Highlights of the day

  • 1885 The Nile Voyageurs Reach Khartoum
  • 1980 The Canadian Caper - Canadian Ambassador Kenneth Taylor engineers escape of 6 US diplomats from Iran.

List of Facts for January 28

  • 1693 Military - Nicholas de Manthet attacks Mohawk villages in New York with Caughnawaga Indians; takes 300 Iroquois prisoners; under Frontenac’s orders. New York
  • 1832 Finance - The Commercial Bank is incorporated in Upper Canada. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1850 Government - Founding of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville. Brockville, Ontario
  • 1853 Education - Charter granted to the University of Bishop’s College in Lennoxville; today’s Bishop’s University. Lennoxville, Québec
  • 1870 Red River Rebellion - Convention of Forty meet to decide the fate of the Red River Colony. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1885 Frederick Denison enters the city of Khartoum with his Canadian Nile Voyageurs on the expedition led by General Garnet Wolseley; they are too late to rescue General Charles Gordon, who had been killed; 16 Canadians lost their lives in this, Canada’s First overseas military expedition. Khartoum, Sudan
  • 1885 North West Rebellion - John A. Macdonald’s cabinet creates a three person committee to review and settle Métis and half breed claims in Manitoba and the Northwest. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1905 Farming - BC MLA L.W. Shatford and his brother, W.T. Shatford, register the Southern Okanagan Land Company; goes into voluntary liquidation January 31, 1919 after the South Okanagan Irrigation Project had bought the property. Victoria, BC
  • 1914 Nellie McClung and her Political Equality League stage a mock Parliament in the Walker Theatre; actors debate whether to give equality to men and present petitions to govern men’s clothing and to introduce labour-saving devices for men’s work. Two years later, on January 28, 1916, Manitoba becomes the First province in Canada to allow women the right to vote and to hold provincial office. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1916 Prohibition - Manitoba Legislature passes the Temperance Act; allows use of liquor at home but prohibits public bars. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1918 Women - Manitoba becomes the First province in Canada to allow women the right to vote and to hold provincial office, after protests by leaders such as Nellie McClung. Manitoba
  • 1918 Military - Lt Col John McCrae, an army physician from Guelph, Ontario, and commandant of No. 3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill) at Boulogne, dies of pneumonia after an illness of five days; author of the First World War poem, In Flanders Fields; buried at Wimereaux Cemetery. Boulogne-sur-Mer, France
  • 1929 Rail - Bridge spanning Surprise Creek on the CPR Mainline collapses at 7:45 am. Golden, BC
  • 1946 Sailing - Racing schooner Bluenose strikes a reef off Haiti and sinks the frollowing day, January 29; the crew of eight all escape the sinking; the news will reach Halifax on January 30, 1946 and will be first reported in the newspapers on the morning of January 31, 1946; built by Smith and Rhuland at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, and launched March 26, 1921, the ship was invincible in races; she was sold as a Caribbean cargo ship in 1938. Ile à Vache, Haiti
  • 1948 Politics - Mackenzie King announces his retirement; the Commonwealth’s longest-serving prime minister. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1954 Military - Lieutenant-General Charles Foulkes, once of the Regina Rifles, becomes the First Canadian to be appointed a General in peacetime. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1954 Wildlife - Thousands of starving elk in southwestern Alberta are reported raiding livestock feed supplies throughout the area. Alberta
  • 1965 Symbols - Alan Beddoe sees Parliament pass an Act adopting his Maple Leaf design for a new flag; over 2,000 designs were submitted; Royal Assent given that day; Queen Elizabeth II issues a royal proclamation, declaring a new National Flag of Canada, effective February 15, 1965. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1976 Mining - Saskatchewan authorizes provincial takeover of potash mines. Saskatchewan
  • 1977 Sovereignty - Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau declares he will quit politics if Québec votes for separation in a referendum. Montréal, Québec
  • 1980 External Affairs - Canada’s Ambassador to Iran Kenneth Taylor engineers escape of 6 US diplomats, housed with Canadian Embassy staff since November 22, 1979, when the US Embassy was overrun during the Iranian revolution, and 66 hostages taken; Americans leave with Canadian passports; Taylor himself leaves a few hours later; he will find himself a hero in the US, for masterminding ‘The Canadian Caper’. Teheran, Iran
  • 1983 Politics - Progressive Conservative delegates vote 66.9% against a leadership review, but Joe Clark says the mandate is not clear enough, calls leadership convention; he will lose to Brian Mulroney. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1988 Human Rights - Supreme Court of Canada strikes down the nation’s restrictive abortion law; ruling 5-2 that the law violates pregnant women’s right to ‘security of the person’ under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1995 Literature - Writer and literary critic George Woodcock dies in Vancouver; 1959-77 founding editor of Canadian Literature magazine; author and co-author of over 60 books including George Orwell, The Crystal Spirit (1966, Governor General’s Award), The World of Canadian Writing (1978), Faces from History (1978), The Canadians (1979), Northern Spring (1986), The Century That Made Us: Canada 1814-1914 (1989). Vancouver, BC
  • 1995 Football - Canadian Football League awards the Memphis Mad Dogs the CFL’s 13th franchise. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1997 Constitution - Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion declares that according to Canadian law, referenda are consultative; you can use them to consult the people, but you cannot use them to decide. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2008 Broadcasting - CTV’s Canada AM adds a second hosting team in western Canada, expanding the program to six hours and becoming the first morning television program in North America to air live in all time zones.
  • 2009 Politics - Opposition Leader Michael Ignatieff says the Liberal Party will support the Flaherty budget on the condition that his amendment is included; requires a “clear marker” of regular updates to Parliament on the impact of economic stimulus projects. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2009 First of the 2009 Canadian Tamil protests begin in front of the Consulate General office of Sri Lanka in Toronto, Ontario.