Highlights of the day

  • 1813 US Army Capt Benjamin Forsyth captures Brockville with 200 men.
  • 1867 Lord Carnarvon tables BNA Act in the House of Lords; passes March 8; Royal Assent March 22.
  • 1891 John Alexander Macdonald declares “A British Subject I was born, a British subject I will die.”

List of Facts for February 7

  • 1758 Governor Charles Lawrence proclaims a resolution passed by the Nova Scotia Council to organize the First Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia; it will be the First popularly elected parliament in Canada. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1763 Louis XV signs the draft of the Treaty of Paris, surrendering all French claim to North American territories, save for the islands of St. Pierre et Miquelon off the inside coast of Newfoundland.
  • 1792 John Graves Simcoe 1752-1806 advertises Upper Canada Crown Lands for sale; with fee scales; how to apply; US citizens wishing to settle can get free land grants. Niagara, Ontario
  • 1813 War of 1812 - US Army Captain Benjamin Forsyth attacks Brockville with 200 men; they free prisoners, occupy the Courthouse Square in Elizabethtown, seize military and public stores, and take 52 hostages. Brockville, Ontario
  • 1831 Archibald Campbell arrives in New Brunswick to serve as Lieutenant-Governor. Saint John, New Brunswick
  • 1867 Lord Carnarvon, Secretary of State for the Colonies, introduces a draft bill into the House of Lords to unite the Provinces of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. It is called the British North America Act. Parliament will pass the Act on March 22. London, England
  • 1870 Donald Alexander Smith, later Lord Strathcona 1820-1914 invites at least two Métis to go to Ottawa to present list of rights to government. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1874 Crowd of several hundred people marches into BC legislature to demand resignation of Premier Amor de Cosmos for delaying building of the CPR. Victoria, BC
  • 1876 Hockey - First recorded use of the word “puck”, in a Montreal Gazette article. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1878 Richard Scott brings in Canada Temperance Act (Scott Act); gives provinces and local governments the option in licensing. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1884 Founding of the Canadian Rugby Football Union, as the Ontario and Quebec rugby unions join forces. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1891 John Alexander Macdonald 1815-1891 declares “A British Subject I was born, a British subject I will die” during his final speech in the House of Commons, before entering his last election campaign. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1906 Territorial Grain Growers’ Association changes its name to the Saskatchewan Grain Growers’ Association. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1913 Women’s Section of the Saskatchewan Grain Growers’ Association is organized, with Violet McNaughton as its founding President. Saskatchewan
  • 1914 King Edward Hotel in Banff burns down. Banff, Alberta
  • 1915 First World War - War Office asks Canada and the other dominions to help enlist personnel for service with the Royal Flying Corps (RFC). London, England
  • 1918 Cabinet sets up War Purchasing Board; authority to make all purchases for government. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1922 Lila Acheson Wallace 1889-1984 and her husband Dewitt Wallace sell the First 5, 000 copies of their new magazine, the Reader’s Digest, the most-read periodical in history, with a current circulation of 15 million. Lila was born in 1889 at Virden, Manitoba. New York, New York
  • 1925 Patrick MacGrath steps down as President of the Newfoundland Legislative Council. St. John’s, Newfoundland
  • 1926 Start of gold rush at Red Bank. Red Bank, Ontario
  • 1944 First Canadian Kiwanis Music Festival opens in the Eaton Auditorium; attracts almost 7, 000 participants, including a 10 year old piano prodigy, Glenn Gould, who wins his competition. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1945 two young men find the remnants of a Japanese balloon bomb with a sealed explosive canister; they accidentally detonate the fuse with a hot poker, but not the explosive, and escape with minor injuries. Provost, Alberta
  • 1962 Federal government cheques bilingual for the First time. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1968 Ten provincial premiers agree to draft new constitution giving the French language equal status with English throughout Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1972 Labour - La Presse employees end bitter four-month walkout; began October 27, 1971. Montréal, Québec
  • 1973 Canada officially recognizes North Vietnam. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1976 Hockey - Toronto Maple Leaf Captain Darryl Sittler sets the single game NHL scoring record; centering a line with Lanny McDonald and Errol Thompson, he scores 6 goals on Boston Bruins goalie Dave Reece, and adds 4 assists, in the 11-4 victory, for a record 10 points in one game, a feat unequaled in NHL history (even by Wayne Gretzky). Sittler will wind up the season with 100 points, the First player in Leaf history to reach that plateau. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1976 Joe Clark is elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada replacing Robert Stanfield.
  • 1980 Justice L. P. Pigeon retires from the Supreme Court of Canada; TV cameras are allowed into the Court for the First time to film the proceedings. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1982 Bob Rae elected Ontario NDP leader. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1987 Neil Young’s old band mates Crosby, Stills and Nash fail to show up for a Greenpeace benefit after the RCMP refuse David Crosby admission into Canada because of his criminal record. Vancouver, BC
  • 1990 Donald Marshall Jr. wins apology from Nova Scotia for suffering due to 11 years false imprisonment for a murder committed in 1971; after a royal commission exonerates him; he eventually receives $270, 000 in cash damages from Province. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1990 Vancouver-Quadra MP John Napier Turner resigns as Leader of the federal Liberal party; replaced by Herb Gray as interim leader. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1996 Bob Rae announces he is retiring from politics and giving up his seat in the legislature; former NDP Premier of Ontario. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1997 Canadian boxer Lennox Lewis knocks out Oliver McCall to become WBC heavyweight champion. Las Vegas, Nevada
  • 1997 Québec milk products company Agropur acquires Ault Foods of Ontario. Montréal, Québec
  • 1997 Singer Sarah McLachlan marries Ashwin Sood.
  • 1998 Nagano Olympics - Canadian team competes in the opening events of the 18th Winter Olympic games at Nagano. Canada will win the fourth-most medals, but will be embarrassed when the star-filled hockey team fails to win a medal. Nagano, Japan
  • 2000 Doug Henning 1947-2000 dies in hospital of liver cancer; magician and devotee of the Maharishi, Henning was born at Fort Garry, Manitoba May 3, 1947; 1973 mounted the First magic and rock show Spellbound at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto with friend Ivan Reitman; 1974 May had a hit with his Broadway production The Magic Show, which won a Tony award nomination, and ran for four and a half years; was working on plans for a transcendental meditation theme park in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Los Angeles, California
  • 2000 Ted Rogers announces that Rogers Communications wants to acquire Groupe Vidéotron Ltée in a $6 billion stock deal; deal to join two cable and fibre optic networks falls through when Québecor Media comes up with a higher bid. Toronto, Ontario
  • 2000 Wilfred Cantwell Smith, professor, scholar of Islam, dies in Toronto; founder or director of centres for religious studies at McGill, Dalhousie, U of T and Harvard universities. Toronto, Ontario
  • 2000 Media - Michael Calce, a 16-year-old Montréal hacker using the handle Mafiaboy pulls off one of the largest denial-of-service attacks ever staged, bringing down several major commercial websites, including CNN.com, Amazon.com, eBay and Yahoo. Using a bot network to gain control of millions of computers, the teenager staged a DoS attack lasting a week, flooding the websites with an overwhelming volume of traffic; the sites collapsed as their servers were unable to cope. Mafiaboy will be arrested and charged on CBC Interview with George Stromboulopoulos
  • 2006 Politics - Stephen Harper’s first day as Prime Minister, after he was sworn in February 6.. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2010 Media - Early morning fire destroys building which houses the CJOH/CTV Ottawa newsroom and studios. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2010 Justice - CFB Trenton Base Commander Colonel Russell Williams confesses to two brutal murders, and is arrested by Ottawa police; charged in Belleville court the following day. Ottawa, Ontario