Highlights of the day

  • 1815 Treaty of Ghent Proclaimed, ending the War of 1812
  • 1900 Boer War — Canadians fight in nine-day Battle of Paardeburg, taking over 130 casualties.

List of Facts for February 18

  • 1685 New France explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle establishes a French colony he names Fort St Louis; on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in present-day Texas. Texas
  • 1812 Treaty of Ghent — Proclamation of the Treaty of Peace and Amity between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, Concluded at Ghent, December 24, 1814; Ratification Advised by Senate, February 16, 1815; Ratified by the President; February 17, 1815; Ratifications Exchanged at Washington, February 17, 1815; Proclaimed, February 18, 1815.
  • 1870 Charles Arkoll Boulton 1841–1899 captured outside Fort Garry with Thomas Scott and group of Canadians trying to overthrow Louis Riel’s government. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1884 Education — Opening of the first schoolhouse in Calgary. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1895 War Eagle Gold Mining Company registered in British Columbia as a Foreign Company, capitalized to $500,000, headquartered at Rossland.
  • 1899 Michael J. Heney completes White Pass & Yukon Railway to summit of White Pass; 177 km from Whitehorse; completes the road in 1900. White Pass, Yukon
  • 1899 Hockey — Montréal Shamrocks sweep Winnipeg Victorias in 2 games for the Stanley Cup. Montréal, Québec
  • 1900 Canadian troops play a major role in nine-day Battle of Paardeburg; taking over 130 casualties; seen as a great national triumph for Canada. Paardeburg, South Africa
  • 1901 British Columbia Copper blows in the First of the Anaconda Smelter’s furnaces.
  • 1905 Montréal Shamrocks Goaltender Fred Brophy, in the American Hockey Association, carries the puck out of his zone, across the centre line and scores a goal against Québec; he scores again on March 7, 1906, against the Montréal Victorias. Montréal, Québec
  • 1914 Alberta Moral Reform League pledges itself to work for prohibition. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1919 Hockey — Cy Dennehy of the Ottawa Senators scores his 52nd goal in a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs; becomes the all-time NHL scorer to date. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1921 Henry William Newlands is appointed Saskatchewan’s fourth Lieutenant-Governor. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1932 Sonja Henie wins her sixth straight World Women’s Figure Skating Championship; following her win, she retires to Hollywood to become an actress. Montréal, Québec
  • 1936 Hockey — New York Americans (with 28) and Montréal Maroons (with 24) score NHL record 32 points in one game. Montréal, Québec
  • 1942 World War II — US Navy destroyer Pollux and its supply ship Truxtun driven onto the rocks at the southernmost tip of Newfoundland’s Burin Peninsula by early morning storm; 203 crewmen drown, 185 saved by fishermen from nearby outports of St. Lawrence and Lawn, who take to sea as soon as they hear the SOS; US government later builds US Memorial Health Centre in St. Lawrence to thank the rescuers. St. Lawrence, Newfoundland
  • 1960 Canadian team attends ceremonies as Vice President Richard M. Nixon opens the Eighth Winter Olympic Games in Squaw Valley; with 29 other nations and 665 competitors. Lake Tahoe, California
  • 1963 Education — Canada Council gets anonymous $4, 250, 000 for advanced studies in medicine, science, engineering. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1963 Leonard Walter Brockington, Claude Champagne and Arthur Lismer awarded Canada Council medals. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1965 Disaster — Avalanche on Grandue Mountain kills 18 copper miners, 8 others at Oranduc Mines camp 48 km north of Stewart. Stewart, BC
  • 1965 Education — Carleton University founds Graduate School of International Affairs. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1965 Royal Commission on Health Services outlines workings of new prepaid medical care plan; second report Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1966 Ontario Legislature passes non-compulsory medical care plan; to take effect July 1. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1968 10th Winter Olympic games close at Grenoble; Canada’s Nancy Greene is a double medal winner, taking home the gold medal in Giant Slalom and the silver in Slalom; in Ice Hockey, the Canadian National Team take home the bronze. Grenoble, France
  • 1972 Music — Neil Young receives a gold record for Harvest, the only #1 album of his career; includes the #1 hit single Heart of Gold. New York, New York
  • 1972 Record 44.2 inches of snow fall on Kitimat. Kitimat, BC
  • 1975 Sylvia Ostry appointed Deputy Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs to 1978; First woman to hold the rank in Canada; later chaired Economic Council of Canada 1978-79. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1980 Labour - 2,200 BC railway workers vote to end 5-week strike against provincial railway. Victoria, BC
  • 1980 Canada wins 2 medals at Winter Olympics in Lake Placid; Steve Podborski takes Bronze Medal in Downhill Skiing (Ken Read’s ski comes off in the starting gate); Gaetan Boucher wins Silver Medal in Speedskating. Lake Placid, New York
  • 1980 Federal Election — Pierre Elliott Trudeau (1919–2000) defeats Joe Clark in the general election 146 seats to 103, with 32 for the NDP; wins majority government after nine months out of office; there are now no Liberal MPs west of Winnipeg. Only a few weeks earlier, Trudeau had announced he was retiring as Liberal Party leader.
  • 1981 Four Saskatchewan NDP MPs say they will oppose Ottawa’s constitutional package. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1981 Hockey — NHL Oilers Wayne Gretzky scores five goals and two assists (four goals in the third period), to lead Edmonton to a 9-2 win over the St. Louis Blues. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1993 Finance — Bank of British Columbia folds; originally chartered in 1966; at its peak in 1986 had assets of $2.7 billion and revenue of $324 million, with 1410 employees, and branches in Alberta, the Cayman Islands, the US and Hong Kong. Vancouver, BC
  • 1997 Finance Minister Paul Martin brings in 1997-98 budget; toes the line on restraint; proposes modest $1.2 billion increase in spending on social programs. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1998 Canadian Museum of Civilization bows to protests from veterans and turns down a proposal for Holocaust exhibit in new War Museum expansion; separate site to be established. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2004 New Brunswick Auditor General Daryl Wilson suggests Premier of New Brunswick Bernard Lord was not being truthful about the province having a budget surplus of $1,000,000. Lord accuses the Auditor General of “accounting semantics.” Fredericton, NB
  • 2005 Politics — Québec Premier Jean Charest does a cabinet shuffle to boost his party’s declining popularity. Québec, Québec
  • 2010 Olympics — Christine Nesbitt captures Canada’s first speedskating gold medal of the Vancouver Games in the Women’s 1000 metres, outskating her main World Cup rival, Annette Gerritsen of the Netherlands. Vancouver, BC