1967 in Canada

Logo of Canada's centennial celebrations in 1967

1967 is remembered as one of the most notable years in Canada.^[1] It was Canada's centenary and celebrations were held throughout the nation. The most prominent event was Expo 67 in Montreal, the most successful World's Fair ever held up to that time, and one of the first events to win international acclaim for the country. The year saw the nation's Governor General, Georges Vanier, die in office; and two prominent federal leaders, Official Opposition Leader John Diefenbaker, and Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson announced their resignations. The year's top news-story was French President Charles de Gaulle's "Vive le Québec libre" speech in Montreal. The year also saw major changes in youth culture with the "hippies" in Toronto's Yorkville area becoming front-page news over their lifestyle choices and battles with Toronto City Council. A new honours system was announced, the Order of Canada. In sports, the Toronto Maple Leaf's won their 13th and last Stanley Cup.

Overview

The nation began to feel far more nationalistic than before, with a generation raised in a country fully detached from Britain. The new Canadian flag served as a symbol and a catalyst for this. In Quebec, the Quiet Revolution was overthrowing the oligarchy of francophone clergy and anglophone businessmen, and French Canadian pride and nationalism were becoming a national political force.

The Canadian economy was at its post-war peak, and levels of prosperity and quality of life were at all-time highs. Many of the most important elements of Canada's welfare state were coming on line, such as Medicare and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP).

These events were coupled with the coming of age of the baby boom and the regeneration of music, literature, and art that the 1960s brought around the world. The baby boomers who have since dominated Canada's culture tend to view the period as Canada's halcyon days.

While to Montreal it was the year of Expo, to Toronto it was the culmination of the Toronto Maple Leafs dynasty of the 1960s, with the team winning its fourth Stanley Cup in six years by defeating its arch-rival, the Montreal Canadiens, in the last all-Canadian Stanley Cup Final until 1986.

Author and historian Pierre Berton famously referred to 1967 as Canada's last good year. In his analysis, the years following saw much of 1967's hopefulness disappear. In the early 1970s, the oil shock and other factors hammered the Canadian economy. Quebec separatism led to divisive debates and an economic decline of Montreal and Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) terrorism. The Vietnam War and Watergate Scandal in the United States also had profound effects on Canadians. Breton reported that Toronto hockey fans also note that the Maple Leafs have not won a Stanley Cup since.^[2]

Incumbents

• Monarch: Elizabeth II
• Governor General: Georges Vanier then Roland Michener
• Prime Minister: Lester B. Pearson
• Premier of Alberta: Ernest Manning
• Premier of British Columbia: W.A.C. Bennett
• Premier of Manitoba: Dufferin Roblin then Walter Weir
• Premier of New Brunswick: Louis Robichaud
• Premier of Newfoundland: Joey Smallwood
• Premier of Nova Scotia: Robert Stanfield then George Smith
• Premier of Ontario: John Robarts
• Premier of Prince Edward Island: Alexander B. Campbell
• Premier of Quebec: Daniel Johnson, Sr.
• Premier of Saskatchewan: W. Ross Thatcher

Events

January to June

• January 1: Several municipalities such as Forest Hill and Swansea are merged into Toronto
• January 7: Robert Nixon is elected leader of the Ontario Liberal Party
• March 25: After the death of Georges Vanier, Roland Michener becomes Governor General
• April 17: The Order of Canada is created
• April 27: Expo 67 Official Opening Ceremony broadcast in color live via satellite to an estimated worldwide audience of 700 million viewers and listeners.
• April 28: Expo 67 opens to the public at 9:30 a.m. in Montreal
• April: Bill C-243, The Canadian Forces Reorganization Act, is given third and final reading in the House of Commons ^[3]
• May: The GO Transit service begins in Toronto
• May 23: Alberta election: Ernest Manning's Social Credit Party wins a ninth consecutive majority
• June 20: The National Library of Canada opens

July to December

• July 1: Canada celebrates its centennial
• July 24: During an official state visit to Canada, French President Charles de Gaulle declares to a crowd of over 100,000 in Montreal: Vive le Québec libre! (Long live free Quebec!). The statement, interpreted as support for Quebec independence, delighted many francophone Quebecers but angered the Canadian government and many English Canadians and was voted as the top news story from Canada by newspaper and radio journalists. ^[4]
• July 30: The Caribbean community in Toronto stages the first Caribana, with only eight bands and 1,000 spectators. It later grows into the third largest carnival in the world, drawing over 1 million spectators and 250,000 visitors a year.
• August 5: A schizophrenic man, Victor Hoffman, kills nine near Shell Lake, Saskatchewan
• September 9: Robert Stanfield wins the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party
• September 13: George Smith becomes premier of Nova Scotia, replacing Robert Stanfield
• October 5-6: Ucluelet records Canada’s heaviest ever 24 hour rainfall with 489.2 millimetres (19.26 in).
• October 11: Saskatchewan election: Ross Thatcher's Liberals win a second consecutive majority
• October 14: René Lévesque quits the Quebec Liberal Party and leaves to form the Mouvement Souveraineté-Association
• October 17: Ontario election: John Robarts's PCs win a seventh consecutive majority
• October 29: Expo 67 closes, setting attendance records.
• November 5: Robert Stanfield becomes head of the federal Progressive Conservative Party
• November 16: The Museum of Science and Technology opens in Ottawa
• November 25: Walter Weir becomes premier of Manitoba, replacing Dufferin Roblin
• November 26: A conference organized by John Robarts of Ontario brings together all the provincial premiers to discuss the constitution
• December 14: Lester B. Pearson announces he will step down as prime minister early in the next year
• December 27: Justice Minister Pierre Trudeau proposes sweeping reforms that, among other things, make homosexual acts legal in Canada
• December 29: Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism delivers first volume its report.
• The University of Lethbridge is founded

Arts and literature

New books

• Morley Callaghan: Stories
• Timothy Findley: The Last Crazy People
• Hugh Hood: The Camera Always Lies
• Farley Mowat: The Polar Passion

Poetry

• Margaret Atwood, The Circle Game, won a Governor General's award and "sold out immediately"^[5]
• John Robert Colombo, Abracadabra^[6]
• D. G. Jones, Phrases from Orpheus^[6]
• Dorothy Livesay, The Unquiet Bed, Canadian and African experiences
• E. W. Mandel, An Idiot Joy^[6]
• Michael Ondaatje, The Dainty Monsters, Toronto: Coach House Press^[7]
• P. K. Page, Cry Ararat!: Poems New and Selected^[8]
• Al Purdy, North of Summer,^[6] a diary in verse recounting his stay on Baffin Island
• A. J. M. Smith:
  • Editor, A Book of Modern Canadian Verse, anthology^[6]
  • Poems: New and Collected
• Raymond Souster, editor, New Wave Canada anthology of younger poets
• Miriam Waddington, The Glass Trumpet
• George Woodcock, Selected Poems of George Woodcock, Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, Canada^[9]

Awards

• See 1967 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Stephen Leacock Award: Richard J. Needham, Needham's Inferno
• Vicky Metcalf Award: John Patrick Gillese

Film

• Norman Jewison's In the Heat of the Night premieres
• Michael Snow's Wavelength premieres and starts the structural film movement. ^[10]

Sport

• May 2 – The Toronto Maple Leafs win the sixth game of the Stanley Cup final over the Montreal Canadiens to win their last Stanley Cup to date.
• July 23 – The fifth Pan American Games commence in Winnipeg.
• The Ottawa 67's Ontario Hockey League team is formed
• Bobby Orr wins the first of his eight consecutive Norris Trophies
• The Canadian Rugby Union is renamed the Canadian Amateur Football Association
• December 2 – The Hamilton Tiger Cats defeat The Regina Roughriders 24 to 1 in the nation's capital Ottawa

Births

January to March

• January 27 – Susan Aglukark, singer-songwriter
• January 29 – Sean Burke, ice hockey player
• February 20 – Justin Louis, actor
• February 26 – Gene Principe, sports reporter
• March 16 – Kevin Draxinger, swimmer

April to June

• April 5 – Gary Gait, lacrosse player
• April 5 – Paul Gait, lacrosse player and coach
• April 29 – Curtis Joseph, ice hockey player
• May 1 – Tom Hanson, photojournalist (d.2009)
• May 1 – Marie Moore, swimmer
• May 4 – John Child, beach volleyball player and Olympic bronze medalist
• May 5 – Stephane Provost, National Hockey League linesman (d.2005)
• May 10 – Scott Brison, politician and Minister
• May 21 – Chris Benoit, wrestler (d.2007)
• May 25 – Andrew Sznajder, tennis player
• May 29 – Mike Keane, ice hockey player
• June 1 – Murray Baron, ice hockey player
• June 27 – Sylvie Fréchette, synchronized swimmer and Olympic gold medalist
• June 30 – Gareth Rees, rugby union player

July to December

• July 1 – Pamela Anderson, actress, glamour model, producer, author and activist
• July 12 – Bruny Surin, sprinter, Olympic gold medalist and World Champion
• August 12 – Pascale Grand, racewalker
• August 21 – Carrie-Anne Moss, actress
• August 23 – Jody Vance, sports anchor
• September 17 – Kevin Boyles, volleyball player and coach
• October 3 – Denis Villeneuve, film director and writer
• October 9 – Carling Bassett-Seguso, tennis player
• October 9 – Guylaine Dumont, beach volleyball player
• November 8 – Christopher Chalmers, swimmer
• December 14 – Dominic LeBlanc, politician
• December 16 – Donovan Bailey, sprinter, double Olympic gold medalist and World Champion
• December 17 – Vincent Damphousse, ice hockey player
• December 29 – Ashleigh Banfield, journalist and television host

Deaths

• January 9 – Errick Willis, politician (b.1896)
• January 14 – James Lorimer Ilsley, politician, Minister and jurist (b.1894)
• January 26 – Crawford Gordon, businessman (b.1914)
• January 31 – Geoffrey O'Hara, composer, singer and music professor (b.1882)
• February 10 – Thomas Ricketts, soldier and Victoria Cross recipient in 1918 (b.1901)
• March 5 – Georges Vanier, soldier, diplomat and Governor General of Canada (b.1888)
• April 30 – Gladys Porter, politician and first female Member of the Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia (b.1894)
• May 13 – Dana Porter, politician and jurist (b.1901)
• May 23 – Lionel Groulx, priest, historian, Quebec nationalist and traditionalist (b.1878)
• August 2 – Adrien Arcand, journalist and fascist (b.1899)
• December 30 – Vincent Massey, lawyer, diplomat and Governor General of Canada (b.1887)

Full date unknown

• Charles Edward Bothwell, politician and barrister (b.1882)
• Jack Humphrey, painter (b.1901)
• Malcolm Norris, Métis leader (b.1900)

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Berton, Pierre (1997). 1967: The Last Good Year. Toronto: Doubleday Canada Ltd.. ISBN 978-0-385-25662-9. 

External links

• NFB documentary, Summer of '67 (includes info on upcoming Canadian screenings)

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