Highlights of the day

  • 1733 Canada’s first lighthouse lit for the first time, at Louisbourg, Nova Scotia.
  • 1776 Ships carrying 1,124 United Empire Loyalists arrive at Halifax from Boston.
  • 1865 British Troops Celebrate First Canadian April Fool’s Day.
  • 1873 Wreck of the Atlantic, off Halifax Harbour, with the loss of 546 souls.
  • 1924 Founding of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) as a separate service.
  • 1999 Creation of the Nunavut Territory, from the former Keewatin and Franklin districts of the Northwest Territories.

List of Facts for April 1

  • 1625 Nova Scotia divided into two provinces, with counties, bishoprics and baronetcies. Nova Scotia
  • 1733 Canada’s First lighthouse lit for the first time, using coal from nearby Morien and Spanish River; the round 200 metre tower, made with cement from limestone burned in local kilns, is the First fireproof concrete structure in North America. Louisbourg, Nova Scotia
  • 1776 American Revolutionary War — Ships carrying 1,124 United Empire Loyalists arrive at Halifax from Boston; many with the British Army; in all, 40,000 Americans remain loyal. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1776 American Revolutionary War — Benedict Arnold relieved at Québec by General David Wooster. Québec, Québec
  • 1824 Samuel Clowes finishes Rideau Canal engineer’s route survey and reports to Governor Maitland. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1862 W.H. Lowe arrives at Lake Osoyoos to assist Commissioner Haynes. BC
  • 1865 Constable John Jones appointed customs and postal agent at Fort Shepherd, British Columbia (to July 27, 1868). BC
  • 1865 First Canadian April Fools’ Day on record celebrated by British troops and Canadian militia at Fort Poisson d’Avril. Baie du Ha! Ha!, Québec
  • 1868 Government fixes a uniform first class postal rate of three cents; establishes Post Office Savings Bank. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1873 Wreck of luxury liner Atlantic, sailing from Liverpool to New York; the ship was turning into Halifax Harbour to get coal, but struck a reef in the foggy night near Mars Rock, Meagher’s Island, near Terrance Bay - 546 people drown in heavy seas, while local fishermen manage to save 300. Prospect, Nova Scotia
  • 1886 Lawrence Herchmer appointed fifth Commissioner of the NWMP (to July 31, 1900).
  • 1887 A.E.B. Davie replaces Smithe as conservative premier of British Columbia (dies in office August 1, 1889).
  • 1892 North American Canal Company wins contract to deepen St. Lawrence River; build canals to Lake Erie. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1896 First shipment from Trail Creek Landing, BC, smelter.
  • 1900 Post Office opens a bureau in Davidson’s store at Cowley, NWT.
  • 1903 WFM ends strike against CNP Coal.
  • 1906 Institutional Presbyterian Church dedicated in Coleman, Alberta. Alberta
  • 1907 UMWA strikes CNP Coal. Until May 2. William Lyon Mackenzie King mediates and obtains a 4-year agreement.
  • 1911 Western Coal Operators Association locks out striking UMWA in the Crowsnest Pass.
  • 1915 Manitoba forms Royal Commission to investigate the Manitoba Legislature building scandal. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1916 Canadian Government Railways assumes final corporate form.
  • 1916 RNWMP create the Crowsnest Pass Subdivision with its headquarters at Blairmore, Alberta.
  • 1918 Alberta government declares total prohibition of alcoholic beverages. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1918 Canada prohibits the interprovincial shipment of liquor (till December 1919).
  • 1918 Saskatchewan Temperance Act comes into forces; all bars must close and liquor sales in clubs and dining cars cease; complete prohibition is now in effect. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1920 Hockey — Ottawa Senators beat Seattle Metropolitans 3 games to 2 for the Stanley Cup. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1922 United Mine Workers of America members walk out in the Crowsnest Pass mines. Until August 24th.
  • 1923 Cortlandt Starnes appointed seventh Commissioner of the RCMP (to July 31, 1931).
  • 1924 Military — Founding of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) as a separate service, under acting director Billy Barker; Canadian Air Force (CAF) previously founded by Billy Bishop in 1918 as a separate brigade. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1924 Almost 10,000 coal miners go on strike in Drumheller. Drumheller, Alberta
  • 1927 American Department of Labor puts immigration quota on Canadians looking for work in the USA. Washington, DC
  • 1932 RCMP absorbs insolvent provincial police forces of Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba and Alberta. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1941 World War II — RCN armed merchant cruiser Prince Henry intercepts two German ships off Peru; ships scuttled. Peru
  • 1942 World War II — Department of Munitions & Supply puts gasoline on coupon rationing; national speed limit of 64 km an hour proclaimed. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1947 Human Rights — Tommy Douglas government’s Saskatchewan Bill of Rights receives Royal Assent; first legislation in Canada to enshrine fundamental rights and prohibit discrimination; passed a year before the United Nations adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 13 years before passage of John Diefenbaker’s Canadian Bill of Rights.
  • 1948 First production of Spring Thaw; long-running Canadian comedy revue, at the Museum Theatre; will be staged annually until 1971. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1948 Confederation — The people of Newfoundland vote to join the Dominion of Canada in a second referendum, by a margin of 4%; after three years of intense debate; on March 31, 1949, Newfoundland will formally become Canada’s tenth province. Newfoundland
  • 1949 Confederation — Joey Smallwood, leader of the pro-Confederation movement, is sworn in as the first Premier of Newfoundland as a Canadian province; will serve until 1972. St. John’s, Newfoundland
  • 1949 Confederation — Louis St. Laurent gives a speech welcoming Newfoundland to the union</a>, and introduces the Hon. Gordon Bradley of Newfoundland, who was sworn to the Privy Council and became Secretary of State of Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1950 Defence Ministers of 12 NATO powers meet to approve plan of collective security; until April 3. The Hague, Netherlands
  • 1951 C. D. Howe appointed Minister of new Department of Defence Production. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1952 Federal Order-in-Council granting Macleod its Fort.
  • 1954 The King family homestead at Woodside becomes a National Historic Park; early home of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. Kitchener, Ontario
  • 1955 Revised Criminal Code of Canada goes into effect. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1959 The St. Lawrence Seaway opens for traffic.
  • 1959 Charles Edward Rivett-Carnac appointed eleventh Commissioner of the RCMP (to March 31, 1960).
  • 1960 Clifford Walter Harvison appointed twelfth Commissioner of the RCMP (to October 31, 1963).
  • 1960 Government approves National Energy Board recommendation for natural gas exports to the US. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1961 Malka Cohen and Joso Spralja make their debut as the folk-singing duo of Malka and Joso at the Lord Simcoe Hotel; later host the CBC TV series, A Wonderful World of Music in 1966. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1967 Robert Gauchie found by rescue workers after 58-day search; bush pilot forced down in a remote section of NWT. NWT
  • 1968 Board of Broadcast Governors (BBG) becomes the Canadian Radio-Television Commission, under the Broadcasting Act; today’s Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1969 Québec legalizes civil marriages. Québec, Québec
  • 1970 Ottawa transfers governing of eastern and upper Arctic to NWT government; from Indian Affairs and Northern Resources department. Yellowknife, NWT
  • 1971 Canadian ISIS II satellite launched to study ionosphere. Vandenberg AFB, California
  • 1971 Justice Patrick Hartt heads new Law Reform Commission of Canada to examine changes to Canada’s Criminal Code. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1972 Founding of the National Film, Television and Sound Archives; started unofficially in 1960. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1972 Pacific Great Eastern Railway renamed the British Columbia Railway.
  • 1973 Canadian Transport Commission permits full air charter service; booking in advance required. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1975 Environment Canada and Canadian radio and TV stations First start giving the temperature in Celsius.
  • 1976 CRTC gets authority to regulate all forms of broadcasting; changes name to Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Ottawa, Ontario
  • April 1 — Canadian Actors’ Equity Association founded; 2000 members transferred from AEA; Equity adopts its constitution and bylaws outlining the objects of the Association and signs reciprocal agreements with ACTRA, AEA, AGMA and UdA. Toronto, Ontario
  • April 1 — Ottawa raises the federal minimum wage to $2.90 per hour. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1978 Hockey — Montréal native Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders scores his 50th goal of the season against Washington Capitals.
  • 1979 Anne Murray’s “I Just Fall in Love Again” hits #1 on the Billboard charts. New York, New York
  • 1979 National Energy Board raises export tax on light crude oil $1.00 per barrel to $8.00. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1980 First sheltered workshop in Canada to go on strike; Mentally disabled workers win raise in weekly salary to $10 from $7.50. Carleton Place, Ontario
  • 1980 Hockey — Oiler Wayne Gretzky breaks Bobby Orr’s NHL record with his 103rd assist. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1983 Hockey — Montréal native Mike Bossy the First NHLer to score 60 goals in 3 consecutive seasons; New York Islander star. Uniondale, New York
  • 1983 Spending mandate by Bill Bennett government expires without a sitting of the House or the calling of an election; creates constitutional interregnum and crisis. Victoria, BC
  • 1988 Hockey — Luc Robitaille of the Los Angeles Kings scores his 50th goal of the season against Vancouver Canucks.
  • 1990 Ottawa signs final land claim agreement with Yukon First Nations; gives them surface title to 41,000 sq km; of land, plus mineral rights and $232 million cash. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1992 Hockey — NHL Players Association launches players’ strike, First in the National Hockey League’s 75-year history; walkout ends 10 days later; NHLPA claims gains in free agency and licensing rights. North America
  • 1995 Jack M. Warner dies; born Mar 27, 1916, in London, Ontario; movie executive, cofounder Warner Bros. Hollywood, California
  • 1998 Floods in the Saguenay region force 2000 from their homes. Québec
  • 1999 Creation of the Nunavut Territory, from an Inuktitut word which means “our land”; under the political control of the Tungavik Federation of Nunavut; contains the former Keewatin and Franklin districts of the Northwest Territories, including includes Baffin Island and stretches almost to the North Pole. At 1,235,200 sq km, it comprises one fifth of Canada’s land mass; bordered by the Northwest Territories to the west, Manitoba and Saskatchewan to the south, and Baffin Bay and the Labrador Sea to the east. In 1992, a referendum was passed authorizing the separation of the eastern half of the NWT to create a new autonomous territory; 16,000 Inuit residents comprise 85 percent of the population, making the new territory, in effect, an Inuit homeland; under the agreement signed in 1992 by the Canadian government, the Inuit will receive title to 216,000 sq km of the new territory. Canada’s first territorial changes since Newfoundland joined in 1949. Nunavut
  • 1999 Paul Okalik first premier of Nunavut territory.
  • 1999 A Canadian radio station, in conjunction with Warner Music and Universal Music Group, tells its listeners that the arrival of Y2K will render all CD players unable to read music discs created before the year 2000. Luckily, the DJ said, there was a solution. Hologram stickers were available that would enable CD players to read the old-format discs. These stickers would be sold for approximately $2 apiece. Furious listeners outraged at the thought of having to pay $2 for the stickers, immediately jammed the phones of both the radio station and the record companies, demanding that the stickers be given away for free. They continued to call even after the radio station revealed that the announcement was a joke.
  • 2002 Pierre Bourque’s website, Bourque.org, announces that Finance Minister Paul Martin was quitting his job in order to breed prize Charolais cattle and handsome Fawn Runner ducks. Martin, would be showing his livestock at a local fair in Havelock, Québec, a small town of only 811 people; the Bank of Canada was said to be ready to intervene in case the news rattled the currency markets; as soon as word gets out about Martin’s retirement, the Canadian dollar promptly falls to its lowest level in a month. The currency recovers once Martin’s office denies the rumour.
  • 2004 Michael Hendricks and René Leboeuf wed in Montréal; first legal same-sex marriage in Québec.
  • 2004 Canada exempted from list of countries on United States Department of Homeland Security for fingerprinting and photographing visitors to the US. Washington, DC
  • 2004 Federal riding redistribution comes into effect: number of Commons seats rises from 301 to 308.
  • 2004 RCMP confirms arrest of Mohammad Momin Khawaja is related to arrests in United Kingdom. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2005 Thompson Rivers University founded; from the merger of University College of the Cariboo and British Columbia Open University. BC
  • 2009 Politics — Stephen Harper wins agreement at the G20 summit to extend for 12 months a pledge not to raise trade barriers.