Highlights of the day

  • 1834 John A. Macdonald starts articling in George Mackenzie’s law office in Kingston.
  • 1918 Arthur Currie continues advance, leads attack on the Hindenburg Line; penetrates German defenses.
  • 1925 Edward S. Rogers sells his first AC tube; makes batteryless radios possible.

List of Facts for August 26

  • 1576 Martin Frobisher expedition crew member finds what may be lump of gold; will turn out to be fool’s gold - iron pyrite. Baffin Island, Nunavut
  • 1613 Samuel de Champlain arrives in St-Malo from Tadoussac, Québec; will try and get further support for his voyages. St-Malo, France
  • 1634 Huron Indians supply wild plums to the Jesuits. Québec, Québec
  • 1748 François Bigot arrives at Québec to serve as the new Intendant; his tenure will prove corrupt. Québec, Québec
  • 1758 French and Indian War - John Bradstreet sets up a battery within point blank range of the walls of Fort Frontenac and starts firing. Commandant Pierre de Noyan will capitulate a day later. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1784 Cape Breton Island separated from Nova Scotia; becomes its own colony, with Lieutenant-Governor and council. Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
  • 1833 Captain James Ross and his shipwrecked crew of 19 are rescued off Baffin Island by his flagship, the whaler ‘HMS Isabella’; Ross and crew survived four winters with the help of the Inuit before abandoning ‘HMS Victory’ to the ice, and setting off, in shipwrecked boats they had found and repaired, through a lane of water that opened up leading northward. Baffin Island, Nunavut
  • 1834 John A. Macdonald starts articling in George Mackenzie’s law office in Kingston. He later complained, “I had no boyhood. From the age of 15, I began to earn my own living.” Kingston, Ontario
  • 1837 Rebellion of 1837 - Governor Archibald Acheson, Lord Gosford dissolves the fourth session of fifteenth Assembly of Lower Canada; meeting since August 18, 1837; had refused to pass budget subsidies. Québec, Québec
  • 1856 Hugh Allan establishes the Allan Line with four ships - the ‘Canadian’, ‘North American’, ‘Indian’ and ‘Anglo Saxon’; subsidized with government mail contract. Montréal, Québec
  • 1871 Group of settlers from Southampton, Ontario, arrives in Winnipeg in search of cheap land. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1872 Pacific Scandal - John A. Macdonald wires John Abbott, ‘I must have another ten thousand’; stolen telegram later provided the opposition with proof that Macdonald had accepted money in return for his support in Parliament of the Hugh Allan group bidding for the CPR contract. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1876 Cree, Saulteaux, Assiniboines and Chipewyan of present-day central Alberta and Saskatchewan sign Treaty #6; to get schooling, as well as farm implements, seeds, farm animals and instruction in agricultural techniques; famine relief when necessary and medicine when needed; also adherents to 1899 treaty; total 194,725 sq km set aside for reserves. Fort Carlton, Saskatchewan
  • 1877 Anglican Canon E. K. Matheson, the First graduate from a Saskatchewan divinity school, arrives in Saskatchewan as a student missionary. Saskatchewan
  • 1881 First CPR train steams into Winnipeg over the Red River Bridge. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1884 British Army starts recruiting Canadian voyageurs and boatmen to serve in Garnet Wolseley’s Nile Expedition to rescue Charles Gordon at Khartoum, Sudan. Montréal, Québec
  • 1887 Fire destroys the Montréal Herald newspaper building. Montréal, Québec
  • 1891 Weather - Manitoba and the Northwest Territories provided with their First published weather forecasts. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1898 CPR begins regular service into Cranbrook, BC.
  • 1905 Roald Amundsen begins his journey through the North West Passage. Nunavut
  • 1906 King Edward VII grants the Coat of Arms of Saskatchewan. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1907 Toronto financier Cawthra Mulock opens his Royal Alexandra Theatre on King Street West; with the musical Top of the World, written by Mark Swain; theatre bought and refurbished by retailer Ed Mirvish in 1963. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1918 First World War - General Arthur Currie leads Canadian Corps in successful attack on the Hindenburg Line; penetrates German defenses, continuing the advance started at Amiens on August 8, 1918. France
  • 1919 Rudolph Schroeder American pilot wins the CNE’s Great Toronto-New York-Toronto Air Race, sponsored by the Canadian National Exhibition. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1920 Pantages Theatre opens in Toronto; with 3373 seats, it was Canada’s largest theatre. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1925 Invention - Edward S. Rogers, Sr sells the world’s first alternating-current tubes, made in his Toronto factory; his invention makes possible plug-in batteryless radios. The call letters of his new radio station, CFRB, stand for ‘Rogers Batteryless’. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1936 Maurice Duplessis sworn in as Union national Premier of Quebec, replacing Liberal Adélard Godbout. Québec, Québec
  • 1938 Montréal Maroons hockey team dropped from the NHL due to financial troubles. Montréal, Québec
  • 1939 Second World War - Mackenzie King sends personal peace appeals to Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and President of Poland. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1939 Second World War - The British Admiralty transmits the single word ‘funnel’ - the agreed-upon signal transfers control of Canadian merchant ships from the owners to the Royal Canadian Navy. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1951 Railway - Canadian railways adopt the Uniform Code of Operating Rules for train operation purposes. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1957 Joseph Tyrrell dies; geologist, explorer, historian. Tyrrell worked for the Geological Survey of Canada from 1881 to 1898, collecting and consolidating information on the natural history and mineral resources of many remote regions. He crossed the barrens, exploring the Dubawnt River and Thelon River as far as Chesterfield Inlet, and in 1884 he discovered the rich dinosaur beds of the Badlands of southern Alberta, as well as coal beds at Drumheller, Alberta, and Fernie, BC. After retiring from the government, he worked as a mining consultant, and developed properties in the Klondike and northern Ontario. The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology near Drumheller, Alberta, founded in 1985, is named in his memory. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1958 Founding of the Board of Broadcast Governors (BBG) to regulate broadcasting in Canada, independent of the CBC; later becomes the CRTC, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1960 Jean Drapeau decides to run for Mayor of Montréal; a social worker. Montréal, Québec
  • 1961 John Diefenbaker cuts ribbon to start construction of the International Hockey Hall of Fame at the CNE; announces $5 million annual grant for amateur sports in Canada. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1962 Canadian Amateur Hockey Association approves Father David Bauer’s proposal to build a Canadian Olympic Hockey team, instead of sending club teams off to represent Canada; in 1965 a permanent national team for Canada will be established. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1962 Vihjalmur Stefansson dies; Arctic explorer, ethnologist, lecturer and write; made three trips to the Arctic from 1906 to 1918, and covered over 32,000 sq km of territory. From 1913-18 he led the Canadian Arctic Expedition, which discovered Lougheed Island, Borden Island, Meighen Island and Brock island, while drifting on ice floes. His unauthorized Wrangel expedition, designed to claim an island north of Siberia for Canada, ended with the tragic death of four, including a young Canadian student, and caused an international incident. Hanover, New Hampshire
  • 1966 Strike by Canada’s 118,000 railway workers closes down telecommunications, air express; all but first-class mail and ferry service to PEI.
  • 1968 Hudson’s Bay Company launches replica ketch Nonsuch II to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the HBC. Appledore, England
  • 1970 Canadian folk singer Joni Mitchell performs at Isle of Wight Pop Festival; she bursts into tears when a spectator jumps on the stage, grabs her microphone and shouts, ‘This is just a hippie concentration camp.’ Cowes, England
  • 1972 Olympics - Canadian athletes join 121 other nations and a total of 7,156 competitors at the opening ceremonies of the Munich Summer Olympics; to September 10, 1972. Munich, Germany
  • 1977 Education - Parti Québécois government adopts Bill 101 (La Charte de la langue française); French becomes the official language of Québec; children whose mother or father went to English school eligible for English schooling; less stringent than Bill One as a support for the French language. Québec, Québec
  • 1978 First Canada Jam Festival opens; with the Doobie Brothers, the Commodores, Kansas, Dave Mason, Atlanta Rhythm Section. Ontario
  • 1980 Hockey - Czech brothers Peter and Anton Stastny sign contracts with the Québec Nordiques. Québec, Québec
  • 1981 Strike by Vancouver transit workers ends after five-weeks. Vancouver, BC
  • 1982 NASA launches Canada’s Anik-D1 communications satellite (mass 730 kg) aboard a Delta rocket. Cape Canaveral, Florida
  • 1987 Fire guts the Canadian National Exhibition’s 80 year old Music Building. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1991 Diplomacy - Canada to extend full diplomatic recognition to the Baltic republics of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania; Canada never recognized legitimacy of 1940 annexation by Stalin, but did not maintain diplomatic ties. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1991 CPR crews work their way into Princeton pulling Kettle Valley Railway hardware. Princeton, BC
  • 1992 CN North America signs freight deal with Burlington Northern and Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Mexico; creates single North American system; linked customs services and common equipment. Montréal, Québec
  • 2000 Sponsorship Scandal - Minister of Public Works Alfonso Gagliano criticized for giving contracts to a firm that employs his son. Montréal, Québec
  • 2000 MV Osprey 2000 enters service between Balfour and Kootenay Bay on Kootenay Lake; MV Anscomb (700 tons) retired. Kootenay Lake, BC
  • 2004 Todd Bertuzzi of the NHL Vancouver Canucks enters not guilty plea in British Columbia court for assaulting rival Steve Moore. Vancouver, BC
  • 2004 Crime - Convicted rapist Larry Fisher denied parole; arrested July 25, 1997 in Calgary, Alberta, convicted November 22, 1999 and sentenced to life imprisonment on January 4, 2000, for the rape/murder of Gail Miller in Saskatoon on January 31, 1969; David Milgaard was wrongfully convicted of the crime, and served 23 years in prison before being released in 1992, and exonerated by DNA evidence in 1997. Due to applicable laws at the time of the crime, Fisher will be eligible for parole in 10 years, rather than the current 25, after the sentence. On September 23, 2003, the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan denied his appeal of his conviction. Fisher had also served 23 years for numerous rapes in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Saskatoon, and North Battleford, Saskatchewan. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
  • 2006 Elizabeth May elected leader of the Green Party of Canada, replacing Jim Harris, leader since 2003; May won 2,145 votes or 65.3% of the total, against environmental consultant and Green deputy leader David Chernushenko. In her acceptance speech, May called on the federal government to renegotiate the [North American Free Trade Agreement. The Greens received 4.5% of the popular vote in the 2006 federal election, enough to secure over $1 million a year in federal funding but not enough to elect any of its candidates. Chernushenko won 10% of the vote in Ottawa Centre, the highest vote percentage of any Green candidate in the January election.