Highlights of the day

  • 1871 Alexander Muir’s patriotic song The Maple Leaf Forever first sung in public.
  • 1914 The Komagata Maru Arrives in Vancouver with 396 Sikhs on board.

List of Facts for May 21

  • 1611 Samuel de Champlain returns to Québec from France; travels upriver to Lachine Rapids; chooses Pointe Callières as site for future trading post. Montréal, Québec
  • 1613 René de La Saussaye withdraws Biard and Massé from Port-Royal, then sails to Frenchman’s Bay, Maine; builds settlement of St. Sauveur on Mount Desert Island. Mount Desert, Maine
  • 1690 Governor of Acadia Louis de Ménéval surrenders Port Royal to William Phips and his Massachusetts militia; taken to Boston, Massachusetts as a prisoner. Annapolis, Nova Scotia
  • 1765 Founding of the Windsor Fair; the First regular agricultural exhibition in North America and Canada’s First farm fair. Windsor, Nova Scotia
  • 1785 First trial by jury in Canada under British common law. Québec
  • 1803 William Osgoode declares slavery ‘inconsistent’ with the laws of Canada; will become Chief Justice of Upper Canada. Québec, Québec
  • 1806 Marie-Anne Gaboury marries Jean-Baptiste Lagimodière; First white woman to live in western Canada; grandmother of Louis Riel. St-Boniface, Manitoba
  • 1816 Steamboat General Smythe begins operating on the Saint John River; First in the Maritimes. Saint John, New Brunswick
  • 1821 William Allan gets charter for Bank of Upper Canada, and 10 year monopoly on banknotes; with J.G. Chewitt, son of Governor John Graves Simcoe’s paymaster. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1826 Red River reaches a level twice that of the disastrous 1950 flood. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1832 Cholera brought by Irish immigrants will kill 6000 across Lower Canada this year. Québec
  • 1832 British Army opens fire on a crowd of election rioters, killing three partisans. Montréal, Québec
  • 1856 Allan MacNab forced to resign when all Ministers from Canada West resign. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1862 Cartier-Macdonald Ministry resigns after defeat on George-Étienne Cartier’s Militia Bill. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1864 Frederick Seymour succeeds James Douglas as governor of the Colony of British Columbia (to November 19, 1866). Victoria, BC
  • 1871 Alexander Muir’s patriotic song The Maple Leaf Forever sung in public for the First time. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1881 Canadian Pacific Railway - Major Albert Rogers and his surveyors locate the Rogers Pass through the Selkirk Range. BC
  • 1900 CPR drives the last spike in its Phoenix Subdivision. BC
  • 1901 John Voss sails west in his Nootka Indian canoe, the Tilikum; reaches England September 2, 1904, after taking three years, three months and 12 days to navigate the 65,000 km, via Australia and New Zealand; Tilikum on display at Thunderbird Park in Victoria. Victoria, BC
  • 1901 Alien Labour Act receives royal assent. Ottawa, Ontario May 21 - CNP Coal withdraws its federal application for the Kootenay Lake Railway. BC
  • 1902 NWT Election - Fifth and last general election is held for the Legislative Assembly of the North West Territories. Saskatchewan
  • 1910 McCulloch hired by Kettle River Valley Railway. BC
  • 1914 Ship Komagata Maru arrives in Vancouver with 396 Sikh immigrants aboard; not allowed to land under Canadian immigration laws; sails away on July 23, 1914. Vancouver, BC
  • 1919 British Columbia Minister of Lands, T.C. Patullo, begins accepting bids for the construction of the South Okanagan Irrigation Project main canal. Victoria, BC
  • 1919 Winnipeg General Strike Committee sets up a Central Strike Committee. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1923 Prohibition of alcoholic beverages comes into effect in Prince Edward Island. PEI
  • 1923 Floods inundate the Crowsnest Pass region, east and west. BC May 21 - Granby Consolidated Mining and Smelting buys Copper Mountain, BC and Allenby, BC, concentrator through its Allenby Copper Company. BC
  • 1939 King George VI unveils the National War Memorial in Ottawa. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1953 Tornado flattens downtown Sarnia, doing $4 million in damage and killing 5 people. Sarnia, Ontario
  • 1965 George Drew installed as First Chancellor of University of Guelph, created out of the former Ontario Agriculatural College (OAC); ex Ontario Premier. Guelph, Ontario
  • 1965 Ontario flag proclaimed; the provincial crest on a red ensign. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1969 Ottawa and Québec jointly create Forillon Park in Gaspé region; First national park in Québec. Gaspé, Québec
  • 1976 Bryce Mackasey Postmaster-General says government will raise first class letter rates on September 1, 1976 and March 1, 1977. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1977 Baseball - Montréal Expos beaten 11-8 by the San Diego Padres in 21 innings. San Diego, California
  • 1979 Hockey - Montréal Canadiens down the New York Rangers 4-1 to win their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup. Montréal, Québec
  • 1980 Hockey - Atlanta Flames of the National Hockey League become the Calgary Flames. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1981 Sculptor George Pratt starts work on a statue of Marathon of Hope runner Terry Fox. Vancouver, BC
  • 1981 Hockey - NHL New York Islanders win their second straight Stanley Cup, beating the Minnesota North Stars 4 games to 1. Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • 1985 Hockey - Edmonton Oilers 1, Philadelphia Flyers 4
  • 1985 Phillips Cable Company ceases operations in its plant at Savanna, Alberta.
  • 1986 Canadian negotiator Simon Riesman starts Canada-US free trade talks with American counterparts. Washington, DC
  • 1986 Keith Alexander sentenced to jail by a Canadian court for dumping toxic contaminants into Toronto sewers; president of Jetco Manufacturing Ltd. the First corporate executive sent to jail for pollution-related offenses. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1990 Lucien Bouchard resigns from Mulroney Cabinet and Progressive Conservative Party; says government unwilling to compromise the Meech Lake Accord to secure its passage. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1992 External Affairs Minister Barbara McDougall says Canada opening diplomatic relations with Belarus, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; former USSR republics. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1993 Former prime minister Joe Clark named a UN special envoy to find a peace settlement for Cyprus. New York, New York
  • 1996 BC born major league baseball star Larry Walker drives in a career-high six runs, hitting a pair of two-run homers, a triple and a double in the Colorado Rockies’ 12-10 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. His 13 total bases sets a club record. Denver, Colorado
  • 1998 Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans shuts down the British Columbia Coho salmon fishery. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2001 Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit win WWF Tag Team Championship.