Highlights of the day

  • 1959 Diefenbaker Government Cancels Avro Arrow Fighter Program

List of Facts for February 20

  • 1666 Rene-Robert Cavelier de La Salle 1643-1687 arrives in New France and settles at Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1796 Queen’s Rangers finish cutting out Yonge Street 55 km to Pine Fort Landing on Lake Simcoe; reach Georgian Bay by Feb. 27. Holland Landing, Ontario
  • 1808 Joseph Willcocks jailed for making ‘false, slanderous, and highly derogatory’ statements about members of the Assembly; a leader of the Opposition, he will go over to the Americans in 1812; will lead the Canadian Volunteers in torching Niagara-on-the-Lake in 1813; killed at Fort Erie in 1814. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1865 Legislative Council of the Province of Canada votes 45-15 to adopt address urging Imperial Parliament to pass an act to unite the provinces of British North America; Assembly approves address March 11, and sends it on to Westminster. Québec, Québec
  • 1871 Paul Kane dies in Toronto; famous for his paintings of life in the West. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1884 Murderer Jess Williams is tried and convicted in Calgary; First non-Native hanged in the North-West Territories. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1893 Parliament passes Fair Wages Act and Eight Hour Day Act, covering workers in federal jurisdictions. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1894 Supreme Court rules Manitoba Catholics have no grounds for appeal of Manitoba School Act of 1890; decision appealed to Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1895 Confederation - Newfoundland government formally requests a conference on confederation, after the colony’s two private banks collapse in December 1894; the Canada-Newfoundland Confederation Conference will begin in Ottawa on April 4, 1895. St. John’s, Newfoundland.
  • 1910 Officials of the village of Hudson Bay order that every chimney in the community must be cleaned to prevent fires. Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan
  • 1915 Vilhjalmur Stefansson 1879-1962 maps coast of Banks Island to Alfred Point. Nunavut
  • 1924 Hockey - Ottawa Senators stranded on a passenger train stuck in the snow; miss their game with the Montreal Canadiens. Ontario
  • 1930 Ottawa transfers control of BC natural resources to the province of British Columbia; under the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1945 Government issues Canada’s First Family Allowance cheques. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1958 Secretary of State Ellen Fairclough is Acting Prime Minister during absence of John Diefenbaker, campaigning in Newfoundland. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1959 Military - Defence Minister George Pearkes announces the Diefenbaker Cabinet decision to cancel the AVRO CF-105 Arrow interceptor project because of costs; Bomarc-B missiles to be installed; A. V. Roe President Crawford Gordon immediately fires 5,000 of 10,000 employees; 14,000 in the industry eventually lose their jobs. Recent comments by former Minister Pierre Sevigny bring into question who ordered the seven existing aircraft scrapped. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1961 John George Diefenbaker 1895-1979 holds talks with President Kennedy in Washington. Washington, DC
  • 1961 Start of 12-year federal-provincial program of aeromagnetic surveys to pinpoint Canada’s mineral wealth. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1964 FLQ terrorists raid armory in Shawinigan. Shawinigan, Québec
  • 1969 John Munro announces formation of Hockey Canada, federal corporation to develop a national hockey team; Canadian Health Minister Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1982 Immigration Department to relax Canadian refugee policy, allowing more to remain in Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1985 First successful US cruise missile test in Canadian airspace; released from a B-52 bomber over Beaufort Sea, the missile successfully makes its way to the target in Alberta. Primrose, Alberta
  • 1988 Olympics - Brian Orser wins his second Silver Medal in Men’s Figure Skating at the Calgary Olympic games; he repeated his result in Sarajevo in 1984; narrowly loses the ‘Battle of the Brians’ against US figure skater Brian Boitano, who takes the Gold. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1988 Military - DND Allows servicewomen to enter into all occupations in the forces except submarines and the Roman Catholic chaplaincy. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1990 Finance Minister Michael Wilson brings in deficit trimming federal budget; no new taxes; cuts $2.5 billion in transfer payments, squeezing the provinces; cancels Polar 8 Icebreaker; freezes CBC budget. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1992 Painter A. J. Casson dies at age 93; last surviving member of the Group of Seven; specialized in watercolours of Ontario towns. Toronto, Ontario
  • 2004 Saskatchewan Justice Minister Frank Quennell announces Alberta Justice Edward P. McCallum will head an inquiry into David Milgaard’s wrongful conviction. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 2004 Labour - CN Rail workers go on strike.
  • 2004 Health - South Korea, Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong ban poultry and avian imports from Canada, after the H7 Avian Flu virus is found; not linked to H5N1 Avian Flu virus, which was blamed for killing 22 people in Asia
  • 2004 Canada joins a multi-national delegation with the US, France and Caribbean nations sent to Haiti, to help end the current Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front conflict.
  • 2006 Olympics - The Canadian womens Ice Hockey team wins gold. Turin, Italy
  • 2007 Health - Canadian government joins with American philanthropist Bill Gates, to announce the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative, a $139 million dollar plan to fight the AIDS virus.
  • 2008 Disaster - Toronto fire destroys several buildings on the south side of Queen Street West, between Bathurst and Portland Streets.
  • 2010 Foreign Affairs - Council of the Federation meets for talks with American counterpart, the National Governors Association; session entitled “Common Border, Common Ground”. Washington, D.C.