July 17

Highlights of the day

1673 Count Frontenac holds peace conference with Iroquois at Cataraqui.
1771 Samuel Hearne first European to reach the Arctic overland, at Coppermine.
1812 Charles Roberts takes Fort Michilimackinac with 600 British, Cdns & Indian allies
1840 Cunard’s First Steamship Arrives in Halifax.

List of Facts for July 17

1648 First temperance gathering in North America takes place at Québec; in settlement for Christian (Huron or Wendat) Indians of Loretteville (Wendake). Sillery, Québec
1654 Robert Sedgwick forces Charles La Tour to surrender Fort Ste-Marie. Saint John, New Brunswick
1656 Zacharie Dupuy starts construction of a trading house on the site of Syracuse. Syracuse, New York
1673 Dutch privateers raid Ferryland. Ferryland, Newfoundland
1673 Count Frontenac holds peace conference with Iroquois at Cataraqui; makes treaty the following year. Kingston, Ontario
1673 Second census of New France shows a population of 6,705. Québec
1731 Jean-Pierre Roma gets grant for Compagnie de l’Est de l’Île St-Jean to settle colonists on ‘Île St-Jean, in what is now Prince Edward Island. Brudenell Point, PEI
1771 Samuel Hearne and his Chipewyan guide, Matonabbee, reach the partially frozen Arctic Ocean after descending the Coppermine River to its mouth; First European to reach the Arctic overland. Coppermine, NWT See account in: Samuel Hearne’s Journey from Prince of Wales’ Fort in Hudson’s Bay, to the Northern Ocean.
1792 John Graves Simcoe chairs First meeting of the Executive Council of Upper Canada. Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
1812 War of 1812 - Charles Roberts captures Fort Michilimackinac with 600 British, Canadians and Indian allies from the British Fort St. Joseph. Michilimackinac, Michigan
1817 Construction begins on the Lachine Canal; completed eight years later. Lachine, Québec
1817 Samuel Jarvis kills John Ridout, 18, in a duel in the town of York. Toronto, Ontario
1820 A young boy named John A. Macdonald arrives in Kingston from Scotland with his family; later Prime Minister of Canada. Kingston, Ontario
1837 Rebellion of 1837 - Louis-Joseph Papineau chairs an illegal protest meeting at Napierville with Cyrille Côté. Napierville, Québec
1838 Lord Durham reviews the 43rd Regiment and other regulars at Niagara; a show of force to impress American sympathizers of the rebels. Niagara Falls, Ontario
1839 Troops foil rebel-republican plan to rob and murder in Cobourg. Cobourg, Ontario
1840 Samuel Cunard arrives at Halifax with his daughter on his first steamship, the paddle steamer Britannia. Halifax, Nova Scotia August 5, 1846; will establish the 49th Parallel as the Boundary west from the Rocky Mountains. Washington, DC
1850 William Pullen starts down Mackenzie River in search of lost Franklin Expedition; reaches Arctic Ocean on July 22, 1850 and Cape Bathurst on August 9, 1850. Hay River, NWT
1886 Crime - Lone outlaw holds up Prince Albert mail coach; First stagecoach robbery in Saskatchewan. Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
1889 Joseph Cockle files a 320-acre pre-emption on the west side of Crawford Bay. BC
1890 Joe Moris and Joe Bourgeois register the Center Star, War Eagle, Idaho and Virginia claims on Red Mountain. Eugene Topping registers the Le Roi. Red Mountain, BC
1896 CPR announces it will build a 2500 ton/day smelter on the Columbia River at Blueberry Creek. BC
1897 Klondike gold rush starts when the ships Excelsior and Portland arrive from Skagway, Alaska with the First group of gold-laden Yukon prospectors. Seattle, Washington
1897 Work begins on the Crow’s Nest Line at Lethbridge, Alberta
1899 CPR opens the Rossland C&W Railway station. Rossland, BC
1928 William Pinkham dies; First Anglican Bishop of Calgary. Calgary, Alberta
1944 Second World War - Royal Canadian Navy escorts war’s largest convoy of 167 ships into North Atlantic; meets no U-Boat opposition; RCN now controls all Battle of the Atlantic escort forces. Halifax, Nova Scotia
1944 Second World War - RCAF Spitfire pilot Charley Fox fires on the staff car of German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, sending The Desert Fox to hospital with major head injuries; Fox reported he had strafed an unknown black car; he later learned that one of the passengers was Rommel; the Americans also claimed to have hit Rommel’s car, but German reports specifically mentioned a Spitfire rather than an American P-47. Rommel was soon afterwards implicated in the assassination plot against Adolf Hitler. He was allowed to commit suicide and his death was announced as a result of injuries from Fox’s air attack. In 2004 Fox was officially credited with injuring Rommel, although he has expressed some regret about the attack, as Rommel was supposedly planning to secretly negotiate an earlier end to the war with the Allies. Beny-sur-Mer, France
1956 CNR amalgamates Canadian Northern Railway, Grand Trunk Pacific Railwayand 15 other subsidiaries into Canadian National Railway. Ottawa, Ontario
1959 Founding of the Emergency Measures Organization; EMO to deal with possible nuclear attack and protect the public. Ottawa, Ontario
1964 Canadian Pacific Lines Empress of Ireland rediscovered by scuba divers; sunk in a collision May 29, 1914, with the loss of 1,014 lives. Ste-Luce-sur-Mer, Québec
1967 Economic Council of Canada recommends founding Department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs. Ottawa, Ontario
1968 Strike by 2,700 Ontario brewery workers ends after three-weeks. Ontario
1968 Lester Pearson appointed President of the London-based Institute for Strategic Studies; defence and disarmament research centre. London, England
1969 Pierre Trudeau meets a group of farmers protesting that the federal government was not doing more to market their wheat. Trudeau launches a rhetorical question, “Why should I sell your wheat?” and proceeds to answer his own question. Some media reported that he was dismissing their concerns with “Why should I sell your wheat?” instead of taking them seriously. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
1972 Terrorism - bomb placed under a ramp at the Montréal Forum explodes, blowing up an equipment truck and destroying 30 speakers belonging to the Rolling Stones; Montréal radio stations receive over 50 calls claiming responsibility but the bomber is never found; the concert goes on as scheduled. Montréal, Québec
1972 Ottawa sets up New Horizons program to help retired seniors develop their own work projects. Ottawa, Ontario
1974 Ed Broadbent chosen as interim national leader of the NDP after defeat of David Lewis loses his seat in the 1974 general election. Ottawa, Ontario
1974 Anne Murray has a #1 Billboard hit with her song He Thinks I Still Care. New York, New York
1976 Queen Elizabeth II officially opens the Montréal Olympic Games; she is attanding with Princess Anne and Capt. Mark Phillips. A total of 6,085 competitors from 92 nations are competing at Canada’s First Olympics and the XXI Olympiad; the Stade olympique is unfinished, and 21 countries, mostly African, boycott the games; Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci will be the sensation of the games with two perfect 10 scores. Canada will win five silver and six bronze medals. Steriod fueled competitors from East Germany make Canada the First host country not to win a gold medal. Montréal, Québec
1978 Canada-US agreement on prisoners - Canadians in American jails and Americans in Canadian prisons can now finish their sentences in their home countries. Washington, DC
1981 British Columbia government names a 2,639-metre (8,658 foot) peak in the Rocky Mountains after Terry Fox. Victoria, BC
1995 Christine Silverberg appointed chief of the Calgary Police Service; the 45-year-old becomes the First female police chief of a major Canadian city. Calgary, Alberta
2001 Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day announces he will step down three months before the holding of an Alliance leadership convention; due to infighting in the party.
2001 Teck Corporation and COMINCO merge. Vancouver, BC
2003 Fire begins burning on Anarchist Mountain above Osoyoos, BC.