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1947 in Canada
Reference material by Wikipedia contributors. This retains its source identity and is not 411 news reporting.
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April 2026
October 2012
1947
Events from the year 1947 in Canada.
thumb|1947 Mercury pickup truck, made by Ford Motor Company of Canada. Photographed in Fort Macleod, Alberta, 2010.
Incumbents
Crown
Monarch – George VIKing George VI The Canadian Encyclopedia https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/king-george-vi www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca 4 December 2022
Federal government
Governor General – the Viscount Alexander of TunisLentz Harris M. Heads of States and Governments Since 1945 4 February 2014 Routledge 978-1-134-26490-2 142 https://books.google.com/books?id=D6HKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA142 en
Prime Minister – William Lyon Mackenzie King
Chief Justice – Thibaudeau Rinfret (Quebec)
Parliament – 20th
Provincial governments
Lieutenant governors
Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John C. Bowen
Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Charles Arthur Banks
Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Roland Fairbairn McWilliams
Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – David Laurence MacLaren
Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Henry Ernest Kendall (until August 12) then J.A.D. McCurdy
Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Ray Lawson
Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Joseph Alphonsus Bernard
Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Eugène Fiset
Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Reginald John Marsden Parker
Premiers
Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning
Premier of British Columbia – John Hart (until December 29) then Boss Johnson
Premier of Manitoba – Stuart Garson
Premier of New Brunswick – John McNair
Premier of Nova Scotia – Angus Macdonald
Premier of Ontario – George A. Drew
Premier of Prince Edward Island – J. Walter Jones
Premier of Quebec – Maurice Duplessis
Premier of Saskatchewan – Tommy Douglas
Territorial governments
Commissioners
Controller then Commissioner of Yukon – George A. Jeckell (until September 18) then John Edward Gibben
Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Charles Camsell (until January 14) then Hugh Llewellyn Keenleyside
Events
January 1 - Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 comes into effect. Among other things this changed federal law such that Canadian women no longer lost their citizenship automatically if they married non-Canadians.Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women. http://criaw-icref.ca/millenium https://web.archive.org/web/20140102194633/http://criaw-icref.ca/millenium 2014-01-02
January 2 - Dominion of Newfoundland (later a province in 1949) switches to driving on the right from the left.
January 27 - The cabinet order deporting Japanese-Canadians to Japan is repealed after widespread protests.
February 13 - The oil well Leduc No. 1 comes in, launching the Alberta oil industry.
May 14 - The Chinese Immigration Act of 1923 is repealed.
June 15 - The laws limiting Asian immigration to Canada are repealed; Canadians of Asian descent are allowed to vote in federal elections.
July 22 - Two new nuclear reactors go online at the Chalk River research facility.
September 1 - Two Canadian National Railways (CNR) passenger trains collide head-on at Dugald, Manitoba, resulting in 31 people dead and 85 people injured. The disaster is exacerbated by the CNR's use of wooden passenger coaches, as strict rationing of steel during the Second World War impeded the shift to steel coaches.https://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/features/dugaldtraindisaster/index.shtml The Dugald Train Disaster, 1947 Manitoba Historical Society 6 August 2022
September 30 - The last group of personnel who had been on active service, for World War II, since September 1, 1939, stood down.http://www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca/v2/hst/page-eng.asp?id=607 Timeline - The Modern Era: The Post War 2012-07-28 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20120929225050/http://www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca/v2/hst/page-eng.asp?id=607 2012-09-29
October 1 - New letters patent defining the office and powers of the governor general come into effect.
December 29 - Boss Johnson becomes premier of British Columbia.
Stephen Leacock Award: Harry L. Symons, Ojibway Melody.
New books
Fearful Symmetry - Northrop Frye
Who Has Seen the Wind? - W.O. Mitchell
Sport
April 19 - The Toronto Maple Leafs win their sixth Stanley Cup by defeating the Montreal Canadiens 4 games to 2. The deciding Game 6 was played in Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
April 22 - The Ontario Hockey Association's Toronto St. Michael's Majors win their third (and last until 1961) Memorial Cup by defeating Southern Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's Moose Jaw Canucks 4 games to 3. The deciding Game 7 was played at Regina Exhibition Stadium.
November 29 - The Toronto Argonauts win their eighth Grey Cup by defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 10 to 9 in the 35th Grey Cup played in Varsity Stadium in Toronto. This was the last Grey Cup to be won by a team with all Canadian players.
Births
January to March
January 14 - Bill Werbeniuk, snooker player (d. 2003)
January 15 - Andrea Martin, actress and comedian
January 23 - Clayton Manness, politician
January 24 - Steve McCaffery, poet and scholar
February 10 - Louise Arbour, jurist, justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
February 11 - Abby Hoffman, track and field athlete
February 20 - Joy Smith, politician
March 1 - Alan Thicke, actor, songwriter and game and talk show host (d. 2016)
March 10 - Chris Axworthy, politician
March 10 - Kim Campbell, politician and first female Prime Minister of CanadaKim Campbell https://www.britannica.com/explore/100women/profiles/kim-campbell Britannica Presents 100 Women Trailblazers 28 July 2021 en 25 February 2020
March 24 - Louise Lanctôt, convicted kidnapper and writer
April to June
April 3 - Jonathan Welsh, actor (d. 2005)
April 27 - Pauline Picard, politician (d. 2009)
May 3 - Doug Henning, magician, illusionist and escape artist (d. 2000)
May 4 - John Bosley, politician (d. 2022)
May 7 - Dave Barrow, politician (d. 2022)
May 12
Michael Ignatieff, Canadian politician, philosopher and historian
Micheline Lanctôt, Canadian actress, director, and screenwriter
May 20 - Oscar Lathlin, politician (d. 2008)
May 25 - Doug Martindale, politician
May 28 - Lynn Johnston, cartoonist
June 10 - Michel Bastarache, lawyer, businessman, puisne justice on the Supreme Court of Canada
June 14
Vanessa Harwood, ballet dancer, choreographer, artistic director, teacher and actor
Patrick Moore, founder member of Greenpeacehttps://bcbooklook.com/2016/02/02/112-patrick-moore/ #112 Patrick Moore bcbooklook.com 2019-03-18 2019-07-07 https://web.archive.org/web/20190707140451/https://bcbooklook.com/2016/02/02/112-patrick-moore/ dead
Neil Stevens, sports writer (d. 2022)
June 19 - John Ralston Saul, author and essayist
June 22 - Aude, writer
July to September
July 13 - Rosella Bjornson, airline pilot, first female pilot for a commercial airline in North America
July 18 - Steve Mahoney, politician and Minister
July 22
Gilles Duceppe, politician
Bill Matthews, politician
July 27 - Serge Bouchard, anthropologist and broadcaster (d. 2021)
August 8 - Ken Dryden, ice hockey player, politician, lawyer, businessman and author
August 13 – John Stocker, voice actor
August 24 - Linda Hutcheon, literary critic and theorist
August 30 - Allan Rock, politician and diplomat
September 24
Tim Ecclestone, ice hockey player and coach (d. 2024)
R. H. Thomson, actor
September 29 - Hubert Gagnon, actor (d. 2020)
October to December
October 3 - Carroll Morgan, boxer (d. 2018)
October 9 - Wayne Thomas, ice hockey player and executive (d. 2025 in the United States)Former goalie, Sharks executive Thomas dies at 77 https://www.nhl.com/news/wayne-thomas-san-jose-executive-dies-at-77 NHL.com July 16, 2025 July 17, 2025
October 13 - Jon Gerrard, politician and medical doctor
November 10 - Bryan Gibson, boxer
November 17 - Inky Mark, politician
November 22 - Jacques Saada, politician and Minister
November 28 - Bonnie Mitchelson, politician
December 27 - Mickey Redmond, ice hockey player and commentator
December 31 - Burton Cummings, musician and songwriter
Full date unknown
Bernard Descôteaux, journalist (d. 2024)
Russ Germain, radio presenter (d. 2009)
Olga Hrycak, former basketball player and basketball university coach
John Martin, broadcaster (d. 2006)
Deaths
January to June
January 7 - John Alexander Mathieson, jurist, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island (b. 1863)
thumb|right|100px|R. B. Bennett
January 11 - Eva Tanguay, singer and entertainer (b. 1878)
February 6 – Henry Marshall Tory, university founder (b. 1864)
March 19 - Prudence Heward, painter (b. 1896)
June 10 - Alexander Bethune, politician and 12th Mayor of Vancouver (b. 1852)
June 25 - William Donald Ross, financier, banker and Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (b. 1869)
June 26 - R. B. Bennett, lawyer, businessman, politician, philanthropist and 11th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1870)
July to December
July 2 - Clarence Lucas, composer, lyricist, conductor and music professor (b. 1866)
August 11 - Gerry McGeer, politician (b. 1888)
October 22 – Phoebe Amelia Watson, painter and curator (b. 1858)
November 14 - Walter Edward Foster, businessman, politician and 16th Premier of New Brunswick (b. 1873)
December 17 – William Johnston Tupper, politician, 12th Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba (b. 1862)
December 28 - Leonard Percy de Wolfe Tilley, lawyer, politician and 20th Premier of New Brunswick (b. 1870)
See also
List of Canadian films
References
1947 in
Category:Years of the 20th century in Canada
Canada
Category:1947 in North America