Highlights of the day

  • 1609 Samuel de Champlain joins skirmish against Iroquois; kills two chiefs with his arquebus.
  • 1793 John Graves Simcoe starts building Fort York to Protect New Capital of Upper Canada.
  • 1962 Prime Minister John Diefenbaker officially opens the Trans-Canada Highway to traffic.

List of Facts for July 30

  • 1578 Martin Frobisher finds his missing ships Judith and Michael behind Anne Warwick Island. Kodlunarn Island, Nunavut
  • 1583 Humphrey Gilbert reaches coast of Newfoundland; sails south to Funk Island which he names Penguin Island (Auks); rounds Baccalieu Island, Newfoundland and Cape St. Francis, Newfoundland. Funk Island, Newfoundland
  • 1609 Samuel de Champlain joins skirmish against Iroquois at Crown Point; kills two chiefs with his arquebus; First French military action in America; Champlain the First European to use firearms against the North American natives; beginning of the First Iroquois War, to 1624. Ticonderoga, New York
  • 1618 Samuel de Champlain sets sail from Tadoussac for Honfleur, France. Tadoussac, Québec
  • 1684 Joseph de La Barre leaves Montréal with 1,200 soldiers to battle the Iroquois; a disastrous campaign leads to his recall in 1685; had replaced Frontenac as Governor of New France in 1682. Montréal, Québec
  • 1701 Louis de Callière, Governor of New France, convenes a peace conference with 38 Iroquois and Huron chiefs. Montréal, Québec
  • 1711 Ovenden Walker leads British expedition against Québec; fails when eight troop transports are shipwrecked in fog in the Gulf of St. Lawrence; nearly 900 soldiers drown. Ile-aux-Oeufs, Québec
  • 1783 American Revolutionary War - Landing of the 2nd Battalion, Kings Royal Regiment of New York at Cataraqui to rebuild Fort Frontenac and prepare for the arrival of the Loyalists. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1789 Elizabeth Simcoe lands on the site of York; walks through ‘a grove of oaks where the town is intended to be built’. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1793 John Graves Simcoe starts building a fort in vicinity of Fort York, and blockhouse on Hanlan’s Point on Toronto Island; the Governor of Upper Canada is worried about a possible war with the new United States, he had decided to move the capital away from Newark, now Niagara-on-the-Lake, to the Toronto Bay area, which he called York in honour of the Duke of York. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1827 Hudson’s Bay Company builds Fort Langley post, at mouth of Fraser River. Langley, BC
  • 1837 Rebellion of 1837 - Patriotes hold illegal protest meeting at Vaudreuil. Vaudreuil, Québec
  • 1838 James Morrow hanged at Niagara for his part in the Short Hills Raid (Fonthill Raid). Niagara, Ontario
  • 1844 Execution - Four sailors from ship, Saladin, hanged for piracy. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1855 Jean-François Gravelet the First person to cross the Niagara Gorge on a tightrope. Niagara Falls, Ontario
  • 1865 Étienne-Paschal Taché dies; MD, militia colonel, Minister of Public Works of the Province of Canada 1848, co-premier 1856-57 with Allan MacNab and 1864-65 with John A. Macdonald; presided at the Québec Conference. St-Thomas-de-Montmagny, Québec
  • 1870 Adams Archibald appointed lieutenant-governor of the Northwest Territories. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1880 Inauguration of the Louise Basin in the port of Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1887 Victoria Bridge completed; First railway bridge over the St. Lawrence River. Lachine, Québec
  • 1891 Right to appeal to Her Majesty in Privy Council, from a decision of the Supreme Court of the North West Territories, is granted. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1892 Judicial Committee of the Privy Council upholds Manitoba’s right to abolish separate schools. London, England
  • 1897 Mount Lefroy is First climbed on this day. Alberta
  • 1897 Tripartite agreement among CPR, Kootenay Coal and British Columbia Southern Railway Company allowing construction of Crowsnest Pass railroad. BC
  • 1898 Gilbert John Elliot, Lord Minto appointed Governor-General of Canada; serves from November 12, 1898 to November 18, 1904. London, England
  • 1900 Japan bans emigration of citizens to Canada; at request of Canada. Tokyo, Japan
  • 1905 D. C. Corbin First sees Coal Mountain in eastern British Columbia with E. J. Roberts. BC
  • 1906 Census - Census commissioner reports that Winnipeg’s population is 90,216. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1927 King George VI arrives in Québec for Canadian tour; as Prince George; with British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin. Québec, Québec
  • 1932 Olympics - Canadians attend Los Angeles Olympic Games as part of a contingent of 37 nations and 1,408 competitors; to August 14, 1932; Horace Gwynne will win gold for Canada in Boxing (53.52 kg), and Duncan McNaughton in the High Jump. Los Angeles, California
  • 1937 Minister of Transport C. D. Howe flies to Vancouver in a ‘Dawn to Dusk Across Canada’ trip to start new Trans-Canada Air Lines service; with Herbert Symington, the air line’s director. Vancouver, BC
  • 1945 Second World War - Group of 4,500 soldiers return to Canada from fighting in Europe. Québec, Québec
  • 1954 Former Governor-General Lord Alexander opens fifth British Commonwealth Games in Vancouver; also held in Hamilton in 1930. The games feature the Miracle Mile. Vancouver, BC
  • 1955 Canadian pop singer Giselle Mackenzie, of the TV show Your Hit Parade, has a #1 Billboard hit single with ‘Hard to Get’. New York, New York
  • 1962 Prime Minister John Diefenbaker officially opens the Trans-Canada Highway to traffic, eliminating the final 160 km of dusty, gravel road from Golden, BC to Revelstoke, BC. Running almost 9000 km, from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Victoria, BC, the Trans Canada is the longest national highway in the world; construction began in 1950. Rogers Pass, BC
  • 1962 Mining - Britain purchases 10,886,400 kg (24 million lbs) of refined uranium from Canada. London, England
  • 1963 Hydro-Québec pours First cement for the Manic 2 power dam. Baie Comeau, Québec
  • 1964 Fire kills three and injures 17 at Beacon Arms Hotel in Ottawa. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1967 The Caribbean community in Toronto stages the first Caribana, with only eight bands and 1,000 spectators; will grow into the third largest carnivale in the world, drawing over 1 million spectators and 250,000 visitors a year. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1974 Québec National Assembly passes Bill 22, making French the official language of government and business in Quebec, and setting up la Régie de la Langue Française. Québec, Québec
  • 1974 Disaster - Grenade explodes at Valcartier military base, killing six soldiers. Québec, Québec
  • 1975 Government founds Petro-Canada, as a government-owned oil and gas company. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau asks Maurice Strong to return to Canada from his UN environment post to head the newly created national oil company, Petro-Canada, a Crown corporation set up create a stronger Canadian presence in the oil industry and identify new Canadian energy resources; will acquire the retail stations of British Petroleum Canada (BP Canada), Gulf and Fina. Strong later became Chairman of the Canada Development Investment Corporation, the holding company for some of Canada’s main government-owned corporations. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1975 Record - Cindy Nicholas of Toronto, 17, sets women’s record time for swimming the English Channel in nine hours, 46 minutes. Dover, England
  • 1978 Energy - The Syncrude plant ships its first barrel of synthetic crude from oilsands. Fort McMurray, Alberta. July 30’ - Montreal Expos crush the Milwaukee Braves 19-0, collecting 28 hits and a National League record tying 8 home runs. Montréal, Québec
  • 1980 Queen Elizabeth II augments the Coat of Arms of Alberta with a crest and supporters. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1981 An 83-kilometre (52 mile) section of the Trans-Canada Highway where Terry Fox was forced to end his run, is re-named in his honour. Thunder Bay, Ontario
  • 1982 Ottawa and Nova Scotia announce $500 million oil and gas drilling program off the Nova Scotia coast. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1982 RCMP drug unit seizes $22 million worth of hashish. Montréal, Québec
  • 1983 Golf - Andy Bean knocks in a two-inch putt with his club handle; the resulting two-stroke penalty causes him to lose the Canadian Open by two strokes. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1986 Bill Vander Zalm chosen leader of the British Columbia Social Credit Party, replacing a retiring Premier Bill Bennett. Vancouver, BC
  • 1988 Record - Ronald Dossenbach starts cross Canada cycling ride to Halifax; will do it in record 13 days, 15 hr, 4 minutes. Vancouver, BC
  • 1990 John Gomery Québec Superior Court Judge denies Mohawks a temporary injunction to remove police roadblocks; roadblocks justified because Mohawks breaking the law. Montréal, Québec
  • 1990 US announces it will withdraw planes and troops from Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay Labrador by following July; may cost 237 jobs and $25 million in economic benefits; after 48 years on the base. Goose Bay, Newfoundland
  • 1990 Victor Rice announces that Varity Corp. will reincorporate in Buffalo, New York; former Massey-Ferguson. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1992 Mark Tewksbury of Calgary wins the Gold Medal in the Men’s 100-metre Backstrokeat the Barcelona Summer Olympics; sets new Olympic record. Barcelona, Spain
  • 1992 Bank of Canada sets rate at 5.42%, lowest in 19 years. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1992 Immigration - Minister Bernard Valcourt says Canada will allow fast-track entry of up to 26,000 immigrants from former Yugoslavia. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1992 Joe Schuster dies at age 78; creator of Superman comic book hero with writer Jerry Siegel; sold idea to DC comics in 1938; fired 1947 for asking for higher royalty. Los Angeles, California
  • 1993 Daniel Lanois and the Tragically Hip join Midnight Oil, Hothouse Flowers and Crash Vegas to record the single ‘Land,’ written by Jim Moginie and Rob Hirst of Midnight Oil; proceeds go to the defence of environmentalists fighting logging in BC’s Clayoquot Sound. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1993 Fishery - Over 100 southwestern Nova Scotia fishermen end 8-day marine blockade after Fisheries and Oceans orders foreign trawlers fishing 120 km of the south coast to leave. Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
  • 1993 US born Globe and Mail film critic Jay Scott (born Jeffrey Scott Beaven) dies at age 43. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1995 Moore Corp. launches hostile US$1.3-billion takeover bid for high-tech competitor Wallace Computer Services Inc. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1996 Alison Sydor wins the silver medal in the women’s mountain bike event, a 9 km cross-country course at the Georgia International Horse Park; took six of the seven World Cup events this year. Atlanta, Georgia
  • 1996 Consumers Distributing goes bankrupt. Montréal, Québec
  • 1996 Statistics Canada reports violent crime rate in Canada has dropped for the third straight year to 995 incidents per 100,000 population. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1997 Phil Fontaine elected head of the Assembly of First Nations. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1997 Statistics Canada reports violent crime rate in Canada has dropped for the fourth straight year to 973 incidents per 100,000 population, including 633 murders. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2004 Canada Post president Andre Ouellet given a week to explain his actions after two audits claim that he overlooked contract-tendering and hiring protocols and ran a massive expense budget. Ottawa, Ontario