1900 in Canada

Events from the year 1900 in Canada.

← 1899 1898 1897 1900 in Canada → 1901 1902 1903
Decades:	1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s
See also:	History of Canada Timeline of Canadian history List of years in Canada

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – Victoria^[1]

Federal government

• Governor General – Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto
• Prime Minister – Wilfrid Laurier
• Chief Justice – Samuel Henry Strong (Ontario)
• Parliament – 8th (until 9 October)

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Thomas Robert McInnes (until June 21) then Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – James Colebrooke Patterson (until October 10) then Daniel Hunter McMillan
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Jabez Bunting Snowball
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Malachy Bowes Daly (until July 26) then Alfred Gilpin Jones
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Oliver Mowat
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Peter Adolphus McIntyre
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Louis-Amable Jetté

Premiers

• Premier of British Columbia – Charles Augustus Semlin (until February 28) then Joseph Martin (February 28 to June 15) then Edward Gawler Prior
• Premier of Manitoba – Thomas Greenway (until January 10) then Hugh John Macdonald (January 10 to October 29) then Rodmond Roblin
• Premier of New Brunswick – Henry Emmerson (until August 31) then Lemuel John Tweedie
• Premier of Nova Scotia – George Henry Murray
• Premier of Ontario – George William Ross
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – Donald Farquharson
• Premier of Quebec – Félix-Gabriel Marchand (until October 8) then Simon-Napoléon Parent

Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Commissioner of Yukon – William Ogilvie

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Keewatin – James Colebrooke Patterson (until October 10) then Daniel Hunter McMillan
• Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories – Amédée E. Forget

Premiers

• Premier of North-West Territories – Frederick Haultain

Events

January to June

• January 8 – Hugh John Macdonald becomes premier of Manitoba, replacing Thomas Greenway.
• February 18 – February 27 – Boer War: The Royal Canadian Regiment of Infantry plays a decisive role in the Battle of Paardeberg.
• February 27 – Charles Semlin is dismissed as premier of British Columbia.
• February 28 – Joseph Martin becomes premier of British Columbia.
• March 16 – Boer War: Strathcona's Horse leave for South Africa.

 

Hull fire on April 26, 1900.

• April 26 – Two-thirds of Hull, Quebec, is destroyed in a fire.
• June 15 – James Dunsmuir becomes premier of British Columbia, replacing Joseph Martin.

July to December

• August 31 – Lemuel John Tweedie becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing Henry Emmerson.
• September 25 – Félix-Gabriel Marchand, Premier of Quebec, dies in office.
• October 8 – Simon-Napoléon Parent becomes premier of Quebec.
• October 29 – Sir Rodmond Roblin becomes premier of Manitoba, replacing Hugh John Macdonald.
• November 7
  • Federal election: Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Liberals win a second consecutive majority.^[2]
  • Boer War: The Battle of Leliefontein begins. Three Canadians receive the Victoria Cross for their valour in the engagement.
• December 6 – Alphonse Desjardins founds Mouvement Desjardins, the first credit union in North America.

Full date unknown

• -The federal government doubles the head tax on Chinese immigrants
• -The Canadian Tuberculosis Association meets for the first time

Births

January to June

• January 1 – Sam Berger, lawyer, businessman and football player (d.1992)
• January 8 – Solon Earl Low, politician (d.1962)
• February 20 – Graham Spry, broadcasting pioneer, business executive, diplomat and socialist (d.1983)
• March 12 – David Croll, politician (d.1991)
• April 19 – Roland Michener, lawyer, politician, diplomat and Governor-General of Canada (d.1991)
• April 30 – David Manners, actor (d.1998)
• May 25 – Alain Grandbois, poet (d.1975)

 

John Babcock in 1920

• May 25 – Malcolm Norris, Métis leader (d.1967)
• May 29 – Antonio Talbot, politician (d.1980)
• June 3 – Gordon Sinclair, journalist, writer and commentator (d.1984)
• June 21 – Edward S. Rogers, Sr., inventor and radio pioneer (d.1939)
• July 23 – John Babcock, Canada's last surviving World War I veteran (d.2010)

July to December

• August 13 – Gordon Sparling, filmmaker (d.1994)
• September 6 – W. A. C. Bennett, Premier of British Columbia (d.1979)
• November 20 – Athole Shearer, actress (d.1985)

Full date unknown

• Harry Cassidy, academic, social reformer and civil servant (d.1951)

Deaths

• February 25 – Benjamin Pâquet, Roman Catholic priest and educationist (b.1832)
• March 1 – Frederick Carter, Premier of Newfoundland (b.1819)
• March 20 – George Hope Bertram, politician (b. 1847)
• August 4 – Marc-Aurèle Plamondon, lawyer, journalist, publisher, and judge (b.1823)
• August 11 – Georges-Isidore Barthe, lawyer, publisher, journalist and politician (b.1834)
• September 25 – Félix-Gabriel Marchand, journalist, author, notary, politician and 11th Premier of Quebec (b.1832)
• December 21 – Désiré Olivier Bourbeau, politician and merchant (b.1834)

Historical documents

Political cartoonist shows Canadian farmer's preference for Liberal over Conservative record ^[3]

After spreading fire destroys Ottawa power plant, House forced to adjourn as governments seek help from military and nearby cities^[4]

Fire that destroyed much of Hull (Gatineau), Quebec, and part of Ottawa described^[5]

Hartley Bay girl describes her time in Kitimat, B.C. boarding school^[6]

Newspaper publishers' problems with costs and paper supply^[7]

Cape Town thanks Imperial volunteer forces for their South African War service^[8]

Saint John, New Brunswick program includes two women's military drill teams ^[9]

Whitefish, spuds and Klondikers: the news from Lesser Slave Lake, N.W.T.^[10]

References

1. "Queen Victoria | The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
2. "GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS SINCE 1867". Parliament of Canada. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
3. J.W. Bengough, "Swap?," John Wilson Bengough collection, Library and Archives Canada. Accessed 29 December 2019 http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item?id=e010958287_s1-v8 http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item?id=e010958287-v8
4. "The Fire in Hull and Ottawa" (April 26, 1900), Official Report of the Debates of the House of Commons, Vol. LII, 4331-2. Accessed 4 July 2021
5. Report of the Ottawa and Hull Fire Relief Fund (1900), pgs. 3-8. Accessed 29 December 2019
6. Alice Bates (Nohsdahmtk), "A Home Girl's Letter" Na-Na-Kwa, or Dawn on the Northwest Coast, No. 10 (April 1900; unpaginated). Accessed 13 April 2020
7. "The Newspaper Situation in Canada," The Canadian Printer and Publisher, Vol. IX, No. 5 (May 1900), pgs. 1-3. Accessed 22 December 2019 https://fishercollections.library.utoronto.ca/islandora/object/cpp%3ACPP190005 (turn to page 1)
8. "Thank You card, from the Citizens of Cape Town, Showing Table Bay, South Africa." Accessed 22 December 2019
9. "Military Entertainment in Aid of the Funds of the New Brunswick Portions of the Canadian Contingents Now Taking Part in the War in South Africa." Accessed 22 December 2019
10. "Report from Lesser Slave Lake," Edmonton Bulletin (January 1, 1900). Accessed 22 December 2019 http://explorenorth.com/library/weekly/aa010100a.htm (scroll down to "Edmonton Bulletin.")