Create your social media content faster with this Canadian-centric monthly calendar.
August 2022
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August
August 1
(First Monday in August) Civic Holiday across Canada:
- British Columbia Day
- Heritage Day (Alberta)
- Saskatchewan Day
- Terry Fox Day (Manitoba)
- Simcoe Day (Ontario)
- New Brunswick Day
- Natal Day (Nova Scotia & PEI)
- Regatta Day (Newfoundland)
- World Breastfeeding Week (Aug 1-7, WHO) #WBW22
- Emancipation Day
On this day #OTD
- 1976 / Closing ceremonies of the Montreal Olympic Games. Montreal was the first Canadian city to host the games.
- 1944 / House of Commons approves the Family Allowance Act, providing monthly baby bonuses to parents of children under 18.
- 1928 / Percy Williams wins the gold in the 200m at the Olympic Games in Amsterdam.
- 1916 / Birth of award-winning author and poet Anne Hébert.
- 1882 / (1 Aug 1882-1 Sep 1883) Canada participates in the first International Polar Year (IPY) to expand scientific knowledge and cooperation in scientific research of the polar regions.
- 1834 / Slavery is abolished throughout the British colonies by an Imperial Act which becomes effective August 1, 1834.
August 2
On this day #OTD
- 1972 / The Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act comes into force.
Did you know? With an increase in ship traffic caused by sea ice disappearing, the amount of grey water dumped in Arctic waters is projected to double by 2035. (*source: WWF)
- 1862 / Canada’s second oldest city, Victoria, is incorporated as a city on this day.
August 3
On this day #OTD
- 2021 / Canadian women’s soccer team wins Canada’s first Olympic gold medal in soccer.
- 1871 / The Numbered Treaties (11) are signed between the Canadian government and Indigenous nations. These treaties will have a long-lasting impacts on Indigenous people.
- 1751 / First printing press in Canada (Halifax).
August 4
On this day #OTD
- 2005 / Michaëlle Jean is appointed Governor General of Canada becoming the first Black Governor General.
- 1960 / House of Commons approved the Canadian Bill of Rights.
- 1921 / Birth of hockey player Maurice “Rocket” Richard in Montréal.
- 1914 / First World War begins – The British Empire (including Canada) declares war on Germany.
- 1701 / The Great Peace of Montreal agreement is signed between the French and Five Nations Haudenosaunee, ending almost a century of hostilities.
August 5
On this day #OTD
- 1940 / Montreal Mayor Camilien Houde is arrested. He urged people not to register for the war mobilization effort, which was required by law.
Did you know? Considered by the Canadian authorities as an enemy of the interior, the mayor of Montréal was arrested by the federal police as he was leaving city hall on 5 August 1940, and was interned at Petawawa camp in Ontario. On 17 August 1944, after four years of detention, Camillien Houde returned to Montréal.
- 1918 / Birth of Betty Oliphant, co-founder of the National Ballet School of Canada.
- 1858 / First transatlantic telegraph cable lands at Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. It will fail after 3 weeks.
- 1852 / First propeller-driven Steamship, the Otter, in the North Pacific.
August 6
On this day #OTD
- 2002 / Moncton, N.B., becomes the first officially bilingual city in Canada.
- 1995 / Donovan Bailey becomes “World’s Fastest Human” by winning the 100m sprint at the World Track Championships in Sweden.
- 1984 / At the Los Angeles Olympic Games, Sylvie Bernier wins the first-ever gold medal in diving and becomes the first female Quebecer to win Olympic gold.
August 7
On this day #OTD
- 2013 / Death of world-renowned researcher Tony Pawson in Toronto. His discoveries helped spur the development of drugs for cancer, diabetes and other diseases.
- 1987 / Birth of hockey player Sidney Crosby in Nova Scotia.
- 1927 / The Peace Bridge is officially dedicated.
- 1679 / The first European vessel, the Griffon, on the Great Lakes
August 8
On this day #OTD
- 1918 / The Battle of Amiens – The opening phase of the Allied offensive, spearheaded by Canadian & Australian troops, punched a 12-kilometre hole in the German line, changing the entire tempo of the war.
August 9
On this day #OTD
- 1948 / Painter Paul-Émiel Borduas and 15 other artists sign and publish Refus global artistic manifesto. Many view this publication as the basis for Quebec’s Quiet Revolution.
August 10
On this day #OTD
- 1960 / The Canadian Bill of Rights receives royal assent.
- 1949 / The Avro Canada Jetliner‘s first flight. It’s the first passenger jet to fly in North America and the second in the world.
- 1927 / Stephán Stephansson, the foremost west-Icelandic poet in Canada and one of Iceland’s major poets, died in Markerville, Alberta.
- 1876 / World’s first long-distance phone call between Brantford & Paris, Ontario.
- 1841 / Oronhyatekha (“burning cloud”), a Mohawk doctor who made history, is born on the Six Nations Reserve.
August 11
On this day #OTD
- 2016 / Penny Oleksiak, a 16-year old swimmer, becomes the first Canadian to win four medals at a Summer Games.
- 1986 / Sri Lankan migrants rescued off Newfoundland.
August 12
On this day #OTD
- 1994 / First Acadian World Congress (Congrès mondial acadien) is held in Moncton, N.B.
August 13
On this day #OTD
- 1941 / Creation of the Canadian Women’s Army Corps to provide support to the armed forces.
Did you know? 21,624 women served in the Canadian Women’s Army Corps. It was disbanded on September 30, 1946.
- 1886 / John A. Macdonald drives the last spike and officially completing the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway in British Columbia.
August 14
On this day #OTD
- 1978 / The Indian Brotherhood of the Northwest Territories becomes the Dene Nation.
- 1958 / First Canadian Football League (CFL) game between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeating Edmonton Eskimos 29-21 in Winnipeg.
August 15
On this day #OTD
- 2015 / Team Canada won a record 168 medals at the Parapan American Games in Toronto, with 50 gold, 63 silver and 55 bronze medals.
- 2013 / First totem pole erected in Gwaii Haanas in 130 years.
- 1910 / Vancouver Exhibition opens
- 1917 / Battle of Hill 70 (Aug 15 – Aug 25)
Did you know? The Canadians lost more than 9,000 soldiers at Hill 70, but killed or wounded an estimated 25,000 Germans.
- 1904 / George Klein, the most accomplished Canadian inventor of the 20th century, is born in Hamilton, ON.
Did you know? Klein worked at the National Research Council from 1929-1969, where he developed the electric wheelchair, aircraft skis, the microsurgical staple gun, the M29 Weasel army snowmobile/ATV, the ZEEP nuclear reactor, a scientific language for snow, and many more inventions.
- 1884 / The Acadian flag is adopted at the Second Acadian National Convention in Miscouche, PEI.
- 1866 / The College of Ottawa becomes the University of Ottawa.
August 16
On this day #OTD
- 2016 / In Tadoule Lake, Manitoba, the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs apologizes on behalf of the Government of Canada for relocating the Sayisi Dene in the 1950s and 1960s.
- 1962 / Mungo Martin (Nakapankam), Kwakwaka’wakw artist and one of the best-known carvers on the coast, died in Victoria, BC.
- 1930 / 1st British Empire Games opens in Hamilton, Canada. The games are now known as the Commonwealth Games.
- 1916 / The Migratory Bird Convention (later the Migratory Bird Treaty) is signed by the U.S and Canada.
- 1760 / Battle of the Thousand Islands
August 17
On this day #OTD
- 1943 / Quebec War Conference (with Churchill, Roosevelt and King)
- 1912 / Regulation 17 – The Ontario Government bans the use of French in Ontario’s public schools past Grade 1. The Regulation will be enforced until 1927.
- 1896 / The Klondike Gold Rush begins after George Washington Carmack, Skookum Jim and Tagish Charlie discover gold in a small tributary of the Klondike River in Canada’s Yukon Territory.
August 18
On this day #OTD
- 1938 / Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates Thousand Island Bridge connecting Canada and the U.S.
August 19
- World Humanitarian Day (UN) #WorldHumanitarianDay
On this day #OTD
- 1942 / Dieppe Raid (Operation Jubilee).
Did you know? Designed to test the Allies’ ability to launch amphibious assaults, this first engagement for the Canadian Army was a disaster with more than 900 Canadian soldiers killed and thousands more wounded and taken prisoner.
August 20
On this day #OTD
- 2016 / The Tragically Hip play their final concert to a hometown crowd in Kingston, Ontario.
- 1998 / The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Québec could not secede from Canada without first negotiating the terms of secession with the federal and provincial governments.
August 21
On this day #OTD
August 22
- Public Service Pride Week (Aug 22-26) This year’s theme is Being your authentic self at work.
Did you know? The Progress Pride flag is the Pride flag flying in all Government of Canada buildings. It was designed by non-binary American artist and designer Daniel Quasar in 2018.
On this day #OTD
- 1964 / Beatles first concert in Canada at Empire Stadium in Vancouver, B.C.
August 23
August 24
On this day #OTD
- 1920 / Birth of painter and printmaker Alex Colville.
- 1814 / The burning of Washington – War of 1812
August 25
On this day #OTD
- 1785 / The oldest newspaper (still in existence today), the Montreal Gazette / La Gazette de Montréal is published for the first time.
August 26
On this day #OTD
- 1977 / Parti Québécois government adopts the Charte de langue française (Bill 101)
- 1905 / Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen becomes the first to navigate the Northwest Passage.
August 27
August 28
On this day #OTD
- 1965 / Birth of singer Shania Twain in Windsor, Ontario.
- 1921 / Birth of the father of the Canadian Space Program John Herbert Chapman in London, Ontario.
August 29
On this day #OTD
- 1979 – Opening of the first Jeux de l’Acadie (Acadian Games) in Moncton, N.B.
- 1959 / Astronaut Chris Hadfield is born in Sarnia, ON.
August 30
On this day #OTD
- 1987 / Ben Johnson sets a new world record of 9.83 sec at the world championships at Rome, defeating Carl Lewis.
- 1972 / Rosemary Brown becomes the first black woman to sit in a legislative assembly in Canada (as a provincial MLA in B.C.).
August 31
On this day #OTD
- 2017 / New gender X option – Canadians can now choose to have an X (for unspecified) on their official documents.
