Highlights of the day

  • 1814 British Retreat at Battle of Chippawa After Defeat by US Regulars

List of Facts for July 5

  • 1610 John Guy sails with brother Phillip Guy and 38 other colonists from Bristol to Newfoundland; Bristol merchant appointed governor of First English colony in Newfoundland with instructions to fortify the settlement at Cupids (then known as Cuper’s Cove) in Conception Bay, experiment with farming, cut spars and planks, make salt, potash and glass, collect samples of ore and fish and trade in cured fish and train oil. Bristol, England
  • 1626 Samuel de Champlain arrives back in Québec after he was exiled by the Kirkes; sets to work building outpost at Cap Tourmente, Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1700 Joseph de Villebon dies in office; Governor of Acadia. Saint John, New Brunswick
  • 1717 New France authorities withdraw card money from circulation; had lost half its face value; originally used to pay the army. Québec, Québec
  • 1758 French and Indian War - General James Abercromby leaves the ruins of Fort William Henry at the head of Lake George to attack the French at Fort Carillon; army of 6,000 British regulars, and almost 9000 provincials from New England, New York and New Jersey, embarks in hundreds of batteaux and whale boats. Lake George, New York
  • 1777 American Revolutionary War - Arthur St. Clair abandons Fort Ticonderoga this night after leaving strategic Mount Defiance carelessly defended; leaves important supplies for the British under General John Burgoyne. Ticonderoga, New York
  • 1813 War of 1812 - British begin three weeks of raids on Fort Schlosser, New York, Black Rock, New York and Plattsburgh, New York. Buffalo, New York
  • 1814 War of 1812 - US Major General Jacob Brown, with Winfield Scott and Elzear Ripley, defeats Gen. Phineas Riall and 1,800 British at Battle of Street’s Creek (Battle of Chippawa); British retreat back toward Burlington, destroying Chippawa Bridge to prevent pursuit; 148 British dead, 48 Americans. [NOTE: the name is sometimes spelled incorrectly as Chippewa] Chippawa, Ontario
  • 1843 United States citizens declare a provisional government in Oregon. Oregon
  • 1871 Joseph Trutch appointed lieutenant-governor of British Columbia; serves to June 26, 1876. Victoria, BC
  • 1884 North West Rebellion- Louis Riel arrives back from Montana at Tourond’s Coulee (Fish Creek), North-West Territories; prelude to rebellion. Saskatchewan
  • 1885 Johnnie Chance claims to have found a nugget of gold at the confluence of Granite Creek and the Tulameen kicking off the Similkameen gold rush. BC
  • 1885 Prince Edward Island founds own telephone company. Charlottetown, PEI
  • 1889 John Norquay dies; Premier of Manitoba 1874-87; Manitoba’s only premier of mixed European and aboriginal ancestry. Manitoba
  • 1909 First streetcars roll through Calgary. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1913 Vilhjalmur Stefansson leaves Seattle on the Karluk; three-year Arctic expedition sponsored by Canadian government. Seattle, Washington
  • 1915 The Hotel Macdonald in Edmonton opens. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1923 Sydney miners and steel workers strike for higher wages and union recognition; government investigating commission accepts their demands. Sydney, Nova Scotia
  • 1930 Daredevil George Stathakis dies in a plunge over Niagara Falls in a barrel, but his turtle survives. Niagara Falls, Ontario
  • 1937 Record - Temperature at Yellow Grass reaches 45C, the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada; 110F+. Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan
  • 1942 Second World War - Ian Fleming attends a security course at the Special 25 training school for spies at STS 103 (Special Training School 103), better known as Camp X; possibly while working for Sir William Stephenson in New York; later member of MI5, creator of James Bond novels. Port Hope, Ontario
  • 1946 J. L. Ilsley introduces new decontrol program in Parliament; list of goods to remain under price ceilings. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1950 Korean War - Royal Canadian Navy destroyers HMCS Cayuga, HMCS Athabaskan, and HMCS Sioux leave Esquimalt for Pearl Harbor escorted by cruiser HMCS Ontario; RCN ships to come under UN control during the War. Esquimalt, BC
  • 1951 James Henderson dies; Prairie artist. Saskatchewan
  • 1957 Charles Noble dies; the inventor of the Noble Blade; settled in Claresholm district of southern Alberta from North Dakota, but drought, poor harvests and low prices for grain forced him into bankruptcy; in 1935 developed a new plough that sliced under the sod, leaving grass and weeds behind to protect topsoil from the wind; built a factory to manufacture the Noble Cultivator. Nobleford, Alberta
  • 1958 Brewery Bay residence of Stephen Leacock opened as the Leacock Memorial House. Orillia, Ontario
  • 1963 Walter Phillips dies; artist. Alberta
  • 1965 Start of restoration of Wolfe-Montcalm Monument destroyed by separatists in 1963. Québec, Québec
  • 1967 Governor General Roland Michener invested by Queen Elizabeth II with the First ribbon and pendant star of the Order of Canada; founding of the Order of Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1970 Air Canada DC-8 en route from Montréal to Los Angeles makes a heavy landing at Malton Airport, bounces and loses one starboard engine; in the pilot’s attempt to take off and land again the other starboard engine falls off and the aircraft crashes 10 km west of Malton (Pearson International Airport); all 109 aboard killed. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1972 National Ballet of Canada ends First European tour; perform in Monte Carlo, London, Glasgow, Paris, Stuttgart. Lausanne, Switzerland
  • 1975 Canadian rock group Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s ‘Hey You’ peaks at #21 on the pop singles chart. New York, New York
  • 1975 Joey Smallwood elected leader of the new Liberal Reform Party of Newfoundland and Labrador; former Newfoundland Premier. Newfoundland
  • 1977 Pierre Trudeau sets up Task Force on Canadian Unity (Pépin-Robarts Commission), chaired by Jean-Luc Pépin and John Robarts. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1989 Toronto Blue Jays now 10 games back in the American League, but will go on to win the AL East title. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1990 Gregory Evans says in report to Nova Scotia government that Donald Marshall is due $1.5 million; for spending 11 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1991 Jake Epp concludes closing Sarnia-Montréal oil pipeline will not threaten oil supply; built during energy crisis 15 years ago. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1991 Joe Clark accepts parallel constitutional reform process run by First Nations; to provide input to parliamentary unity committee. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1991 Ottawa seizes Bank of Credit and Commerce Canada’s assets and closes all four branches; result of international money-laundering investigation.
  • 1993 Justice Francis Kovacs puts publication ban on trial of Karla Homolka in sex slayings of Ontario schoolgirls Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy; to ensure fair trial for her estranged husband Paul Bernardo, facing first-degree murder charges. St. Catharines, Ontario
  • 1994 Report of provincial inquiry says Montréal police force poorly supervised, badly trained and racist. Montréal, Québec
  • 1997 Halifax, Nova Scotia singer Sarah McLachlan kicks off Lilith Fair, her all-female pop festival tour, at the George Amphitheatre; with Suzanne Vega, Paula Cole and Jewel. George, Washington