Highlights of the day

  • 1770 Samuel Hearne’s Journey from Prince of Wales’ Fort in Hudson’s Bay, to the Northern Ocean
  • 1893 Lord Stanley Donates Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup - later known as the Stanley Cup - to Canadian Amateur Hockey Association Champions
  • 1909 First Flight of the Silver Dart

List of Facts for February 23

  • 1770 Exploration - Samuel Hearne sets out on second expedition over Barrens with Chipewyan (Dene) chief Matonnabee; to find headwaters of the Coppermine River. Churchill, Manitoba
  • 1782 Military - Guy Carleton named Commander in Chief of British North America. Québec, Québec
  • 1838 Upper Canada Rebellion - American republican sympathizers occupy Fighting Island in the Detroit River to back Canadian rebels. Wallaceburg, Ontario
  • 1855 Rail - Parliament grants £ 900,000 loan guarantee to the Grand Trunk Railroad; flushes the Canadian economy with cash. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1872 Red River Rebellion - Louis Riel and Ambroise Lépine find it advisable to accept $1,000 each to quit Manitoba. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1875 Urban - Hull incorporated as a city; formerly Wrightville. Gatineau, Québec
  • 1885 Joseph Cauchon dies in the Qu’Appelle Valley; journalist, politician and Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba (1877-1882). Fort Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan
  • 1893 Hockey - Former Governor General Lord Stanley donates the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup - later known as the Stanley Cup - to the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association Champions. Montréal, Québec
  • 1894 Hockey - Ottawa Capitals hockey club refuses to go to Toronto to play in the second annual Stanley Cup game, so the Cup is awarded to the Montréal AAA (Amateur Athletic Association) for the second time. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1896 Smelting - Production begins at Trail Creek smelter. Trail, BC
  • 1899 Lawrence Clarke becomes the First elected representative of the North West Territories; Chief Factor of Fort Carlton. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1901 Prohibition - Supreme Court of Canada rules Manitoba prohibition law of 1900 null and void. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1906 Boxing - Tommy Burns of Hanover, Ontario, at just 5’7 and 175 lb., defeats title holder Marvin Hart in a grueling 20 rounds to claim the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship. Burns was the smallest champion in history. San Francisco, California
  • 1909 Douglas McCurdy flies the AEA-designed Silver Dart at an altitude of about 9 metres for 2.5 kilometres at speed of up to 65 kph across the ice of Baddeck Bay; First airplane flight in Canada by a Canadian; First powered flight in the British Empire. Baddeck, Nova Scotia
  • 1914 Rail - First Canadian Northern Railway passenger train arrives in Calgary. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1914 Fishery - Fraser River rockslide nearly wipes out the area’s salmon fishing industry. BC
  • 1932 Workers in West Canadian Collieries’ Greenhill mine walk out. Beginning of long strike. Blairmore, Alberta
  • 1932 Pass Coal Strike begins. Alberta
  • 1951 Korean War - Princess Patricias and other Canadian troops with 27th British Commonwealth Infantry Brigade make first contact with enemy. Korea
  • 1959 Aviation - Royal Canadian Air Force personnel build and fly a reproduction of the “Silver Dart” aircraft in recognition of the 50th anniversary of powered flight in Canada. Baddeck, Nova Scotia
  • 1965 Labour - Government approves collective bargaining and arbitration in the Civil Service. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1965 Justice - Jacques Hébert gets 30 days in jail, $3,000 fine for contempt of court; for statements in book on Wilbert Coffin murder; J’Accuse les assassins de Coffin. Québec
  • 1965 Medicare - Ontario Medical Services Insurance Committee recommends health insurance plan similar to Alberta’s. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1969 Aviation - Start of hovercraft service between Vancouver and Nanaimo; First scheduled hovercraft service in Canada. Vancouver, BC
  • 1970 Music - First presentation of Juno Awards to honour the best Canadian recording artists; the award is named after CRTC Chairman and later CBC/SRC President Pierre Juneau. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1970 Rail - First CN unit coal train arrives at Neptune Terminals in North Vancouver from Luscar, Alberta. North Vancouver, BC
  • 1979 W.A.C. Bennett dies at age 78; Premier of British Columbia from 1952-72. Kelowna, BC
  • 1982 Claude Charron resigns as PQ House Leader and from the Parti Québecois cabinet after admitting stealing a sports jacket from an Eaton store. Montréal, Québec
  • 1982 External Affairs - Ottawa places sanctions on USSR and Poland to protest Polish martial law; not including food exports to those countries. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1990 Politics - Rookie Vancouver MP Kim Campbell becomes Canada’s First female Justice Minister in Mulroney Cabinet shuffle, replacing Doug Lewis; Benoît Bouchard becomes Minister of Industry, Science and Technology. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1991 Hockey - Michel Goulet of the Chicago Blackhawks scores his 1,000th point against Minnesota.
  • 1992 Olympics - The XVI Winter Olympic Games end in Albertville; Canada takes home two Golds: Kerrin-Lee Gartner for Downhill Skiing and the Womens Relay Short Track team for Speed Skating. Albertville, France
  • 1995 State Visit - US President Bill Clinton addresses the Canadian Parliament; urges Canadians to maintain their unity. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1996 Aboriginal - Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples issues first Release of preliminary report into Native Affairs; says First Nations people should be able to set up their own justice systems, appropriate to their own cultures. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1996 Hockey - Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins scores his 50th goal of the season against Hartford Whalers.
  • 2004 Communications - Microcell Solutions Inc. sues TELUS Communications, Bell Mobility, Rogers Wireless and Société Tele-Mobile, in Quebec Superior Court, for violating its trademark Fido dog image. Montréal, Québec
  • 2004 Health - Toronto nurse Andrea Williams files a $600 million class action lawsuit against the governments of Canada and Ontario due to her contracting SARS, during the second May, 2003 outbreak, when she was a patient at Toronto’s North York General Hospital; says that the health officials gave the all clear. Toronto, Ontario
  • 2005 The 2005 Canadian budget is presented in the House of Commons. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2006 Olympics - Curling - Canadian womens curling team wins bronze by beating Norway 11-5. Turin, Italy
  • 2010 Olympics - Canadian Ashleigh McIvor wins the gold medal in the first women’s ski cross event at the Winter Olympics. Vancouver, BC