 – André-Gilles Fortin, politician (d. 1977)
- November 18 – Michael H. Rayner, public servant (d. 2004)
- November 22 – Yvan Cournoyer, ice hockey player
- November 27 – Nicole Brossard, poet and novelist
- December 2 – Larry Grossman, politician (d. 1997)
- December 13 – Ferguson Jenkins, baseball player
- December 14 – Linda McIntosh, politician
- December 21 – André Arthur, radio host and politician (d. 2022)
- December 23 – Margaret MacMillan, historian
- December 30 – Linda Thom, shooter and Olympic gold medallist
Deaths
- February 9 – Albert Hickman, politician and 17th Prime Minister of Newfoundland (b. 1875)
- May 23 – William Aberhart, politician and 8th Premier of Alberta (b. 1878)
- July 2 – Robert James Manion, politician (b. 1881)
- July 4 – Gordon Sidney Harrington, politician and Premier of Nova Scotia (b. 1883)
- July 12 – Joseph Boutin Bourassa, politician (b. 1853)
- October 18 – Albert Charles Saunders, jurist, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island (b. 1874)
- November 26 – Charles G.D. Roberts, poet and prose writer (b. 1860)
- November 29 – Robert Hamilton Butts, politician (b. 1871)
- December 9 – Peter Dmytruk, World War II military hero (b. 1920)
- December 23 – Edgar Sydney Little, politician (b. 1885)
See also
Historical documents
Slightly confused 1st Infantry Division invades Sicily against "bewildered" and "sorry looking" Italian defenders[3]
Film: Canadian and U.S. troops train for Italian invasion[4]
Film: Canadian soldiers and nurses embark for Italian invasion[5]
Cartoon
Axis forces quickly retreating from "Sicilian landings"[6]
Command crucial, but battles are won "by human beings displaying judgment, coolness and courage" (and in Sicily's "unending heat")[7]
Seaforth Highlanders take Monte San Marco in Italy, despite steep, muddy terrain and intense German fire[8]
Top German generals recognize disadvantages fighting Allies in Italy, including "Canadians clever at making use of terrain"[9]
Canadian infantry and tanks press "a literally yard-by-yard advance" through Ortona streets, houses, and even rooms[10]
Film: Canadian troops fighting in Ortona[11]
Germans leave Ortona and their dead – "Civilians[...]too dazed to realize the enemy had gone; Canadians[...]too tired to care"[12]
Guide for battlefield first aid emphasizes combat practicality, like common sense, self-reliance, improvisation, effective care and carrying on fight[13]
Newspaper illustration of RCAF Spitfire planes strafing freight trains in Europe[14]
Photo: Canadians in joint landing operation with U.S. forces against Japanese invaders on Kiska Island, Alaska[15]
"The Jewish reservoir of the East, which was able to counterbalance the western assimilation, no longer exists"[16]
At end of fourth year of war, Prime Minister King calls for greater effort and sacrifice to defeat faltering Axis[17]
National registration certificate of Mrs. Ethel Louise Buck, Spirit River, Alberta[18]
"We are few, very few" – Quebecker laments that there are not enough pacifists in province to even produce their newsletter[19]
Advisory group chair foresees postwar period of more skilled labour, greater production, new products and technology, and huge demand[20]
U.S.-U.K. agreement creates executive committee with Canadian representation to guide nuclear development[21]
Canada wants multilateral general agreement to reduce tariffs, and to encourage U.S.A. and Canada to "buy in order to sell"[22]
Report with proposed economic reforms for benefit of Prairie provinces, adjacent U.S.A., and world at large[23]
Canada threatens to step back if not given more say in new UN Relief and Rehabilitation Organization[24]
Lester Pearson complains to External Affairs about U.S. censorship of official's call from legation in Washington to Ottawa[25]
Government returns about 15% of seized Japanese-Canadian fishing fleet to owners[26]
"So reactionary to Liberal principles" – PM King depressed by cabinet's close-minded attitude to steelworker strike[27]
Cartoon
Hitler says of strikers, "They are really working for me!"[28]
Communist Tim Buck's submission on labour relations to National War Labor Board emphasizes wage policy and collective bargaining[29]
Because of their difficulty finding housing and jobs, British Columbia MLA raises funds for halfway house for women discharged from mental institutions[30]
As they fund-raise for bombers, London's Women's Voluntary Services thanks Manitobans for gifts of clothes and mobile canteens[31]
"You can't refuse this cake, it was sent me all the way from Canada" – touring WVS speaker enjoys local hospitality[32]
"Defend[ing] freedom and culture of humanity" – Shostakovich's thank-you for Toronto performance of his Seventh Symphony[33]
Photo: RCAF member meets famed actor who plays "Rochester" on Jack Benny's radio comedy show[34]
Notes and References
- Web site: King George VI The Canadian Encyclopedia . www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca . 4 December 2022.
- Book: Lentz . Harris M. . Heads of States and Governments Since 1945 . 4 February 2014 . Routledge . 978-1-134-26490-2 . 142 . en.
- Historical Officer, Canadian Military Headquarters, "Canadian Operations in Sicily, July–August, 1943" (Report No. 127, November 16, 1944), pgs. 1-4. Accessed 15 July 2020
- British Pathé, "How They Prepared" (1943). Accessed 27 July 2020
- British Pathé, "Canadians Sail To Mediterranean" (1943). Accessed 27 July 2020
- John Collins, "The Boys From Syracuse" The (Montreal) Gazette (1943). Accessed 17 July 2020
- Historical Officer, Canadian Military Headquarters, "Canadian Operations in Sicily, July–August, 1943" (Report No. 135, May 4, 1945), pgs. 2-3. Accessed 15 July 2020
- Historical Section (G.S.), Department of National Defence, "Canadian Operations in Italy, October–November, 1943" (Report No. 161, October 16, 1946), pgs. 22-3. Accessed 15 July 2020
- Armed Forces Operations Staff, "Material for the Lecture by the Chief of Armed Forces Operations Staff[...]; Position in Italy" (translation; November 2, 1943), Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression; Volume VII (Office of United States Chief of Counsel For Prosecution of Axis Criminality, 1946), pgs. 948-9 (PDF pgs. 953-4). Accessed 5 August 2020 https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/NT_Nazi-conspiracy.html (click Volume 7)
- Historical Officer, Canadian Military Headquarters, "Canadian Operations in Italy, September–December, 1943: Preliminary Report" (Report No. 129, November 25, 1944), pgs. 12-14. Accessed 15 July 2020
- British Pathé, "Canadians Fight Germans Through Streets of Italy" (1944). Accessed 27 July 2020
- Douglas Amaron, "Only German Dead Left In Shambles of Ortona" The Globe and Mail (December 31, 1943). Accessed 17 July 2020
- https://wartimecanada.ca/document/world-war-ii/training-manuals/notes-instructors-battle-first-aid Notes for Instructors in Battle First Aid
- [Montague Birrell Black|Montague Black]
- United States Navy, "Landing to find the little men not there" (August 15, 1943). Accessed 15 July 2020
- "Four Years of World War" (translation), Israelitisches Wochenblatt (August 27, 1943), in Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression; Supplement A (Office of United States Chief of Counsel For Prosecution of Axis Criminality, 1946), pgs. 1234-5 (PDF pgs. 1259-60). Accessed 5 August 2020 https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/NT_Nazi-conspiracy.html (click Supplement A)
- William Lyon Mackenzie King, "Four Years of War" (September 10, 1943). Accessed 15 July 2020
- Dominion of Canada; National Registration Regulations, 1940; Registration Certificate (dated June 29, 1943). Accessed 17 July 2020
- Marie I. Stewart, "Quebec Pacifists," The Canadian C.O., Vol. 1, No. 6 (August 1943), pg. 6. Accessed 17 July 2020 https://uwaterloo.ca/grebel/milton-good-library/newsletters-alternative-service (scroll down to The Canadian C.O.; August, 1943)
- https://parl.canadiana.ca/view/oop.com_SOC_1904_1_1/20?r=0&s=1 "Minutes of Evidence"
- https://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/q002.asp "Article of Agreement Governing Collaboration Between the Authorities of the U.S.A. and the U.K. in the Matter of Tube Alloys"
- United States Department of State, "The Chargé in Canada (Clark) to the Secretary of State" Foreign Relations of the United States; Diplomatic Papers, 1943; General, pgs. 1104-5. Accessed 16 July 2020
- The University of Manitoba and the University of Minnesota, "The Midcontinent and the Peace; The Interests of Western Canada and Central Northwest United States in the Peace Settlements" (1943). Accessed 16 July 2020
- United States Department of State, "Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State (Acheson)" Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1943; General, pgs. 881-3. Accessed 16 July 2020
- https://declassified.library.utoronto.ca/exhibits/show/---reasonable-censorship-privi/24-march-1943--letter-from-pea Letter of Lester Pearson
- https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83025522/1943-03-17/ed-1/?sp=4 "Fishing Fleet Becomes Alive"
- Diaries of William Lyon Mackenzie King; 1943 (January 14), pgs. 32-4. Accessed 16 July 2020
- John Collins, "How It's Spelled in Wartime" The (Montreal) Gazette (August 4, 1943). Accessed 17 February 2020
- http://fau.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/fau%3A4339 "A Labor Policy for Victory; Submission presented by Tim Buck on behalf of The Dominion Communist-Labor Total War Committee to The National War Labor Board Inquiry Into Labor Relations; May 28th, 1943."
- https://madnesscanada.com/after-the-asylum/case-studies/ernest-winch-and-the-new-vista-home-for-women/in-the-news/ "'Family Care' Sought For Mental Patients"
- http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/canada_war/konantz/website/Box%202,%20Folder%201/Letter_January_22_1943.shtml Letter to Margaret Konantz
- Women's Voluntary Services for Civil Defence, "A Tour with a Travelling Officer" The Bulletin, No. 41 (March 1943), pg. 1. Accessed 7 August 2020
- https://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/200/301/lac-bac/sir_ernest_macmillan-ef/www.lac-bac.gc.ca/4/6/m7-203-e.html Letter of Dmitri Shostakovich
- http://www.windsor-communities.com/african-gallery-detail.php?id=54 "Windsor Airman Meets 'Rochester'"