Highlights of the day

  • 1812 Shawnee Chief Tecumseh brings 600 warriors to help Isaac Brock besiege US General Hull at Detroit.
  • 1848 Assembly of the Province of Canada repeals clause in Act of Union, making English Canada’s official language.
  • 1943 Mackenzie King opens Québec Conference attended by Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt.
  • 1945 VJ Day celebrations break out as Emperor Hirohito calls upon Japan’s war council to surrender.

List of Facts for August 14

  • 1586 John Davis fights heavy ice taking his ship Mooneshine into Cumberland Sound. Cumberland Sound, Nunavut
  • 1749 Jacques de La Jonquière arrives at Québec to take office as Governor of New France; serves until May 17, 1752. Québec, Québec
  • 1756 French and Indian War - Marquis de Montcalm captures old Fort Oswego after British defender Col. James Mercer killed by a cannon ball; his successor Lt Col Littlehaleson surrenders with 700 men of the 15th Regiment and 51st Regiment; Montcalm’s Indians kill over 50 English soldiers before he can stop them; he turns the fort over to them as a show of friendship and returns to Montréal, having secured control of Lake Ontario. Oswego, New York
  • 1779 American Revolutionary War - George Collie relieves Francis McLean’s post by sea, routs Americans and destroys their ships. Castine, Maine
  • 1812 War of 1812 - Shawnee Chief Tecumseh brings 600 of his warriors to help Isaac Brock besiege American General William Hull at Detroit. Amherstburg, Ontario
  • 1813 War of 1812 - British brigantine HMS Pelican attacks and captures the US sloop USS Argus off the coast of England. Atlantic Ocean
  • 1814 War of 1812 - Lieutenant Miller Worsley scuttles and burns schooner Nancy to prevent capture by US ships Niagara, Tigress and Scorpion on Georgian Bay; will later capture Tigress off Manitoulin Island. Wasaga Beach, Ontario
  • 1828 John Colborne appointed Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. London, England
  • 1848 Assembly of the Province of Canada repeals clause in Act of Union, making English Canada’s official language. Montréal, Québec
  • 1848 U.S. Congress creates Oregon Territory with previously-elected George Abernethy remaining as governor. Washington, DC
  • 1849 Oregon officially proclaimed a US Territory. Oregon
  • 1852 Edward Belcher arrives at Beechey Island; winters at Dealy Island off southern shore of Melville Island. Beechey Island, Nunavut
  • 1858 Crime - Gold rush miners kill seven Salish at ‘The Battle of Boston Bar’ near Fort Hope, BC
  • 1861 St. Lawrence River floods, inundating 25% of Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1877 North-West Territorial Council passes ordinance ‘For the Protection of the Buffalo’ in an attempt to slow the destruction of the herds; unlawful to drive the buffalo into ravines or pits where they could be easily killed, or to hunt or kill buffalo for amusement, or solely to secure their tongues and pelts; closed season on female buffalo, extending from Nov 15 until Aug 14 each year; the herd numbering 60 million in 1800 was almost extinct by 1890. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1885 North West Rebellion - Several Métis involved in the Rebellion plead guilty to treason and felony charges; get jail sentences ranging from one to seven years. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1893 Kaslo incorporated as a Village. Kaslo, BC
  • 1899 Bell Telephone Company installs Canada’s First push-button pay phone in a Montréal drugstore; connections made only after 5¢ deposit; made by Northern Electric, today’s Nortel. Montréal, Québec
  • 1899 Opening of the Pittsburg Reduction aluminium plant in Shawinigan Falls. Shawinigan, Québec
  • 1903 J. H. McKinley and Ernest Darragh, engaged to supply railway ties for the new line from North Bay, Ontario, spot metallic flakes in the rock at the southeast end of Loog Lake, later re-named Cobalt Lake; other flakes in the gravel on the beach are soft enough to mark with their teeth; they send some rock samples to Montréal for assay, and get word that the mineral is native silver, assaying at 4,000 ounces to the ton; they apply for and get a mining lease from the government, and the following spring do further prospecting and erect a small plant, that is later taken over by Ottawa timber king J. R. Booth. The nearby LaRose mine is discovered six weeks later, when, the story goes, blacksmith Fred LaRose was so annoyed by an inquisitive fox that he threw his heavy hammer at the animal, missed it but knocked off a piece of rock to expose a glittering vein of silver; Cobalt turns out to be the richest silver vein in the world; by 1906 there are thousands of prospectors working the area; the Cobalt boom subsides in 1909. Cobalt, Ontario
  • 1908 Saskatchewan Election - Walter Scott’s Liberals win a second consecutive majority in provincial election. Saskatchewan
  • 1910 Construction of Edmonton’s High Level Bridge begins. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1912 Saskatchewan Election - Walter Scott’s Liberals win a third consecutive majority. Saskatchewan
  • 1913 Weather - Severe storm sweeps across the prairies, damaging crops and buildings, and killing several people. Manitoba
  • 1914 First World War - Volunteers of the Princess Patricia’s Own Light Infantry leave for the European front; First contingent from Western Canada; partially financed by Calgary lawyer, MP and future Prime Minister R. B. Bennett. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1914 First World War - Canada passes War Measures Act, suspending all civil rights in Canada during the crisis.
  • 1919 First airplane flight between Montréal and Québec; takes 5 hours. Montréal, Québec
  • 1920 Olympics - Canada joins 28 other countries at the opening of the Antwerp Olympic Games; 2607 athletes compete in 152 different events; figure skating competitions and hockey matches are also held at this Summer Olympiad, the last time before the 1924 Winter Olympics began at Chamonix. Olympiad in Greek means chronology, the interval of four years between two successive celebrations of the Olympian Games. Antwerp, Belgium
  • 1932 Olympics - Closing of the 10th Olympic Games at Los Angeles. Canada takes home two gold medals (Boxing - 53.52 kg: Horace Gwynne; High Jump: Duncan McNaughton), 5 silver (100 m sprint: Hilda Strike; 800 m: Alex Wilson; 4x100-m relay: Mary Frizzell, Mildred Frizzell, Lilliam Palmer, Hilda Strike; Wrestling - 72-kg freestyle: Dan McDonald; Yachting Team 8 m: Earnest Cribb, Peter Gordon, George Gyles, Harry Jones, Ronald Maitland, Hubert Wallace); and 8 bronze (Rowing Eights: Don Boal, Earl Eastwood, Harry Fry, Joseph Harris, Cedric Liddell, George MacDonald, Stanley Stanyar, Albert Taylor, William Thoburn; Double sculls: Noel DeMille, Charles Pratt; 400 m sprint: Alex Wilson; 800 m: Philip Edwards; 1,500 m: Philip Edwards; High Jump: Eva Dawes; 4x400-m relay: Jim Ball, Philip Edwards, Ray Lewis, Alex Wilson; Yachting Team 6 m: Earnest Cribb, Peter Gordon, George Gyles, Harry Jones, Ronald Maitland, Hubert Wallace). Los Angeles, California
  • 1934 Crime - Millionaire brewer John Labatt abducted at gunpoint by three men, who asked for a ransom of $150,000, which the kidnappers never received; released unharmed three days later; First recorded kidnapping for ransom in Canada. London, Ontario
  • 1936 Olympics - US defeats Canada 19-8 in the final for the First Olympic basketball gold medal; James Naismith from Almonte, Ontario. who invented the game, watches from the stands. Berlin, Germany
  • 1936 Disaster - Train and truck collide at Louiseville, killing 22. Louiseville, Québec
  • 1937 Mackenzie King sets up Royal Commission on Dominion-Provincial Relations (Rowell-Sirois Commission); to examine amendment of BNA Act and relations of Ottawa and provinces. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1941 {August 14 - Second World War - British PM Winston Churchill and US President Franklin Roosevelt sign eight-point Atlantic Charter of war and postwar aims on board a British battleship off Newfoundland; stresses human rights, freer trade; freedom from want and freedom to choose one’s own government; serves as the basis of the United Nations charter. Argentia Bay, Newfoundland
  • 1943 Second World War - Mackenzie King opens Québec Conference attended by Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt; start to discuss and plan the invasions of Italy and Europe. Québec, Québec
  • 1944 Second World War - Camilien Houde liberated from detention at Camp Petawawa; former Montréal Mayor held under War Measures Act for his fascist sympathies and incitement to avoid national registration in wartime. Pembroke, Ontario August 14 - Second World War - Canadian Army finally drives the Germans from the French town of Falaise. Falaise, France
  • August 14 - Closing of the First session of the 19th Federal parliament. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1945 Second World War - VJ Day celebrations break out as Emperor Hirohito calls upon Japan’s war council to surrender unconditionally; Treaty signed September 2; total cost of the Second World War to Canada: $11,344,437,766 and 42,000 dead.
  • 1948 Olympics - Closing of the 14th Olympics in London. Canadian athletes take home no golds, and only one silver medal (Canoeing - C-1 1,000 m: Douglas Bennett) and two bronze (Canoeing- C-1 10,000 m: Norman Lane; and Track and Field 4x100-m relay: Dianne Foster, Patricia Jones, Nancy MacKay, Viola Myers). London, England
  • 1958 CFL Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeat Edmonton Eskimos 29-21 in the First Canadian Football League game. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1961 Opening of second Conference of Provincial Premiers in Charlottetown. Charlottetown, PEI
  • 1968 Montréal awarded a National League baseball franchise; birth of the Montreal Expos. Montréal, Québec
  • 1972 Prince Edward Island creates Royal Commission to investigate land use, and sale to non-residents. Charlottetown, PEI
  • 1974 Progressive Conservative Party leader Robert Stanfield announces he will resign after leadership convention. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1980 Wayne Gretzky wins his First Hart Trophy at age 19, as the National Hockey League’s Most Valuable Player; youngest ever winner; will take the MVP trophy for the next five years in a row. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1980 Dorothy Stratten murdered by husband Paul Snider; Vancouver born Dorothy Hoogstratten was Playboy’s Playmate of the Year for 1980. Her murder inspired several books and films, including Star 80. Los Angeles, California
  • 1980 Tornado touches down south of London, tearing roofs from apartment buildings, downing power lines and uprooting trees. London, Ontario
  • 1981 The term ‘l’Estrie’ becomes the official place name referring to the Eastern Townships of Québec (Cantons de l’Est). Québec, Québec
  • 1990 Canadian Army task force of 2,600 soldiers arrives to assist the Québec police in dealing with Mohawk insurgents at Kanesetake. Oka, Québec
  • 1993 National Film Board director Francis Mankiewicz dies at age 49; born in Shanghai, China March 14, 1944; NFB films include Love and Hate: The Story of Colin and Joanne Thatcher (1989), Les Portes tournantes (Revolving Doors) (1988) , And Then You Die (1987), Les Beaux souvenirs (Happy Memories) (1981) and Les Bons debarras (Good Riddance) (1980). Montréal, Québec
  • 1997 Ontario Hydro plans to close down 7 of 19 Ontario Hydro nuclear power plants for repairs; Inadequate maintenance practices and management problems were charged in an internal document and the CEO Allan Kupcis had resigned.
  • 1999 Hunters find the body of an ancient hunter preserved in a glacier in the Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Wilderness, 1600 km north of Vancouver. The Iceman (aka Kwaday Dan Sinchi) was later reported to be about 500 years old. BC
  • 2003 Energy - Power blackout hits 8 northeastern US states and southern Canada; shuts down 10 major airports and 9 nuclear power stations; problem began in the FirstEnergy plant near Cleveland, Ohio at 2pm; Cleveland lost power at 4:09pm. The largest blackout in North American history affects an estimated 10 million people in Ontario and 40 million people in eight US states; financial losses are estimated at $6 billion USD.
  • 2003 Religion - United Church of Canada votes to approve same-sex marriage. Winnipeg, Manitoba 2007, August 14 - Politics - After 18 months in power, Stephen Harper names a new cabinet. Ottawa, Ontario