Highlights of the day

  • 1885 Sandford Fleming’s proposal for Standard Time zones adopted by 25 nations.
  • 1947 Canadian Citizenship Act of 1946 comes into effect, creating Canadian citizens.

List of Facts for January 1

  • 1618 LaSalle’s expedition reaches site of Peoria, Illinois. Peoria, Illinois
  • 1637 Royal Charter granted to Newfoundland Colony. London, England
  • 1638 Charles the First grants a Coat of Arms to the Newfoundland Colony; features two English lions, two Scottish unicorns, and an elk, probably meant to be a caribou. London, England
  • 1685 Jacques-Rene de Brisay de Denonville (1637–1710) appointed Governor of New France; serves from August 1, 1685, to August 12, 1689. Québec
  • 1709 Philippe Pasteur de Costebelle (1661-1717) takes St. John’s. St. John’s, Newfoundland
  • 1714 Philippe Pasteur de Costebelle (1661-1717) appointed Governor of Cape Breton (ile Royale). Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
  • 1743 François and Pierre de La Vérendrye see snow-capped mountains on the western horizon; thought to be the Rocky Mountains, it is more likely they are the Black Hills. North Dakota
  • 1752 Under the new Gregorian calendar, the year 1752 begins today, rather than on March 25, the case in England since the 1300s; the day following Sept 2 to be known as Sept 14; 1751 therefore had only 281 days; and 1752 will have 354 days.
  • 1807 Orders-in-Council blockade all neutral commerce with Europe, to retaliate against Napoleon; cause of War of 1812. London, England
  • 1823 Nova Scotia the First province to issue its own coinage. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1830 Ogle River Gowan opens the First Grand Lodge of Orange Order in Canada. Brockville, Ontario
  • 1833 Newfoundland Assembly meets for the first time at St.John’s; First representative government. St. John’s, Newfoundland
  • 1835 Joseph Howe (1804–1873) criticizes Halifax magistrates in his newspaper, The Nova Scotian; acquitted for libel May 3 when his remarks are called fair comment. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1849 New Brunswick Electric Telegraph opens service. New Brunswick
  • 1849 The comic journal Punch in Canada starts publishing. (HT John Adcock)
  • 1851 Government abolishes primogeniture, where eldest son gets greater part of deceased father’s property; all property divided equally among all children if there is no will. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1851 Henry Walton Bibb publishes First issue of Voice of the Fugitive, a journal for escaped US slaves; son of a white father and black mother. Windsor, Ontario
  • 1853 Village of Yorkville incorporated north of what is now Bloor Street; annexed by Toronto in 1883. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1855 Bytown incorporated as a city and renamed Ottawa. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1856 NB’s second prohibition law takes effect, as the mashers defeat the rummies. New Brunswick
  • 1858 Decimal system of currency comes into effect in Canada.
  • 1871 Fort Garry Post Office opens. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1874 First Winnipeg City Council is organized under Mayor Cornish. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1878 Belleville gets city charter. Belleville, Ontario
  • 1882 William Cornelius Van Horne 1843–1915 appointed First General Manager of the Canadian Pacific Railway; posted to Winnipeg, the ex-Illinois Central Manager will finish the line far ahead of schedule. Montréal, Québec
  • 1885 Sandford Fleming’s proposal for Standard Time and time zones put into effect by 25 nations.
  • 1886 Chinese Immigration Act, passed in July of 1885, comes into effect; each person of Chinese origin coming into Canada required to pay $50 at the point of entry; vessels from China carrying prospective immigrants also restricted to one immigrant per 50 tons of tonnage.
  • 1890 Alberta Railway & Coal Company takes over operation of Northwestern Coal & Navigation Company railroad.
  • 1890 Great Northern leases St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway for 999 years beginning January 31, 1890.
  • 1894 Calgary incorporated as a City. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1895 Ottawa designates Nelson, BC, as a Port of Entry.
  • 1898 CP leases the BC Southern Railway in perpetuity.
  • 1899 Canada agrees on Imperial Penny Postage letter delivered anywhere within British Empire for 2 cents; the stamp was designed by Postmaster General Sir William Mulock. London, England
  • 1899 Kootenay Railway & Navigation acquired the International Navigation & Trading Co. and the Kaslo and Slocan Railway.
  • 1900 Official opening of Nelson, BC’s new CPR Station.
  • 1904 Work begins on Midway & Vernon Railway; quarter mile of grade completed in several years of 2-man Labour. Vernon, BC
  • 1905 City of Edmonton establishes Edmonton Telephones. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1905 City of Nelson leases Nelson Electric Tramway from British Traction. Nelson, BC
  • 1906 L.E.Ouimet opens his Ouimetoscope, Montréal’s First specially built movie theatre. Montréal, Québec
  • 1907 Ernest Harrop opens a bureau of the Post Office at Harrop, BC.
  • 1907 Military — British Admiralty provisionally hands over the Halifax Dockyard to Canadian authorities. Nova Scotia
  • 1908 Doukhobor group reaches Fort William; returned to homes by Ontario government; began pilgrimage from Yorkton, Saskatchewan, in July 1907. Thunder Bay, Ontario
  • 1908 Henry Marshall Tory is appointed the First President of the University of Alberta. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1908 Post Office opens a local bureau at Hillcrest Mines. See June 15, 1907. Hillcrest Mines, Alberta
  • 1911 CPR leases the Kootenay Central Railway for 999 years.
  • 1912 Timmins incorporated after South Porcupine destroyed by fire; mining town 298 km NW of Sudbury; home of Hollinger, McIntyre and Dome gold mines. Timmins, Ontario
  • 1914 First 20 km section of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway opened for service between North Vancouver and Horseshoe Bay. North Vancouver, BC
  • 1914 Sir William Mackenzie drives the last spike on the Canadian Northern Railway at Little White Otter River, Ontario.
  • 1917 Police — The RNWMP is relieved of provincial policing duties in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, with the creation of their own Provincial Police forces.
  • 1917 Prohibition comes into effect in Newfoundland.
  • 1917 Saskatchewan Provincial Police assume responsibility for provincial police work. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1922 Motorists in British Columbia switch to driving on the right-hand side of the road at midnight. BC
  • 1923 Founding of the Department of National Defence; as National Defence Act comes into effect, amalgamating the departments of Naval Services and Militia and Defence, and the Air Board. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1924 Indoor Arena opened. Bellevue, Alberta
  • 1924 Indoor Arena opened. Blairmore, Alberta
  • 1931 BC Southern tracks along western shore of BC’s Lake Kootenay opened.
  • 1931 Kettle Valley Railway becomes Kettle Valley Division of CPR.
  • 1934 West Kootenay Power began supplying the Village of Creston, BC.
  • 1940 Yellowknife becomes first municipal government in North-West Territories. Yellowknife, NWT
  • 1941 Media — News division of CBC is founded; Lorne Greene appointed as First announcer in new national news service; his stentorious tones in wartime broadcasts earn him the nickname, The Voice of Doom. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1942 A.F.W.Plumptre opens Wartime Prices and Trade Board Washington Office; works with US Office of Civilian Supply and Office of Price Administration. Washington, DC
  • 1942 Canada signs Declaration of the United Nations with 25 other allied nations. Washington, DC
  • 1943 RCAF No. 6 Bomber Group begins operations from England; RCAF now has 31 squadrons overseas, 36 at home; Canada’s largest air formation. Britain
  • 1945 Luftwaffe attacks RCAF in last major offensive. France
  • 1947 The Canadian Citizenship Act of 1946 comes into effect, officially creating Canadian citizens; Canadian citizenship is paramount to being a British subject. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1950 Jasper Place becomes a village. Jasper, Alberta
  • 1952 New Old Age Security Act comes into effect, giving universal pensions to those 70 and over; an additional Old Age Assistance Act gives pensions to the needy from 65 to 69. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1952 Trust Deed signed creating Coleman Collieries, Limited, from the assets of International Coal & Coke, McGillivray Creek Coal & Coke, and Hillcrest-Mohawk Collieries (which would remain a separate entity with its original shares outstanding).
  • 1953 Founding of the National Library of Canada; formerly part of the Department of Agriculture. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1954 Metropolitan Toronto comes into being to coordinate services among the various municipalities around Toronto.
  • 1957 The first Canadian peacekeepers arrive in Egypt after the Suez Crisis
  • 1957 Crowsnest Consolidated School District No. 63 formed in Alberta. (Blairmore-Frank, Hillcrest and Bellevue-Maple Leaf: Coleman joined 1970.)
  • 1957 Start of mid-Canada radar warning line operations; from James Bay to Peace River area; Bell Canada, representing Trans Canada Telephone System, is the project agent.
  • 1958 Lloydminster becomes a city. Lloydminster, Saskatchewan
  • 1959 National Hospital Insurance Plan goes into effect in Ontario and Nova Scotia.
  • 1961 British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority created to absorb all the power companies in British Columbia except for the CPR-owned West Kootenay Power and Light Company.
  • 1961 CJCH-TV starts broadcasting on Channel 5; owned by a group of Nova Scotians headed by Finlay Macdonald, and affiliated with the CTV Network. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1961 CPR creates Soo Line Railroad Company by amalgamating the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault-Ste.-Marie Railroad Company, the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company and the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railroad Company.
  • 1961 National Hospital Insurance Plan goes into effect in Québec. Québec
  • 1964 Québec passes new Electoral Act; lowers minimum voting age in provincial elections to 18 years. Québec, Québec
  • 1965 Hope, BC, incorporated as a town.
  • 1965 Parliament changes name of Trans-Canada Airlines to Air Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1966 Canada Pension Plan comes into operation.
  • 1966 Québec Pension Plan comes into operation.
  • 1966 Castlegar, BC, incorporated as a town.
  • 1966 Creston, BC, incorporated as a town.
  • 1967 Centennial train starts cross-country travels, to mark the first centenary of Confederation. Victoria, BC
  • 1967 Prime Minister Lester Pearson ignites the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill to mark the first centenary of Confederation, and the birth of the second. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1967 Several municipalities such as Forest Hill and Swansea are merged into Toronto
  • 1969 Halifax annexes five western suburbs, increasing the city’s population to 123, 000. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1970 Cities of Fort William and Port Arthur merge as Thunder Bay. Thunder Bay, Ontario
  • 1970 Interior Breweries Company begins reorganizing. BC
  • 1972 Winnipeg, Manitoba is merged into a megacity.
  • 1972 Canada’s ban on cigarette advertisements on film, radio, and television, goes into effect
  • 1972 Edgar Benson’s Tax Reform Act passed by Parliament; Capital Gains Tax comes into effect. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1973 City of Cambridge founded when the communities of Galt, Preston and Hespeler amalgamate; Preston known as Cambridge Mills before 1830. Cambridge, Ontario
  • 1974 Castlegar and Kinnaird amalgamate as the Town of Castlegar. British Columbia
  • 1974 Maurice Jean Nadon appointed 17th Commissioner of the RCMP (to August 31, 1977).
  • 1974 The Canadian Stock Exchange merges with the Montréal Stock Exchange. Montréal, Québec
  • 1975 Product labelling using the metric system is introduced.
  • 1976 John George Diefenbaker 1895–1979 former Prime Minister appointed a Companion of Honour by Queen Elizabeth. Windsor, England
  • 1977 Canada extends Canadian fishing limits to 200 nautical miles (370 km) to try and manage the Atlantic groundfish industry. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1979 Towns of Coleman, of Blairmore, Village of Bellevue and of Frank, and Improvement District No. 5 are amalgamated into new Municipality of Crowsnest Pass, Alberta.
  • 1980 Ottawa ski jumper Horst Bulau wins world cup 90 Metre ski jumping event. Europe
  • 1981 Disaster — Fire in a recreation club kills 48 New Year’s Eve celebrants in the northern Québec mining town of Chapais. Chapais, Québec
  • 1981 Gasoline is first sold by the litre rather than the gallon.
  • 1982 Canada Post raises first class mail rates from 17¢ to 30¢. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1984 Crow Rate abolished by the federal government. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1986 Health — Federal law banning all tobacco advertising in newspapers and magazines comes into effect.
  • 1987 Iqaluit changes its name from Frobisher Bay in keeping with the NWT government’s decision to restore aboriginal names; Iqaluit means the place where the fish are. Iqaluit, Nunavut
  • 1987 Ontario lawyers allowed to advertise their services by the Law Society of Upper Canada. Ontario
  • 1989 Canada-US Free Trade Agreement takes effect; to cut or eliminate tariffs on trade over a 10-year period; sets up dispute settlement mechanism. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1990 MPs get pay raise to minimum $82, 700, plus $20,000 tax-free allowance; Prime Minister’s salary to $153,700. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1991 Federal 7% Goods and Services Tax (GST) comes into effect. Brian Mulroney created eight Senate seats to pass the legislation, after it stalled in a Senate filibuster. Polls show the Prime Minister’s government has reached a new low in popularity due to the tax. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1991 Oliver, BC, incorporated as a town.
  • 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect, creating a potential tariff-free zone in Canada, the US and Mexico; world’s largest free-trade zone, with over 360 million people.
  • 1995 CBC Newsworld and Radio Canada’s RDI start broadcasting on cable.
  • 1995 The World Trade Organization (WTO) comes into effect.
  • 1998 Municipal — Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto abolished as a cost-saving measure, boundaries of Toronto, Scarborough, North York, Etobicoke, York, and East York dissolved and cities amalgamated into one; former North York Mayor Mel Lastman elected to lead the new city, the fourth largest in North America. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1999 Disaster — Avalanche destroys a school gymnasium and community centre during New Year’s celebrations in the Inuit village of Kangiqsualujjuaq about 1,500 kilometres north of Montréal, killing 9 of the 500 revellers. Kangiqsualujjuaq, Québec
  • 2001 Municipal — Ontario cities of Hamilton and Sudbury officially merge with their suburban municipalities to create new megacities (Sudbury, now Greater Sudbury, was the only one of the three to change its name. Toronto had been similarly merged in 1998.)
  • 2004 Aviation — Montréal Dorval Airport is renamed Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.
  • 2006 Municipal — Québec government reconstitutes thirty cities across the province as the result of a referendum held on June 20, 2004. Québec
  • 2010 Ontario government files a lawsuit (alongside some American states) in a US court to prevent the entry of Asian carp into the Great Lakes through the canal system; the voracious fish would damage the fishing industry. Chicago, Illinois