Highlights of the day

  • 1845 John Franklin departs for the North West Passage on HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.
  • 1939 King George VI addresses the Canadian Parliament; the first reigning monarch to do so.
  • 2005 House Speaker Peter Milliken breaks a tie in a confidence vote, for the first time in Canadian history.

List of Facts for May 19

  • 1535 Jacques Cartier leaves on second voyage on the Grand Hermine, Petite Hermine and Émerillon with 110 men, including two priests and many of his wife’s cousins; they will take 50 days to cross the Atlantic Ocean, and winter at Québec. St-Malo, France
  • 1587 John Davis sets sail on his third voyage to the Arctic with the ships Sunneshine, Elizabeth and Ellen. Dartmouth, England
  • 1604 Samuel de Champlain sets off from Port Mouton with Jean Ralluau in a long boat with a small crew to find a temporary winter quarters for the expedition, leaving Pierre de Monts and the larger vessel behind; skirts coast of present-day Nova Scotia, and passes Yarmouth, which he calls Port Forchu, and enters St. Mary’s Bay (called la Baie Française), and travels as far as the future site of Port Royal; after three weeks returns to Port Mouton. Port Mouton, Nova Scotia
  • 1632 Isaac de Razilly named Lieutenant-General of New France at Port Royal; granted tract of land at Ste-Croix by the Company of New France. Nova Scotia
  • 1690 William Phips attacks Port Royal with Massachusetts militia. Annapolis, Nova Scotia
  • 1776 American Revolutionary War - George Forster, with 40 regulars and 200 Indians, defeats 400 American invaders at the Battle of the Cedars, a rebel outpost 64 km west of Montréal. Les Cedres, Québec
  • 1780 Complete darkness falls on Eastern Canada and the New England states at 2 pm; cause never explained; possibly massive wildfires in the west.
  • 1781 Chippewas cede Michilimackinac Island to Britain for £5,000. Michilimackinac, Michigan
  • 1804 David Thompson reaches mouth of Clearwater River; then heads for Cumberland House. Saskatchewan
  • 1817 Montréal business leaders adopt articles of association for the Bank of Montreal; officially founded November 3, 1817; BMO the oldest continuously operating bank in North America. Montréal, Québec
  • 1824 William Parry sails on another expedition to the Arctic. London, England
  • 1845 Franklin Expedition - John Franklin departs for the Arctic on the Royal Navy ships HMS Erebus and HMS Terror with a handpicked crew of 24 officers and 110 men (134); his vessels have steam engines and ice-breaking bows, and carry enough food for three years; the ships travel north to Aberdeen, Scotland to pick up supplies, then to Greenland with the HMS Rattler and transport ship, Barretto Junior where they slaughter livestock for fresh meat and prepare the supplies before heading toward the Northwest Passage. Greenhithe, England
  • 1855 Government grants charters to Niagara District Bank and Molson’s Bank in Montréal. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1859 Steamboat Pioneer arrives at Fort Garry from St. Paul, Minnesota; First steamboat on the Red River. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1876 British Columbia legislature passes Act to tax males $3 a year for schools. Victoria, BC
  • 1899 Four die in elevator accident in War Eagle mine, Rossland, BC.
  • 1902 Federal government Order-in-Council confirms choice of allowed 50,000-acre reserve in the Elk River valley area. BC
  • 1909 Outburst in the Carbonado mine; no fatalities. BC
  • 1911 Parks Canada Agency established as the Dominion Parks Branch under the Department of the Interior, to oversee and administer Canada’s forest reserves and a nascent assemblage of western national parks; the world’s first national park service, preceding the creation of the National Park Service in the United States by more than five years; first Parks Commissioner is J.B. Harkin. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1912 St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church hosts First service in Fruitvale, BC.
  • 1918 First World War - Katherine Macdonald the first Canadian nurse to be killed in action, at age 31, during the German bombing of Étaples, France
  • 1919 Bread and milk delivery resumes during the Winnipeg General Strike. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1919 Winnipeg Citizen’s Committee is formed to raise and organize volunteers for public services during the Winnipeg General Strike. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1919 Roland Groome pilots the First cross-country flight from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to Regina. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1931 Charles Richards becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing John Baxter. Fredericton, New Brunswick
  • 1939 King George VI addresses the Canadian Parliament; the First reigning monarch to do so. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1958 United States and Canada military formally establish the North American Air Defence Command (NORAD) to coordinate continental defence. Colorado Springs, Colorado
  • 1965 Iranian Shah Reza Pahlevi arrives in Ottawa with Empress Farah for an eight-day state visit. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1970 Labour - 5,000 delivery and inside Canada Post workers attend study sessions and start rotating strikes; bring mail delivery to a standstill.
  • 1973 New Brunswick jockey Ron Turcotte aboard Secretariat wins the 99th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in 1:54.4 by 2 1/2 lengths over Sham; after taking the Kentucky Derby earlier, the pair take the second leg in horse racing’s Triple Crown, and will go on to win the third jewel, the Belmont Stakes in New York. Baltimore, Maryland
  • 1973 Hockey - Philadelphia Flyers beat Boston Bruins 1-0 in Game 6, winning the Stanley Cup series 4 games to 2; First NHL expansion team to win the championship; will repeat in 1975. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1976 Soviet Union recognizes Canada’s proposed 370 km (200 nautical miles) fishing zone. Moscow, Russia
  • 1984 Hockey - Wayne Gretzky and the NHL Edmonton Oilers beat the New York Islanders 5-2 to win the Stanley Cup final 4 games to 1, ending Islanders’ four-year domination of the NHL and starting a dynasty of their own. Pat LaFontaine scores 2 goals in 22 seconds in the game. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1984 Labour - Newspaper workers end two-month strike at Vancouver Sun and Vancouver Province. Vancouver, BC
  • 1985 Air Canada and the union representing 29-hundred striking ticket agents sign strike deal ending the three-week-old walkout. Montréal, Québec
  • 1987 Canadian rocker Bryan Adams has a Billboard #1 hit with Heat of the Night. New York, New York
  • 1994 Queen’s Park brings in legislation to give Ontario same-sex couples the same rights as common-law heterosexual couples, including the right to adopt children. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1995 Communications - Keith Spicer, head of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission urges Canada to allow telephone and cable-television companies to compete head on. CRTC chairman Spicer says, ‘We’ve received a clear message that consumers want greater choice.’ Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1996 Canadian Space Agency astronaut Marc Garneau starts his second flight into space aboard NASA’s Space Shuttle Endeavour on mission STS-77. Cape Canaveral, Florida
  • 1997 Former Guess Who bandmates Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman reunite for a CBC-sponsored flood relief concert before 40,000 people in Winnipeg; outdoor event also featured Tom Cochrane. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 2002 Environment - Over 1000 participants from 132 countries attend the World Ecotourism Summit in Quebec City; on May 23, they will issue the Québec Declaration on Ecotourism for the development and management of ecotourism world-wide, based on the principles of respect for the environment, fragile ecosystems and local populations. Québec, Québec
  • 2005 Politics - Paul Martin’s minority government survives two confidence votes in the House of Commons; Speaker of the House Peter Milliken votes to break a tie in a confidence vote, for the first time in Canadian history, giving the government a victory, 153 to 152. Ottawa, Ontario