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Canadian History in July

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As I started thinking about ideas for this article, it was mid-June and it
occurred to me that it was just a week and a bit past the 59th anniversary of the
Juno beach incursion into Nazi held Europe. Then I started to peruse websites
and resources looking to further develop the idea of a serious look into
Canada’s national history. I was amazed at the wealth of information even I
wasn’t aware of, yet I didn’t really run across a comprehensive set of dates and
details of significant Canadian events.

Even our own federal government historic websites either included
non-Canadian content, or had such a narrow scope as to only include information
regarding the history of the particular department in question. That, I thought,
is a shame. So starting with this article, it is my intent (time allowing) to
present a series of a dozen articles to chronicle some of the events that should
instill pride in all Canadians. This will be a monthly installment and will
culminate in June 2004 with some commentary and a closer look at the Normandy
Invasion, on its 60th anniversary.

So, get out your flag, check the beaver at the door, put on your moose
antlers and walk with me down a path of 136 years and more of Canadian national
history.

Be Proud, Canada! You have a lot of reasons to be!

First things first. Before I get into specific historic incidents, I found a
little quiz on the Natural Resources Canada website. This link will open a new
window, so take the quiz then close that window to come back here to read the
rest of the article. Click here for the Canada Quiz

Canadian Historic Events in July

I admit I haven’t done a really extensive search on July anniversaries, so
this is by no means an exhaustive list. However, most of the items I will mention are those with specific, firm dates.

The earliest July anniversary noted took place on July 28, 1577. This was the
date cited as being the exploration of the then-called ‘Baffin Land’ by Sir
Martin Frobisher. I have my doubts as to whether he actually ‘explored’ this
land in just one day, but we’ll go with that. This was his second trip into the
area, and he landed on the Southern portion of Baffin Island, claiming it for
the English Crown.

Some 42 years prior to that, Jacques Cartier had been making his way up the
Fleuve Saint-Laurent (Saint-Laurent River) for the king of France and found a
nice landing spot at the mouth of the St. Maurice river. Deciding with the
locals that this would make a nice place to meet for trade, Cartier and others
continued to do so. For the next 99 years, the site was an active meeting place,
and on July 4th, 1634, a fortified settlement was completed on a hill
overlooking the river and was named Trois-Rivières.

Now we can skip ahead 174 years, as July was apparently somewhat uneventful
until 1808. On July 2nd of that year, Simon Fraser reached the mouth of the
Fraser River after 6 weeks of trial and danger. An extremely good article on
that voyage can be found here

Jump ahead another 59 years and we come to July 1st, 1867. This was, as you
probably know, the day that Canada officially became a country. The Dominion of
Canada, under the British North America Act, came into being on that date, and
included the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, similar to their
present-day sizes, and the Province of Canada, which was split into two pieces,
Quebec and Ontario. However, Ontario and Quebec were about one half their
present sizes, if that. You can see a map on the National Library of Canada
site, here.

Other provinces entering Confederation in the month of July were Manitoba (a
fraction of its current size) and the Northwest Territories on July 15th, 1870
(Which was almost all of present day Canada with the exception of the existing
provinces and British Columbia, map target="_new">here),British Columbia on July 20th, 1871 (map target="_new">here), and Prince Edward Island July 1, 1873 (map target="_new">here).

Another historical incident to occur in July was to happen in 1925, on the
17th. This was the day that Canada and the USA are considered to have finalized
the International Boundary Commission and given it mandate to continue to be the
agency in charge of boundary marker decisions. At the time a minor squiggle was
ironed out of the border at the Lake of the Woods area, and all has been
(fairly) well ever since.

Two years later, on July 1st, 1927, Canada produced its first national radio
broadcast, originating from ‘Dominion Day’ celebrations at Parliament Hill. That
was truly a milestone in Canadian history, as from that point on, live, real
time news and information flowed freely from coast to coast.

Of a bit more dubious nature, and a socially chaotic event at that, July of
1933 marked the first convention of the Co-operative Commonwealth Party,
essentially known as ‘Communists’, which later became the New Democratic Party.
In fact, they were actually strongly opposed to the ‘Communism’ idea at the time
of Soviet style dictatorship, and considered themselves more of a
Nationalist/Socialist party. After the next 25 years, with the rise and fall of
Nazi Germany, and the McCarthyism attitudes of their opposition, the party
decided it probably wasn’t a good idea to have a name even remotely associated
with Communist or Nazi history, and entered into negotiations with the Canadian
Labour Congress to create a ‘New’ and ‘Democratic’ party, the NDP.

The next, and final, historical point in July that I want to mention in some
detail occurred in 1957. The Distant Early Warning (DEW) line was declared fully
operational on July 31st of that year. The DEW line’s construction, a line of
radar installations, was to prevent ‘over the pole’ invasions from not being
detected. This was the first true electronic division of any countries in the
world. What is somewhat ironic is that 1957 and 1958 was also the International
Geophysical Year (IGY), which promised a greater understanding of world
mechanics by collaboration among geophysicists around the world, using in many
cases the same technology that was now being introduced to divide that same
globe. Even more ironically, the IGY started on July 1, Dominion Day, and
exactly 30 days prior to the DEW line going live.

Below I’m including a list of the above discussed events of July, and a few
more. Canada is and has been a world leader in many areas, just a few of which
are here. When you wake up on July 1st and go about your normal routine, take a
few minutes to think about what it means to be Canadian. We’re not American, so
that means we don’t have to run around waving flags or lighting fireworks, and
the reality is most Canadians don’t. As you think about this, you’ll start to
understand *why* we don’t have to.

We are a country of some 32 million residents. We are in the G-8, countries
with populations like Russia, with five times our population, and the United
States, at 10 times our population. Countries with economic prowess dwarfing our
own, as in Japan and Germany. Countries with ten and twenty times our historical
timeline, such as Britain and France. Countries like Italy, including all the
historical significance and accomplishments of Rome.

For Canada, in 136 years, has become a miracle. And that is due to the
perseverance, work ethic, and sense of self that is uniquely Canadian. Per
capita our accomplishments are second to none and have been the envy of the
world for many years.

We don’t need to beat our chests and prove to everyone else how ‘good’ we
are. It’s inherent in our everyday lives. Canadian national pride is a quality
we’ve earned, and everyone else on the block knows it. Should we rub their noses
in it?

No.

That would be ‘un-Canadian’.

Day by day listing of historical events in July*:

Day	Year	Event
1	1867	Confederation
	1873	Prince Edward Island was admitted as a province.
	1927	To mark the Diamond Jubilee of Canada’s Confederation, the first trans-Canada radio broadcast emanated from Parliament Hill. The program featured a 1,000-voice choir and the new Peace Tower carillon played by Percival Price.
	1954	Creation of the St Lawrence Seaway Authority.
	1960	Treaty Indians obtain the right to vote in Canada.
	1980	“O Canada” was proclaimed Canada’s national anthem.
2	1808	Simon Fraser completes exploration of the Fraser River to its mouth.
4	1634	Trois-Rivières, Quebec, is founded.
5	1960	Election of the Liberal Party, led by Jean Lesage, in Quebec; beginning of the Quiet Revolution in Quebec.
7	1983	Public announcement of the creation of the Canadian Astronaut Program. Its first employees start work on December 3.
14	1977	Royal assent to the Canadian Human Rights Act.
15	1870	Manitoba was admitted as a province.
	1870	Northwest Territories admitted into Confederation.
17	1925	Canada and the United States signed a treaty February 24 establishing the continuance of the International Boundary Commission, with one representative from each country, to maintain an effective border between Canada and the United States. The treaty came into force on July 17 of that year.
	1976	Olympic Games in Montréal, Quebec open.
19	1933	Opening of the conference to create the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation or CCF (later the New Democratic Party).
20	1871	British Columbia was admitted as a province.
22	1933	Closing of the conference to create the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation or CCF (later the New Democratic Party).
28	1577	Exploration of ‘Baffin Land’ by Martin Frobisher during his second voyage.
31	1976	Olympic Games in Montréal, Quebec close
	1957	Distant Early Warning (DEW) line put into operation.

Copyright &copy 2003 by Brian Smeding. All Rights Reserved.
Permission hereby granted to copy electronically only on condition that this copyright notice stays intact, and an email notification is sent to the author. Author reserves the right to restrict copying to any location he deems inappropriate.

@ June 27, 2003