1944 in Canada

Events from the year 1944 in Canada.

Incumbents

Crown

[List of Canadians|Canadian monarchs|Monarch] – George VI

Federal government

Governor General – Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone
Prime Minister – William Lyon Mackenzie King
Chief Justice – Lyman Poore Duff then Thibaudeau Rinfret
Parliament – 19th

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

Premiers

Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning
Premier of British Columbia – John Hart
Premier of Manitoba – Stuart Garson
Premier of New Brunswick – John McNair
Premier of Nova Scotia – A.S. MacMillan
Premier of Ontario – George A. Drew
Premier of Prince Edward Island – J. Walter Jones
Premier of Quebec – Adélard Godbout then Maurice Duplessis
Premier of Saskatchewan – William John Patterson then Tommy Douglas

Territorial governments

Commissioners

Events

Conscription Crisis of 1944
March 20 – Henry Duncan Graham Crerar becomes chief of the Canadian Army
April 29 – World War II: is sunk in the English Channel
June 6 – World War II: The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division lands at Juno Beach, part of the Invasion of Normandy
June 7–17 – World War II: In the Ardenne Abbey massacre Waffen SS soldiers murder 20 Canadian prisoners of war.
June 15 – Saskatchewan election: Tommy Douglas's Co-operative Commonwealth Federation wins a landslide majority, defeating William John Patterson's Liberals
July 10 – Tommy Douglas becomes premier of Saskatchewan, replacing William Patterson
July 23 – The First Canadian Army is activated in Normandy, becoming the largest combat force to ever be placed under Canadian command.
August 1 – The House of Commons approves the Family Allowance Act
August 8 – Alberta election: Ernest Manning's Alberta Social Credit Party wins a third consecutive majority
August 17 – World War II: The Canadian Army liberates Falaise
August 30 – Maurice Duplessis becomes Premier of Quebec for the second time, replacing Adélard Godbout
October 1 – World War II: The Battle of the Scheldt estuary begins
October 13 – World War II: 1st Battalion The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada suffers significant casualties in the action known in regimental lore as Black Friday
October 14 – World War II: The torpedoes in the St Lawrence River. Magog is damaged beyond repair and three sailors are killed.
October 21 – World War II: Smokey Smith earns the Victoria Cross on the Savio River in Italy.
November 24–29: Because of a rumour that conscripts are about to deployed for overseas service, a significant number of conscripts stationed in Terrace, British Columbia, mutiny.
November 25 – World War II: sinks in the Cabot Strait. All 91 sailors of Shawinigans crew are killed: the worst case of military deaths in Canadian territory during the war.
December 24 – World War II: HMCS Clayoquot sunk off Halifax by

Sports

April 13 – Montreal Canadiens win their fifth Stanley Cup by defeating the Chicago Black Hawks 4 games to 0. The deciding Game 4 was played at the Montreal Forum
April 22 – Ontario Hockey Association's Oshawa Generals win their second Memorial Cup by defeating the Western Kootenay Junior Hockey League's Trail Smoke Eaters 4 games to 0. The deciding Game 4 was played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto
November 25 – St. Hyacinthe–Donnacona Navy win their only Grey Cup by defeating the Hamilton Flying Wildcats 7 to 6 in the 32nd Grey Cup played at Civic Stadium

Births

January to June

January 6 - John Efford, politician
February 17 - Bruce Fogle, vet and author
February 27 - André Roy, writer
March 15 - Francis Mankiewicz, film director, screenwriter and producer
March 26 - Benjamin Chee Chee, artist
March 29 - Terry Jacks, singer, songwriter, record producer and environmentalist
April 12 - Glen Cummings, politician
May 4 - Fred Stanfield, ice hockey player
May 13 - Brian Fawcett, writer
May 20 - Elinor Caplan, politician and businesswoman
May 28 - Rita MacNeil, singer-songwriter
June 1 - Aileen Carroll, politician
June 8 - Marc Ouellet, cardinal
June 29 - Bob Kilger, politician
June 29 - Charlie Watt, Senator

July to September

July 5
* Norma McCormick, politician
* Robbie Robertson, singer-songwriter and guitarist
July 30 - Mendelson Joe, singer-songwriter, guitarist and painter
August 11 - Alexa McDonough, politician
August 18 - David Newman, politician
August 25 - Conrad Black, historian, columnist and publisher, appealing a fraud conviction in the United States
September 1 - Harvey Thomas Strosberg, lawyer and academic
September 3 - Brian Linehan, television host
September 12 - Ron Ward, ice hockey player
September 20 - Phil Fontaine, Aboriginal Canadian leader
September 30
*bpNichol, poet
* Diane Dufresne, singer and painter

October to December

November 17 -Lorne Michaels, television producer, writer and comedian
December 4 - Anna McGarrigle, singer-songwriter
December 12 - Peter Goldring, politician
December 16 - Judy Sgro, politician
December 16 - Mike Radcliffe, politician
December 19 - Zal Yanovsky, rock musician
December 24 - Daniel Johnson, Jr., politician and 25th Premier of Quebec
December 24 - Dan Miller, politician and 32nd Premier of British Columbia

Full date unknown

Jorge Zontal, artist and co-founder of the artistic collective General Idea

Deaths

January to June

January 9 - John Wesley Dafoe, journalist and author
February 6 - Arthur Sauvé, politician
March 9 - Roy Brown, World War I flying ace
March 28 - Stephen Leacock, writer and economist

July to December

July 27 - Clifford William Robinson, lawyer, businessman, politician and 11th Premier of New Brunswick
September 5 - Gustave Biéler, Special Operations Executive agent during World War II
September 9 - John Stuart Foster, physicist
September 14 - John Kenneth Macalister, World War II hero
September 14 - Frank Pickersgill, World War II hero
September 14 - Roméo Sabourin, World War II hero
September 27 - Aimee Semple McPherson, evangelist
October 1 - William Mulock, politician and Minister
November 3 - Jack Miner, conservationist
November 26 - Henry Cockshutt, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario