Highlights of the day

  • 1534 Jacques Cartier’s first voyage to Canada.
  • 1963 Wilfred O’Neill killed by terrorist bomb; first victim of FLQ.
  • 1968 Pierre Trudeau sworn in as Canada’s 15th Prime Minister.
  • 1973 Canada’s Anik-II launched; the world’s first commercial satellite is a TV/voice channel repeater.

List of Facts for April 20

  • 1534 Jacques Cartier, who had likely accompanied Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, sets sail on a voyage with to Canada in two ships. He was commissioned by François I to find a passage to Asia and ‘lands where there is a great quantity of gold’; makes crossing to Newfoundland in just 20 days; explores Strait of Belle Isle, which he hoped was the beginning of a river leading to China; says of the coast, ‘I believe that this was the land God gave to Cain’; will chart the coasts of Newfoundland, les Îles de la Madeleine, Prince Edward Island, the Baie de Chaleur and the Gaspé peninsula; returns September 5. St-Malo, France
  • 1769 Pontiac, Chief of the Ottawas, murdered by an Illinois Indian; six years earlier he helped lead the Ottawa, Hurons (Wyandots), Potawatomis and Ojibwas in a rising against the British garrisons on the Great Lakes. Cahokia, Illinois
  • 1836 Incorporation of company to build a Niagara River suspension bridge. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1869 Citizens of of “Big Cape”, PEI, opt to change the name of their community to “Monticello”. Monticello, PEI
  • 1874 Alexander Hunter Murray dies at his home near Lower Fort Garry; fur-trader, explorer and artist of the West. Lower Fort Garry, Manitoba
  • 1884 Walrond Cattle Ranch registers its running WR brand in the NWT. Alberta
  • 1885 Thomas Strange leads 600-man Alberta Field Force from Calgary towards Fort Edmonton. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1891 F.G. Little pre-empted property adjacent to J.W. Dow at what is now Creston.
  • 1891 Nicola, Kamloops and Similkameen Coal and Railway Company receives British Columbia charter. Victoria, BC
  • 1891 Vernon and Nelson Telephone Company receives British Columbia charter. Victoria, BC
  • 1893 Prince Edward Island amalgamates its Legislative Council with the Assembly. Charlottetown, PEI
  • 1899 Toronto Stock Exchange moves next door to 20 King St E., renting premises from A.E. Ames; establishes clearing house for stocks. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1900 Boer War - Medical officer William H.S. Nickerson from Saint John, New Brunswick, earns the Victoria Cross for bravery at Wakkerstroom, during the South African War. Going out under heavy fire, he saves the life of a soldier (“whose entrails were protruding”) by stitching up his stomach.
  • 1904 Town of Sussex, New Brunswick is incorporated.
  • 1905 Bank of British Columbia branch opens in Hedley, BC.
  • 1907 Port Arthur and Fort William incorporated as cities; become the single city of Thunder Bay Jan. 1, 1970. Thunder Bay, Ontario
  • 1910 Military - Parliament passes Wilfrid Laurier’s Naval Service Bill, setting up the Royal Canadian Navy, and providing for the building of a Canadian naval college in Halifax, and the construction of five cruisers and six destroyers; the bill was criticized by the english as creating a “Tin Pot Navy,” and by the French as a prelude to conscription. The loss of French support led to Laurier’s defeat in the 1911 election. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1910 British Columbia driver fined $10 for speeding at 12 miles an hour in his 1907 Marion car. Surrey, BC
  • 1914 CPR launches Naramata (150 tons) at Okanagan Landing, British Columbia Retired 1967. BC
  • 1914 James Duffy of Canada wins the 18th Boston Marathon in 2:25:01.2. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1918 Government calls up men from ages of 20 to 22 for military service. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1920 Canadian athletes join 18 other nations at the opening of the seventh modern Olympic Games; total of 2,692 competitors; VII Olympiad. Antwerp, Belgium
  • 1921 Rainmaker Charles Mallory Hatfield arrives in Medicine Hat; is paid $8000 for making eight inches of rain by the end of July. Medicine Hat, Alberta
  • 1927 Prohibition ends in New Brunswick, with the government becoming involved in the sale of liquor through the New Brunswick Liquor Control Board.
  • 1931 Opening of new Welland Canal, linking Lake Erie and Lake Ontario; wide enough to carry big lakers. St. Catharines, Ontario
  • 1941 William Lyon Mackenzie King signs Hyde Park Agreement with Franklin D. Roosevelt; eases exchange crisis, pools some defence purchasing, resources and production. Hyde Park, New York
  • 1942 Agreement to build the Brilliant Dam signed between Consolidated Mining and Smelting, CP and several levels of government.
  • 1946 CBC broadcasts opera Deirdre of the Sorrows, with music by Healey Willan, libretto by John Coulter; First full-length opera commissioned by the corporation; First Canadian opera produced by the Canadian Opera Company, in 1966, under the title Deirdre. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1958 Hockey - Bernie Geoffrion scores twice and adds an assist as the Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins 5-3, taking the Stanley Cup 4 games to 2; their third Cup in a row. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1963 Wilfred O’Neill, a 65-year-old night watchman, is killed by a terrorist bomb placed in a garbage container at the Montréal army recruiting centre; work of new Front de Libération du Québec; O’Neill First victim of the FLQ. Montréal, Québec
  • 1964 Eric Williams Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago starts four-day visit to Ottawa. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1966 Military - RCAF aircraft from Air Transport Command fly supplies and equipment into southern Manitoba to help combat the Red River flood situation.
  • 1966 Currency - Alex Colville awarded $9,000 prize for designs for Canadian Centennial coins; Canadian artist. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1967 Mechanic R. McCombie of Regina becomes the First licensed air engineer in Canada. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1968 After winning the Liberal leadership on April 6, Pierre Trudeau sworn in at Rideau Hall as Canada’s 15th Prime Minister, succeeding Lester Pearson, who was PM since April 22, 1963; Trudeau serves until June 4, 1979. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1968 Ralph Plaistead and Jean-Luc Bombardier lead Canadian-US expedition to the North Pole on four snowmobiles; the trip takes 42 days and its the First indisputable arrival; Plaistead a St. Paul, Minnesota native sponsored by CBS-TV; Bombardier, the nephew of snowmobile inventor Joseph Bombardier, is the First Canadian to reach the Pole. Nunavut
  • 1969 Start of month-long strike by 6,200 International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers; grounds most commercial aviation. Montréal, Québec
  • 1969 Hockey - Bobby Orr scores his first Stanley Cup playoff goal, a game winner, as his Boston Bruins win 3-2 over the Montreal Canadiens.
  • 1971 Canada and the US sign agreement for $45 million communications satellite, to be launched in 1974. Washington, DC
  • 1973 Anik-II (Anik A2) launched from Cape Canaveral on a Delta rocket, and is positioned in geosynchronous orbit over the Americas at 109 deg W. Canada’s second communications satellite is the world’s first commercial satellite; has 12 RF channels each capable of transmitting a color television signal or up to 900 one-way voice channels. Cape Canaveral, Florida
  • 1976 Parliament gives unions the right to appeal Anti-Inflation Board rulings. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1977 Ottawa starts $41 million program to upgrade the East Coast fishery. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1982 Businessman Peter Pocklington held hostage in his home for almost 12 hours by a gunman demanding $1 million; police end the incident by rushing the house; Pocklington and the gunman are slightly injured. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1984 Hockey - Edmonton Oilers 4, Calgary Flames 5 (OT)
  • 1985 Hockey - Winnipeg Jets 2, Edmonton Oilers 5
  • 1989 Clyde Wells leads Newfoundland Liberals to victory in provincial election; later says the province will rescind the Meech Lake Accord unless the pact is changed. Newfoundland
  • 1989 Currency - Canadian Bank Note Company prints last green $1 bills, leaving Canadians with the $1 loonie coin that began circulating in 1987.
  • 1990 Correctional Service of Canada task force recommends closing Kingston Prison for Women; founded in 1934; replace with 10-person cottage-like facilities and an Aboriginal Healing Lodge. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1990 Hillsdown Holdings buys 30% the Canada Packers shares held by the McLean family to own 56% of new $4 billion company; British owner of Maple Leaf Mills. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1990 Hockey - Los Angeles Kings 1, Edmonton Oilers 6
  • 1992 Hockey - Wayne Gretzky picks up 4 assists, making him the first player in NHL history with 300 career playoff points, in an 8-5 win over the Oilers.
  • 2001 Summit of the Americas held in Quebec City to discuss the FTAA; for security, the city is divided by a high fence around much of the downtown core; the People’s Summit also takes place. Québec, Québec.
  • 2004 Canadian citizen Rifat Mohammed Rifat taken hostage in Iraq.