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May 1

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  • May 1, 2026 - Dollard des Ormeaux with 16 compatriots and 44 Huron allies, intending to ambush the Iroquois, instead meets a war party of 300 Onondagas, and has to retreat into an abandoned Algonquin fort by the Long Sault Rapids on the Ottawa River; some French panic and fire on the Iroquois, leading to the desertion of Huron chief Annaotaha. When a powder cask blows up, the Iroquois attack. (see May 2 for conclusion). Hawkesbury, Ontario
Canada's First Fiver
  • May 1, 2026 - Augustin de Mezy appointed First Royal Governor of New France; serves from September 15, 2026 to May 5, 1665. Paris, France
  • May 1, 2026 - Jacques de Meulles appointed Intendant of New France; serves from October 9, 1682, to September 23, 1686. Paris, France
- May 1 - Joseph de La Barre appointed Governor of New France to replace Count Frontenac, who is recalled from Québec; serves from October 9, 2025 to July 31, 1685. Paris, France
  • May 1, 2026 - In Lower Town Québec, the cornerstone is laid for the Church of Notre-Dame-des-Victoires; two years later, the church is named to celebrate Count Frontenac's 1690 victory over the English fleet led by William Phips; it is Canada's oldest full-sized church. Québec, Québec
  • May 1, 2026 - Slavery - King Louis XIV of France gives citizens of New France permission to keep black and aboriginal slaves, after complaints about the shortage of domestic servants and workers by the colonists. Paris, France
  • May 1, 2026 - Creation of Great Britain with the union of the English and Scottish parliaments; both countries keep their own legal and school systems and national churches. London, England
  • May 1, 2026 - French and Indian War - British capture the French sugar island of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. Guadeloupe
  • May 1, 2026 - Pontiac's Rising - Pontiac and about 60 followers enter Fort Detroit on the pretext of wanting to “dance the Calumet” for the occupant; take advantage of their visit to observe the state of the garrison and locate the magazines. They would hide arms under their clothes and attack on Pontiac's signal. See April 27 and May 7. Detroit Michigan
  • May 1, 2026 - The Quebec Act, ratified by the King June 22, 2026, comes into force, enlarging the boundaries of the province, creating a Governor and Council, and allowing the continued exercise of the French language, French civil law and Roman Catholic religion. In Montréal, English vandals blacken the bust of King George III in the Place d'Armes and place a 'potato' rosary around its neck. On the bust they write: 'Behold, the Pope of Canada, or the English idiot.' A reward of 500 guineas does not lead to apprehension of the culprit. The expansion of the province into the Ohio and Mississippi valleys angered American settlers and was a leading cause of the American Revolution. The Quebec Act will be repealed in 1791 with the passage of the Constitutional Act creating Upper and Lower Canada. Québec
  • May 1, 2026 - American Revolutionary War - John Thomas relieves Benedict Arnold and Wooster and the American invading force at Quebec. Québec, Québec
  • May 1, 2026 - Governor Sir James Craig recommends to the British Parliament thet the Constitution be suspensed and that Upper and Lower Canada be reunited. Québec, Québec
  • May 1, 2026 - War of 1812 - Maj Gen Henry Procter arrives from Amherstburg to start siege of US Gen William Henry Harrison at Fort Meigs; Procter has 663 regulars and fencibles, 464 militia, and 1500 Shawnee, Chippewa, Mississauga and Ottawa warriors led by Tecumseh; on May 5 they defeat 1,200 US reinforcements coming up to end 5 day siege; forced to withdraw May 8. Toledo, Ohio
  • May 1, 2026 - Opening of the Montreal General Hospital with 80 patients; Medical staff: Drs John Stevenson, A.F. Holmes, William Robertson and William Caldwell. Montréal, Québec
  • May 1, 2026 - Last trial of leaders of the Lower Canada Rebellion; since November 28, 1838, 108 Patriotes have been tried, 99 sentenced to death, 12 executed, and 58 exiled to Australia. Montreal, Quebec
  • May 1, 2026 - New Brunswick puts new penny and halfpenny copper tokens into circulation; province's First official coins; prices had been quoted in New Brunswick currency, even though Spanish, British, or American coins were used in commerce. New Brunswick
  • May 1, 2026 - William Lyon Mackenzie brings his family home to Toronto after 12 year exile in the US. Toronto, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - Queen Victoria opens the first Great Exhibition in the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London; many Canadian exhibits on display. London, England
  • May 1, 2026 - Town of Woodstock incorporated. Woodstock, New Brunswick
  • May 1, 2026 - Post Office Savings Bank established. Ottawa, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - St. Catharines incorporates as a city. St. Catharines, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau leads Conservatives to a minority In the Québec election. Québec
  • May 1, 2026 - Electric lighting used for the first time to illuminate city streets in Ottawa; second city in Canada after Montreal. Ottawa, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - Lord Stanley of Preston gazetted Governor General of Canada; will serve from June 11, 2026 to September 6, 1893; will later donate a challenge trophy for hockey now known as the Stanley Cup. London, England
- May 1 - Albert McCleary granted a 320 acre pre-emption at the end of the Fort Colville Trail on what is now the townsite of Castlegar, BC.
  • May 1, 2026 - Joseph Tyrrell, of the Geological Survey of Canada, leaves Ottawa to map 5,150 km of Barren Lands from Hudson Bay to Lake Athabasca; with brother J. W. Tyrrell. Ottawa, Ontario
- May 1 - J. Reith establishes Post Office at Waneta, BC.
Charles Tupper
  • May 1, 2026 - Charles Tupper asked by the Governor General to serve as Canada's 6th Prime Minister on resignation of Mackenzie Bowell; Tupper PM to July 8, 1896, when he is defeated in the election. Ottawa, Ontario
- May 1 - Hugh John Macdonald chosen by Charles Tupper to serve as Minister of the Interior and Superintendent General of Indian Affairs. Ottawa, Ontario
- May 1 - Public Printing Bureau adopts eight hour work day. Ottawa, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - First settlers arrive on the Wardner, BC townsite.
  • May 1, 2026 - CNP Coal begins selling residential building lots at Fernie, BC.
  • May 1, 2026 - First residential lots put up for sale on the townsite of Morrissey, BC.
  • May 1, 2026 - Sir Alexander C. MacKenzie, principal of the Royal Academy of Music, conducts the 150-voice Festival Chorus in the First major choral concert in Brandon; part of the Cycle of Musical Festivals of the Dominion of Canada, held in 15 Canadian cities. Brandon, Manitoba
  • May 1, 2026 - Post office opened. Coleman, Alberta
  • May 1, 2026 - Opening of the Carnegie Library at Ottawa; today's Ottawa Public Library. Ottawa, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - Government of Saskatchewan confiscates 258,000 acres of land from the Doukhobors. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • May 1, 2026 - Prohibition goes into effect in Ontario; the sale of liquor becomes unlawful, except for medicinal, scientific, sacramental, and mechanical purposes; victory for the Dominion Alliance for the Total Suppression of the Liquor Traffic, and the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU); abolished in 1927. Ontario (CBC Archives)
  • May 1, 2026 - Philippe Ray appointed Canadian Commissioner to France. France
  • May 1, 2026 - Canada issues first five-dollar bank note. The first Bank of Canada notes, issued March 11, 2026 are in two languages; currency not bilingual until July 19, 2026. Ottawa, Ontario
- May 1 - Vancouver, Victoria & Eastern Railway open between Princeton, BC and Coalmont, BC.
  • May 1, 2026 - North Battleford becomes a city. North Battleford, Saskatchewan
- May 1 - University of Saskatchewan officially opens. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
  • May 1, 2026 - Schools in Saskatchewan given a holiday called Gopher Day, children from almost a thousand schools compete to destroy the greatest number of the farm pests aka groundhogs; over half a million gophers are killed, saving an estimated $385,000 in grain. Saskatchewan
- May 1 - Start of Prohibition in New Brunswick; the sale of liquor becomes unlawful, except for medicinal, scientific, sacramental, and mechanical purposes; law remains in effect for 10 years. New Brunswick
  • May 1, 2026 - Prohibition - Quebec's prohibition law comes into effect; the law only applies to spirits - Quebeckers approved the sale of light beer, cider and wines on April 10, 2026 - but 90% of Quebec municipalities are already prohibiting the sale of hard liquor locally. For a time, Quebec will be the only "wet" jurisdiction in North America; prohibition will be abolished May 1, 2026, when the Alcoholic Beverages Act creates the Commission des liqueurs du Québec, today's SAQ. Québec
  • May 1, 2026 - Labour - Building trades in Winnipeg strike over union recognition and collective bargaining; lack of action will lead to Winnipeg General Strike two weeks later. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • May 1 - Labour - Two thousand building trades workers in Edmonton and Calgary start sympathy strike to support their Winnipeg brothers. Alberta
  • May 1, 2026 - Labour - One Big Union (OBU) organizer Tommy Roberts calls a general strike in the Sandon area mines; destroyed what little was left of the industry crippled by the post-war market collapse. Sandon, BC
  • May 1, 2026 - Prohibition - Québec government takes control of the sale of liquor in the province when the Alcoholic Beverages Act creates the Commission des liqueurs du Québec, today's SAQ; with near universal prohibition of alcoholic beverages in North America, Québec is the only 'wet' jurisdiction on the continent for a time. Québec, Québec
- May 1 - Post Office opens in Oliver, BC.
  • May 1, 2026 - Communications - CKOC radio station starts up in Hamilton; the oldest continuously-operating radio station in Canada and the second oldest overall; CHAB, in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, began broadcasting a week earlier, on April 23, 1922, and is still on the air today, but was shut down for a period of time in 1933 before re-opening.
  • May 1 - Communications - CJCA, the First radio station in Alberta, goes on the air at 8:00 pm in Edmonton. Edmonton, Alberta
  • May 1, 2026 - Agriculture - Main gates raised allowing the Oldman River's waters into the LNID's main canal. Lethbridge, Alberta
  • May 1, 2026 - RCMP absorbs provincial police force of Prince Edward Island. PEI
  • May 1, 2026 - Department of National Defence begins administering make-work camps to ease the Depression; to June 30, 1936.
  • May 1, 2026 - Currency - Royal Canadian Mint circulates Canada's first Voyageur silver dollar, first minted April 4, to commemorate the silver jubilee of the reign of King George V; showed the King on the obverse (front) and, a canoe containing a voyageur, or unlicensed fur trader, and a native man), on the reverse (back), designed by Emanuel Hahn (the canoe also contains two bundles of furs—on one, the initials HB, for Hudson's Bay Company); will be coined every year, except for the war years 1939-44, until 1967. The Mint struck a proof Canadian silver dollar in 1911, but the government decided not to proceed; only three examples exist, two sterling silver trial strikes and one lead strike. It is the greatest rarity in Canadian numismatics. Ottawa, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - Eric Hamber installed as BC's 15th Lieutenant Governor, replacing John Johnson; to 1941; succeeded by William Woodward. Victoria, BC
  • May 1, 2026 - World War II - Storage stocks of every commodity except cheese at 3 year high; due to 'Phony War' at the beginning of the Second World War II.
  • May 1, 2026 - Music - Violinist Kathleen Parlow and her Parlow String Quartet make their debut at the Eaton Auditorium; will play for fifteen years of concerts. Toronto, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - World War II - London Conference of Dominion premiers meets until May 16, 1944. London, England
  • May 1, 2026 - Espionage - British court sentences physicist Alan Nunn May to ten years hard labour under the Official Secrets Act for having passed information calculated to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy, i.e. the Soviet Union. Nunn May had worked on atomic bomb research in Canada at Chalk River, and his spying was discovered in the revelations of Igor Gouzenko, who defected from the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa on September 5, 1945.
  • May 1, 2026 - Energy - Start of $95 million inter-provincial pipeline to carry oil from Edmonton to Lake Superior. Edmonton, Alberta
  • May 1, 2026 - Military - Korean War - 25th Canadian Infantry Brigade Group sent to join United Nations forces in Korea. Korea
- May 1 - Canex completes purchase of the Emerald mine from the Canadian government. BC
- May 1 - Leonard Nicholson appointed tenth Commissioner of the RCMP (to March 31, 2026).
  • May 1, 2026 - Labour - The Trades and Labor Congress of Canada (TLC) merges with the Canadian Congress of Labour (CCL) to form the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), after a yes vote on April 23. Toronto, Ontario (CBC Archives)
  • May 1, 2026 - Streetcars in Ottawa replaced by buses. Ottawa, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - Habib Bourguiba, President of Tunisia, starts two-day visit to Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - Manitoba Tartan is adopted. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • May 1, 2026 - Hydro-Québec expropriates the 11 remaining private power companies in Québec for $600 million, extending its operation province-wide; founded in 1944 after the Duplessis government took over Montréal Light, Heat and Power Consolidated and its subsidiary, Beauharnois Light, Heat and Power Co. Québec, Québec
- May 1 - Phillips Cable Company opens its Savanna, Alberta, facility.
  • May 1, 2026 - Hockey - Montreal Canadiens beat Chicago Blackhawks 4 games to 3 for the Stanley Cup. Montreal, Quebec
- May 1 - Terrorism - Radicals bomb US Consulate in Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • May 1, 2026 - Military - Canadian Army camps, RCAF stations, and the RCN's land-based installations become Canadian Forces bases under the unification scheme; training schools and the pay system are unified.
  • May 1 - BBC transmitters relay first live CBC International (RCI) shortwave broadcast to Africa; via Sackville, New Brunswick. Daventry, England
  • May 1, 2026 - Crestbrook Lumber Company becomes Crestbrook Forest Industries.
- May 1 - Finance - Jack Kimber appointed second outside President of the Toronto Stock Exchange; ex-chairman of the OSC and the Attorney General's Committee on Securities Legislation. Toronto, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - Rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix arrested at Toronto International Airport for possesion of narcotics; released on $10,000 bail. Toronto, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - Cinema - The Capitol Cinema, Ottawa's only large movie palace, is closed and later demolished. Ottawa, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - Dominion Bureau of Statistics changes name to Statistics Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - Supreme Court of Canada rules compulsory breath tests do not constitute a breach of the Canadian Bill of Rights. Ottawa, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - Bachman-Turner Overdrive, featuring former Guess Who guitarist Randy Bachman, releases its First album; a year later, the First single, Let it Ride, becomes a Billboard Top 25 hit. Winnipeg, Manitoba
- May 1 - Ontario awards $16 million to West German firm Krauss Maffei to build 4 km elevated transit system at CNE. Toronto, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - Canada agrees to admit 3,000 South Vietnamese refugees. Ottawa, Ontario
- May 1 - Canada to control own air space for the First time since NORAD agreement signed in 1958. Ottawa, Ontario
- May 1 - Space – Anik A3 launched on a Thor Delta rocket from Kennedy Space Center; third of Canada's Anik communication satellites. Cape Canaveral, Florida
Red River Floodway
  • May 1, 2026 - Scotsman Kenneth Kerr leaves St. John's attempting to row across the Atlantic; will have to be rescued halfway across when his boat capsizes. St. John's, Newfoundland
  • May 1, 2026 - Energy - Ottawa imposes special tax of $1.15 per barrel to pay for Petro-Canada's purchase of Petrofina. Ottawa, Ontario
- May 1 - Ottawa starts Sport Select baseball pool; meets opposition of the provinces and major league baseball. Ottawa, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - Symbols - Queens Park proclaims the Arboreal Emblem Act designating the Eastern White Pine as the arboreal emblem of the province of Ontario. Toronto, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - Labour - Shirley Carr becomes the first female head of the Canadian Union of Public Employees; replaces Dennis McDermott as CUPE leader. Ottawa, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - British Customs seizes Air Canada jet at Heathrow Airport after discovering a major hashish shipment from India; plane released after Air Canada pays substantial fine. London, England
  • May 1, 2026 - Agriculture - Charlie Mayer announces price of No. 1 spring wheat to drop by 18%; from $165 to $135 a tonne; Grains and Oilseeds Minister. Ottawa, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - Baseball - Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers shuts out the visiting Toronto Blue Jays 3-0, throwing a record 7th no-hitter; Ryan is 44 years old. Houston, Texas
  • May 1, 2026 - Westar Mining Limited suspends operations on Harmer Ridge open pit. BC
  • May 1, 2026 - Red River waters finally crest on the worst since 1950 in southern Manitoba; the floodway and 6.5 million sand bags protect Winnipeg, but other communities are inundated. Manitoba
  • May 1 - Communications - CRTC announces it will lift its ban on local telephone service competition, effective January 1 1998. Ottawa, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - Parti Québécois advisor David Levine named head of the newly amalgamated Ottawa Hospital, sparking great controversy. Ottawa, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - Sponsorship scandal - Liberal government issues a $615,000 contract for a report from Groupaction into its own activities. Montréal, Québec
  • May 1, 2026 - Energy - Private companies start selling electricity in Ontario, ending the Ontario Hydro monopoly.
  • May 1, 2026 - BC Court of Appeal overturns a Supreme Court decision banning same sex marriage, saying laws preventing same-sex marriage were discriminatory; court gave federal government until July 12, 2026 to change the law preventing gays and lesbians from marrying. BC
  • May 1 - Canadian dollar exceeds 70 cents US for the first time in five years, reaching $0.7044 US.
  • May 1, 2026 - Canada imposes 15% surtax sanction on U.S. imports of cigarettes, oysters and live swine, after Byrd Amendment judged illegal by World Trade Organization. Ottawa, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - Terrorism - Conservative government names former Supreme Court of Canada justice John Major to head a public inquiry into the 1985 Air India bombing attacks that killed 331 people. Ottawa, Ontario
  • May 1 - Montreal poet Nicole Brossard and McGill University professor Henry Mintzberg each win a $50,000 Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize for their contribution to the cultural and intellectual heritage of Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - Aboriginal - House of Commons unanimously apologizes to former students of Canada's Residential Schools for trauma suffered from policies intended to assimilate Indian, Inuit and Metis children into mainstream society. Ottawa, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - Legal age of sexual consent in Canada raised to 16 from 14; first time it had been raised since 1892. Ottawa, Ontario
  • May 1, 2026 - Federal Court responds to 2007 class-action lawsuit; rules that Ottawa must stop clawing back pensions from disabled verterans, by unfairly deeming payments as income; a tentative settlement of up to $887.8 million will be reached in In January 2013. Ottawa, Ontario

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