Canada Celebrates Its Centennial

Centennial Celebration

Canada marked the centennial of its Confederation with a year-long celebration in 1967. Five years in the planning, the celebration was meant to be an occasion for Canadians to find out what Canada was all about, to help them develop deep feelings of unity and purpose. It was also intended as a way to tell the world about modern Canada, as well as about its history. The government-sponsored parts of the celebration were planned and directed by the Canadian Centennial Commission. The centennial celebration began at midnight, December 31, 1966, with a variety of festivities across the country, including the lighting of a centennial flame in Ottawa.

Prime Minister Lester Pearson lights the centennial flame in Ottawa in the first seconds of 1967.

A highlight of the official celebration was the 15-car Confederation Train, which left Victoria, British Columbia, on January 1. The $1,000,000 train, which visited 83 historical sites across Canada, carried a panorama of Canadian history from its fur-trading days to the modern era. Truck caravans consisting of eight 73-foot tractor trailers stopped at towns not visited by the train. The rigs were arranged into a quadrangle to give the impression of a miniature fair.

The Confederation Train makes its way across Canada.

The Centennial Commission also sponsored an exchange program that allowed Canadian youths to see parts of the country they might otherwise never be able to visit. One group took part in a 110-day canoe trip along the old fur trade waterways from the western plains to Montreal. Festival Canada commissioned and sponsored operas, plays, and symphonies. Canadian authors received grants for centennial books, and painters and sculptors vied for centennial prizes. Two films, Helicopter Canada and The Hundredth Summer, were specifically made for showing during the year. Community centers, libraries, museums, and other civic structures were built with grants from the Centennial Commission, and virtually every city, town, and village in Canada was able to show off a special centennial project.

The rest of the world got a chance to join Canada's centennial on April 28, when the Universal and International Exhibition (EXPO 67) opened in Montreal. Winnipeg, Manitoba, became the center of the sports world in July, thanks to being the host city of the Fifth Pan American Games.

On July 1, 1967, the centennial of the proclamation of the British North America Act that had created the Dominion of Canada, the roar of 100 guns echoed through the Parliament buildings in Ottawa. Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom; her husband, Prince Philip; and scores of prominent Canadians were among the throng of celebrants. The week-long visit by the Queen and Prince highlighted centennial visits by more than 60 heads of state or their representatives.

Queen Elizabeth II presents the colors before the parliament buildings in Ottawa during her week-long centennial visit.

One of the heads of state to visit Canada in 1967 was French President Charles de Gaulle, who arrived in Quebec on July 23. After a warm welcome in Quebec, he spent a day driving along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, receiving more warm welcomes along the way. Welcome turned to scorn in Montreal, however, when at one affair he shouted "Vive le Québec libre!" ("Long live free Quebec!"), the rallying cry of the Quebec separatist movement. Pearson called the Cabinet into session on July 25, and it issued a statement sharply critical of de Gaulle's apparent support of the separatists. De Gaulle chose to cancel his planned visit to Ottawa, and flew home from Montreal on July 26.

Charles de Gaulle reviews an honor guard on his arrival at Quebec.

Charles de Gaulle shouts "Vive le Québec libre!" to an audience in Montreal.

Students at the University of Montreal react to de Gaulle's remark.

Death of Vanier

On March 5, Major General Georges P. Vanier, the second native Canadian to serve as Governor-General, died of a heart attack. Immensely popular, Vanier was given a state funeral and laid to rest in the military chapel of the Citadel at Quebec, a vice-regal residence. Queen Elizabeth II appointed Roland D. Michener, a Toronto lawyer, former Speaker of the House of Commons, and, since 1964, High Commissioner to India, as Vanier's successor. He was sworn in on April 17.

Cabinet Changes

In April, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, a Quebec intellectual, was named Minister of Justice to replace Lucien Cardin, who retired from Parliament. Another Quebec intellectual, John Turner, was made Registrar-General, with responsibility for consumer affairs. Walter Gordon, who resigned as Minister of Finance in 1965, re-entered government service as president of the Privy Council, to study foreign investments in Canada. Guy Favreau, former Minister of Justice and leader of Quebec's Liberal Party, resigned from Parliament to become a judge of the Quebec Supreme Court. Favreau died suddenly in Montreal on July 11. In September, Paul Hellyer, the author of a controversial armed forces unification bill, moved from the Ministry of National Defense to the Ministry of Transport. Hellyer replaced John W. Pickersgill, who then became president of the new Canadian Transport Commission.

Legislation

The first session of the 27th Parliament, which ended on May 8, adopted measures aimed at establishing a basic social welfare structure that would provide a minimum standard of life for all Canadians, even if sick, unemployed, elderly, poor, or disabled.

The second session of Parliament began just a few hours after the first session ended. After the summer recess, the session resumed on September 25, at which time Pearson designated 25 bills as essential to his legislative program. Several of those bills were passed, including abolition of the death penalty except for murder of police officers or prison guards, a measure establishing a new adult training program to combat unemployment, and one creating the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation to insure deposits in banks and trust and loan companies.

Other major legislation passed in 1967 replaced the Board of Broadcast Governors with a more powerful regulatory body, brought all forms of transportation under a newly-created Canadian Transport Commission, gave chartered banks a new range of powers (Bank Act), and unified all Canadian military forces under a single Canadian Armed Forces.

In December, Pearson announced his intention to resign as leader of his party and as Prime Minister, but would continue to serve in both capacities until a convention could select his successor.

Provincial Premiers
as of the end of 1967

SOURCE
The World Book Year Book 1968 Chicago: Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, 1968

SEE ALSO
1967
Lester Pearson
Elizabeth II
Charles De Gaulle

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This page was last updated on 02/16/2018.