Page "Canada Day" Paragraph 18

As the anniversary of Confederation, Dominion Day, and later Canada Day, was the date set for a number of important events, such as the first national radio network hookup by the Canadian National Railway ( 1927 ), the inauguration of the CBC's cross-country television broadcast ( 1958 ), the flooding of the Saint Lawrence Seaway ( 1958 ), the first colour television transmission in Canada ( 1966 ), the inauguration of the Order of Canada ( 1967 ), and the establishment of " O Canada " as the country's national anthem ( 1980 ).

Other events fell on the same day coincidentally, such as the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916 — shortly after which Newfoundland recognized July 1 as Memorial Day to commemorate the Newfoundland Regiment's heavy losses during the battle — and the enactment of the Chinese Immigration Act in 1923 — leading Chinese-Canadians to refer to July 1 as Humiliation Day and boycott Dominion Day celebrations until the act was repealed in 1947.