May 14

Highlights of the day

1847 First of over 100,000 Irish immigrants, many stricken with famine and typhus, arrive at Grosse-Île.
1914 Dingman Discovery No.1 in Turner Valley ushers in Alberta Oil Industry. , 1947.
1984 Jeanne Sauvé sworn in as Canada’s first female Governor General.

List of Facts for May 14

1501 Gaspar Corte-Real leaves on his second voyage to Newfoundland; never heard from again. Lisbon, Portugal
1610 King Louis XIII starts reign; to 1643 after assassination of King Henri IV. Paris, France
1633 Olivier Le Jeune baptized into the Roman Catholic faith; a slave, he is the First recorded black resident of New France. Le Jeune was a six-year old enslaved African, the property of Sir David Kirke, when he was left in Québec in 1628 The child was sold several times, lastly to Father Paul Le Jeune, who had him baptized given the name Olivier Le Jeune. [The First Black in Canada was Mattheu Da Costa, who came to Acadia with Samuel de Champlain in 1605; he was a free man who was hired as a translator for the de Monts expedition. Québec, Québec
1643 King Louis XIV becomes the King of France upon the death of his father, King Louis XIII; starts long 72 year reign at age 4 years 8 months; to 1715. Paris, France
1742 François de La Vérendrye and Louis-Joseph de La Vérendrye reach the Mandan villages on the Missouri River, then travel southwesterly through the Badlands of North Dakota. North Dakota
1747 New France Governor Jacques-Pierre de La Jonquière captured by the British at sea and taken to England. Atlantic Ocean
1760 French fleet arrives in the St. Lawrence River from France, but retreats to the Bay of Chaleur when it learns of the fall of Québec. Rimouski, Québec
1776 American Revolutionary War - Local rebels hold a public meeting at Maugerville and appoint a rebel committee of 12 to make immediate application to Massachusetts Bay for assistance under the present distressed circumstances - in support of the American Revolution. Maugerville, New Brunswick
1792 John Wentworth appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia; serves until May 12, 1808. Halifax, Nova Scotia
1804 Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and the Corps of Discovery depart their winter camp on the eastern shore of the Mississippi River and head up the Missouri River. USA
1808 David Thompson party reaches Flat Bow Lake (Kootenay Lake). BC
1814 War of 1812 - Americans land force of 600 at Port Dover, burn settlements on Lake Erie. Port Dover, Ontario
1841 Opening of First session of First Parliament of the Province of Canada; after the Act of Union. Kingston, Ontario
1847 Epidemic - First ship of the season arrives at the Grosse-Île quarantine station near the port of Québec, Québec; beginning of the most terrible summer of its 105-year history, as the Irish famine reaches its peak, and over 100,000 immigrants, many infected with typhus, arrive in a single season. Over 5000 perish at sea, 5424 are buried on Grosse-Île and thousands die in Québec, Montréal and Kingston. Grosse-Île, Québec
1850 Opening of third session of the third Parliament of the Province of Canada; meets until August 10, 1850; province takes over internal postal system. Toronto, Ontario
1864 Chilcotin War - Governor Anthony Seymour hears first news of the the Chilcotin Uprising of April 29-30. See October 26. New Westminster, BC
1872 Parliament passes George-Étienne Cartier’s General Charter of the Canadian Pacific Railway; authorizes private construction of the CPR transcontinental railway. Ottawa, Ontario
1872 The Hawk and The Tiger start sharing Newfoundland’s coastal services. Newfoundland
1874 Harvard beats McGill University 3-0 in the First game of American/Canadian football (a variation of rugby); admission is First charged for a college football game, and the football goal post is also used for the First time at both ends of the playing field. The Harvard soccer team had invited McGill’s rugby team to play two games - one under Harvard rules, other under McGill’s. Harvard was impressed, and passed the McGill rules to Yale; the First American game followed later that year, McGill thereby introducing football to the United States. Cambridge, Massachusetts
1880 Andrew Onderdonk sets off a dynamite blast to start construction of the Fraser River leg of the CPR at Emory’s Bar. Yale, BC
1886 The North West Territories are given their first representation in Parliament with a Saskatchewan seat. Ottawa, Ontario
1904 US hosts its First Olympics; no official Canadian team attends, but Canada will win four gold medals: Étienne Desmarteaux for weight throwing, George Lyon for golf, the Winnipeg Shamrocks for lacrosse and the Galt, Ontario team for soccer. St. Louis, Missouri
1906 Adam Beck appointed founding Chairman of the new Ontario Hydro-Electric Power Commission; ancestor of Ontario Hydro, the First nationalized electrical utility in world. Toronto, Ontario
1906 Train robber Bill Miner and associates captured in the Thompson Plateau of southern BC. BC
1912 Boundaries of Manitoba, Ontario and Québec extended northward to Hudson Bay; given vast tracts of the Northwest Territories.
1914 Energy - Dingman Discovery No.1 blows; First well in the Turner Valley oil field, southwest of Calgary. Turner Valley, Alberta
1914 Energy - Rumours of further oil finds at the Dingman Discovery well in Turner Valley cause a stock boom in Calgary, and citizens line up around city blocks to buy and sell stocks; in one day, more than 500 oil companies were formed. But the Coste and Herron discoveries fail to attract eastern Canadian investment, and interest wanes when First World War breaks out. By 1917, there were just 17 oil companies; boom leads to founding of Calgary Stock Exchange, ancestor of the Alberta Stock Exchange; beginning of Alberta’s oil industry. Ten years later, the Royalite No. 4 will put Turner Valley on the oil and gas map. Calgary, Alberta -May 14 - Military - Victoria volunteers’ existence legitimized by Order-in-Council; they will become the Royal Navy Canadian Volunteer Reserve (RNCVR). Victoria, BC
1920 Frank Underhill founds the Canadian Forum with C.B. Sissons and Barker Fairley; magazine with a socialist slant. Toronto, Ontario
1924 Creston, BC, incorporated as a Village.
1927 Hockey - The Montreal Canadiens create the Vezina Trophy to honour goaltending excellence; donate it to the NHL. Montreal, Quebec
1930 The Harbour Bridge, linking Montreal and the south shore of the St. Lawrence, opens to traffic; in 1934, renamed the Jacques-Cartier Bridge. Montréal, Québec
1940 Politics - John Diefenbaker first takes his seat in the Commons as MP for Prince Albert; future Progressive Conservative Prime Minister. Ottawa, Ontario
1940 Second World War - New Brunswick born Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook appointed British Minister of Aircraft Production. London, England
1946 House of Commons passes the Canadian Citizenship Act 1946, creating a Canadian citizenship separate from the British; First nationality statute in Canada to define its people as Canadians; Canadian citizenship to be distinct and primary over being a British subject. The Act received Royal Assent on January 1, 1947. Ottawa, Ontario
1946 Canadian Library Association established. Ottawa, Ontario
1947 The Chinese Immigration Act of 1923 is repealed, along with related acts limiting immigration and citizenship. Ottawa, Ontario
1952 Saskatchewan suffers one of the worst floods in its history; hardest hit area stretches 290 miles from Moosomin, Saskatchewan to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan
1956 Trade and Commerce Minister C.D. Howe brings in $80 million loan bill for US-owned Trans-Canada Pipe Lines (TCPL); needs loan from government by June 7, 1956 to start construction; start of the chaotic Pipeline Debate in the House of Commons. Ottawa, Ontario
1963 Réal Caouette leads breakaway Créditiste group of Social Credit MPs as Party splits into two wings; other led by national Socred leader Robert Thompson. Ottawa, Ontario
1963 India purchases 16 Caribou transport aircraft from Canada. India
1964 William Davis appointed First head of new Ontario Ministry of University Affairs; future Ontario Premier. Toronto, Ontario
1966 Halifax folk rocker Denny Doherty and his group The Mamas & The Papas have a #1 Billboard hit with Monday Monday. New York, New York
1968 Montreal awarded major league baseball franchise; birth of the Expos.
1968 Mies Van Der Rohe architect of new 56-story Toronto-Dominion Centre, opening on this day, tallest building in Canada to that date. Toronto, Ontario
1969 Omnibus Bill passes, decriminalizes homosexuality, updates laws on divorce and abortion, legalizing the latter with a doctor’s permission. Ottawa, Ontario .
1969 Rock band Lighthouse debuts at the Rock Pile in Toronto; 13-piece group founded by drummer and singer Skip Prokop and keyboardist and vibraphonist Paul Hoffert; hits include Hats Off (to the Stranger), One Fine Morning, and Pretty Lady. Toronto, Ontario
1969 Silent protest by 20,000 Quebec teachers in front of the National Assembly; the Corporation des enseignants du Québec (CEQ in a dispute with the Government of Quebec over adopting a special law.
1970 Toronto rocker Neil Young breaks up with David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash before a concert in Chicago, and shortly after release of the LP Ohio to commemorate the fatal Kent State University shootings; CSN will regroup several times without Young, and in 1988 the four will get together again ifor the hit single and album American Dream. Chicago, Illinois
1971 Old federal courthouse (1902) closes. becomes Town Hall. Fort Macleod, Alberta
1972 Country rock group, the Good Brothers, First perform together under that name at the Riverboat Club in Toronto; formerly James and the Good Brothers, with James Ackroyd and twins Brian Good and Bruce Good, but Ackroyd left and was replaced by younger brother Larry Good. Toronto, Ontario
1976 Six provincial associations merge to form National Union of Provincial Government Employees; Canada’s 5th largest union. Toronto, Ontario
1977 Montreal Canadiens sweep the Boston Bruins in the NHL final to win the Stanley Cup 4 games to 0; 8th victory in 13 years, and the twentieth in Hab history. Montréal, Québec
1981 Bank of Canada raises lending rate to further record high of 18.98%. Ottawa, Ontario
1982 City of Montreal gets a new franchise in the Canadian Football League after collapse of the Alouettes; owned by Charles Bronfman and the Imasco group, the team will be named the Concordes. Montréal, Québec
1984 Jeanne Sauvé sworn in as Canada’s first female Governor General after recovery from a battle with cancer. Ottawa, Ontario
1984 Alberta Ministry of Culture declares Fort Macleod core a Provincial Historic Area. Fort Macleod, Alberta
1985 Chicago Blackhawks 5, Edmonton Oilers 10
1986 May blizzard with 80 kph winds hits southern Alberta, closing highways and toppling power lines. Alberta
1991 Angry truckers blockade Parliament Hill; say they can’t compete due to higher Canadian taxes than US; diesel fuel also 10-20¢ a litre cheaper. Ottawa, Ontario
1991 Barbara McDougall reprimands Department of External Affairs for letting Mohamed Al-Mashat into Canada on fast track; Iraqi diplomat former Ambassador to the US. Ottawa, Ontario
1991 MP John Nunziata alleges the RCMP know who bombed the Air-India flight 182 but didn’t have evidence needed for prosecution. Ottawa, Ontario
1992 Curragh President Clifford Frame calls off search for 11 miners still trapped underground and presumed dead in the Westray Coal Mine. Plymouth, Nova Scotia
1992 Gerald Greenwald says Olympia and York developers under bankruptcy protection; $8.4 billion debt in Canada; failed to meet interest payments on First Canadian Place bonds. Toronto, Ontario
1998 Camille Thériault becomes Premier of New Brunswick, replacing Raymond Frenette.