September 4

Highlights of the day

1812 Miles Macdonnell Proclaims the Founding of the Red River Settlement.
1905 Earl Grey proclaims The Saskatchewan Act, 1905 and the Province enters Confederation.
1984 Brian Mulroney wins 212 of 282 seats; the most in Canadian history, against John Turner’s Liberals.
1995 Kettle and Stony Point Protesters Occupy Ipperwash Park.

List of Facts for September 4

1760 French and Indian War - English troops occupy Île Perrot; closing in on Montréal. Montréal, Québec
1793 Edward, Duke of Kent funds First Sunday School at Québec, a free school. Québec, Québec
1812 Miles Macdonnell proclaims Lord Selkirk’s ownership of the 185,000 square kilometres that constitute Assiniboia; Selkirk’s agent and a former soldier, Macdonnell arrived August 30, 1812, with the First Red River Settlers, mostly Scottish, at the confluence of the Red River and Assiniboine River, to found the Red River Settlement. As First Governor of Assiniboia, his duty is to establish the colony on land acquired by Selkirk from the Hudson’s Bay Company; he will build Fort Douglas near the North West Company’s Fort Gibraltar. The Red River Colony will be destroyed in a feud with the Norwesters in 1815, but will be re-established by Selkirk in 1817. Winnipeg, Manitoba
1814 War of 1812 - Canadian turncoat Joseph Willcocks is killed by Drommond’s forces during the Seige of Fort Erie; the head of the Canadian Volunteers is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, NY. Fort Erie, Ontario
1821 Czar Alexander I signs ukase declaring Russian zone of exclusivity on the west coast of North America from Lat. 51 degrees N to the Bering Sea; forbids non-Russian ships to approach the Pacific coast of North America south of 51 degrees north—as far south as Oregon—and closes Alaskan waters to foreigners. Moscow, Russia
1827 Métis Fur trader Tête Jaune is killed by local native people; Tête Jaune Cache and Yellowhead Pass are named after him. Alberta
1864 Confederation—Charlottetown Conference—The delegates attend Sunday church services and take a day of rest. Charlottetown, PEI
1873 Pacific Scandal - Start of special parliamentary inquiry into the awarding of CPR contracts. Ottawa, Ontario
1876 Frederic Stupart of the Dominion Meteorological Observatory issues Canada’s First prepared storm warning. Toronto, Ontario
1880 John A. Macdonald signs provisional agreement with CPR syndicate for building of the Canadian Pacific Railway; group consists of Bank of Montreal President George Stephen, US rail financier Duncan Mclntyre, and Ontario-born Minnesota entrepreneur James Jerome Hill; Stephen’s cousin Donald Smith of the Hudson’s Bay Company, who withdrew support for Macdonald during the Pacific Scandal, lurks in the background. Ottawa, Ontario
1885 Steamboat Kootenai grounded and damaged; the boat is mothballed while undergoing repairs at Little Dalles. BC
1898 BC Southern Railway tracks opened through the Jerome Tunnel and into Moyie City, BC
1899 Royal Victoria College for Women at McGill University opens; funded by Donald Smith, Lord Strathcona, a controlling shareholder of the Bank of Montreal, the Hudson’s Bay Company and the CPR, is a strong believer in education for women. Montréal, Québec
1905 Governor General Earl Grey formally proclaims The Saskatchewan Act, 1905 and swears in Amédée Forget as its First Lieutenant Governor; the Province of Saskatchewan hereby enters Confederation as the ninth province. Regina, Saskatchewan
1905 Henri Bourassa marries Joséphine Papineau. Montréal, Québec
1908 Caledonia Football Club and Hillhurst Football Club play for Central Alberta Rugby Football League Championship. Calgary, Alberta
1909 Robert Baden-Powell presides over First Boy Scout rally in England; movement funded in part by Canadian High Commissioner Donald Smith, Lord Strathcona. Britain
1915 First World War - Mobilization of the 73rd Infantry Battalion at Montréal. Montréal, Québec
1916 First World War - Canadian Corps takes over a section of the Somme line; facing the village of Courcelette. Courcelette, France
1917 Official opening of the Montréal municipal library. Montréal, Québec
1946 Louis St-Laurent appointed Minister of External Affairs. Ottawa, Ontario
1948 Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicates the Dutch throne in favour of her daughter, Queen Juliana, who spent the war in Ottawa. Netherlands
1950 David Hodgson of St. Ann’s Bay catches a tuna weighing 452 kg. St. Ann’s Bay, Nova Scotia
1954 Icebreaker makes the First passage of McClure Strait, the fabled Northwest Passage. Nunavut
1966 Vancouver-born actor Raymond Burr stars in last episode of CBS-TV legal drama, Perry Mason, broadcast on this day. Hollywood, California
1971 James Gladstone dies; Canada’s first senator of Aboriginal ancestry. Fernie, BC
1972 Canada-Soviet Series - Team Canada beats the USSR 4-1 in Game 2 of the Super Series/September to Remember, to even out the series against the Soviets; known as Brother Night, because of the goal scoring of Frank Mahovlich and Pete Mahovlich and the goaltending and marksmanship of Tony Esposito and Phil Esposito. Toronto, Ontario
1972 Crime - Art thieves rob Montréal Museum of Fine Arts of $3 million of paintings and art objects; including $1 million Rembrandt. Montréal, Québec
1972 Canada-Soviet Series - Team Canada beats the USSR 4-1 in Game 2 of the Super Series/September to Remember, to even out the series against the Soviets; known as Brother Night, because of the goal scoring of Frank Mahovlich and Pete Mahovlich and the goaltending and marksmanship of Tony Esposito and Phil Esposito. Toronto, Ontario
1984 Federal Election - Brian Mulroney wins landslide victory against opponents Liberal John Turner and New Democrat Ed Broadbent. His Progressive Conservative Party takes a record 212 of 282 seats, to 40 Liberal; 30 NDP; 1 Other, in the biggest majority (seat total) ever won by a federal party in Canadian history; also takes 58 of 75 seats in his home province after promising to reintegrate Québec into the Canadian family with honour and enthusiasm; Turner suffers crushing defeat nationally, but wins own seat in Vancouver Quadra.
1985 Mila Mulroney gives birth to son Daniel Nicholas Dimitri on the first anniversary of her husband’s sweep to power. Ottawa, Ontario
1986 Claude Brochu appointed CEO of the Montréal Expos baseball club. Montréal, Québec
1990 Military—Gulf War—Prime Minister Brian Mulroney announces formation of Operation Scimitar, to provide air cover for the two destroyers and the supply ship sent to the Persian Gulf in late August of 1991 as part of Operation Friction, tasked with enforcing the United Nations trade blockade against Iraq. Canada first sent 18 CF-18 fighter jets, 36 pilots and 255 ground crew, with 200 support personnel and a company from the 3rd battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment for security. Doha, Qatar was chosen as the site for camps Canada Dry 1 and 2.
1995 Aboriginal - Kettle and Stony Point Protesters Occupy Ipperwash Park; protester Dudley George killed.
1996 Alanis Morrisette voted Best Artist at the 13th annual MTV Awards. Los Angeles, California
1996 CRTC awards broadcast licences for 23 new channels, including a new History and Entertainment Network; CHUM Ltd. of Toronto receives six licences. Ottawa, Ontario
1997 Annie Perreault speed skating champion has an operation on both her legs. Montréal, Québec
1997 Gordie Howe, 69, agrees to suit up for the IHL’s Detroit Vipers in the team’s season opener against the Kansas City Blades on Oct. 3; will become the only professional hockey player to play in six consecutive decades. Detroit, Michigan
1997 Huron Central Railway, owned by Genessee Rail-One, takes over operation of the former CP line between Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and Sudbury. Sudbury, Ontario
1998 New Incat 046 catamaran collides with a dragger in Yarmouth Harbour, killing fishing Captain Clifford Hood, age 33; the fast ferry carries up to 900 passengers and 240 cars from Bar Harbor, Maine, to Yarmouth across the Bay of Fundy at 80 kmh. Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
2004 Opening of the Canadian Museum of Rail Travel in Cranbrook, BC.