List of disasters in Canada
Encyclopedia
This is a list of disasters (man-made and natural) in Canada
arranged by date. For a list organized by number of fatalities, see List of Canadian disasters by death toll.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
arranged by date. For a list organized by number of fatalities, see List of Canadian disasters by death toll.
- 1732 September 16 Montreal earthquake1732 Montreal earthquakeThe 1732 Montreal earthquake was a 5.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Quebec, Canada at 11:00 a.m. on September 16, 1732. The shaking associated with this earthquake shook the city of Montreal with significant damage, including destroyed chimneys, cracked walls and 300 damaged houses, as well as...
, Quebec - 1775 Eruption of the Tseax ConeTseax ConeThe Tseax Cone , also called the Tseax River Cone or alternately the Aiyansh Volcano, is a young cinder cone and adjacent lava flows associated with the Nass Ranges and the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province...
, British ColumbiaBritish ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
(one of Canada's worst known geophysical disasters) - 1825 October 7 Miramichi FireMiramichi FireThe Great Miramichi Fire refers to a massive forest fire which devastated forests and communities throughout much of northern New Brunswick in October 1825. It ranks among the three largest forest fires ever recorded in North America. About 1/3 of the homes in Fredericton were destroyed, but the...
, New Brunswick - 1864 June 29 St-Hilaire train disasterSt-Hilaire train disasterThe St-Hilaire train disaster was a railroad disaster that occurred on June 29, 1864 near the present day town of Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec. The train, which had been carrying many German and Polish immigrants, failed to acknowledge a stop light and fell through an open swing bridge into the...
, Mont-Saint-Hilaire, QuebecQuebecQuebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level.... - 1881 May 24 Queen Victoria river steamer sinking
- 1889 September 19 Québec rockslideQuebec rockslideThe Quebec rockslide occurred on September 19, 1889, after a day of heavy rain in Quebec City, Canada. An overhanging piece of slate rock broke off from Cap Diamant and fell 90 metres onto the houses below. The homes of 28 families on Champlain Street were crushed, burying roughly 100 people...
- 1896 May 26 Point Ellice Bridge DisasterPoint Ellice Bridge DisasterOn May 26, 1896 in Victoria, British Columbia, a streetcar crowded with 143 holidaymakers on their way to attend celebrations of Queen Victoria’s birthday, crashed through Point Ellice Bridge into the Upper Harbour. 55 men, women and children were killed in the accident, making this one of the...
, Victoria, BC - 1903 April 29 Frank SlideFrank SlideThe Frank Slide is a natural landslide feature in the southern Rocky Mountains of Canada, and a significant historical event in western Canada.Frank, Alberta is a coal mining town in the Crowsnest Pass, Alberta...
at Turtle Mountain, Alberta - 1906 September 25 Sternwheeler Columbian disasterSternwheeler Columbian disasterCharacterized as the worst disaster in the Yukon River's history, the sternwheeler Columbian exploded and burned at Eagle Rock, Yukon, Canada, on September 25, 1906, killing six men...
at Eagle Rock on the Yukon River, Yukon - 1907 August 29 First Quebec BridgeQuebec Bridgeright|thumb|Lifting the centre span in place was considered to be a major engineering achievement. Photo caption from [[Popular Mechanics]] Magazine, December 1917...
Collapse - 1910 March 4 Rogers Pass avalanche, BC
- 1912 April 15 Sinking of the RMS Titanic off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland
- 1912 June 30 Regina CycloneRegina CycloneThe Regina Cyclone is the popular name for a tornado that devastated the city of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada on June 30, 1912. At about 4:50 p.m., green funnel clouds formed and touched down south of the city, tearing a swath through the residential area between Wascana Lake and Victoria Avenue...
- 1913 November The Great Lakes Storm of 1913Great Lakes Storm of 1913The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, historically referred to as the "Big Blow", "Jeff Kinsland's Wash," the "Freshwater Fury" or the "White Hurricane", was a blizzard with hurricane-force winds that devastated the Great Lakes Basin in the Midwestern United States and the Canadian province of Ontario...
- 1914 June 19 Hillcrest mine disasterHillcrest mine disasterThe Hillcrest mine disaster, the worst coal mining disaster in Canadian history, occurred at Hillcrest, Alberta, in the Crowsnest Pass region of western Canada, on Friday June 19, 1914. At the time it was the world's third worst mine disaster....
, Alberta - 1914 May 29 RMS Empress of Ireland collision Saint Lawrence RiverSaint Lawrence RiverThe Saint Lawrence is a large river flowing approximately from southwest to northeast in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It is the primary drainage conveyor of the Great Lakes Basin...
- 1916 February 3 Burning of Parliament BuildingsParliament HillParliament Hill , colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. Its Gothic revival suite of buildingsthe parliament buildings serves as the home of the Parliament of Canada and contains a number of architectural...
- 1916 July Matheson FireMatheson FireThe great Matheson Fire was a deadly forest fire that passed through region surrounding the communities of Black River-Matheson and Iroquois Falls, Ontario, Canada on July 29, 1916....
, Northeastern OntarioNortheastern OntarioNortheastern Ontario is the region within the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north and east of Lakes Superior and Huron.Northeastern Ontario consists of the districts of Algoma, Sudbury, Cochrane, Timiskaming, Nipissing and Manitoulin; and the single-tier municipality of Greater... - 1916 Second Quebec BridgeQuebec Bridgeright|thumb|Lifting the centre span in place was considered to be a major engineering achievement. Photo caption from [[Popular Mechanics]] Magazine, December 1917...
Collapse - 1917 December 6 Halifax ExplosionHalifax ExplosionThe Halifax Explosion occurred on Thursday, December 6, 1917, when the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, was devastated by the huge detonation of the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship, fully loaded with wartime explosives, which accidentally collided with the Norwegian SS Imo in "The Narrows"...
- 1918 October 25 SS Princess Sophia Canadian Liner sinks near Juneau, Alaska
- 1922 October 4 and 5 The Great FireGreat Fire of 1922The Great Fire of 1922 was a wildfire burning through the Lesser Clay Belt in the Timiskaming District, Ontario, Canada, from October 4 to 5, 1922. It has been called one of the ten worst natural disasters in Canadian history....
(Timsikaming District, Ontario) - 1925 February 2 Charlevoix-Kamouraska earthquake1925 Charlevoix-Kamouraska earthquakeThe 1925 Charlevoix–Kamouraska earthquake was a major earthquake that struck the entire northeastern part of North America on February 2, 1925, reaching 6.2 on the moment magnitude scale....
, Quebec - 1927 January 9 Laurier Palace Theatre fireLaurier Palace Theatre FireThe Laurier Palace Theatre fire, sometimes known as the Saddest fire or the Laurier Palace Theatre crush, was a small fire that occurred in a movie theatre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on Sunday, January 9, 1927. The fire — reportedly caused by a discarded cigarette smouldering beneath wooden...
Montreal, Quebec - 1929 November 18 Grand Banks earthquake and tsunami1929 Grand Banks earthquakeThe 1929 Grand Banks earthquake, also called the Laurentian Slope earthquake and the South Shore Disaster, was a magnitude 7.2 earthquake that occurred on November 18, 1929 in the Atlantic Ocean off the south coast of Newfoundland in the Laurentian Slope Seismic Zone.The earthquake was centred on...
, Burin PeninsulaBurin PeninsulaThe Burin Peninsula is a Canadian peninsula located on the south coast of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.... - 1942 December 12 Knights of Columbus Hostel fireKnights of Columbus Hostel fireThe Knights of Columbus Hostel fire was a structure fire that occurred during World War II on Saturday, December 12, 1942, in St. John's, Newfoundland in a hostel operated by the Knights of Columbus, a Roman Catholic fraternal organization....
St John's, Newfoundland - 1946 June 23 Vancouver Island earthquake1946 Vancouver Island earthquakeThe 1946 Vancouver Island earthquake was a 7.3 magnitude earthquake that struck Vancouver Island, on the Coast of British Columbia, Canada, at 10:15 a.m. on Sunday, June 23, 1946. The main shock epicenter occurred in the Forbidden Plateau area northwest of Courtenay...
, British Columbia - 1949 September 17 SS NoronicSS NoronicThe SS Noronic was a passenger ship that was destroyed by fire in Toronto Harbour in September 1949 with serious loss of life.-The ship:SS Noronic was launched June 2, 1913 in Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada...
fire in Toronto - 1950 1950 Red River Flood
- 1954 Hurricane HazelHurricane HazelHurricane Hazel was the deadliest and costliest hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm killed as many as 1,000 people in Haiti before striking the United States near the border between North and South Carolina, as a Category 4 hurricane...
- 1956 May 15 Villa St. Louis Disaster
- 1956 December 9 Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810 was a Canadair North Star on a scheduled flight from Vancouver to Calgary . The plane crashed into Mount Slesse near Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada, on 9 December 1956 after encountering severe icing and turbulence over the mountains...
- 1958 June 17 Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows CrossingIronworkers Memorial Second Narrows CrossingThe Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, also called the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge, is the second bridge constructed at the Second Narrows of Burrard Inlet in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada...
collapse - 1958 October 23 Springhill Mining DisasterSpringhill mining disasterThe term Springhill mining disaster can refer to any of three separate Canadian mining disasters which occurred in 1891, 1956, and 1958 in different mines within the Springhill coalfield, near the town of Springhill in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia....
Springhill, Nova Scotia - 1959 June 20 Escuminac Disaster New Brunswick
- 1963 November 29 Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 831Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 831Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 831 was a flight from Montreal-Dorval Airport to Toronto International Airport on November 29, 1963. The aircraft was a four-engine Douglas DC-8-54CF airliner, registered CF-TJN...
Sainte-Thérèse-de-Blainville, Quebec - 1965 January 9 Hope SlideHope SlideThe Hope Slide was the largest landslide ever recorded in Canada. It occurred in the morning hours of January 9, 1965 in the Nicolum Valley near Hope, British Columbia, and killed four people...
in British Columbia - 1966 October 7 Dorion level crossing accidentDorion level crossing accidentThe Dorion level crossing accident occurred on October 7, 1966, when a school bus carrying 40 students was struck by a CN Rail freight train travelling at full speed in Dorion, Quebec, Canada .-Summary:...
- 1971 May 4 Saint-Jean-Vianney landslide
- 1973 April-May massive flood destroys Fredericton's surrounding area
- 1982 February 15 Ocean RangerOcean RangerOcean Ranger was a semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling unit that sank in Canadian waters on 15 February 1982. It was drilling an exploration well in the Grand Banks area, east of St. John's, Newfoundland, for Mobil Oil of Canada, Ltd. with 84 crew members on board when it sank...
, Grand Banks of Newfoundland - 1983 June 2 Air Canada Flight 797Air Canada Flight 797Air Canada Flight 797 was a scheduled trans-border flight that flew on a Dallas/Fort Worth-Toronto-Montreal route. On , the aircraft developed an in-flight fire behind the washroom that spread between the outer skin and the inner decor panels, filling the plane with toxic smoke...
- 1985 June 23 Air India Flight 182Air India Flight 182Air India Flight 182 was an Air India flight operating on the Montreal–London–Delhi route. On 23 June 1985, the airplane operating on the route a Boeing 747-237B named after Emperor Kanishka was blown up by a bomb at an altitude of , and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean while in Irish airspace.A...
- 1985 December 12 Arrow Air Flight 1285Arrow Air Flight 1285Arrow Air Flight 1285 was a McDonnell Douglas DC-8-63CF jetliner, registered N950JW, which operated as an international charter flight carrying U.S. troops from Cairo, Egypt, to their home base in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, via Cologne, Germany and Gander, Newfoundland...
Gander, Newfoundland - 1986 February 8 Hinton Train DisasterHinton train collisionThe Hinton train collision was a railway accident that occurred on February 8, 1986. Twenty-three people were killed in a collision between a Canadian National Railway freight train and a Via Rail passenger train. It was the most lethal Canadian rail disaster since the Dugald accident of 1947...
- 1987 July 31 Edmonton TornadoEdmonton TornadoThe Edmonton Tornado, an event also known as Black Friday to Edmontonians, was a powerful and devastating tornado that ripped through the eastern part of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and parts of neighbouring Strathcona County on the afternoon of Friday, July 31, 1987.The tornado remained on the...
- 1989 October 8 Cormier Village hayride accidentCormier Village hayride accidentThe Cormier Village hayride accident refers to an accident that occurred in the Canadian rural community of Cormier Village, New Brunswick, west of Cap-Pelé and east of Shediac....
- 1992 May 9 Westray Mine Disaster Plymouth, Nova Scotia
- 1996 Massive inundations hit the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-JeanSaguenay-Lac-Saint-JeanSaguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean is a region in Quebec, Canada. It contains the Saguenay Fjord, the estuary of the Saguenay River, stretching through much of the region...
region of QuebecQuebecQuebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level.... - 1997 April Red River Flood, 1997Red River Flood, 1997The Red River Flood of 1997 was a major flood that occurred in April and May 1997, along the Red River of the North in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Southern Manitoba. It was the most severe flood of the river since 1826...
- 1997 2nd Les Éboulements Bus Accident
- 1998 January 5-9, massive ice storm hits QuebecQuebecQuebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, OntarioOntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
and New BrunswickNew BrunswickNew Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area... - 1998 September 2 Swissair Flight 111Swissair Flight 111Swissair Flight 111 was a Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 on a scheduled airline flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, United States to Cointrin International Airport in Geneva, Switzerland...
Peggys Cove, Nova ScotiaPeggys Cove, Nova ScotiaPeggys Cove is one of the busiest tourist attractions in Nova Scotia and is a prime attraction on the Lighthouse Trail scenic drive. The community's famous lighthouse marks the eastern entrance of St. Margarets Bay and is officially known as the Peggys Point Lighthouse.Peggys Cove has a classic... - 2000 May Walkerton TragedyWalkerton TragedyThe Walkerton Tragedy is a series of events that accompanied the contamination of the water supply of Walkerton, Ontario, Canada, by E. coli bacteria in May 2000.-Summary:Walkerton is a relatively small community located in Ontario...
- 2000 July 14 Pine Lake, Alberta TornadoPine Lake, Alberta TornadoThe Pine Lake, Alberta Tornado was a deadly tornado in central Alberta on July 14, 2000 that struck a campground and trailer park. Twelve people were killed, making it the first killer tornado in Canada since 1994 when a doctor was killed by an F2 tornado in Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu, Quebec...
- 2003 September 29 Hurricane JuanHurricane JuanHurricane Juan was a significant hurricane that struck the southern part of Atlantic Canada in late September 2003. It was the tenth named storm and the sixth hurricane of the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season. Juan formed southeast of Bermuda on September 24, 2003 out of a tropical wave that tracked...
Halifax, Nova Scotia - 2006 September 30 De la Concorde overpass collapseDe la Concorde overpass collapseOn September 30, 2006, part of an overpass collapsed in Laval, a suburb of Montreal, on Boulevard de la Concorde running over Autoroute 19. The collapse crushed two vehicles under it, killing five people and seriously injuring six others who went over the edge while travelling on the overpass...
, Laval, QuebecLaval, QuebecLaval is a Canadian city and a region in southwestern Quebec. It is the largest suburb of Montreal, the third largest municipality in the province of Quebec, and the 14th largest city in Canada with a population of 368,709 in 2006... - 2008 January 12 Bathurst van collision2008 Bathurst van collisionThe Boys in Red accident was a January 12, 2008 collision just outside the city of Bathurst, New Brunswick, Canada, between a semi-trailer truck and a van carrying the basketball team from Bathurst High School. The accident killed seven students and a teacher and injured four other occupants in the...
, Bathurst, New BrunswickBathurst, New BrunswickBathurst is a Canadian city in Gloucester County, New Brunswick.Bathurst is situated on Bathurst Harbour, an estuary at the mouth of the Nepisiguit River at the southernmost part of Chaleur Bay.... - 2009 March 12 Cougar Helicopters Flight 91Cougar Helicopters Flight 91Cougar Helicopters Flight 91 was a scheduled flight of a Cougar Sikorsky S-92A which ditched on 12 March 2009 en route to the SeaRose FPSO in the White Rose oil field and Hibernia Platform in the Hibernia oilfield off the coast of Newfoundland east-southeast of St...
off of Newfoundland. - 2010 September 21 Hurricane Igor Cape Race, NewfoundlandAvalon PeninsulaThe Avalon Peninsula is a large peninsula that makes up the southeast portion of the island of Newfoundland.The peninsula is home to 257,223 people, which is approximately 51% of Newfoundland's population in 2009, and is the location of the provincial capital, St. John's. It is connected to the...
- 2011 May 15 Slave Lake fire2011 Slave Lake wildfireThe 2011 Slave Lake wildfire was a large fire that burned through the Town of Slave Lake, Alberta, Canada and its surrounding area from Saturday, May 14, 2011 through Monday, May 16, 2011. The conflagration, which originated outside of town as a forest fire, was quickly pushed past fire barriers...
, Alberta - 2011 August 20 First Air Flight 6560First Air Flight 6560First Air Flight 6560 was a charter flight being operated by Boeing 737-200 registered C-GNWN, a passenger-cargo convertible aircraft on 20 August 2011 when it crashed approximately from Resolute, Nunavut, Canada...
near Resolute Bay, NunavutResolute Bay, NunavutResolute Bay, Nunavut may refer to:*Resolute Bay a rocket launching site*Resolute, Nunavut, a common misnaming of the community*Resolute Bay Airport, the airport that serves the community...