1938 in Canada

Events from the year 1938 in Canada.

← 1937 1936 1935 1938 in Canada → 1939 1940 1941
Decades:	1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s
See also:	History of Canada Timeline of Canadian history List of years in Canada

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – George VI^[1]

Federal government

• Governor General – John Buchan^[2]
• Prime Minister – William Lyon Mackenzie King
• Chief Justice – Lyman Poore Duff (British Columbia)
• Parliament – 18th

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – John C. Bowen
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Eric Hamber
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – William Johnston Tupper
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Murray MacLaren
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Robert Irwin
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Albert Edward Matthews
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – George Des Brisay de Blois
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Esioff-Léon Patenaude
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Archibald Peter McNab

Premiers

• Premier of Alberta – William Aberhart
• Premier of British Columbia – Thomas Dufferin Pattullo
• Premier of Manitoba – John Bracken
• Premier of New Brunswick – Allison Dysart
• Premier of Nova Scotia – Angus Lewis Macdonald
• Premier of Ontario – Mitchell Hepburn
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – Thane Campbell
• Premier of Quebec – Maurice Duplessis
• Premier of Saskatchewan – William John Patterson

Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Controller of Yukon – George A. Jeckell
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Charles Camsell

Events

• June 8 - Saskatchewan general election: William John Patterson's Liberals win a second consecutive majority

Full date unknown

• Superman first appears in Action #1 (cover date June 1938), as a backup feature. The character is created by Joe Shuster (an artist for the Toronto Star) and American writer Jerry Siegel for National Comics.
• Vaccination for tuberculosis (the leading cause of death in young people) is introduced.

Sport

• April 12 - The Chicago Black Hawks win their second Stanley Cup by defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 3 games to 1.
• April 18 - The Manitoba Junior Hockey League's St. Boniface Seals win their only Memorial Cup by defeating the Ontario Hockey Association's Oshawa Generals 3 games to 2. The deciding Game 5 was played Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto
• December 10 - In a repeat of the 25th Grey Cup, the Toronto Argonauts win their fifth Grey Cup by defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 30 to 7 in the 26th Grey Cup played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto

Births

January to June

John Hamm

• January 9 - Claudette Boyer, politician, member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for Ottawa—Vanier (1999–2003) (d.2013)
• January 10 - Frank Mahovlich, ice hockey player and Senator
• January 13 - William B. Davis, actor
• January 16 - Lou Angotti, ice hockey player and coach (d. 2021)
• February 9 - Jovette Marchessault, writer and artist (d. 2012)
• February 17 - Martha Henry, actress
• February 22 - Pierre Vallières, journalist and writer (d. 1998)
• April 5 - David Helwig, poet, novelist, and essayist (d. 2018)
• April 8 - John Hamm, physician, politician and 32nd Premier of Nova Scotia
• April 12 - Roger Caron, author
• May 13 - Lucille Starr, singer, songwriter and yodeler
• May 16 - Jim Coutts, political advisor (d.2013)
• May 24 - Tommy Chong, comedian, actor and musician
• May 26 - Teresa Stratas, operatic soprano^[3]
• May 30 - Eugene Belliveau, Canadian football defensive lineman
• June 4 - John Harvard, journalist, politician and 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba
• June 13 - John Newlove, poet (d.2013)
• June 19
  • Jean-Claude Labrecque, director and cinematographer
  • Beth Phinney, educator and politician
• June 26 - Ken Monteith, politician

July to September

Paul Martin

• July 12 - Matt Ravlich, ice hockey defenceman
• July 14 - Moshe Safdie, architect and urban designer
• July 18 - Helen Gardiner, philanthropist and co-founder of the Gardiner Museum (d.2008)
• July 29
  • Peter Jennings, journalist and television news anchor (d.2005)
  • Jean Rochon, politician (d. 2021)
• August 1 - Noble Villeneuve, politician (d. 2018)
• August 8 - Jacques Hétu, composer (d. 2010)
• August 9 - Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux, musician and composer (d.1985)
• August 25 - Colin Thatcher, politician and murderer
• August 28 - Paul Martin, politician and 21st Prime Minister of Canada

October to December

• October 8 - Walter Gretzky, ice hockey player and coach (d.2021)
• October 14 - Ron Lancaster, Canadian football player and coach (d.2008)
• October 27 - Tim Ralfe, journalist (d.2000)
• October 28 - Gary Cowan, golfer
• November 3 - Yvon Cormier, wrestler (d.2009)
• November 4 - LeRoy Fjordbotten, politician (d. 2017)
• November 13 - Gérald Godin, poet and politician (d.1994)
• November 15 - Denis DeJordy, ice hockey player and coach
• November 17 - Gordon Lightfoot, singer and songwriter (d. 2023)
• November 18 – Annon Lee Silver, lyric soprano (d.1971)
• November 26 - Rich Little, impressionist and voice actor
• December 16 - John Allan Cameron, folk singer (d.2006)
• December 22 - Lucien Bouchard, lawyer, diplomat, politician and Minister

Undated

• Roland Doré, educator, President of the Canadian Space Agency

Deaths

• January 4 - George Halsey Perley, politician and diplomat (b.1857)
• January 8 - Aimé Bénard, politician (b.1873)
• January 28 - Hugh Graham, 1st Baron Atholstan, newspaper publisher (b.1848)
• February 20 - William Alves Boys, politician and barrister (b.1868)
• March 23 - Thomas Walter Scott, politician and first Premier of Saskatchewan (b.1867)
• April 13 - Grey Owl, writer and conservationist (b.1888)
• April 24 - John Wycliffe Lowes Forster, artist (b.1850)
• May 6 - Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire, politician and 11th Governor General of Canada (b.1868)
• May 7 - Frederick Cronyn Betts, politician (b.1896)
• July 25 - Francis Haszard, jurist, politician and Premier of Prince Edward Island (b.1849)
• December 26 - Pierre-Ernest Boivin, politician and businessman (b.1872)

See also

• List of Canadian films

Historical documents

Prime Minister Chamberlain defends Munich Agreement in "peace for our time" speech in British House of Commons^[4]

President Roosevelt requests increased defence appropriations from Congress^[5]

President Roosevelt says "we[...]are no longer a far away continent" in address at Queen's University at Kingston^[6]

Vancouverites fail in plot to bomb Japanese ocean liner Hiye Maru^[7]

"Map of the Pacific Ocean [showing] route taken by the Canadian Pacific steamship Empress of Asia from Hong Kong to Vancouver, [B.C. via Shanghai and Japan]"^[8]

Jewish Anti-Defamation League member says act on "passion for democracy" in face of world events^[9]

Jewish columnist sets radio host straight on his "joke" about Jews^[10]

Al-Rashid Mosque, Canada's first, opened in Edmonton with Indian statesman and Hanna, Alta. mayor present^[11]

With prices for necessities and product sold dictated to them, Alberta farmers form United Farmers of Canada branch^[12]

Manitoba premier comments on globally higher production, lower demand and drastically lower prices for wheat^[13]

Development of huge Turner Valley oil field and its significance to Canada and Empire (especially British Navy)^[14]

Nellie McClung praises cooperation as solution to poverty resulting from "profit system divorced from Christian ethics" ^[15]

Woonsocket, Rhode Island Franco-American mill worker and his family survive another layoff during Depression^[16]

Trans-Canada Air Lines will be part of multi-day international flights linking Britain with New Zealand and Australia^[17]

Tides and trees, gardens and exiles are subjects of Nellie McClung's Nova Scotia travel article^[18]

New wing of Kitchener-Waterloo YWCA hosts Saturday morning games, stories and handwork for girls^[19]

18th century Kanien’kéhà:ka-British alliance seen as "administration" of Indigenous people versus French "encroachments"^[20]

Further reading

• Wentzell, Tyler. 2023. “Scenes of Berlin: Fascism and Anti-Fascism in Toronto During the Summer of 1938”. Canadian Jewish Studies Études Juives Canadiennes 35 (May):16-39. https://doi.org/10.25071/1916-0925.40316.

References

1. "King George VI | The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
2. "John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir: Biography on Undiscovered Scotland". www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
3. Randel, Don Michael (30 October 2002). The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Harvard University Press. p. 866. ISBN 978-0-674-25572-2.
4. Great Britain, Parliamentary Debates; Commons; Vol. 339 (October 3, 1938). Accessed 18 June 2020
5. "Paper VIII; Message to the Congress recommending increased armament for national defense, January 28, 1938" Development of United States Foreign Policy; Addresses and Messages of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1942), pgs. 25-6. Accessed 18 June 2020
6. "Paper IX; Address at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, August 18, 1938" Development of United States Foreign Policy; Addresses and Messages of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1942), pgs. 27-9. Audio: "President Franklin Roosevelt Receiving Honorary Degree at Queens University in Ontario, Canada" Accessed 18 June 2020
7. "One Seized, One Dead at Seattle; Vancouver Man Admits They Were in Pay of 'Oriental Nation'" (Seattle, January 20, 1938). Accessed 18 June 2020
8. Canadian Pacific Railway Company, "Steamship tracks chart used on the Empress of Asia" (1938), University of British Columbia Library. Accessed 14 July 2024
9. Richard E. Gutstadt, in "B'nai B'rith and A.Z.A. 1938; Second Annual Conference; Western Canadian Council" (September 1938; unpaginated). Accessed 18 June 2020
10. Al Segal, "Plain Talk; Suppose it were the Scotch" Jewish Western Bulletin, Vol. VIII, No. 43 (May 13, 1938), pg. 1. Accessed 18 June 2020
11. "City's Mosque Will Be Opened Sunday Night" Edmonton Journal (December 9, 1938). Accessed 13 June 2021
12. "Manifesto and Constitution of United Farmers of Canada (Alberta Section) Third Revised Edition. Accessed 18 June 2020
13. "Radio Address by Honourable John Bracken; December 18, 1938" Proceedings of the Conference on Markets for Western Farm Products, pgs. 325-8. Accessed 18 June 2020
14. Walter S. Campbell, "Turner Valley - Its Resources and Possibilities" (February 10, 1938), The Empire Club of Canada Addresses, pgs. 227-44. Accessed 18 June 2020
15. Nellie L. McClung, "Co-operation in Nova Scotia" The (Berwick, N.S.) Register (September 7, 1938). Accessed 18 June 2020
16. Mr. Guilfoyle, "French Canadian Textile Worker" (interview with Henry Boucher, January 12, 1939), pgs. 18-23. Accessed 18 June 2020
17. "Across Canada by Air" The (Wellington, N.Z.) Evening Post, Vol. CXXV, No. 94 (April 22, 1938), pg. 8. Accessed 18 June 2020
18. Nellie L. McClung, "The Flavour of Nova Scotia" The (Berwick, N.S.) Register (August 3, 1938), pgs. 1, 3. Accessed 18 June 2020
19. "Saturday Morning Play Hour Big Attraction at Y.W.C.A." Kitchener Daily Record (March 21, 1938). Accessed 18 June 2020
20. John Wolfe Lydekker, "Introduction" (excerpt), The Faithful Mohawks (1938). Accessed 8 February 2021