Highlights of the day

Today is National Canoe Day.

  • 1925 Edward S. Rogers Sr. invents AC tube which allows world’s first plug-in batteryless radios.
  • 1945 Canada a founding member of the United Nations.
  • 1959 Queen Elizabeth II officially opens 318 km long St. Lawrence Seaway with US President Eisenhower.

List of Facts for June 26

  • 1534 Jacques Cartier lands on the Magdalen Islands; says they abound with birds, flowers and fruit. - Îles de la Madeleine, Québec
  • 1604 Pierre de Monts and Samuel de Champlain choose an island in what is now the St. Croix River for their settlement, and sent back to St. Mary’s Bay for the rest of the party. De Monts names the settlement Ste-Croix. Today the river is called the St. Croix, and the island Dochet Island, Maine. On his map, Champlain calls the St. Croix River the River of the Etchemins, naming it after the local inhabitants.
  • 1629 Captain Charles Daniel driven to shore by a storm at St. Ann’s Bay, Cape Breton; builds Fort Ste-Anne with a dwelling house, a chapel and a magazine. St. Ann’s Bay, Nova Scotia
  • 1653 Onondaga Iroquois send 18 chiefs to Montréal for peace negotiations. - Montréal, Québec
  • 1657 Pierre d’Argenson appointed Governor of New France; serves from July 11, 1658, to August 30, 1661. - Paris, France
  • 1674 Montréal Governor François-Marie Perrot arrested and imprisoned by Count Frontenac for illegal dealings with coureurs de bois. - Montréal, Québec
  • 1754 Anthony Henday an employee of the Hudson’s Bay Company, leaves York Factory with a party of Plains Cree returning to the interior; returns June 23, 1755, having traveled as far west as present-day Red Deer, Alberta. - Churchill, Manitoba
  • 1759 General James Wolfe anchors off the Île d’Orléans, 5 km below Québec, with 8,500 men under Brigadiers General Robert Monckton, James Murray and George Townsend. Admiral Charles Saunders commands the largest British naval force ever to cross the Atlantic, a flotilla of 49 men-of-war (one-quarter of the entire Royal Navy) plus 200 transports, storage vessels, and provision ships; chief navigator is Captain James Cook. A troop of forty rangers, under command of Lt. Meech, secures the island by nightfall. - Québec, Québec
  • 1784 Cape Breton separated from Nova Scotia. - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
  • 1830 King George IV of England dies. - London, England
  • 1830 King William IV starts reign; to 1837; on death of George IV London, England
  • 1833 Captain John Ross and 19 of his crew rescued from Baffin Island; ice-bound for three years, the party survived by relying on local Inuit for food. - Baffin Island, Nunavut
  • 1835 John A. MacDonald starts practicing law at Kingston. - Kingston, Ontario
  • 1837 Rebellion of 1837 - Patriotes hold illegal protest meetings in Bellechasse and L’Islet; prelude to Rebellion. - St-Thomas, Québec
  • 1840 Lower Canada divided into four districts. - Québec
  • 1846 British protectionists repeal Corn Laws to raise price of wheat for British farmers; rioting in the streets; British property values fall 50%, and the Canadas will soon feel the effects. - London, England
  • 1849 British Navigation Acts abolish restrictions on colonial shipping, which favoured Canadian interests; financial panic follows; ships of all nations can now use the St. Lawrence River. - London, England
  • 1857 Steamer Montréal catches fire and sinks in 15 minutes in the St. Lawrence River; left Québec City at 5 pm a day earlier; 253 lives lost, mostly Scottish immigrants on their way to the west. - Cap Rouge, Québec
  • 1873 Imperial Order-in-Council admits Prince Edward Island into Confederation; effective July 1, 1873; PEI to have 6 MPs, reduced in 1915 to a guaranteed 4. London, England
  • 1877 Wilfrid Laurier denounces clergy interference in elections, particularly the common pulpit statement that ‘L’Enfer est rouge et le Ciel est bleu’ - ‘Hell is red and heaven is blue,’ referring to the Liberal and Conservative party colours. - Montréal, Québec
  • 1894 Cornerstone of Winnipeg’s Wesley College is laid. - Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1905 Dominion Copper Company recapitalized and buys the debt and assets of the Montréal and Boston Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company. BC
  • 1914 Canadian Copper Corporation, Limited, registered in British Columbia. Victoria, BC
  • 1917 Saskatchewan Election: William Martin’s Liberals win a fourth consecutive majority. Saskatchewan
  • 1919 J. S. Woodsworth charged with seditious conspiracy for participating in Winnipeg General Strike; charges later dropped; CCF founder. - Winnipeg, Manitoba Edward S. Rogers invents the alternating-current AC tube which allows the world’s first plug-in batteryless radios; the RB call sign of his radio station CFRB means ‘Rogers Batteryless.’ [Photo: Rogers family] - Toronto, Ontario
  • 1929 Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway acquire and will jointly operate 857 miles of Northern Alberta Railways: Edmonton, Dunvegan & British Columbia Railway (447 miles), Alberta & Great Waterways Railway (286 miles), Central Canada Railway (98 miles) and Pembina Valley Railway (26 miles). Montréal, Québec
  • 1935 On-to-Ottawa Trek - Relief camp strikers rejected the government’s offer of temporary relief camps at Lumsden. - Lumsden, Saskatchewan
  • 1943 Second World War - RCAF bomber wing begins operating from North Africa; 3 squadrons; a prelude to invasions of Sicily and Italy. - Tunisia
  • 1944 J. L. Ilsley removes tariffs and War Exchange Tax from farm equipment in his budget. - Ottawa, Ontario April 25
  • 1947 R. B. Bennett dies; Prime Minister of Canada 1930-1935; born in Hopewell Hill, New Brunwsick; created Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (later CBC) 1932, Bank of Canada and Canadian Wheat Board 1935. - Mickleham, England
  • 1950 Korean War - Minister of National Defence Brooke Claxton announces invasion of Republic of Korea (South Korea) by North Korean forces June 25, 1950. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1957 John Diefenbaker attends two-week Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ conference. - London, England
  • 1957 Town of Golden, BC, incorporated. CBC Archives)
  • 1961 Prime Minister John Diefenbaker opens the Hockey Hall of Fame on the CNE grounds. - Toronto, Ontario
  • 1961 Upper Canada Village opens to the public; near Crysler’s Farm Battlefield Park, with Loyalist houses saved from the flooding of the St. Lawrence Valley after construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway. - Morrisburg, Ontario
  • 1969 Royal Commission into the operation of Canadian Security Service recommends re-structuring of RCMP; suggests establishment of a new service (CSIS). - Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1970 Parliament lowers voting age in federal elections from 21 to 18; revises Canada Elections Act. - Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1970 Supreme Court of Canada upholds federal law of compulsory breath tests for suspected impaired drivers; after BC ruling of last April 2, 1970. - Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1973 International Association of Machinists stops rotating strike against Air Canada; accepts contract. - Montréal, Québec
  • 1975 Supreme Court of Canada upholds PEI law banning non-residents from owning more than 4 hectares of land. - Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1976 Opening of CN Tower, the world’s tallest self-supporting structure at 1,821 feet. - Toronto, Ontario
  • 1978 Air Canada Douglas DC-9 overruns runway at Malton Airport, 2 people die. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1982 CPR train wreck near Lundbreck Falls, Alberta. June 18 on a series of confidence votes by an alliance of Peterson’s Liberals and Bob Rae’s NDP. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1987 Rock star Corey Hart collapses from exhaustion after a gig in Sudbury; cancels the rest of his Canadian tour six days later after his doctor orders him to rest for 10-12 weeks. - Sudbury, Ontario
  • 1989 Canada updates coinage with a new portrait of Queen Elizabeth ii. - Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1990 Antonio Lamer appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada replacing Brian Dickson; a 10 year veteran, age 56, from east end of Montréal. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1990 Jacques Parizeau and Lucien Bouchard discuss creating separatist party in Ottawa, after death of Meech Lake Accord; PQ poll conducted in Montréal riding says 66% would support any candidate backed by Bouchard; results in Bouchard’s founding of the Bloc Québecois with 3 other MPs. - Montréal, Québec
  • 1990 Justice Charles Dubin releases 638 page report on drug use in sport; calls situation a ‘moral crisis’; recommends cutting funding to Canadian athletes exposed as users of banned drugs; Ben Johnson to be reinstated by Athletics Canada. - Toronto, Ontario
  • 1990 Justice Minister Kim Campbell introduces gun control legislation banning automatic assault weapons; 5 year jail term to anyone convicted of converting a weapon to auto fire. - Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1990 Martial Asselin appointed Lieutenant Governor of Québec, succeeding Gilles Lamontagne; named to Senate in 1972 after three terms as Conservative MP for La Malbaie, Québec. - Québec, Québec
  • 1991 Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon starts talks with native leaders on responding to long-term effects of residential schools. - Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1991 Environment Minister Jean Corbeil proposes $100m project to protect waters from oil and chemical spills; more aerial surveillance, ship inspections, fines. - Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1995 Ontario Progressive Conservative Party leader Mike Harris sworn in as 22nd Premier of Ontario, replacing Bob Rae of the NDP, in power since 1990; won 82 out of 130 seats; cabinet of 19 smallest in the province in 30 years. - Toronto, Ontario
  • 1996 Canadian Space Agency astronaut and NASA Payload Specialist Dr. Robert Thirsk, on Shuttle Columbia Mission STS-78 uses ham radio gear to talk with students at the Saskatoon Public Aerospace Education school; also continues the Torso Rotation Experiment to determine how eye, head and body coordination is changed by longer stays in space. - Space
  • 2002 Group of Eight leaders meeting at Kananaskis agree to provide Russia with $20 billion to decommission nuclear weapons. Kananaskis, Alberta
  • 2009 Nortel Networks de-listed from the Toronto Stock Exchange on a permanent basis after share crash and allegations of fraud; once dominated the TSX index. Toronto, Ontario
  • 2010 Police crack down on G20 summit protestors in Toronto; some “Black Bloc” revolutionaries create havoc along Queen Street West, smashing store fronts, breaking windows and torching police cars; 700 people arrested and held until rioting quieted. Toronto, Ontario