1967 is remembered as one of the most notable years in Canada.Berton (1997), p. 364. It was the centenary of Canadian Confederation 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 Leafs won their 13th and last Stanley Cup.
In mountaineering, the year saw the first ascents of the highest peak in the remote Arctic Cordillera.
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.
1967 was an exciting year for Canadians. Communities across the country planned celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of confederation. The Federal Government sponsored events from coast to coast and provided funding and organization for such things as the Centennial Train and the Centennial Voyageur Canoe Pageant. Even Canada's military got the spirit by producing the Canadian Armed Forces Tattoo 1967 that toured the country from coast to coast with over 150 shows from St. John's, Newfoundland to Victoria, BC with a two week long production at EXPO 67 in Montreal. Tattoo 1967 was so successful, there were calls to have the show tour the world as a representative of Canadian culture. The show set a world's record for the longest running military tattoo, a record that has never been equaled.Wilson, Keith Allan. The Making of a Tattoo FriesenPress, 30 October 2017.
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 Finals 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. Berton reported that Toronto hockey fans also note that the Maple Leafs have not won a Stanley Cup since.Berton (1997), pp. 357–367.
Incumbents Crown Monarch – Elizabeth II
Federal government Governor General – Georges Vanier (until March 5) then Roland Michener (from April 17) Prime Minister – Lester B. Pearson Chief Justice – Robert Taschereau (Quebec) (until September 1) then John Robert Cartwright (Ontario) Parliament – 27th
Provincial governments Lieutenant governors Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Grant MacEwan Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – George Pearkes Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Richard Spink Bowles Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – John B. McNair Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Fabian O'Dea Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Henry Poole MacKeen Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – William Earl Rowe Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Willibald Joseph MacDonald Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Hugues Lapointe Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Robert Hanbidge
Premiers Premier of Alberta – Ernest Manning Premier of British Columbia – W.A.C. Bennett Premier of Manitoba – Dufferin Roblin (until November 27) then Walter Weir Premier of New Brunswick – Louis Robichaud Premier of Newfoundland – Joey Smallwood Premier of Nova Scotia – Robert Stanfield (until September 13) then G.I. Smith Premier of Ontario – John Robarts Premier of Prince Edward Island – Alexander B. Campbell Premier of Quebec – Daniel Johnson, Sr. Premier of Saskatchewan – Ross Thatcher
Territorial governments Commissioners Commissioner of Yukon – James Smith Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Bent Gestur Sivertz (until March 2) then Stuart Milton Hodgson
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 colour 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 May: The GO Transit service begins in Toronto May 23: Alberta election: Ernest Manning's Social Credit Party wins a ninth consecutive majority June 5: Geoffrey Hattersley-Smith becomes the first person to climb Barbeau Peak, the highest point in the Arctic Cordillera 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, resulting in de Gaulle's early departure from Canada. It is voted as the top news story from Canada by newspaper and radio journalists. 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 man with schizophrenia, Victor Hoffman, kills nine near Shell Lake, Saskatchewan September 9: Robert Stanfield wins the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party September 13: G.I. Smith becomes premier of Nova Scotia, replacing Robert Stanfield October 5–6: Ucluelet records Canada's heaviest ever 24-hour rainfall with . 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 27: Walter Weir becomes premier of Manitoba, replacing Dufferin Roblin November 27: 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 will, among other things, decriminalize homosexual acts. December 29: Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism delivers first volume its report.
Full date unknown Mary Walker-Sawka becomes the first woman to be nominated as a candidate for the leadership of a federal political party. The University of Lethbridge is founded
Arts and literature New books Morley Callaghan: Stories Timothy Findley: The Last of the 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"Britannica Book of the Year 1968, covering events of 1967, published by The Encyclopædia Britannica, 1968, "Literature" article, "Canadian" section, page 483 John Robert Colombo, AbracadabraGustafson, Ralph, The Penguin Book of Canadian Verse, revised edition, 1967, Baltimore, Maryland: Penguin Books D. G. Jones, Phrases from Orpheus Dorothy Livesay, The Unquiet Bed, Canadian and African experiences Eli Mandel, An Idiot Joy Michael Ondaatje, The Dainty Monsters, Toronto: Coach House PressWeb page titled "Archive: Michael Ondaatje (1943- )" at the Poetry Foundation website, accessed May 7, 2008 P. K. Page, Cry Ararat!: Poems New and SelectedRoberts, Neil, editor, A Companion to Twentieth-century Poetry, Part III, Chapter 3, "Canadian Poetry", by Cynthia Messenger, Blackwell Publishing, 2003, , retrieved via Google Books, January 3, 2009 Al Purdy, North of Summer, a diary in verse recounting his stay on Baffin Island A. J. M. Smith: Editor, A Book of Modern Canadian Verse, anthology 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, CanadaWeb page titled "The Works of George Woodcock" at the Anarchy Archives website, which states: "This list is based on The Record of George Woodcock (issued for his eightieth birthday) and Ivan Avakumovic's bibliography in A Political Art: Essays and Images in Honour of George Woodcock, edited by W.H. New, 1978, with additions to bring it up to date"; accessed April 24, 2008
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.
Sport March 11 – The Toronto Varsity Blues win their second University Cup by defeating the Laurentian Voyageurs 16 to 2. The final game is played at Edmonton Gardens May 2 – The Toronto Maple Leafs win their 13th (and last ) Stanley Cup by defeating the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 in the 1967 Stanley Cup Finals. The deciding game 6 was played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario. Dave Keon of Noranda, Quebec, won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs, largely for his defensive play. This would mark the end of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Original Six era. May 11 – The Ontario Hockey Association's Toronto Marlboros win their fifth Memorial Cup by defeating the Thunder Bay Junior Hockey League's Port Arthur Marrs 4 games to 1. All the games were played at Fort William Gardens July 23 – The fifth Pan American Games commence in Winnipeg.