July 1

List of Facts for July 1

1605 Pierre de Monts and Samuel de Champlain explore the coast of Maine to the Kennebec River and report another friendly encounter with the native people. Maine
1629 James Stuart, Lord Ochiltree lands with 60 colonists at Baleine, Cape Breton; granted barony by William Alexander. - Baleine, Nova Scotia
1742 HBC trader Christopher Middleton explores north from Churchill on board the Furnace to find the North West Passage; with William Moor in Discovery. Churchill, Manitoba
1752 The Marquis de Duquesne is appointed Governor of New France; serves from July 1, 1752 to June 24, 1755. - Paris, France
1767 Samuel Hearne carves his name this day to a boulder near Fort Prince of Wales (Churchill); will become the First European to reach the Arctic Ocean over land. Earliest example of Canadian graffiti. Churchill, Manitoba
1782 American privateers attack Lunenberg. - Lunenberg, Nova Scotia
1792 Lt-Col John Simcoe arrives to take up his post as First Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. - Kingston, Ontario
1796 Jay Treaty comes into effect; British withdraw from Detroit, Grand Portage, and Michilimackinac; both parties have free use of Great Lakes. - Detroit, Michigan
1815 Frederick Robinson appointed provisional Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada; serves until September 21, 1815. - Toronto, Ontario
1828 Alexander McLeod attacks lodge of Challum Indians to avenge murder of HBC clerk in January, 1828; Chief Trader at Fort Vancouver. - Fort Vancouver, BC
1831 James Ross reaches the Magnetic North Pole on the Boothia Peninsula. - Nunavut
1835 Archibald Acheson, Lord Gosford appointed Governor-in-Chief of Lower Canada; serves from August 25, 1835 to March 30, 1838 - Québec, Québec
1838 Simpson & Dease reach mouth of Coppermine River. - Coppermine, NWT
1857 Francis McClintock sails from Aberdeen in the Fox to determine fate of the Franklin Expedition; organized by Lady Franklin; has to delay search of King William Island until 1859. - Aberdeen, Scotland
1858 First Canadian coinage minted, in denominations of one cent, five cents, 10 cents and 20 cent pieces; no regular issue of bills until 1870. - Montréal, Québec
1860 Britain transfers control of Indian affairs to Canada. - London, England July 1 - European and North American Railway opens from Saint John to Shediac, New Brunswick; becomes part of the Intercolonial Railway on July 1, 1867. - Saint John, New Brunswick
1863 Treaty for the Settlement of Claims with the Hudson’s Bay Company signed; proclaimed March 5, 1864. - London, England
1865 Québec City becomes the capital of Canada East. - Québec, Québec
1867 Proclamation of the British North America Act, creating the Dominion of Canada out of Upper Canada (now Ontario, with its capital at Toronto), Lower Canada (now Québec, with its capital at Québec), Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Canada not yet allowed to deal directly with other states or control immigration; Canadian armed forces still commanded by British officers. July 1 - John A. Macdonald sworn in as Canada’s First Prime Minister; serves to November 5, 1873; the new Dominion starts life with just 30 civil servants. - Ottawa, Ontario
1868 The First Dominion Day, celebrating the founding of Canada on July 1, 1867; the holiday was proclaimed on June 20, 1878 by Governor General Lord Monck. The July 1 holiday was established by statute in 1879, under the name Dominion Day, and the name was changed to Canada Day on October 27, 1982. July 1 - Founding of the Department of Marine and Fisheries. - Ottawa, Ontario
1870 George-Étienne Cartier issues Order-in-Council committing government to start building the Canadian Pacific Railway within two years, as condition of British Columbia’s entry into Confederation; after false starts and consolidations, construction will begin May, 1881. - Ottawa, Ontario
1871 British Columbia enters Confederation as the sixth Canadian province; keeps provincial government, debt takeover, undertaking to build Pacific railroad. Victoria, BC July 1 - Founding of the Parliamentary Library in Ottawa; today’s Library of Parliament. - Ottawa, Ontario July 1 - Parliament makes decimal currency system uniform across Canada. - Ottawa, Ontario
1873 Prince Edward Island enters Confederation as the seventh Canadian province on same terms as BC; provincial government, annual grants, debt takeover (nearly bankrupt due to $4 million railway debt). PEI July 1 - Alexander Campbell appointed federal Minister of the Interior. - Ottawa, Ontario
1876 Through railway travel opens to Halifax, Nova Scotia from Québec. - Québec, Québec
1878 Canada admitted to membership in the new Universal Postal Union. - Geneva, Switzerland
1881 Toronto Stock Exchange moves into First permanent HQ at 24 King Street East; boom year; price of a TSE seat as high as $4,000. - Toronto, Ontario July 1 - World’s First international telephone call made from St. Stephen to Calais, Maine. - St. Stephen, New Brunswick
1882 C.E.D. Wood and E.T. Saunders publish the First issue of the Macleod Gazette. - Fort Macleod, Alberta
1885 US terminates reciprocity and fishery clauses worked out at Treaty of Washington March 8, 1871; Americans allowed to fish under treaty terms until end of season. - Washington, DC
1886 Huge fireworks display at Calgary celebrates arrival of the Pacific Express from Montréal and Winnipeg, the CPR’s First through passenger train to the Pacific coast, en route for Port Moody, BC. - Calgary, Alberta
1887 Michael Phillipps appointed resident Indian Agent at Tobacco Plains, BC.
1890 Undersea telegraph cable links Canada and Bermuda. - Hamilton, Bermuda
1895 C&KSN launches the steamboat Nakusp (1083 tons); burned 1897. Nakusp, BC
1898 J. J. Hill’s Great Northern Railway completes aquisition of D.C. Corbin’s Spokane Falls & Northern Railway, Nelson & Fort Sheppard Railway, Red Mountain Railway, and Columbia & Red Mountain Railway, and the Northport smelter. BC
1902 F.P. Armstrong sails the steamboat North Star northbound through Baillie-Grohman’s ditch at Canal Flats, BC. July 1 - Ray Knight stages the first Raymond Stampede, and coins the rodeo word stampede, thus launching his rodeo career as the world’s first rodeo producer and stock contractor, as well as being the world’s richest rodeo promoter with some one million acres of ranchland with 18,000 head of cattle and 3,000 head of horses. The Raymond Stampede is now Canada’s oldest rodeo. Raymond, Alberta -
1903 Ray Knight builds the Raymond Stampede rodeo arena and rodeo grandstands in Raymond, Alberta which are the first ever built in the world. July 1 - City of Columbia, BC and City of Grand Forks amalgamate under latter’s name. Grand Forks, BC -
1904 Third modern Olympic games open in St Louis; to November 23, 1904; Canada does not send a team to the St. Louis Olympics, but some Canadian athletes compete along with 13 official nations and 625 competitors; Montréal policeman €tienne Desmarteaux will win the gold medal in the hammer throw. - St. Louis, Missouri
1906 First balloon flight in Alberta is made by aeronaut R. Cross. - Alberta
1907 CPR starts its Soo-Pacific Train de Luxe passenger service on the Soo Line/Spokane International route. - Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario July 1 - Spokane Falls and Northern Railway dissolved and its assets incorporated into the Great Northern. -
1909 Joseph-Elzear Bernier, captain of the government steamship Arctic, places a metal plaque at Parry Rock claiming Canadian sovereignty over the entire Arctic Archipelago; US and Norwegian whalers and mining companies were trying to convince their governments to pursue territorial claims. I took possession of Baffin Island for Canada in the presence of several Eskimo, said Bernier, and after firing nineteen shots I instructed an Eskimo to fire the twentieth, telling him that he was now a Canadian. - Melville Island, Nunavut
1911 Proclamation removes the words Dei Gratia - by the Grace of God - from Canada’s coinage. - Ottawa, Ontario July 1 - Sod turned on the Kettle Valley Railway at Penticton, BC.
1912 Canadian Pacific Railway leases the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway on Vancouver Island. - Nanaimo, BC
1913 CPR leases the Kettle Valley Railway for 999 years. Penticton, BC -
1914 CPR formally opens the Nakusp and Slocan Railway’s extension from Three Forks, BC to Kaslo (Kaslo Subdividion). - Kaslo, BC
1915 Saskatchewan legislation closes all bars, clubs, and wholesale outlets selling liquor; replaced by 23 government liquor stores. - Regina, Saskatchewan July 1 - Manistee, BC, reverts to its former name of Galloway, BC.
1916 First World War - At 7:30 am, at Beaumont-Hamel, a village 12 km north of Albert, France, troops of the First Newfoundland Regiment, fighting with the 29th British Division, climb out of their trenches and advance slowly in parade-ground formation across the crater-torn waste of No Man’s Land towards the awaiting German machine guns; of the 801 soldiers of the Regiment, 255 are killed, 386 wounded and 91 go missing in this, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. - Beaumont-Hamel, France July 1 - Prohibition begins in Alberta (to April 12, 1924). Alberta - Alberta July 1 - Prohibition begins in Manitoba. - Manitoba
1920 Section 107 of the amended Indian Act receives royal assent: qualified Natives could be forced to accept enfranchisement. Repealed 1929.
1921 Last Red Mountain Railway train leaves Rossland. Crews begin removing tracks on May 8, 1922. Rossland, BC
1923 Parliament passes Chinese Immigration Act (Chinese Exclusion Act), banning all Chinese from entering Canada except for businessmen, diplomats, foreign students, and special circumstances; legislation virtually suspends all Chinese immigration to Canada; day known to Chinese community as Humiliation Day. In 1885, Chinese immigrants were required to pay an entry fee, or head tax of $50 for entry into Canada; by 1900, as immigration continued, the amount was raised to $100 and then to $500. - Ottawa, Ontario
1924 Kettle Valley Railway’s provincial tax exemption ends. BC July 1 - Macleod, Alberta, begins a three-day celebration of its Golden Jubilee.
1926 Arthur Meighen takes Canada back on the Gold Standard. - Ottawa, Ontario
1927 Prime Minister Mackenzie King dedicates the Peace Tower Carillon in the first Trans-Canada radio network broadcast hookup over telephone and telegraph lines and 23 radio stations; celebrating the Diamond Jubilee (60th Anniversary) of Confederation. The program features a 1,000-voice choir and the new Peace Tower carillon played by Percival Price. “Never before has there been such an attempt at globe-circling broadcasting as that which is being participated in today and tonight,” says Senator George Graham. The bilingual broadcast, hosted by Andy Ryan and Jacques Cartier, consists of three programs in the morning, afternoon and evening of Dominion Day. Read King’s speech, CBC Archives) July 1 - For the first time, the governments of Canada and Britain communicate directly, bypassing the Governor-General. - Ottawa, Ontario July 1 - Queen’s Park passes law requiring all drivers in Ontario to have a license. - Toronto, Ontario July 1 - Military - The new Esquimalt Graving Dock in Esquimalt Harbour (completed in 1924) officially opens. The old First Graving Dock will be rehabilitated and brought back into service in 1945; renamed “Naden” dock in 1971, the drydock is still in service. Victoria, BC
1930 The Seigniory Club opens at Montebello on the former estate of Louis-Joseph Papineau beside the Ottawa River; the huge log structure is now the Chéteau Montebello hotel. Montebello, Québec
1935 Labour - Regina city police and RCMP wade into crowds in Market Square and at the Regina Exhibition Grounds rally to arrest leaders of the On to Ottawa Trek after they return from unsuccessful meeting with Prime Minister R. B. Bennett in Ottawa; one policeman killed, many police and rioters injured; end of trek by 2000 relief camp strikers from Western Canada; four days later the protesters are given rail transportation home. - Regina, Saskatchewan
1941 Unemployment Insurance Act comes into effect; establishment of Unemployment Insurance Commission. - Ottawa, Ontario
1942 Second World War - Sugar rationing starts in Canada. - Ottawa, Ontario
1944 Banking - Canada attends United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference; until July 22, 1944; gives birth to IMF and World Bank. - Bretton Woods, New Hampshire July 1 - Second World War - RCN motor torpedo boat MTB 460 hits a mine and sinks in the English Channel; the commanding officer and 9 men are lost. France
1947 The British Dominion Affairs Office becomes the Commonwealth Relations Office. - London, England
1948 Osoyoos, BC, holds its First Cherry Festival.
1953 Macleod, Alberta, officially re-prefixes Fort to its name. Fort Macleod, Alberta
1958 CBC starts nationwide TV broadcasting as new Trans-Canada microwave relay system goes into operation. July 1 - Federal-provincial hospital plan goes into effect in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Newfoundland. July 1 - Ontario Hydro engineers blast away St. Lawrence River cofferdam; lets water build up for power station; man-made Lake St. Lawrence will be 40 km long, 64 km wide. - Cornwall, Ontario July 1 - Several Lost Villages in Ontario are permanently flooded as part of the St. Lawrence Seaway construction project; some buildings are moved to a new pioneer site called Upper Canada Village. Morrisburg, Ontario
1959 Federal-provincial hospital plan goes into effect in New Brunswick. - New Brunswick July 1 - Replica of the original NWMP Fort Macleod declared open. - Fort Macleod, Alberta
1960 John Diefenbaker government gives Treaty Indians and registered aboriginal Canadians given the right to vote. - Ottawa, Ontario
1962 Strike - Ninety percent of doctors of the Saskatchewan College of Physicians and Surgeons close their offices for 23 days, providing only hospital-based emergency services; delays start of Tommy Douglas’ CCF government Medicare compulsory medical care insurance plan; reach compromise July 23, 1962 after amendments to Saskatchewan Medical Care Insurance Act. - Saskatchewan July 1 - CPR eliminates the Kettle Valley Division. The track from Penticton east is added to the Kootenay Division, from Penticton south to the Revelstoke Division, and from Penticton west to the Canyon Division. Penticton, BC
1965 Canadian Labour Code comes into effect for all government employees. - Ottawa, Ontario
1966 CTV station CFTO-TV transmits First colour TV in Canada. - Toronto, Ontario
1967 Queen Elizabeth II attends Centennial celebrations on Parliament Hill. - Ottawa, Ontario July 1 - United College becomes the University of Winnipeg. - Winnipeg, Manitoba
1968 Laws creating Canada’s Medicare system come into effect. Canada July 1 - Canada signs nuclear non-proliferation treaty with the US, Britain, USSR and 57 other countries. - Geneva, Switzerland July 1 - Unveiling of bronze statue of former Prime Minister Mackenzie King, by Raoul Hunter, on Parliament Hill. - Ottawa, Ontario
1970 Pierre Trudeau tells Canada Day heckler concerned about unsold grain, Relax mister. You can’t carry the weight of the world on your shoulders every day. This is a fun day. - Winnipeg, Manitoba
1971 Pierre Trudeau opens $2.5 million museum for aboriginal artifacts on UBC campus; gift from Canada to honour province’s centennial. - Vancouver, BC
1972 Montreal native Galt McDermott’s rock musical Hair closes on Broadway after 1,729 performances; opened at the Biltmore Theatre April 28, 1968. - New York, New York
1974 David Haber appointed Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Canada, succeeding Celia Franca. - Toronto, Ontario July 1 - Frank Lees opens First stage of his Princeton Castle project. - Princeton, BC
1979 Robbie Robertson completes filming for the movie Carney; his first theatrical film since The Band split up; produced and co-wrote the script and co-starred with Jody Foster and Gary Busey. - Hollywood, California
1980 Governor General Edward Schreyer proclaims the Act respecting the National Anthem of Canada, thus making Calixa Lavallée’s O Canada the anthem of the country. A public ceremony is held at noon on Parliament Hill in front of thousands of Canadians. Descendants of Robert Stanley Weir and Adolphe-Basile Routhier are on the official platform. Ottawa, Ontario
1983 Start of ten-day World University Games at Edmonton; Canada has best-ever showing: third behind US and USSR. - Edmonton, Alberta
1989 The 1987 Montreal Protocol goes into effect; the international treaty deals with ozone-destroying pollutants, and sought to cut in half production of chemicals like refrigerants posing the greatest risk to the ozone layer above the Earth.
1992 Queen Elizabeth II speaks to crowd of 50,000 on Parliament Hill; presides over Privy Council ceremony; praises Canadian peacekeepers in Yugoslavia. Ottawa, Ontario July 1 - Prime Minister Brian Mulroney breaks with tradition by naming some non-politicians to the Privy Council to honour Canada’s 125th birthday. Appointees include hockey great Maurice Richard; business leaders Conrad Black and Charles Bronfman; painter Alex Colville; writers W. O. Mitchell and Bruce Hutchison; Nobel Prize-winning scientist John Polanyi; Micmac poet Rita Joe; former Cabinet Ministers Ellen Fairclough, Alvin Hamilton, Jean-Luc Pépin, Jack Pickersgill, Martiel Asselin and Paul Martin Sr; former MPs Lorne Nystrom, William Scott and Marcel Prudhomme; former Premiers David Peterson and Robert Stanfield; former NDP MP Pauline Jewitt (she dies four days later, on July 5, 1992). - Ottawa, Ontario July 1 - France names New Brunswick born singer Roch Voisine as a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters; award honours significant artistic or literary contribution to francophone culture; his part-French, part-English single Hélène reached #1 in France in 1989. - Paris, France July 1 - Alan Lunt dies; former artistic director of the Charlottetown Festival; staged Anne of Green Gables. - Ottawa, Ontario July 1 - Canadian Army Vandoos peacekeepers launch a successful operation to secure control of Sarajevo’s airport. Sarajevo, Bosnia
1995 Kiss of the Spider Woman closes at the Broadhurst Theater after 906 performances; starring Tony Award winning Canadian actor Brent Carver. - New York, New York
1996 Birth of the NHL Phoenix Coyotes from the ashes of the Winnipeg Jets. - Pheonix, Arizona
2000 Maglio Industries launches the MV Osprey 2000 (1780 tonnes) at Nelson, BC.
2002 A Canadian climber who had scaled Alaska’s Mount McKinley alone is killed when he falls about 300 m while descending the peak’s upper reaches. Alaska
2004 Census - Statistics Canada counts 31,946,316 Canadians. Ottawa, Ontario
2005 Canadians celebrate the 60th anniversary of V-E Day and Canada’s role in liberating the Netherlands, as well as the 100th anniversary of Alberta and Saskatchewan joining Confederation. July 1 - Pollution - Canada protests against the potential opening in North Dakota of a 14-mile, $28 million drainage channel, from Devil’s Lake to the Sheyenne River; says that polluted water will end up in the Red River and Lake Winnipeg. Winnipeg, Manitoba