Highlights of the day

  • 1789 North West Company partner Alexander Mackenzie reaches the Beaufort Sea.
  • 1920 Arthur Meighen sworn in as Canada’s 9th Prime Minister after resignation of Robert Borden.

List of Facts for July 10

  • 1559 King François II starts reign; to 1560; on death of King Henri II. Paris, France
  • 1628 David Kirke & Lewis Kirke capture Tadoussac, Miscou, and Cap Tourmente, and seize supply ship of the Hundred Associates; leave Québec when Samuel de Champlain makes a show of strength and refuses to surrender. Québec, Québec
  • 1631 King Charles I orders William Alexander to give Port Royal back to the French and destroy the fort built by his son. London, England
  • 1690 Henry Kelsey comes to what he calls Deerings Point, probably at bend in Saskatchewan River near The Pas; takes possession of land for HBC; winters there. The Pas, Manitoba
  • 1755 Pierre de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil appointed Governor of New France; receives annual salary of 372 pounds; last French Governor, to September 8, 1760. Québec, Québec
  • 1789 Alexander Mackenzie reaches flats and marshes of the Mackenzie Delta, struggles to within a short distance of Arctic Ocean before turning back. Inuvik, NWT
  • 1827 Chippewas cede 890,000 hectares in Lambton, Middlesex, Oxford, Perth, Waterloo and Wellington counties. Ontario
  • 1852 Edward Inglefield sets sail in Lady Franklin’s yacht Isabella to search for Franklin Expedition; will enter Smith Sound and Kane Basin; names Ellesmere Island. London, England
  • 1869 Montréal mining engineer Thomas McFarlane discovers rich vein of silver galena near Prince Arthur’s Landing on Lake Superior; developed as Silver Islet mine. Thunder Bay, Ontario
  • 1871 First Dominion Land Survey monument is placed. Manitoba
  • 1883 Edward Kelly appointed Gold Commissioner for the Kootenay District of British Columbia. Victoria, BC
  • 1885 Government votes financial aid to CPR. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1897 Fire brigade organized at Grand Forks. Grand Forks, BC
  • 1902 Steel rails for building of Crows Nest Southern Railway arrive at Elko, BC.
  • 1907 First Vancouver, Victoria & Eastern Railway train arrives at Keremeos, BC.
  • 1910 Kettle River Railway begins construction south from Merritt, BC. -
  • 1920 Robert Laird Borden retires as head of Unionist Government due to ill-health; Canada’s 8th Prime Minister; served since October 12, 1917; replaced by Arthur Meighen. Ottawa, Ontario -
  • 1920 Arthur Meighen sworn in as Canada’s 9th Prime Minister after resignation of Robert Borden; serves to December 29, 1921; then in 1926. Ottawa, Ontario -
  • 1920 James Lougheed appointed Minister of the Interior and Superintendent General of Indian Affairs in the Arthur Meighen government.. -
  • 1920 New Brunswick votes for prohibition of alcoholic beverages in a referendum. New Brunswick -
  • 1931 Louise McKinney dies; women’s rights activist, First woman legislator in the British Empire. Alberta -
  • 1934 Richard Reid sworn in as United Farmers of Alberta Premier of Alberta, replacing John Brownlee as UFA leader; serves to September 3, 1935. -
  • 1940 Alexander MacMillan sworn in as Premier of Nova Scotia, replacing Angus Macdonald. Halifax, Nova Scotia -
  • 1943 Second World War - Operation Husky - Canadian Army 1st Infantry Division and 1st Tank Brigade invade Sicily with British 8th Army, U.S. and French troops; after training for 3 1/2 years in Britain; Sicily taken August 17, 1943 with 2,434 Canadian casualties. Pachino, Italy
  • 1944 Tommy Douglas sworn in as Premier of Saskatchewan, replacing William Patterson; the First CCF government of Saskatchewan and the First socialist government in North America. Regina, Saskatchewan -
  • 1946 Canada’s First drive-in movie theatre opens in Hamilton. Hamilton, Ontario -
  • 1951 Canada signs a formal peace agreement with West Germany ending the state of war with Germany. Ottawa, Ontario -
  • 1958 Military - John Diefenbaker and Dwight Eisenhower sign agreement to have Canada and the United States set up Joint Committee to guide North American defenses in the event of enemy attack. Washington, DC
  • 1963 Ottawa approves BC’s signing of Columbia River Treaty; allowing project to start on Peace River and Columbia River. Ottawa, Ontario -
  • 1967 Queen Elizabeth II starts 12-day tour of Maritime provinces with the Queen Mother. Halifax, Nova Scotia -
  • 1969 Start of strike by 17,000 Inco workers at plants in Sudbury and Port Colborne, Ontario. Sudbury, Ontario -
  • 1970 Québec passes provincial health insurance bill, joins the federal Medicare plan. Québec
  • 1972 Leonid Brezhnev, Leader of the USSR, when asked by Time Magazine how many ballistic missiles were aimed at Toronto, replies: None; I have nothing against the Indians. New York, New York
  • 1982 Record - Three $2 ticket bettors win $579,129 apiece at the races in Exhibition Park, Vancouver. Vancouver, BC
  • 1985 French secret service agents sink 160-foot protest vessel, Rainbow Warrior, owned by Vancouver-based Greenpeace environmental group in Auckland haarbour; the underwater bomb kills one crew member; France’s defence minister will resign four months later, after it is reported he knew of the plot; two French agents later plead guilty to manslaughter; Greenpeace protesting French nuclear tests at Mururoa Atoll in the South Pacific. The resulting scandal will force the resignation of France’s Minister of Defense and the firing of the head of France’s intelligence service. Auckland, New Zealand
  • 1987 Old Elko, BC train station settled onto new foundations at the Museum of Rail Travel at Cranbrook, BC.
  • 1987 Jimmy King dies at age 67; Winnipeg musician and bandleader was director of the Jimmy King Orchestra and the Golden Boy Brass. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1991 Justice Minister Kim Campbell unveils new draft extradition law to sent wanted criminals to home countries; to decrease stages of appeal from 7 to 3; also draft law on criminal insanity - insane defendants can no longer be jailed indefinitely. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1991 Grace MacInnis dies at age 85; British Columbia’s First female MP; daughter of CCF founder J. S. Woodsworth. Sechelt, BC
  • 1991 Jean Charest orders full-scale environmental assessment of Great Whale hydro project, but no stoppage; criticism from Québec, environmentalists and Cree. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1996 Coalition of Canadian groups threatens to boycott Florida produce and tourism unless the US relents on the Helms-Burton law that imposes sanctions on foreign companies that trade with companies expropriated by from the US by Cuba.
  • 2002 Canadian Ken Thomson acquires Peter Paul Rubens’ painting The Massacre of the Innocents for £49.5 million (US$76.2 million) at a Sotheby’s auction; later donated to Art Gallery of Ontario. London, England
  • 2004 Jeff Lapcevich wins CASCAR Toronto Indy 100 KM at the Toronto Molson Indy. Toronto, Ontario
  • 2005 Two small biplanes simulating a First World War dogfight collide at an air show in Saskatchewan, killing both pilots instantly. Saskatchewan
  • 2010 Politics - Stephen Harper names legal scholar David Johnston as the next governor general, succeeding Michaelle Jean. Ottawa, Ontario.