Highlights of the day

  • 1837 William Lyon Mackenzie elected agent and secretary of the Committee of Vigilance of Upper Canada
  • 1880 Britain transfers all possessions in North America to Canada except Newfoundland and Labrador coast.
  • 1917 Earl Haig mounts Passchendaele offensive; Currie’s Canadians take over in October.
  • 1998 Canadian dollar hits an historic low of 66.10 cents to the $1US.

List of Facts for July 31

  • 1667 Second Anglo-Dutch War - Treaty of Breda again restores Acadia to France; end of war between England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands; since January 26, 1666; Thomas Temple, the proprietor of Acadia, residing in Boston, was ignored in the Treaty; he had been given a charter by Oliver Cromwell; the handing back was delayed until 1670. Nova Scotia
  • 1687 Jacques de Denonville leaves Pierre de Troyes and a garrison to build Fort Niagara at the mouth of the Niagara River; then returns to Montréal Lewiston, New York
  • 1755 Expulsion of the Acadians - Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Charles Lawrence sends instructions to Colonel Robert Monckton: [I]t will be necessary to keep this measure as secret as possible, as well to prevent their attempting to escape, as to carry off their cattle; and the better to effect this you will endeavour to fall upon some stratagem to get the men, both young and old (especially the heads of families) into your power and detain them till the transports shall arrive, so as that they may be ready to be shipped off; for when this is done it is not much to be feared that the women and children will attempt to go away and carry off the cattle. But least they should, it will not only be very proper to secure all their Shallops, Boats, Canoes and every other vessel you can lay your hands upon; But also to send out parties to all suspected roads and places from time to time, that they may be thereby intercepted. [T]he inhabitants have now (since the order in Council) no property in them, nor will they be allowed to carry away the least thing but their ready money and household furniture. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1759 British beaten in skirmish on the Beauport flats east of Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1763 Pontiac and his Ottawa warriors repel a night attack by the British at Bloody Run, killing as many as 160 soldiers in an ambush; his siege of Detroit was a failure, although he was able to capture eight British forts during his uprising. Detroit, Michigan
  • 1786 James Strange claims Vancouver Island for Britain. BC
  • 1813 War of 1812 - British capture Plattsburgh. Plattsburgh, New York
  • 1837 Rebellion of 1837 - William Lyon Mackenzie elected agent and secretary of the Committee of Vigilance of Upper Canada, meeting at John Doel’s brewery; Committee adopts a Declaration of Independence modeled on the American one; Mackenzie warns that the Committee of Vigilance could easily be transferred without change of structure to military purposes. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1865 Mining - Cariboo Sentinel reports colossal gold yield taken off Erikson claim in the Cariboo; over $160,000 taken out in just 7 weeks; gold production in the region had doubled in one year with June/July production $950,648 compared to $475,158 for the same period in 1864. Barkerville, BC
  • 1868 George-Étienne Cartier passes the Rupert’s Land Act, 31-32 Victoria, Chapter 105: An Act for enabling Her Majesty to accept the Surrender upon Terms of the Lands, Privileges, and Rights of The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson’s Bay and for admitting the same to the Dominion of Canada. (Rupert’s Land Act, 1868). Great Britain; by which the British government underwrites Canada’s £300,000 (plus 1/20th of land in fertile belt plus acreage around each existing fur fort); lets Crown declare Rupert’s Land and the Northwest Territories part of the Dominion of Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1874 First Russian Mennonites arrive in Winnipeg aboard the steamboat International. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1879 Richard Cowan makes First flight in Canada in a hydrogen balloon; with Charles Grimely and Charles Page. Montréal, Québec
  • 1880 Boundaries - Imperial Order-in-Council transfers all British possessions in North America to Canada except Newfoundland and the Labrador coast, effective September 1, 1880; including ownership of all Arctic Islands. London, England
  • 1882 R.E. Sproule registers the Bluebell claim, Gay Reeder the Mogul. BC
  • 1887 Colonel Sam Steele and D Company of the NWMP arrive at Galbraiths’ Ferry, BC.
  • 1908 Disaster - Coal Creek No.2 caves in after a bump; 4 dead, 21 trapped. Mine subsequently abandoned. BC
  • 1913 Alys Bryant First woman in Canada to make a solo air flight; from Vancouver racetrack Vancouver, BC
  • 1916 Coquihalla section of Kettle Valley Railway opened and the Crow’s Nest Line officially complete; 961.7 miles from Medicine Hat, Alberta to Vancouver, BC; 299 miles from Odlum to Midway. Coquihalla, BC
  • 1917 Earl Haig mounts Passchendaele offensive with British and Anzac troops; the Third Battle of Ypres sees heavy losses from the start; on October 26, he will give the job to Arthur Currie’s Canadians, who will succeed on November 6, 1917; there are 400,000 allied dead and wounded in this Flanders battle. Ypres, Belgium
  • 1917 See: Canadians Capture Passchendaele
  • 1920 Roland Groome of Regina becomes Canada’s First licensed commercial air pilot. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1932 Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) is founded in Calgary. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1942 Second World War - HMCS Wetaskiwin helps sink the German submarine U-588 in mid-Atlantic. Atlantic Ocean
  • 1950 Waneta and nearby Columbia Gardens, BC post offices close. Waneta, BC
  • 1954 Mining - Opening of Québec-Labrador iron ore project, by the Iron Ore Company of Canada. Schefferville, Québec
  • 1955 Marilyn Bell conquers English Channel; Toronto swimmer at age 17 is the youngest to date. Dover, England
  • 1957 The DEW Line (Distant Early Warning) radar system begins operation; the line of radar stations is a joint US-Canada defence project across the NWT.
  • 1958 Canex shuts down the Emerald mine and mill. BC
  • 1962 Ontario, Alberta, and Saskatchewan pledge support for care of chldren deformed by use of thalidomide medication during pregnancy; Ottawa announces cooperation August 1, 1962. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1966 New Ottawa Station opens in suburb of Alta Vista; Union Station in central Ottawa closes; now a conference centre Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1972 Ottawa announces that first-time offenders for cannabis possession will not be jailed Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1976 Olympics - Greg Joy wins the silver medal for Canada in high jump on the last day of the Montréal Summer Olympics, in the rain; beats US favourite Dwight Stones with a leap of 2m 23; in 1978, Joy will go on to break the world record for the high jump with a leap of 2.31 metres. He is married to Sue Holloway, who has two Olympic medals in kayaking. Swimmer Cheryl Gibson, paddler John Wood, and equestrian Michel Vaillancourt also win silver medals at the Montreal games. Montréal, Québec
  • 1987 Disaster - Mammoth tornado kills 27 people, injures at least 250 and causes $150 million damage during an afternoon rush-hour touchdown; most casualties lived in an Edmonton East trailer park. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1989 CBC Newsworld cable TV service goes on the air; CBC’s new news and information channel debuts with a morning show from Halifax. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1990 Strike - 16,000 Ontario and Québec steel workers walk off the job at Stelco and Algoma steel plants. Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
  • 1990 Mayor Jean Ouellette gets Oka Town Council to reject $1.34 million federal offer to buy disputed gold course land for Mohawks of Kahnesetake, and $2.5 million compensation to town for lost economic opportunities Oka, Québec
  • 1992 Olympics - Guillaume Leblanc of Rimouski, Québec, wins the silver medal in the men’s 20 Km Race Walk at the Barcelona Summer Olympics. Barcelona, Spain
  • 1993 Toronto Blue Jays pick up the Oakland A’s Rickey Henderson in a trade. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1996 Olympics - Annie Pelletier wins a bronze medal for Canada in the three-metre diving event at the Atlantic Summer Olympics; Gia Sissaouri, in the 57-kg wrestling division, wins Canada’s second medal of the day when he goes to the final, and takes silver. Atlanta, Georgia
  • 1996 Ottawa, Ontario rocker Alanis Morissette kicks off her First Canadian tour before 15,000 fans at GM Place in Vancouver; her concert sold out in less than an hour after tickets went on sale back in May. Vancouver, BC
  • 1996 Gambling - Opening of Casino Rama, Canada’s largest native-run casino. Orillia, Ontario
  • 1997 Phil Fontaine elected new Chief of Assembly of First Nations, defeating incumbent Ovide Mercredi. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1998 Record - The Canadian dollar hits an historic low of 66.10 cents to the $1US.
  • 1998 Manitoba Pool Elevators and the Alberta Wheat Pool merge to form Agricore. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 2000 Conrad Black’s Hollinger Inc. sells almost all of its Canadian newspaper holdings to Izzy Asper’s CanWest. Toronto, Ontario