Timeline of Canadian civil disorder, riots and mutinies
- Tom Monto
- Aug 1
- 11 min read
Updated: 16 hours ago
1700s
1753 - Lunenburg Rebellion -- new arrivals upset at conditions
1784 Shelburne (Nova Scotia) riots --- white Loyalists attacked black Loyalists and freed slaves
1798 Newfoundland Regiment of Foot mutiny - leaders hanged (see Wiki "Royal Newfoundland Regiment")
1800s
1835-1845 Shiners' War
1837 Rebellions Mackenzie and Papineau
participants hanged or transported to Australia
1837-1838 Patriot incursions -- inspired by republican sentiment.
participants transported to Australia
1839-1866 Orange Order in Canada --- Between 1839 and 1866, the Orange Order was involved in 29 riots in Toronto, of which 16 had direct political inspiration. The violent disturbances were targeted at candidates who wanted political equality for French-Canadians such as Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, the Children of Peace of Sharon, of which members of the Orange Order killed an adherent, and English reformers who were opposed to the Family Compact. (Garner, Franchise and Politics in BNA, p. 99-100)
1840s Saint John Irish workers riot and fight with others and among themselves
(see Seel, "New Brunswick Class Conflict...")
1841 -- Election of the 1st Parliament of the Province of Canada -- Orange Order election violence.
Many electoral riots took place during the election of the 1st Parliament of the Province of Canada and at the time of Baldwin's ministerial by-election after appointment to the executive council. (Garner, Franchise and Politics in BNA, p. 100-101)
1840s Welland Canal workers fighting.
1849 Welland Canal riot (see Wiki "Welland Canal riot")
1849 Montreal Riots/Rebellion Losses Bill -- The enactment of the bill angered some of Montreal's Tory citizens and provoked weeks of violent disturbances known as the Montreal Riots.
1849 Stony Monday Riot in Bytown (Ontario) when the Governor General inspected Bytown as potential site for new parliament buildings. Despite the anti-democratic opposition, the GG decided to use Bytown (soon renamed Ottawa).
1853 Gavazzi Riots -- anti-Gavazzi disturbances that occurred in Quebec City and Montreal when mobs attacked halls where ex-Catholic monk Alessandro Gavazzi was lecturing.
1855 Toronto Circus Riot --- S. B. Howes' Star Troupe Menagerie & Circus clowns and members of the Hook and Ladder Firefighting Company came to blows at a brothel one night, and the next day a brawl resumed at the Circus.
Militia was called and defused the riot.
After public outrage at the police's failure to prosecute, an inquiry and an election led to mass firings and selective re-hirings in 1859. (Wiki: "Toronto police service")
1861 13 May - St. John's Election riot. 2,000 protesters gathered outside the Colonial Building in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
1863 Oil Springs riot Sarnia/Lambton County (Ontario) in Toronto area
1866-ish Fenian raids
1867 - Confederation
1869-70 the first Riel Rebellion, at Red River (Winnipeg)
1875 Jubilee riots in Toronto -- an outbreak of Protestant-Catholic sectarian violence. The riots happened during a series of Catholic religious pilgrimages related to the Jubilee year declared by Pope Pius IX.
The first riot occurred on September 26, during a pilgrims' march to the bishop's palace at St. Michael's Cathedral.
1875 Louis Mailloux Affair --- a series of violent events (similar to a jacquerie) occurred in the town of Caraquet, New Brunswick (Canada), in January 1875.
In 1871 Law 87 was enacted to reform the public education system in the province and enhanced its funding. This legislation sparked the New Brunswick Schools Question, leading to political turmoil in the province and throughout Canada for four years.
1883 - The Harbour Grace Affray -- religious violence that happened on Saint Stephen's Day, 1883 in the town of Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, between members of the Loyal Orange Association and Roman Catholics. Four dead.
1885 North-West Rebellion -- the second Riel rebellion (and his last) Riel was hanged in 1885.
1886 NWMP constables mutiny at Edmonton (see Wiki "Timeline of Labour issues...Canada")
1900s
1907 Asiatic Exclusion League formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, on 12 August 1907 under the auspices of the Trades and Labour Council. Its stated aim was "to keep Oriental immigrants out of British Columbia.
On 7 September, riots erupted in Vancouver when League members besieged Chinatown after listening to inflammatory racist speeches at City Hall (then on Main Street near Georgia Street). 4,000 people shouting racist slogans, by the time the riot reached City Hall, it had reached 8,000 people. The crowd marched into Chinatown, vandalizing and causing thousands of dollars' worth of damage The mob then rampaged through Japantown, where they were confronted by residents armed with clubs and bottles with which they fought back.
1911 - Conservative Party elected on promise of not bringing in reciprocity trade deal with the U.S. (Reciprocity was the free trade agreement of its time). Conservative Party stayed in power until 1921, being re-elected under shady circumstances in 1917.
1914 - Saint John street railway strike. violence on the picket lines
WWI
1916 - The Battle of the Hatpins (French: Bataille des épingles à chapeaux) was a violent resistance against police trying to enforce Ontario's much-hated anti-French law. The resistance occurred in Ottawa, when police tried to enforce provincial Regulation 17, which restricted French-language education in the province of Ontario. More than 70 women used hatpins, frying pans and other common household objects to fight off 30 police officers intent on arresting two sisters, Béatrice and Diane Desloges, for teaching in French in an Ottawa school.
1917 - Conscription Crisis of 1917 - riots in Quebec
1918 - Vancouver one-day general strike in honour of Ginger Goodwin, who had been killed by a policeman.
1918 - Situation approached the commencement of a general strike in Edmonton due to firefighters' grievance. Referendum held Feb. 27, 1918 (see Peel's PP no. 4386 H.M.E. Evans "Mayor's statement...") and voters upheld firefighters' complaints. City council backed down. (see Wiki "Canadian Labour revolt#Edmonton")
1918-1921 - Canadian Labour Revolt
1919 One Big Union founded in Calgary
1919 - Winnipeg general strike (see Wiki: "Winnipeg general strike")
1919 - Edmonton general strike (see Wiki "Canadian Labour revolt#Edmonton general strike")
1919- Calgary general strike (see Wiki "Canadian Labour revolt#Calgary general strike")
1919 - Toronto general strike (see Wiki "Canadian Labour revolt#Toronto general strike")
1919 - Victoria general strike (see Wiki "Canadian Labour revolt#Victoria general strike")
1919 - Brandon (Manitoba) general strike (see Wiki "Canadian Labour revolt#Brandon general strike")
1919 - Amherst (Nova Scotia) general strike (see Wiki "Canadian Labour revolt#Amherst general strike")
1919 - Vancouver general strike (see Wiki "Canadian Labour revolt#Vancouver general strike") (see also Bernard, Elaine (1985). "Vancouver General Strikes, 1918 and 1919". Working lives : Vancouver, 1886–1986. Vancouver: New Star Books)
1921 Communist Party of Canada (CPC) founded
1921 UFA elected to provincial government in Alberta
1922 - Edmonton coal miners on strike. police violence against picket lines and coal miners' women hurt in melees
1923 - Bloody Sunday (1923), a day of police violence during a steelworkers' strike for union recognition in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. (see Wiki "Bloody Sunday (1923)")
Depression 1929-1937-ish
1931 – Riot of unemployed in Calgary after Calgary police arrest a labour speaker.
1931 – Estevan riot. Four striking coal miner shot to death by RCMP officers police killing
1932 April 5 - Colonial Building riot, St. John's, Newfoundland. Prompted by the Great Depression and corruption in the Squires government, a peaceful protest turned into riots and violence. The riots led to the fall of the Squires government and the defeat of Squires's Liberal government.
1932 - Edmonton Hunger March Premier Brownlee and Mayor Knott blamed for calling out the police. Knott re-elected in 1933.
1932 - CCF founded in Calgary
1933 - Christie Pits riot -- Toronto.
Jewish and anti-Nazi activists fought with Canadian Nazis of the Swastika Club, at the baseball field at Christie Pits playground. Thereafter, displays of the swastika flag were banned in Toronto.
1935 - On-to-Ottawa Trek/Regina Riot
Two deaths:
Nick Shaak beaten to death by club-wielding RCMP
Plainclothes cop Charles Miller killed.
1935 – Battle of Ballantyne Pier connected to Vancouver dockers' strike.
1000 protesters, members of the Vancouver and District Waterfront Workers' Association, under influence of the Workers' Unity League; marched towards Ballantyne Pier to prevent scabs from unloading ships in the harbour. Upon arriving at the pier they were ambushed by the Vancouver police, BC Provincial Police, and RCMP who were hiding behind boxcars.
The Battle of Ballantyne Pier contributed to the founding of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.
1938 - Bloody Sunday -- police violence against unemployment protesters in Vancouver.
The conclusion of a month-long "sitdowners' strike" by unemployed men at the main post office in Vancouver. 100 injured, 43 hospitalized.
WWII
1942 - The Battle of Bowmanville --
a revolt in the Bowmanville (Ontario) prisoner-of-war camp (Camp 30). Prisoners, most of whom were higher-ranking German officers, objected to the planned shackling of 100 prisoners (to be carried out as retribution for the German army's treatment of captured Canadian soldiers following the raid on Dieppe). The battle lasted three days. (see Wikipedia)
1944 - Terrace (BC) mutiny Canadian army Terrace BC
1945 - Halifax riot Canadian army Canadian navy
Post-War
1946 strike at Montreal Cottons at Valleyfield, QU ended only after violent riot.
On August 13 at 11 a.m., around five thousand people, the majority of them women and children, were gathered at the mill to support the strike. Police threw tear gas bombs to disperse the crowd and to allow strike breakers to leave the mill for their lunchtime break. Strikers and crowd threw rocks and the tear gas bombs back at the police. Police retreated to seek shelter within inside the mill. After seven hours the riot ended - truce was negotiated by a committee representing the strikers and the police.
In the truce, the strikers agreed that strike breakers would not be mistreated upon leaving the factory and that the violence would end, provided that the provincial police and the company's private cops leave the city and that the company close until the end of the strike. With the mill put out of business, mill management were more conciliatory and workers returned to work on Sept. 9, with a union contract signed in November, the workers' first. The labour activism and the role of women in the strike challenged the historical narrative of a hegemonic conservative Quebec under the leadership of Premier Maurice Duplessis, and helped lead the way to Quebec's Quiet Revolution.
Two days after the riot, strike leader Rowley and local union leader Trefflé Leduc were arrested and charged with inciting the riot. (Upon Rowley's arrest, Madeleine Parent took charge of the strike.)
(Rowley and Parent later founded the Confederation of Canadian Unions in 1969.)
1949 - Canadian Navy mutinies (see Wiki "History of the Royal Canadian Navy#1949 'mutinies')
1949 - Asbestos Strike in Asbestos, Quebec. 5000 miners on strike for three months against a foreign-owned corporation at Asbestos and Thetford Mines. The bishop of Montreal, the newspaper Le Devoir, and several prominent intellectuals support the strikers. It is said to be one of the longest and most violent labour conflicts in Quebec history, and to have laid the base for Quebec's Quiet Revolution.
1955 - The Richard Riot was a riot on March 17, 1955 (Saint Patrick's Day), in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The riot was named after Maurice Richard (Rocket Richard), the star ice hockey player for the NHL Montreal Canadiens. After a violent altercation on March 13 in which Richard hit a linesman, NHL president Clarence Campbell (formerly of Edmonton) suspended Richard for the remainder of the 1954–55 NHL season, including the playoffs. Montreal fans packed the stands at the next game and demonstrated in protest outside. The crowd of demonstrators grew to 6,000. Some carried signs that denounced Campbell, and others had signs reading, among other things, "Vive Richard" (Long live Richard), "No Richard, no Cup", and "Our national sport destroyed". Some members of the crowd smashed windows and threw ice chunks at passing streetcars. Others inside pelted Campbell with garbage, and one even slapped and hit him. Police eventually shut down the game due to the deteriorating situation.
Quebecois rioting over a perceived slight to a Quebec cultural icon (Rocket Richard) might have helped cause Quebec's Quiet Revolution of the 1960s.
1958 – Newfoundland Loggers' Strike is conducted by the International Woodworkers of America.
1960-1999
1961 – September 10, a Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers meeting at Sudbury Arena, regarding the union's controversial proposal to merge with the United Steelworkers, erupts into a riot
1969 – Murray-Hill riot, Montreal police force on strike. FLQ, taxi drivers, and others take radical action. (Quebec)
1969 "Sir George Williams affair" -- Sir George Williams University, Montreal
1971 August 7 - "Gastown riot" occurred in Vancouver. Following weeks of arrests by Vancouver's undercover drug squad members, as part of a special police operation directed by City hall, police broke up a protest smoke-in in the Gastown neighbourhood, using riot batons and armed police on horseback.
Judge investigating called it a police riot.
(also known as as Gastown riots and as "the Battle of Maple Tree Square")
(pot legalization)
1972 - Quebec general strike (see Wiki "Quebec general strike")
1976 – Canadian general strike: Day of Action (October 14)
One-day general strike against Trudeau's anti-inflationary wages and price controls. More than one million workers stay home
1986-2008 (various dates) -- Edmonton Institution riots and disturbances
1987 - Celebration of Stanley Cup win on Jasper Avenue turned into riot. Dozens arrested. ("June 1, 1987 Stanley Cup celebrations turn into riot", https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/throwback-thursday-edmonton-oilers-stanley-cup-celebrations-violent-1.4140362 )
1992 May 4 - Yonge Street riot - angry protest held against police killings of Rodney King in the U.S and a black man, Raymond Lawrence, in Toronto.
Some present engaged in looting and wilful damage. (see Wiki "Yonge Street riot") (race riot)
1993 - Montreal Stanley Cup Riot -- The 1993 Montreal Stanley Cup riot occurred in Montreal after the Montreal Canadiens won their 24th Stanley Cup.
2000s
2001 3rd Summit of the Americas Quebec City.
A number of protesters were seriously injured by rubber or plastic bullets, evidence shows they were aimed at heads and groins.
2001 - Edmonton Canada Day riot on Whyte Avenue
2006 - Edmonton Stanley Cup Playoff run - riots on Edmonton's Whyte Avenue.
mischief, vandalism, open fires on the street; nudity.
May 17 --20,00 crowd into Whyte Avenue.
May 27 - 50,000 gathered on Whyte Avenue. Nine bonfires burned pallets and branches ripped from avenue trees. Hundreds of shop windows broken. Crowd finally dispersed at about 3 a.m.
June 17 police conduct mass arrests.
The most people arrested at one event in the country's history up to that time -- 200-400 (surpassed the previous record set by Toronto's Operation Soap (raids on gay bathhouses in 1981); surpassed by the G20 protests in 2010)
In other words, May 12-June 17 Edmonton Oiler Stanley Cup playoff run inspires riots and expensive damage to businesses along Whyte Avenue. Finally put down by mass arrests of hundreds of revellers.
(CBC News, "Oilers, police aiming to avoid repeat..." https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/oilers-hockey-edmonton-rogers-riot-playoffs-business-1.4046048)
("City officials meet to discuss Whyte Ave. violence", CBC, May 29, 2006 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/city-officials-meet-to-discuss-whyte-ave-violence-1.613847 accessed August 21, 2025)
(see Youtube recap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpnRd1-7iUg)
2010s
More than 1100 people arrested. Human rights abused.
Later, the government paid out $16.5M in compensation for wrongful police conduct.
Parkes, Political Protest, Mass Arrests...
2014 Feb. 9 - HMP chapel riot The HMP chapel riot was a prison disturbance that took place in the chapel of Her Majesty's Penitentiary in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. It centred on a violent attack on inmate Kenneth Green.
2020s
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General reference:
Wiki "Timeline of labour issues and events in Canada" - includes Mountie mutinies, police killings, vigilante violence
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Wiki Categories
Canadian Race Riots
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