The Origins of Daylight Savings Time | TBPL Research Blog

Daylight savings time changes have been an annual tradition in the Lakehead region for decades. In fact, Port Arthur and Fort William were the first to implement this change back in 1908. This change began to promote summertime leisure activities and allowed residents to access more sun in the evening to better enjoy the summer. This early form of daylight savings time moved the region to the Eastern Time Zone beginning on May 2nd and would move the region back to the Central Time Zone November 1st. 

This trial was an overwhelming success pushing the 1909 Port Arthur city council to move permanently to the Eastern Time Zone. This change caused turmoil for the Lakehead region, as Fort William was not on board to make this permanent change so quickly. Fort William remained as part of the Central Time Zone until the following year in 1910, when they also elected to make the permanent change to the Eastern Time Zone.

During the First World War Germany was the first country to adopt the time savings practice as a way to allow residents to have broader access to the sunlight thereby eliminating the amount of energy consumed by people turning on their lights in the evening. After Germany, many of the warring countries adopted a similar practice, the Dominion of Canada was one of those countries. In 1916, Canada attempted to standardize Daylight Savings across the country as a way to increase war time production. This standardization would mean the Lakehead region would have double the daylight hours in the summer months. Residents of Port Arthur and Fort William scoffed at this idea since it would be absurd to move the time zones again to the same zone as the Prairies for the summer months. This absurdity meant that the Lakehead would not adopt the time change alongside the rest of Canada. This practice for Canada ended after the war ended, but was reintroduced at the onset of the Second World War, which was once again ignored by Port Arthur and Fort William due to the 1909/1910 change. 

After World War 2 ended, the use of Daylight Savings was used sporadically throughout the nation, with some municipalities and regions adopting it permanently and others disbanding it altogether. In 1970, the newly formed City of Thunder Bay decided to adopt the use of Daylight Savings on a 3 year trial period. This trial was a success and it was voted on as a permanent fixture we know today, with time changes every Spring and Fall. 

Discussion still persists on the observance of Daylight Savings throughout the world. In Canada and the United States many provinces, territories, and states have passed legislation on the use of Daylight Savings, while others have ignored it altogether, such as Arizona, Yukon, and Northern British Columbia. However, in Ontario the practice remains a tool of economic importance with our major trading partners, Quebec and the state of New York. While we remain in the Fall and Spring cycle, there is legislation in place to move Ontario to permanent DST which will be on a date to be indicated by the Ontario Lieutenant Governor in collaboration with our major trading partners

If you would like to learn more about the history of our region, or anything Thunder Bay and Thunder Bay District related, contact us at research@tbpl.ca.