1940 AD to 1949 AD
||January 1940 - The 1st
marriage between a British woman and a Canadian serviceman was
celebrated at Farnborough Church in the Aldershot area of England.
Some 48,000 such marriages followed over the next 6 years.
These marriages formed part of a most unique immigration
movement in Canada. This generation of women, many with infants,
mostly British, these war brides are an important part of
Canadian history that has gone relatively unnoticed by historians
and journalists. As the women approach their senior years, they are
just beginning to tell their stories Source : Canadian War
Brides http://canadianwarbrides.com (accessed May 20, 2005)
April 25, 1940 -
The Quebec government passes a law allowing women of the province
the right to vote in provincial elections and the right to run for
election in the provincial legislature
(Statutes of Quebec 1940 c.7)
1940 - Canadian General Electric's
Fred Moffatt invents the electric kettle
Source : Canuck Chicks and Maple Leaf Mamas : women of the
Great White North by Ann Douglas Toronto, McArthur and Co., 2002.
Legislation is changed to allow women
to enlist in the Canadian Forces More than 45,000 women volunteer
for full-time military service other than nursing. All three
services establish women's divisions and the range of duties
broadens during the war from traditional trades such as clerks,
cooks, drivers, and telephone operators to include mechanics,
parachute riggers, and heavy mobile equipment drivers.
Source: National Defence and the Canadian Armed
Forces, Fact sheet. Online (Accessed March 2014)
1941 - Married women form 10% of the Canadian work force but by 1941 they made up 23% of the Canadian work force. Source: Janet Ray, Towards Women’s Rights, Toronto, Grolier Ltd, 1981.
April 29, 1941 - Premier Joseph-Adèlard Godbout established legislation to amend the Bar Act to allow women to be called to the Bar in the Province of Quebec. Source: Elizabeth Monk BCL '23 by Kathryn Lèger. Montreal Gazette, October 28, 2011. Accessed June 2013.
June 13, 1941 - Fern Blodgett (1918-1991) became the 1st Canadian woman to serve in the Merchant Marines. Source: 100 more Canadian Heroines by Merna Forster (Dundurn Press, 2011)
May 24, 1932
– Federal legislation brings the Canadian Radio Broadcasting
Commission into existence.
Kirkland Lake, Ontario miners are forbidden to march when on strike.
500 armed police are sent to stop miner's marches. The next day
mothers, wives, and children, families of miners, march down the
streets of the town. They won the right to collective bargaining.
July 19, 1941 - Born Ann Louise Caspell Schulman (1941-2003)
sport administrator in swimming
1941 - Eileen Tallman Sufrin (1913-1999) leads the
1st strike of Bank employees in Montreal.
January 10, 1942 - Elizabeth Monk
(1898-1980), Constance Garner-Short,
Suzanne Filion and Marcelle Hémond-Lacoste are the 1st women admitted to the Bar in Quebec.
Source : Herstory: A Canadian Womens Calendar2006,
Coteau Books, 2005.
July 31, 1942 - The Women's Royal Canadian Navel Service (WRENS) is established. source: The Canadian Encyclopedia. Women in the Military. Http: www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com
1942 - 45,423 women entered wartime forces in Canada. Source Female roles in World War ll Http://femalerolesinwwll.com (Accessed May 13, 2009)
1942 - Mary Greyeyes-Reid (1920-2011) is the 1st Aboriginal woman to enlist in the Canadian Womens Army Corp. Sources: Women’s History Month: Women in Canadian Military Forces: A proud Legacy. Status of Women Canada. October 2011. Online (Accessed March 2014)
1942 - all Canadian women between ages of 18 to 24 were registered for Selective Service in case of a shortage of manpower in the war effort. Source: Herstory: The Canadian Women's calendar 2008 (Saskatoon women's calendar collective/Coteau Books, 2007)
1942 - On the home front food rationing begins.
1942 - The province of Quebec passes legislation to allow women to hold office as school trustees.
October 2, 1942 - Marion Orr (1918-1995) is the 1st Canadian woman to operate a flying club when she is hired as Manager and Chief Flying Instructor by the St Catherines Flying club. Source: Marion Orr. http://www.canadian99s.org (accessed August 16, 2005)
1942-1945 - The Canadian Press discontinues awarding the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award for Canada's Tope Feamale Athlete of the year because the sports writere decided athletes could not rate as heroes while young Canadian men were fighting for freedom i the shodow of death during World War ll.
1942 - Canada's 1st nutrition guidelines are introduced. They are called CANADA'S OFFICIAL FOOD RULES. In 1944 the name was changed to Canada's Food Rules. They came about with wartime food rations and an economic recession , coupled with a physically active Canadian Lifestyle led to a country of people with relatively poor eating habits.
(1918-1981) pens Put your Dreams Away for
Another Day which becomes Frank Sanatra's
(1915-1998) closing theme
as his concerts.
|1943||January 3, 1943 - Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680) is
declared venerable ( a stage to being declared a Saint in the Roman
Catholic Church) by Pope Pius Xll. She is the 1st Native American
woman and the first North-American lay-woman considered for
sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church
May 30, 1943 - The All American Girls Professional Baseball League plays its 1st game. The League lasted to 1954 with over 50 young Canadian women scouted to play baseball
June 1943 - There are an estimated 795,000 women in the work force in Canada up 159,000 since 1939 Janet Ray, Towards Women’s Rights, Toronto, Grolier Ltd, 1981.
June 1943 - Isabel Janet Macneill / MacNeill (1908-1990) became commanding officer of HMCS Conestoga, the 1st woman in the British Commonwealth to hold such a command Source: Herstory 2006: The Canadian Women’s Calendar. Coteau Books, 2005) ; Macneill, Isabel 1908-1990. Fonds. Memory Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia Public Archives. Online (Accessed October 2014)
1943 - Monique Leyrac (1928- ) using her natural gifts of music and drama starts her acting career on radio. She is the first great international star from French Canada
1943 - 261,000 women are involved in production of Canadian war goods
1943 - Born Sally Armstrong (1943- ) acclaimed award winning journalist, author & documentary film maker
1943 - Born Shirley Elford (1943-2011) acclaimed glass sculptor
1943 - Born Janice Filmon (1943- ) 2nd woman to be appointed Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba
1943 - Born Allene Goforth (1943- ) 1st deaf student to graduate university in Canada
1943 - Born Sharon Johnston (1943- ) wife of 28th Governor General, David Lloyd Johnston.
1943 - Born Daurene Lewis (1943-2013) 1st Black woman in Canada to become a mayor when elected mayor of Annapolis, Nova Scotia
1943 - Born Anne Lindsay ( 1943- ) Renowned home economist and health eating advocate
1943 - Born Sheila Ann Martin (1943- ) wife of Prime Minister Paul Martin
1943 - Born Constance Rooke (1943-2008) author & academic administrator
1943 - Born Janice Gross Stein (1943- ) educator inducted into the order of Canada 2006
January 19, 1943 - Born Allison Ruth Gordon (1943- ) journalist & author
January 23, 1943 - Born Joy Langan (1943-2009) social activist, feminist & Member of Parliament
March 12, 1943 - Born Jalynn Bennett (1943-2015) powerhouse businesswoman
March 19, 1943 - Born Heather Robertson (1943-2014) author & journalist
April 14, 1943 - Born Eleni Skalbania (1943-2013) businesswoman
May 11, 1943 - Born Nancy Green (1943- ) international champion skier who has been awarded the Order of Canada.
June 18, 1943 - Born Jill Bodkin (1943- ) business woman & financial leader
July 15, 1943 - Born Anna Maria Pellegrini (1943- ) opera soprano
July 16, 1943 - Born Sally Wishart Armstrong (1943- ) social activist, journalist, & biographer
July 21, 1943 - Born Judith Maxwell (1943- ) economist
July 20, 1943 - Born Diane Margaret Keating (1943- ) poet
August 12, 1943 - Born Anne Cools (1943- ) 1st Black woman to be appointed to the Senate of Canada
September 7, 1943 - Born Beverly McLachlin (1943- ), 1st woman to be Chief Justice of the Canadian Supreme Court
September 29, 1943 - Born Barbara Jean McInnis (1943- ) entrepreneur and philanthropist
October 1, 1943 - Born Angèle Arsenault (1943- ) Acadian music writer & performer
November 3, 1943 - Born Paule Gauthier (1943- ) Lawyer and public servant, Officer of the Order of Canada
November 25, 1943 - Born Evelyn Merle Nelson (1943-1987) renowned mathematician
1943 - Died Aileen Isabel Bicknell (née Silk) (1896-1943) early Canadian woman lawyer
1943 - Died Lovisa McDougal (1855-1943), pioneer of Canadian northwest
1943 - Died Harriet Oliver (1863-1943) pioneer of western Canada and political wife
February 18, 1943 - Died Ida Lynd (1857 -1943) an indomitable early Canadian woman doctor
February 22, 1943 - Died Virna Sheard (1865-1943) poet & short storey writer.
March 11, 1943 - Died Emily Poynton Weaver (1865-1943) historian & author
June 11, 1943 - Died Annie Crisp Bond (1854-1943) nurse and philanthropist
June 13, 1943 - Born Gail Harvey Moore (1943-1993) champion golfer
June 22, 1943 - Died Mary Ellen Birties (1858-1943) 1 of 1st nurse training program ,Winnipeg General Hospital, 1887, Order of the British Empire
September 24, 1943 - Died Hattie Walker (1865-1943) social activist
September 25 - Died Augusta Stowe-Gullen (1957-1943) the 1st woman to graduate in medicine from a Canadian university
October 21, 1943 - Died Anne- Marie Gleason (1875-1943) pioneer journalist known mainly as "Madeleine"
October 26, 1943 - Died Emma Sophia Baker ( 1856-1943) psychologist
November - Died Minna Keen (1861-1943) pioneer photographer
March 17, 1944 - Margaret "Ma" Murray (1888-
1982 ) begins her newspaper in the Peace District of British
Columbia, The Alaska Highway News. In 1971 she receives Order of
Sources: “Ma Murray: Fighting Editor of the Peace” by Stephen
Franklin, Weekend Magazine Vol. 8 No. 23, 1958
6, 1944 - Allied units, including those from Canada land in Normandy
beaches on D-Day.
5, 1945 - World War ll European hostilities cease.
June 20, 1945 - The Canadian government introduces the Family Allowance Act giving every mother of a child 16 and under an allowance to help clothe, feed and educate that child. A Youth Allowance is provided for children between 16 and 18 years who are still attending school. These payments are sent directly to the mother except for Quebec where the fathers received the payments.
June 26, 1945 - Canada joins the United Nations. The Charter of the United Nations, was the first international agreement to proclaim gender equality as a fundamental human right. Since then, the Organization has helped create a historic legacy of internationally agreed strategies, standards, programmes and goals to advance the status of women worldwide.
July 15, 1945 - The federal government's universal family allowance program takes effect in Canada.
1945 - Bernice Carnegie Redmon
returns to Canada after studying nursing in Virginia to become the
1st Black Canadian woman to work as a nurse. He works at the Nova
Scotia Department of Public health. She opens the door so that young
Black women could enter the profession
The women's sections of all 3 Canadian armed service
branches are disbanded
Source: Women in the Military. The Canadian
Encyclopedia Online http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com
February 9, 1946 - The 1st official group of Canadian War Brides, women who had married Canadian Servicemen overseas during World War ll arrives. The Mauretania ll lads at Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia with 900 servicemen's dependants on board Source: CanadianWarbrides.com Accessed June 2011.
1946 - Only 46 women hold elected positions in municipal governments across Canada
1946 - Gladys Porter (1893-1967) is the 1st woman in the Canadian Maritimes to become Mayor of a municipality, Kentville, Nova Scotia. She serves in this position until 1960 when she became the 1st woman elected to the Nova Scotia Provincial legislature
1946 - Laure Eva Rièse (1910-1996) becomes the 1st woman faculty member to earn her PhD Sources: Laure Eva Rièce Collection. E.J. Pratt Library, University of Victoria Campus, University of Toronto. Online. Accessed July 2013.
1946 - The Canadian Press resumes voting after inactivity during World War ll and votes Barbara Ann Scott (1928-2012), the Canadian and North American Ladies Figure Skating Champion, winner of the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as Canada's Top Female Athlete of the Year
November 8, 1946 - Viola Desmond (1914-1965) was arrested in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia when she sat in the downstairs seating instead of the balcony where Blacks were forced to sit in the segregated Roseland Theatre. This event tool place several years before Rosa Parks took her seat on the front of a bus in the United States! More information: Historica: Black history http://blackhistorycanada.ca/timeline.php?id=1900 (Accessed March 2007)
1946 - The Ontario Teachers Federation approves the principle of equal pay for men and women teachers Source: Canadian Chronology Http://tdi.uregina.ca/~maguirec/chron.html (accessed April 28, 2003)
1946 - Winnie Roach-Leuszler (1926-2004) internationally acclaimed swimmer is the 1st woman to be hired by the YMCA to set up Programmes swimming instruction and coaching. She wins the 5 mile World Swimming Championship in Toronto when she is 3 months pregnant
1946 - Freda Farrell Waldon (1898-1973) is the 1st president of the Canadian Library Association
1946 - Gretta Wong Grant (1921 - ) is the 1st Chinese Canadian woman to practice law in Canada
1946 - The Miss Canada Pageant has its beginnings as a swimsuit contest for the centennial of the city of Hamilton, Ontario
1946 - Gabrielle 'Gaby' Pleau (1920-???) is the 1st Francophone woman to join the Canadian downhill ski team
1946 - Earle Tupperware invents Tupperware. The parties come later Source : Canuck Chicks and Maple Leaf Mamas : women of the Great White North by Ann Douglas Toronto, McArthur and Co., 2002. p. 16
1946 - Born Susan Jane Anstey (1946-2005) equestrian sports journalist
1946 - Born Martha Cole (1946 - ) sculptor
1946 - Born Patricia Demers (1946- ) 1st woman to serve as President of the Royal Society of Canada
1946 - Born Barbara Hall (1946- ) 1st mayor of Toronto to march in the Pride Parade
1946 - Born Ann Meekitjuk Hanson (1946- ) film maker
1946 - Born Janis Rapoport (1946- ) author & playwright
February 6, 1946 - Born Kate McGarrigle (1946- ) singer & recipient of the order of Canada
February 17, 1946 - Born Denise Marie Baillargeon (1946-2013) founder of Rescuing Our African Daughters.
February 28, 1946 - Born Med Luxton (1946- ) author & feminist, co-founder of the of the Women's Studies Programme at the University of Toronto.
March 1946 - Died Alice Maud Dunning Grant (1865-1946) 1st woman to receive a masters degrees fro Acadia University.
March 25, 1946 - Born Madeleine Dion Stoat (1946 - ) in 2008 she is listed as one of the top 100 nurses in Canada
March 26, 1946 - Born Phyllis Marion Boyd (1946- ) 1st woman and 1st non lawyer to become Attorney-General in the Province of Ontario
April 9, 1946 - Born Bobbie Steen (1946-1995) sport administrator
April 27, 1946 - Born Janis Gudrun Johnson (1946- ) appointed to senate September 1990
April 28, 1946 - Born Ginette Reno ( 1946- ) chanteuse who holds the hearts of her fans across the country
May 3, 1946 - Born Karen G. Adams (1946- ) librarian & administrator
June 6, 1946 - Born Judy Jarvis (1946-1986) dancer, choreographer, and teacher
June 14, 1946 - Born Frances Jane Wasselein (1946-2015) social activist & feminist in British Columbia
June 22, 1946 - Born Linda Bond (1946 - ) she became General of the Salvation Army January 31, 2011
July 1, 1946 - Born Rosalie Abella (1946- ) justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
July 16, 1946 - Born Louise Frechette (1946- ) public Servant & Canadian Diplomat
August 4, 1946 - Born Anne A. Taylor (1946-2014) teacher, communications administrator & volunteer
August 18, 1946 - Born Joan M. Boggs(1946- ) senior scientist Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto
September 23, 1946 - Born Anne Wheeler (1946- ) actor, filmmaker, producer, director & writer
September 29, 1946 - Born Laurie Dennett (1946- ) author & humanitarian
October 17, 1946 - Born Sylvia Gunnery (1946- ) award winning author of books for youth.
October 27, 1946 - Born Audrey Jeanne Kunkel (1946-2009) award winning journalist
November 3, 1946 - Born Rosalinda "Linda" Linsangan Natividad-Cantiveros (1946-2008) community activist.
November 17, 1946 - Born Debbie Van Kiekebelt (1946- ) champion in track & field & Canada's 1st female sports broadcaster
November 26, 1946 - Born Judy Gingell (1946- ) politician, 1st Aboriginal Commissioner of the Yukon
December 16, 1946 - Debbi Wilkes (1946- ) international champion pairs figure skater
December 17, 1946 - Born Marilyn Palmer O'Connor (1946- ) champion golfer
1946 - Died Louise Alexander (1880-1946) artist
1946 - Died Dorothy Campbell Hurd Howe (1883-1946) one of the most successful lady golfers of the 20th century
February 10, 1946 - Died Sophia Margaretta Hensley (1866-1946) author, lecturer & social activist who wrote under male pen names
May 31,1946 - Died Nora M. Duncan (1883-1946) western Canadian poet & radio host
November 17, 1946 - Died Henriette Saint-Jacques (1860-1946) journalist & author of several books
|1947||January 1, 1947 - The Canada Citizenship act comes into
effect creating for the 1st time "Canadian citizens" instead
of British subjects. Prime Minister Mackenzie King is given the
1st citizenship certificate.
The Canadian Citizenship Act allowed women who married a man from
another country to retain her Canadian Citizenship. A Canadian man’s
wife who came from another country had to wait 1 year before
becoming a Canadian citizen while a Canadian woman’s husband who
came from another country had to wait 5 years to become a citizen
and their children would have to take the citizenship of their
father making them citizens of a foreign country if he had not yet
received his Canadian citizenship
1947 - Leila Wightman (1899-1976) the 1st Canadian woman to own and run a telephone company, Wightman Communications in Clifford, Ontario Sources: Telecommunications Hall of Fame http://telecomehall.ca (Accessed October 2011)
Barbara Ann Scott
(1928-2012) is the 1st Canadian woman to win the World
Figure Skating championships.
She is voted by the Canadian Press as winner of the Lou Marsh
Trophy as Canada's Top Overall Athlete of the Year for a second time
1948 - The United Nations adopts the Universal Declaration of Human rights asserting that all people are equal without distinction of any kind such a s race, colour, sex, language…or other status. It is the 1st international document to proclaim sex equality as a fundamental human right.1948 - The Canadian Elections Act is changed so that race is no longer grounds for exclusion from voting in Federal Elections. Japanese Canadian, including women are granted the Vote in Canadian elections.
March 1948 - The Canadian government suspends government sponsored travel for War Brides and children of Canadian servicemen except in special conditions usually related to health and availability to travel.
1948 - Women over the age of 21 in Newfoundland gain the right to vote in elections, the same age as male voters. Prior to this date women had to be 25 in order to vote.
January 1948 - Mary Pickford (1892-1979) holds the premier of her movie Sleep My Love in Ottawa Canada. She dines with prime Minister W. L. M. King the evening of the premier. Source: 100 Canadian women : famous and forgotten faces by Merna Forster Toronto, Dundurn Press, 2004 pg 207.
February 6, 1948 - Barbara Ann Scott (1928-2012) wins Canada's 1st gold medal in ladies' figure skating at the Winter Olympics in St Moritz, Switzerland.
1948 - Vitamin B 12 is discovered.
1948 - The Canadian Press votes Barbara Ann Scott (1928-2012), Gold Medalist at the 1948 Olympic Games, European, & World Champion Ladies Figure Skating Champion, winner of the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as Canada's Top Female Athlete of the Year for a third year in a row. She is also awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's Top Overall Athlete of the Year for the third time and second year in a row.
1948 - Ruth Bailey and Gwennyth Barton were the 1st black women to graduate from a Canadian school of nursing. Source: Black History Month http://cyberus.ca/~acdas/bhm1a.html (accessed May 2005)
1948 - Mary Peck (1904-1992) begins her campaign to make people aware of Arthritis. This is the roots of the foundation of the Canadian Arthritis Society. Source: The history of Metropolitan Vancouver Hall of Fame online (Accessed November 2012) :Pioneers every one by E. Blanche Norcross (Burns and MacEachern Ltd, 1979)
1948 - Born Marilyn Halvorson (1948- ) author
1948 - Born Susan Harrison (1948-2013) author
1948 - Born Maryka Omatsu (1948 - ) 1st East Asian Canadian Judge when appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice
1948 - Born Jeanette Armstrong (1948- ) author
1948 - Born Marie-Jeanne Bartleman (1948- ) political wife of James Bartleman, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
1948 - Born Francoise David (1948 - ) social activist
1948 - Born Diane Dupuy,(1948- ) founder of the Famous People Players, a black light theatre group of young developmentally youth
1948 - Born Charlotte Gray (1948- ) award winning author of popular history works
February 29, 1948 - Born Yolande Racine (1948- ) art history researcher, archivist, curator & educator
March 4, 1948 - Born Joanna Ruth Nichols (1948- ) author of books for children
March 30, 1949 - Born Liza Frulla (1949- ) provincial politician in Quebec
April 3, 1948 - Born Monique Larue (1948- ) respected author in French language
April 6, 1948 - Born Margaret Gibson (1948- ) award winning author
April 22, 1948 - Born Mary Louise 'Mary Lou' Fallis (1948- ) opera singer & comedienne
April 26, 1948 - Born Erika Ritter (1948- ) playwright, writer & broadcaster with the CBC
May 24, 1948 - Born Lorna Crozier (1948- ) award winning poet
June 4, 1948 - Born Frieda Wishensky (1948- ) author of books for young readers
June 7, 1948 - Born Welwyn Wilton Katz (1948- ) acclaimed author of books for youth
July 31, 1948 - Born Maureen Kempston-Durkes (1948- ) President & General Manager of General Motors Canada
August 15, 1948 - Born Adrienne Patsy Gallant (1948- ) bilingual Acadian pop singer and actor
August 19, 1948 - Born Susan Jacks (1948 - ) member of the musical duo "The Poppy Family" & telecommunications executive
September 10, 1948 - Born Margaret Joan Trudeau (1948- ) wife of Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau
September 16, 1948 - Born Lynda Maureen Haverstock (1948- ) Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan
September 29, 1948 - Born Elizabeth 'Liz' Maxwell (1948-2005) author & teacher
October 17, 1948 - Born Margaret 'Margot' Ruth Kidder (1948-2018) actor in film & TV
November 26, 1948 - Born Maria Beverly Lay (1948- ) world record holder swimming champion & coach
December 25, 1948 - Born Jane Marie Youngberg (1948- ) champion Badminton Player
December 27, 1948 - Born Ydessa Hendeles (1948- ) artist, curator & philanthropist
1948 - Died Friselda Caisse (1858-1948) local social activist in Ontario
1948 - Died Cécile Laberge (1861-1948) journalist & one of the founders of the Canadian Women's Press Club. 1904
1948 - Died Geraldine Oakley ( -1948) indomitable lady doctor of Calgary, Alberta
February 1, 1948 - Died Octavia Grace England ( -1948) 1st woman valedictorian at McGill University
April 14, 1948 - Died Mary Ann Doak (1855-1948) pioneer of the Canadian Northwest
November 29, 1948 - Died Margaret Madge Rose Robertson Watt (1888-1948) instrumental at establishing the Women's Institutes in England
December 2, 1948- Died Rose-Anna Vachon (1870 (?)- 1948) baker & business woman
December 6, 1948 - Died Sarah Margaret Armour Robertson (1891-1948) artist of the modernist movement
|1949||1949 - Newfoundland joins Confederation.
December 12, 1949 - Nancy Hodges is named Speaker of the British Columbia Provincial Legislature, the 1st woman to hold the post of Speaker in the British Commonwealth. Source: British Columbia Federation of Labour. http://bcfed.com/issues/women/history
1949 - The federal government makes changes to Canada's Food Rules (originally introducec in 1942) to reflece living styles of post war Canadians. The Public is exercising less and eating more, and changes to the rules are necessary. They are the first of many changes to be made reflecting lifestyle changes in North America.
1949 - The Canadian Press resumes votes Irene Strong (1929- ), who holds numerous Canadian swimming records, winner of the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as Canada's Top Female Athlete of the Year for a second year in a row.
1949 - The government requires iodine be added to table salt. It is a known prevention of Goiter.
1949 - Carmen Elizabeth Clarke (1911-1960) became the first woman to write a son that sold over 1, 000,000 copies!
1949 - Pillsbury's Grand National Recipe and Baking contest is introduced and is the forerunner of the Pilsbury's biuennial Bake-Off Cooking and Baking Contest.
1949 - Born Pat Capponi (1949- ) activist on behalf of mental illness and author
1949 - Born Linda Marie Fedigan (1949- ) scientist & primatologist & educator
1949 - Born Jane Purves (1949-2013) journalist & politician
1949 - Born Zahra Kazeml (1949-2003) murdered photographer & documentalist
1949 - Born Ann Klager Higgs (1949 - ) champion water-skier
1949 - Born Jeanne Lamon (1949- ) violinist & award winning Director of Tafelmusik
1949 - Born Terry Litovitz (1949-2005) accounting teacher who was concerned for her students
March 1, 1949 - Born Jane Haist (1949- ) medal winner in shot put and discus throw
March 4, 1949 - Born Carroll Baker (1949- ) award winning country music singer
May 17, 1949 - Born Myra Freeman (1949- ) 1st woman to be appointed Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia
July 11, 1949 - Born Liona Boyd (1949 - ) classical guitarist
July 30, 1949 - Born Alexina Louie (1949- ) musician & composer
August 6, 1949 - Born Mary diMichele,(1949- ) poet & writer
August 20, 1949 - Born Mobina Jaffer (1949- ) appointed to the Senate in 2001, the 1st Muslim Senator in Canada
October 16, 1949 - Born Jane Elizabeth Vasey (1949-1982) blues musician.
November 5, 1949 - Born Ratma Omidvar (1949- ) Senator & activist for immigration
November 14, 1949 - Born Carol Matas ( 1949- ) author
December 25, 1949 - Born Jane Elizabeth Proctor (1949-2014) physiotherapist to team Canada
1949 - Died Sophie Strub ( -1949) founder of a family pickle business
January 4, 1949 - Died Almanda Walker-Marchand (1868-1949) founder Federation des femmes-française
January 14, 1949 - Died Elizabeth Smith-Shortt (1859-1949) pioneer women doctor
March 2, 1949 - Died Alice Amelia Chown (1866-1949) suffragist & author
March 23, 1949 - Died Nora Frances Henderson (1897-1949) 1st woman elected to Hamilton, Ontario's city council
April 21, 1949 - Died Agnes Dennis (1859-1949) social activist.
April 22, 1949 - Died Emilie Tremblay (1872-1949) Yukon pioneer & 1st white woman to climb the Chilkoot trail in 1894
May 4, 1949 - Died Marie Arzélie Éva Circé-Côté (1871-1949) journalist, playwright, 1st Librarian for Montreal
May 18, 1949 - Died Margaret Alexandra Shea (1863-1949) 1st woman to be a professional nurse in Newfoundland
June 4, 1949 - Died lice Jane Jamieson (1860-1949) 1st woman in the British Empire appointed as judge. in juvenile court
November 22, 1949 - Died Bertha Carr-Harris (1863-1949) author