Highlights of the day

  • 1793 Upper Canada Gazette or American Oracle published in Newark; Ontario’s 1st newspaper.
  • 1875 Supreme Court of Canada created by an Act of Parliament; first sits on January 17, 1876.
  • 1946 Jackie Robinson has 4 hits for Montréal; first black to play in baseball’s all-white leagues.
  • 1982 The Constitution Act, 1982, comes into effect; proclaimed April 17 by Queen Elizabeth II.
  • 1999 Ranger Wayne Gretzky plays his last game and retires from hockey.

List of Facts for April 18

  • 1724 Nova Scotia sloop captain Andrew Harradine captures notorious pirate John Phillips, captain of The Revenge; killing Phillips as well as his sailing master, boatswain, and gunner; the pirate leader is decapitated and his head thrown overboard. Cape Sable, Nova Scotia
  • 1763 Marie-Josephte Corriveau alias la Corriveau hanged near the Plains of Abraham for murdering her husband Louis Dodier, who apparently beat her; the corpse of the celebrated murderess is hung for a month in an iron cage at Lauzon by the Pointe-Levy for passers-by to see; the cage is discovered in 1851. Quebec, Quebec
  • 1793 Quebec printer Louis Roy publishes Volume 1, Number 1, of his semi-official broadsheet, the Upper Canada Gazette or American Oracle in Newark; First newspaper in Ontario. The subscription price was $3.00 per annum; the front page featured a proclamation by Governor Simcoe calling for “the suppression of Vice, Profaneness, and Immorality,” and the Speech from the Throne given by King George III on December 13, 1792. Advertisements under twelve lines cost four shillings. The newspaper will move to York, where its first issue is published October 4, 1798. Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
  • 1818 United States Senate ratifies the Bush-Bagot Treaty, establishing the western border with British North America. Washington, DC
  • 1825 Col. John Ready establishes the Benevolent Irish Society of Prince Edward Island. PEI
  • 1836 Upper Canada Assembly votes 31-20 to withhold supplies to enforce its demand for responsible government, arguing that the British Constitution should give the Assembly control of appointments to the Executive Council. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1866 Lt Gov Arthur Hamilton Gordon calls upon Peter Mitchell to form a new government more friendly to Confederation; after the resignation of Premier Albert J. Smith. Fredericton, New Brunswick
  • 1870 Louis Riel advises his Ottawa delegates that the name of the new province should be Manitoba or North-West in a letter dated April 18, 1870. Manitoba
  • 1875 Justice - Supreme Court of Canada created by an Act of Parliament; first sits on January 17, 1876. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1876 John Ross Robertson founds the Toronto Telegram newspaper. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1895 Fifth session of 8th Parliament meets until July 22. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1898 Line of the C&W Railway staked as far as Grand Forks, BC.
  • 1904 Disastrous flood begins at Lumsden. Lumsden, Saskatchewan
  • 1908 Canadian boxer Tommy Burns KOs Jewey Smith in the fifth round to retain his World Heavyweight title. Paris, France
  • 1913 Bob Brown, Vancouver’s “Mr. Baseball”, opens a ballpark in Athletic Park; Babe Ruth will play there. Vancouver, BC
  • 1918 First World War - RNWMP start draft for a volunteer squadron to participate in the First World War; the 200 regular police and 500 new recruits will be known as RNWMP Squadron “A”. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1919 R. B. Bennett swerves to avoid a cyclist and drives his car into a building on Centre Street in Calgary. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1921 Ontario votes for prohibition of the manufacture, importation, and sale of liquor; to take effect July 19. Ontario
  • 1925 Nesbitt, Arthur & Thomson found Power Corporation of Canada Ltd as an investment, holding and management company. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1942 Hockey - Toronto Maple Leafs pull off the greatest comeback in NHL playoff history with their fourth straight win, a 3-1 victory over Detroit Red Wings, winning the Stanley Cup 4 games to 3. Maple Leafs goalie Turk Broda lets in just seven goals in the final four games. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1944 Gerard Coté of Canada wins the 48th Boston Marathon; won in 2:31:50.4. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1944 London Ontario born Guy Lombardo & his Royal Canadians have a #1 Billboard Pop Hit with It’s Love-Love-Love; one of 26 No. 1 songs for the orchestra, the only dance band to ever sell more than 100 million records. New York, New York
  • 1945 Second World War - Lieutenant-General Charles Foulkes leads 1st Canadian Corps north to Harderwijk on the coast of the IJsselmeer, isolating German forces in the western Netherlands; Foulkes will receive the surrender of all German forces three weeks later, on CBC Archives)
  • 1946 Jackie Robinson has four hits, including a three-run homer, as the Montréal Royals beat Jersey 14-1; First black man to play in professional baseball’s all-white leagues. Jersey City, New Jersey - See: The Jackie Robinson Story.
  • 1957 Military - Canada signs an agreement with NATO to continue training North Atlantic Treaty Organization pilots from Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands.
  • 1959 Hockey - Montreal Canadiens win their fourth straight Stanley Cup with a 5-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 5. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1960 Canada and Soviet Union sign 3-year trade pact; USSR to buy $25 million Canadian goods annually. Moscow, Russia
  • 1960 French President Charles de Gaulle arrives in Ottawa for four-day visit. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1963 Lester Pearson wins federal election 129 seats to 95; 17 CCF; 24 Social Credit; returned to power with minority government.
  • 1963 Hockey - Toronto Maple Leafs beat Detroit Red Wings 4 games to 1 for the Stanley Cup. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1964 Helen Hogg First woman to be appointed President of the Royal Canadian Institute; University of Toronto astronomer. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1967 Manitoba imposes 5% sales tax, effective June 1. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1967 Union of Québec Specialized Education Teachers convicted of contempt of court, fined $2,000; 2,300 teachers had rejected 1966 court injunction forbidding them to strike. Québec
  • 1971 Kingston Penitentiary inmates stage four-day riot, holding five guards hostage; two convicts murdered, 11 injured. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1973 Rocker Neil Young premieres his movie, ‘Journey Through the Past’, at the Dallas Film Festival. Dallas, Texas
  • 1975 Ottawa ends tax breaks for Canadians advertising on US border TV stations and in foreign owned Canadian magazines. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1977 Agriculture - Hall Commission Report on Grain Handling & Transportation is published.
  • 1977 Marathon - Jerome Drayton of Toronto wins the 81st Boston Marathon in in 2:14:46; the eighth Canadian to win the road race. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1982 The Constitution Act, 1982, comes into effect as Canada’s Constitution; proclaimed the previous day by Queen Elizabeth II in a ceremony on Parliament Hill. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1984 Hockey - Calgary Flames 5, Edmonton Oilers 4
  • 1985 Hockey - Winnipeg Jets 2, Edmonton Oilers 4
  • 1990 Hockey - Los Angeles Kings 0, Edmonton Oilers 7
  • 1990 W. O. Mitchell wins Steven Leacock Humour Award for According to Jake and the Kid, published in 1989 by McClelland & Stewart; also won for the original Jake and the Kid in 1962. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1991 Ontario Provincial Police lay new charges of physical and sexual abuse of children against the Christian Brothers, a lay Roman Catholic teaching order; after evidence of alleged incidents in schools in Uxbridge and Alfred. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1994 Politics - Audrey McLaughlin announces her resignation as leader of the federal NDP. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1999 Hockey - Wayne Gretzky plays his last game for the New York Rangers in Madison Square Gardens; with an assist in a 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins; retires from hockey; started his pro career in 1978 at the age of 17. New York City - See April 15
  • 2005 Literature -Time Magazine selects #Canadian author Alice Munro as 1 of 100 most influential people in the world. New York City