Highlights of the day

  • 1774 Samuel Hearne builds Cumberland House
  • 1905 House of Commons passes bills establishing Alberta and Saskatchewan as provinces.

List of Facts for July 4

  • 1609 Samuel de Champlain discovers what was later named Lake Champlain in his honour; on Québec and New York border. Québec/NY
  • 1634 Jean La Violette founds Three Rivers with 6 arpents of land granted by the Company of One Hundred Associates; a fur trader sent by Samuel de Champlain, he begins to build a fortified trading post. Trois-Rivières, Quebec
  • 1648 Jesuit friar Antoine Daniel killed when Iroquois break peace and attack Huron villages of St. Joseph II and St. Michel in Huronia. Hillsdale, Ontario
  • 1654 Robert Sedgwick leaves Boston to avenge French attacks on English vessels by attacking Acadia; commander-in-chief of New England coast. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1696 Count Frontenac embarks from Montreal in a canoe flotilla with 2,150 men to travel up the St. Lawrence River to Fort Frontenac and mount a new attack on the Iroquois. Montréal, Québec
  • 1754 George Washington retreats to Great Meadows after French counter-attack; builds a crude stockade named Fort Necessity on the Monongahela River; the French and Indians attack, Washington loses half his men, and surrenders to Jumonville’s older half-brother Captain Louis de Villers; Captains Robert Stobo and Jacob Van Braam are held hostage, while Washington and his men make their way back to Virginia. Farmington, Pennsylvania
  • 1774 Matthew Cocking helps Samuel Hearne build Cumberland House, company’s First permanent western inland settlement; Hudson’s Bay Company Chief Factor at York Fort. Cumberland House, Saskatchewan
  • 1789 Estabán Martínez seizes British ship Argonaut and others for infringing Spanish sovereignty; on Spanish warship Princesa. Nootka Sound, BC
  • 1836 William Lyon Mackenzie starts newspaper The Constitution to mark the 60th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence; a year later he will foment a rebellion intended to force Upper Canada to join the United States. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1837 Patriote assembly meets at Stanbridge, Québec to demand democratic rights; many American sympathizers attend. Missisquoi, Québec
  • 1849 Four Montréal English newspapers support the Annexation Association; proposing that Canada join US if that is the only way to ease the commercial depression. Montréal, Québec
  • 1878 Joseph McFarland and Marcella Sheran are the First couple to be married at Fort Whoop-Up. Fort Macleod, Alberta
  • 1884 John A. Macdonald appoints commission to investigate Chinese immigration in British Columbia after Welsh and English miners protest low wages paid to the Chinese; starting in 1885, Chinese immigrants will be required to pay an entry fee, or head tax of $50 for entry into Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1886 At noon this Sunday, a crowd of 1500 British Columbians cheers as the Pacific Express, the CPR’s First scheduled transcontinental passenger train from Montréal, rolls into Port Moody, the western terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway, after a five and a half day journey of 4650 km; with 170 passengers in two immigrant sleeping coaches, two first-class coaches and two first-class sleeping coaches (named Yokohama and Honolulu); also attached are one dining car (Holyrood), two baggage cars, and a mail car with 16 bags of English and Canadian mail; arrival 16 years after George-Étienne Cartier’s Order-in-Council authorized building of the road as part of the terms of union with BC. Port Moody, BC
  • 1886 Poundmaker dies at the home of his foster father, Chief Crowfoot, after spending a year in jail at Stony Mountain Penitentiary; former chief of the Cree band that held Fort Battleford under siege and defeated the troops of Col. William Otter at Cut Knife Hill in southern Saskatchewan. Blackfoot Crossing, Alberta
  • 1886 J.J. Hill incorporates his New Westminster Southern Railway Company (See 1891). Washington
  • 1887 Manitoba’s Red River Valley Railroad Act is disallowed by the federal government, which controls border crossings. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1888 Joseph Royal appointed Commissioner of the North-West Territories. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1893 Tug of war team from Zorra Township, Ontario, wins world championship at the Chicago World Fair. Chicago, Illinois
  • 1898 French ship La Bourgogne collides with British ship the Cromartyshire off Sable Island; 560 persons drown. Sable Island, Nova Scotia
  • 1904
  • 1905 House of Commons passes bills establishing Alberta and Saskatchewan as provinces. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1907 Canadian pugilist Tommy Burns KOs Bill Squires in one round to keep his world heavyweight boxing crown. Coma, California
  • 1911 Tobacco millionaire William Macdonald gives McGill University 10 hectares (Macdonald Park) for a stadium. Montréal, Québec
  • 1939 Record - Overnight temperature at Fort Ross drops to -12.2 C; one of the lowest July temperatures ever recorded in Canada. Fort Ross, Nunavut
  • 1944 Second World War - Canadians take village of Carpiquet and part of airfield; Keller’s 8th Brigade: North Shores, Queen’s Own, and le Régiment de la Chaudière, with the 7th Brigade’s Winnipeg Rifles under command; supported by the 10th Canadian Armoured Regiment (Fort Garry Horse) and the Assault Vehicles, Royal Engineers of the 79th British Armoured Division; the Canadians have 428 field guns, backed by naval fire including the 9 16-inch guns of the battleship HMS Rodney and the 15-inch guns of the monitor HMS Roberts; take 117 dead and 260 wounded; position held for five days until Caen is taken in Operation Charnwood. Carpiquet, France
  • 1945 Second World War - Canadian Army troops enter Berlin as part of British garrison force; to share occupation duties. Berlin, Germany
  • 1952 Parliament passes Canadian Currency, Mint & Exchange Fund Act; allows gold coins of $5, $10, and $20 to be minted. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1952 Parliament passes CNR Capital Revision Act; releases Canadian National Railways from 50% of its debt; cuts interest payments for 10 years. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1963 Robert Menzies Prime Minister of Australia starts three-day visit to Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1973 Liberian tanker collides with a grain-carrier in the St. Lawrence River at Trois-Pistoles. Trois-Pistoles, Québec
  • 1974 At least 250 large icebergs are counted along the eastern shores off Newfoundland. Atlantic Ocean
  • 1974 Labatt Breweries of British Columbia Limited acquires control of Interior Breweries Company. BC
  • 1980 Pierre Trudeau criticizes provincial premiers for refusing to endorse the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms without getting new powers; at Liberal convention in Winnipeg. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1982 TSE Index drops to 1346; Toronto Stock Exchange down 44% from November 1980. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1985 Bryan Adams has a #1 Billboard hit with his single ‘Heaven’. New York, New York
  • 1989 Federal PC cabinet minister Bernard Valcourt injured while motorcycling; later charged with impaired driving and dropped from the cabinet. New Brunswick
  • 1989 Montréal International Jazz Festival hosts a free performance by guitarist Pat Metheny; attracts 100,000 people to downtown Montréal. the largest concert crowd ever in the city; almost a million fans will attend 35 separate shows. Montréal, Québec
  • 1991 Progressive Conservative Party raised 20% less in 1990 than 1989; Liberal Party, NDP, Reform Party got more; Elections Canada reports. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1991 Grant Devine government brings in Gross Revenue Insurance Plan; combines crop and revenue insurance; funds throughout year in 3 payments instead of year end. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1991 Patricia Starr receives $3,500 fine for breaking Ontario’s election finance laws; convicted of fraud June 28; former political fundraiser for Ontario Liberals. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1991 President of South Korea Roh Tae-Woo holds talks with PM Brian Mulroney in Ottawa; to improve trade and political ties. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1991 Privacy Commissioner Bruce Phillips urgently recommends legislation against interception of cellular telephone conversations. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1991 Québec puts two-year freeze on immigration; maximum of 45,000 in 1991 and 1992; public fears immigrants threaten jobs in poor economy. Québec, Québec
  • 1995 Will Millar launches a lawsuit against his former bandmates in The Irish Rovers, best known for their 1968 hit The Unicorn; alleging that they conspired to oust him from the group and misappropriated royalties; the group had been together for 30 years; suit settled out of court. Vancouver, BC
  • 1996 Canadian Space Agency astronaut and NASA Payload Specialist Dr. Robert Thirsk, on Shuttle Columbia Mission STS-78 performs hand-grip tests in the Spacelab using the Torque Velocity Dynamometer; exercises on a stationary bicycle-like device called the ergometer to maintain cardiovascular conditioning in the microgravity environment, to help researchers gather data on in-flight muscle atrophy; continues tests on the human behavior workstation, doing problem-solving exercises which help track each crew members’ level of mental fatigue; continues the Astronaut Lung Function Experiment to measure effects of microgravity on pulmonary system during rest, heavy exercise and deep breathing. Space
  • 2005 Karla Homolka is released from prison.