Highlights of the day

  • 1892 Start of three day fire that destroys most of St. John’s, Newfoundland.

List of Facts for July 6

  • 1669 Sulpician priests François Dollier de Casson and René de Galinée leave Montréal with La Salle to convert Potawatomi Indians of Mississippi; will discover and explore the Ohio River. Montréal, Québec
  • 1711 Les Arrets de Marly limit dues payable to seigneurs; uncultivated or uncleared lands must revert to seigneurs. Québec, Québec
  • 1757 French and Indian War - French troops leave St-Jean for assault on Fort William Henry; companies of La Reine, La Sarre, Languedoc, and Guyenne, plus 1,000 men of La Marine, a three hundred man unit known as Villiers’ Volunteers, 2,500 Canadians, 1,800 Indians (Ottawa, Menomonee, Sauk, Potawatomie and Fox), two companies of artillery, one company of workmen, and the artillery train; Duc de Lévis to take command of Fort Carillon and await arrival of the Marquis de Montcalm. St-Jean, Québec
  • 1757 French and Indian War - French troops leave Québec to re-enforce Louisbourg; the Corps Royal, consisting of six officers, four hundred recruits from France, and twenty artillery men, plus two battalions of the Berry Regiment. Québec, Québec
  • 1758 French and Indian War - General James Abercromby lands at Howe’s Cove at the northern end of Lake George, to attack the Marquis de Montcalm’s French army at Fort Carillon; army of almost 15,000 advances in four columns; retreat after death of Lord Howe; will try again the following morning. Ticonderoga, New York
  • 1777 American Revolutionary War - British force under General John Burgoyne takes Fort Ticonderoga from Arthur St. Clair and his rebels during the American Revolution. Ticonderoga, New York
  • 1795 Fourth session of First Parliament of Upper Canada meets until August 10, 1795; regulation of doctors, new registry of deeds and wills. Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
  • 1804 Simon McTavish dies; a founder of the North West Company. Montréal, Québec
  • 1850 Fire destroys over 1,000 buildings in Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1858 Alexander Galt proposes union of the provinces of British North America; Canadian Finance Minister. Kingston, Ontario May 15 resolution for the union of the British North American provinces, approved by the Assembly, is sent to the governors of each province. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1862 British government approves in principle the union of British North America. London, England
  • 1886 CPR’s First Atlantic Express departs Port Moody for the East. Port Moody, BC
  • 1887 Winslow Hall and Osner Hall register the Kohinoor, American Flag, Silver King and Kootenay Bonanza claims for their Kootenay Bonanza Mining Company. BC
  • 1892 Start of three day fire that destroys most of St. John’s. [picture: the devastation along the waterfront; note the cathedral on the hill is still standing]. St. John’s, Newfoundland
  • 1894 CPR workers in Winnipeg supported American workers in their strike against the American Northern Pacific Railway. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1896 Boundary - Federal Order-in-Council enlarges boundaries of Québec to Hudson Bay; adds 306,765 km2 to the province. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1906 House of Commons passes the Lord’s Day Observance Act after bitter debate; to ban work, sport, entertainment, and most business on Sundays. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1906 Empress of Ireland arrives at Québec at 05:30 on maiden voyage from Liverpool; with 215 1st-class passengers, 314 2nd-class passengers and 777 3rd-class passengers; best day’s run was 460 knots, a record for the North Atlantic service. Québec, Québec
  • 1908 Robert Peary’s expedition sails from NYC for the North Pole; his claims to have reach the Pole have been debunked. New York, New York
  • 1912 Small Canadian contingent attends opening of the 5th Olympic games in Stockholm. Stockholm, Sweden
  • 1918 Katherine Stinson’s plane forced down by engine trouble in the First official airmail flight in Western Canada. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1921 Record - Québec’s warmest day at 40.0C. Québec, Québec
  • 1924 Winnipeg-born inventor and radio pioneer William Stephenson sends First photo across Atlantic by radio, to England; the First of his wirephotos was published by the Daily Mail in December, 1922. New York, New York
  • 1925 Canada and British West Indies sign new trade agreement. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1934 Canadian soprano Sarah Fischer sings in 30 minutes of excerpts from Carmen; First opera telecast by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). London, England
  • 1934 Charles Bédaux departs with five Citroen half-tracks built especially for the journey on an automobile safari through the Peace River district to the Alaska Panhandle; first part of the route over a 500 mile muddy, unpaved road to Fort St. John, BC; tractors abandoned in muskeg in August; expedition board power boats at Whitewater, BC in September, and returned to Pouce Coupe, Alberta. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1935 First flight of Fairchild 82A bush plane, Canadian-designed successor to the FC-2W-2 and 71 models; phased out to produce Bristol Bolingbroke in wartime. Montréal, Québec
  • 1935 Social Credit League opens its election campaign with a picnic rally at the Edmonton Exhibition Grounds; over 5,000 people attend. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1936 James Clinkskill dies; First mayor of Saskatoon. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
  • 1948 Canada joins discussions leading to North Atlantic Security Pact; with delegates from Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, UK, and US; birth of NATO. Washington, DC
  • 1952 Catherine Motherwell dies; pioneer teacher and Indian missionary. Saskatchewan
  • 1961 Robert Thompson elected national leader of Social Credit Party; succeeds Solon Low.
  • 1965 Gasoline Retailers Fraternity of Québec start three-day strike against oil companies; close most Montréal service stations. Montréal, Québec
  • 1966 Lester Pearson announces $71 million in grants and development loans to Caribbean Commonwealth countries; over next 5 years. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1967 July 6 - Sport - Elaine Tanner, age 16, is voted star of the 1967 Pan Am Games in Winnipeg, with American Mark Spitz; she won two gold and three silver medals, setting two world records. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1972 Canada and Soviet Union announce program of cultural and scientific exchanges. Moscow, Russia
  • 1973 Ottawa lets Interprovincial Pipe Line’s increase crude oil capacity to Ontario and BC; $42 million program. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1975 Hailstone weighing 249 grams falls near Wetaskiwin. Wetaskiwin, Alberta
  • 1977 Solicitor General Francis Fox announces McDonald Royal Commission to investigate allegations of illegal RCMP activities; to be headed by David McDonald. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1978 Ottawa bans all new development in 38,850 km2 area of northern Yukon; will set up wildlife management program for 110-140,000 animal caribou herd. Yukon
  • 1984 General Motors of Canada starts investing over $1 billion for new facilities; including 125 industrial robots. Oshawa, Ontario
  • 1988 Two Canadians among 167 crew members killed as gas leak leads to explosion and fire on the Occidental Petroleum drill rig Piper Alpha in the North Sea; 64 survivors rescued. North Sea, Scotland
  • 1989 Government sells remaining 53% interest in Air Canada, completing privatization of the airline. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1990 Burst pipe at National Archives of Canada building on Wellington Street damages 100 atlases dating between 1490 and 1600, 2,000 books; and a collection of 150 year old manuscripts. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1991 Princess Anne leaves Pictou after six day visit to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Pictou, Nova Scotia
  • 1993 Former Provincial Courthouse in Blairmore declared a Provincial Historic Site. Blairmore, Alberta
  • 1993 Justice Francis Kovacs sentences Karla Homolka to two concurrent 12-year prison terms for manslaughter in the sex slayings with Paul Bernardo of Ontario schoolgirls Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy. St. Catharines, Ontario
  • 1994 Shreveport Pirates play their First CFL game, against Ottawa Roughriders. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1995 British Columbia creates Columbia Basin Trust. Victoria, BC
  • 1995 Dennis Bennie sells Delrina Corp. to Symantec Corp. in US$415 million deal; will cost jobs of almost 25% of the software company’s 730 employees. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1996 Payload Specialist Bob Thirsk, on Shuttle Mission STS-78 starts to wrap up the last of his experiment operations in the Spacelab module with fellow Mission Specialists Susan Helms, Rick Linnehan, Chuck Brady and Jean-Jacques Favier; they then start deactivating Spacelab, although the hatch between Columbia and the lab will not be closed until early the following morning. Space
  • 1997 Montréal Expos retire Andre Dawson’s uniform #10. Montréal, Québec
  • 2004 Five-year-old Tamra Keepness, of Regina is declared missing; start of massive police search. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 2005 Canada asks Washington to persuade a US court to dismiss a lawsuit against Talisman Energy Inc. that alleged the Calgary-based oil company aided genocide in southern Sudan. The suit was filed in a New York district court in 2001 by the Presbyterian Church of Sudan. Talisman sold its 25% interest in Sudan’s main oil project for $771 million in 2003.