Highlights of the day

  • 1398 Legend says Henry Sinclair lands in Nova Scotia, and visits Pictou and Stellarton.
  • 1984 John Turner sworn in as Canada’s 17th Prime Minister, replacing Pierre Trudeau.

List of Facts for June 30

  • 1398 Henry Sinclair Earl of Orkney lands at Guysborough on this day, and visits the sites of Pictou and Stellarton; according to legend. Was he carrying the Holy Grail to Canada?Guysborough, Nova Scotia
  • 1578 Martin Frobisher takes possession of Greenland for Queen Elizabeth I; calls it West England. - Greenland, Denmark
  • 1665 Marquis de Tracy arrives in New France with the Carignan-Salières Regiment to do battle with the Iroquois. - Québec, Québec
  • 1665 Engineer Henri de Salières arrives in New France with the Carignan-Salières Regiment, 100 officers and 1,000 men; begins forts at Sorel, St-Louis, Ste-Thérèse, Ste-Anne and St-Jean. - Québec, Québec
  • 1690 Henry Kelsey travels up the Hayes River and the Fox River to Moose Lake from Churchill, Manitoba 1715, June 30 - Thanadelthur, a Sayisi Dene woman, leaves York Factory on a mission to help find common ground between the Dene and Cree of the region; as a translator and mediator, she helps to establish peace between the two nations. Churchill Manitoba
  • 1759 Brigadier General Robert Monckton captures Point Lévis after a short fight; sets up camp and moves artillery into position to start firing on Québec, less than a kilometre away. The Marquis de Montcalm sends Abenaki warriors to harass the English. - Lévis, Québec
  • 1766 Aemilius Irving appointed administrator of Canada; serves until September 24, 1766. - Québec, Québec
  • 1772 Samuel Hearne arrives back at Fort Prince of Wales from the Arctic Ocean, proving that no water route exists across North America; he writes up account of journey; first to describe Inuit life in the Coppermine area. - Churchill, Manitoba
  • 1777 American Revolutionary War - British General John Burgoyne reaches Fort Fort Ticonderoga; starts week-long siege. - Ticonderoga, New York
  • 1789 Alexander Mackenzie (Explorer) enters the Mackenzie River from Great Slave Lake; learned from Yellowknife Indians of a river flowing northwest from the lake; will reach the Arctic Delta on July 10, 1789; looking for a way to ship furs to west coast; partner of North West Company. - Hay River, NWT
  • 1807 David Thompson expedition reaches the Columbia River after crossing the Rockies westward via the Howse Pass. - BC
  • 1812 War of 1812 - Upper Canada gives US citizens 14 days to leave the province. - Toronto, Ontario
  • 1834 U.S. Congress passes An act to regulate trade and intercourse with Indian tribes (Indian Intercourse Act of 1832), prohibiting delivery of alcohol to Natives west of the Mississippi River. - Washington, DC
  • 1837 Rebellion of 1837 - William Lyon Mackenzie helps found the Committee of Vigilance of Upper Canada; to form a provisional revolutionary government for Upper Canada. - Toronto, Ontario
  • 1848 Toronto schools closed for a year because city council refuses to raise funding from £500 to £2,000 per annum. - Toronto, Ontario
  • 1851 Robert Baldwin retires from public life. - Toronto, Ontario
  • 1858 Colonial authorities in Victoria proclaim that all miners in British territory had to obtain a licence and define the size of a claim. - Victoria, BC
  • 1858 First Chinese colonists reach Victoria. - Victoria, BC
  • 1859 French acrobat Charles Blondin (Jean-François Cravelet) crosses the Niagara Gorge from the US to Canada by tightrope before a crowd of 25,000; drinks champagne; does a back somersault; recrosses blindfolded, on a bicycle, on stilts, pushing a wheelbarrow while carrying his manager on his back; the so-called ‘Prince of Manila’. - Niagara Falls, Ontario
  • 1860 William Fernie arrives in Victoria from San Francisco. - Victoria, BC
  • 1864 Christopher Dunkin passes the Canada Temperance Act, regulating local option laws passed in Canada West in 1853 and Canada East in 1855; the so-called Dunkin Act. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1866 New Brunswick approves Confederation; votes funds for Intercolonial Railway. - Fredericton, New Brunswick
  • 1886 Artillery, church bells, brass bands and locomotive whistles celebrates the arrival of the Pacific Express from Montréal en route for Calgary and Port Moody, BC; the CPR’s First through passenger train to the Pacific coast. - Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1897 Crown grants Arthur Fenwick title to his pre-emption, the future Wardner, BC, townsite.
  • 1898 Last issue of the Wardner International newspaper published. Wardner, BC
  • 1910 George Leeson dies; pioneer Alberta stagecoach line operator. - Alberta
  • 1912 Tornado roars through the downtown core of Regina in five minute rampage at 4:50 pm, killing 28, and damaging or destroying three churches, the new Carnegie Library, commercial buildings and homes; 2,500 left homeless. Mayor Peter McAra cancels Dominion Day celebrations. - Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1914 Timber bridge across the Winnipeg River to Pointe du Bois collapses, plunging the City Hydra Train into the river. - Manitoba
  • 1915 First World War - Canadian Army sets up Hospital Commission to provide treatment for wounded; name changed to Military Hospitals Commission in October, 1915. - Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1923 Mackenzie King government passes An Act Respecting Chinese Immigration defines types of Chinese persons particularly excluded from Canada. Ottawa, Ontario -
  • 1930 Archbishop Forbes of Ottawa holds a Pontifical Mass at the Vatican to celebrate the First Roman Catholic canonization of North Americans, the Jesuit martyrs. - Rome, Italy
  • 1936 Department of National Defence ceases administering federal and provincial work-camps; performed this duty since May 1, 1933. Ottawa, Ontario -
  • 1941 Second World War - Mackenzie King government brings in Bill 80, sanctioning his promise not to bring in conscription for overseas service; passes July 23, 1941 by 141-45. - Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1944 Second World War - Flight Lt. David Hornell VC scores U-boat kill off the Shetland Islands; one of four by RCAF 162 Squadron this June. - Shetland Islands, Scotland
  • 1944 Second World War - Parliament passes Act to establish a Department of Reconstruction. - Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1945 Star-Phoenix newspaper publishes classified ad reading: FOR SALE. one homemade coffin. Never used. Reason for selling: Improved health; fit 6’ 2. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan -
  • 1948 Mackenzie King delivers his last speech to the House of Commons before his retirement. - Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1952 Canada asks International Joint Commission for approval to build St. Lawrence River hydro plants; in international rapids section. - Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1960 John Diefenbaker opens new Ottawa International Airport. - Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1965 Rex Woods starts project to duplicate Robert Harris painting of the Québec Conference of 1864, that was burned during the fire of 1917; to be presented to Canada by Confederation Life. - Toronto, Ontario
  • 1967 Dosco Industries Ltd. closes Bell Island iron mine after 72 years of operation. - Bell Island, Newfoundland
  • 1967 Weyerhaeuser closes its sawmill at Oliver, BC. - June 30 - Zakir Husain President of India starts two-day visit to Canada. - Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1971 Allan Blakeney sworn in as NDP Premier of Saskatchewan, replacing Liberal Ross Thatcher. Regina, Saskatchewan -
  • 1972 Record - 963.2 inches of snowfall falls in one season on Mt. Copeland; since July 1, 1971 of the previous year. - Revelstoke, BC
  • 1972 Billy Joe Booth killed in an aircraft explosion; nine year defensive linesman with Ottawa Rough Riders. - Dorchester, Ontario
  • 1972 Rolling Stones open their seventh American/Canadian tour; will hit San Diego, Tucson, Albuquerque, Washington, Montréal and New York. - Vancouver, BC
  • 1973 Joe Clark marries Maureen McTeer, a researcher in the Progressive Conservative Party office in Ottawa. - Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1973 Opening of Canada’s First National Lesbian conference. - Toronto, Ontario
  • 1976 British Columbia Court of Appeal rules that the province owns seabed mineral resources between Vancouver Island and the mainland; rejects federal claims. Victoria, BC
  • 1976 Canada Post bans open-window envelopes since they snag in letter sorting machines. - Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1976 US Air Force announces it will close base at Goose Bay, Labrador, when lease expires. - Goose Bay, Newfoundland
  • 1981 Canada Post workers start 42-day strike.
  • 1982 NHL rules Eric Lindros will go to the Flyers instead of the Rangers; New Jersey’s new NHL franchise also officially named the Devils after fan balloting. Montréal, Québec
  • 1982 Birth of the NHL New Jersey Devils.
  • 1983 C-Channel pay TV arts network goes off the air; operating only since February 1, 1983. - Toronto, Ontario
  • 1983 National Research Council timekeepers join international colleagues in adding a leap second to the last minute of June, to keep atomic time in tune with solar time; same process followed December, 1989. - Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1983 Osoyoos, BC, incorporated as a town.
  • 1983 Ottawa and Alberta agree to set Canadian oil price at $29.75 per barrel, or 75% of world price; producers get world price for oil discovered 1974-80. - Calgary, Alberta
  • 1983 Simpson-Sears retailing chain fined $1 million for misleading advertising; largest such fine in Canadian history. - Toronto, Ontario
  • 1984 John Turner sworn in at Rideau Hall, replacing the retiring Pierre Trudeau as Canada’s 17th Prime Minister; PM until September 17, 1984, when he is defeated by Brian Mulroney. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1987 Minister of Financial Institutions Thomas Hockin starts First stage of financial deregulation by opening ownership of securities industry; with Monte Kwinter, his Queen’s Park counterpart. - Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1989 Bank of Canada stops issuing one-dollar bills, and starts replacing them with the dollar coins that come to be known as loonies. - Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1990 Chief Justice Brian Dickson retires from the Supreme Court of Canada; served as justice since 1973; replaced Bora Laskin in April, 1984. - Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1992 Peacekeeping - Canadian peacekeepers start trek to Sarajevo, Bosnia; 800 troops in armored vehicle convoy move to keep airport open as part of international relief effort to bring in food and medicine. - Croatia
  • 1992 Queen Elizabeth II unveils equestrian statue of herself on Parliament Hill; by BC sculptor Jack Harman. - Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1996 Canadian Space Agency astronaut and NASA Payload Specialist Dr. Robert Thirsk, on Shuttle Columbia Mission STS-78 holds a press conference with Toronto journalists; tells how their research will not only benefit astronauts as they conduct long-term space missions, but also people on Earth; some research will aid studies on osteoporosis and the affects steroids have on bones, and also may help doctors on Earth develop treatments for muscle diseases like muscular dystrophy. Space
  • 1996 Neil Young premieres his album, Broken Arrow via the internet; the CD is slated for release on July 2, 1996, two days after its technologically advanced debut. - Los Angeles, California
  • 1996 Ronnie Hawkins hosts a schizophrenia fund-raiser in Peterborough, with a surprise appearance by Willie Nelson and Ringo Starr (in actual fact two impersonators); no one in the crowd of 400 questioned the pair’s authenticity; Hawkins revealed the hoax the following day. - Peterborough, Ontario
  • 1997 Angus Reid polling group releases report finding that the average Canadian student knows the answer to only 10 of 30 questions about Canada; only 30% can identify John A. Macdonald as Canada’s First prime minister. - Toronto, Ontario
  • 1999 Tyrell Dueck, age 13, dies of bone cancer after $5,900-a-week alternative Laetrile treatment at the American Biologics hospital in Tijuana, Mexico, had failed; the Martensville, Saskatchewan boy’s parents, Tim and Yvonne, refused chemotherapy and amputation to treat the cancer, opting instead to seek herbal and other alternative remedies; Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Allisen Rothery had ruled March 18, 1999 that Tyrell did not have the mental capacity to refuse chemotherapy and surgery and handed control of his care to Saskatchewan Social Services; but Tyler refused to be treated by doctors and his wishes were respected. - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
  • 1999 British Columbia Court of Appeal strikes down Canada’s child pornography laws; upholds lower court ruling that struck down a law prohibiting the possession of child pornography, stating that the law violated privacy and freedom of expression. - Vancouver, BC
  • 2003 Canada’s first space telecope is launched.