Highlights of the day

  • 1825 Lord Dalhousie arrives at Québec to take up his duties as Governor.
  • 1846 Lord Elgin installed as Governor of the Province of Canada; had reached Quebec Jan 30.
  • 1914 Defence Minister Sam Hughes forms the Canadian Aviation Corps; forerunner of the RCAF.
  • 1916 Prohibition goes into effect in Ontario, after a night when liquor stores and saloons sell out all their stocks.

List of Facts for September 16

  • 1638 Prince Louis born in the Palais du Louvre; becomes King Louis XIV of France, at age 5, and will rule for 72 years; Canada is his personal property. Paris, France
  • 1669 François de Verchères marries 14 year old Marie Perrot; their daughter is the heroine Madeleine de Verchères. Ile d’Orléans, Québec
  • 1759 French and Indian War - Census by the English victors shows many French remaining inside the blasted out town of Québec after its capture, including 2,600 women and children, as well as 1,200 wounded or sick. Québec, Québec
  • 1773 Immigration - Ship ‘Hector’ drops anchor at Brown’s Point, and starts landing 182 Scottish Highlanders, mostly tenant farmers fleeing high rents in Loch Broom in Sutherland. Pictou, Nova Scotia
  • 1791 King George III demands that all French royal coats of arms be removed from Québec. London, England
  • 1811 David Stuart of Astor’s Pacific Fur Company, having just built Fort Okanagan at the confluence of the Okanagan River with the Columbia River, heads up the Okanagan with his partner Montigny and makes his way to the Thompson River to trade over the winter. BC
  • 1812 War of 1812 - British victory in a skirmish at Presqu’Ile on Lake Erie. Erie, Pennsylvania
  • 1825 Lord Dalhousie arrives at Québec to take up his duties as Governor; served with Wellington in the Peninsular War. Québec, Québec
  • 1839 Thomas Simpson reaches the Coppermine River with Peter Dease after completing the longest voyage by boat yo date on the Arctic Ocean. Coppermine, NWT
  • 1846 Lord Elgin installed as Governor of the Province of Canada. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1867 Two non-organized clubs, calling themselves the Rough Riders and the Senators, play the Ottawa region’s earliest recorded rugby football game; the Ottawa Football Club will be organized in 1876, and in 1898, the rugby football club will re-organize itself as the Ottawa Rough Riders.
  • 1870 Alfred Boyd sworn in as First Premier of Manitoba as the First Executive Council of the province is organized. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1876 Opening of a colonization railway from Montréal north to St-Jérôme, Québec. Montréal, Québec
  • 1889 J. J. Hill incorporates the Great Northern Railway, to run from Minnesota to the Pacific Ocean. New York, New York
  • 1889 Lethbridge Board of Trade is formed. Lethbridge, Alberta
  • 1891 Immigration - First train-load of Austro-Hungarian settlers from the provinces of Galicia and Bukovyna arrive in Alberta; forced to leave because of over-population and crop failures, and attracted to western Canada by the Homestead Act which provided 160 acres for $10.00. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1891 immigration - First party of Ukrainian immigrants reach Edmonton by train; attracted to western Canada by the Homestead Act which provided 160 acres for $10.00. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1893 Calgary incorporated as Alberta’s First city; population has grown to almost 4,000 people in the decade following the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway; only community between Winnipeg and the Pacific with a water works and sewer system. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1896 Smelting - Kootenay Mining and Smelting shuts down its Pilot Bay smelter. BC
  • 1901 Duke and Duchess of Cornwall visit Canada until October 21, 1901; later King George V and Queen Mary.
  • 1914 First World War - Defence Minister Sam Hughes forms the Canadian Aviation Corps; the first Canadian military air service and forerunner of the RCAF. The service acquired the American-built Burgess-Dunne biplane, and shipped the aircraft to Europe with two officers and a mechanic. The plane was inferior to British and French planes and never saw action. Hughes disbanded the Canadian Aviation Corps in 1915, and the few pilots who signed up were sent to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC). Then in 1917 he set up the Royal Flying Corps Canada (RFC Canada) as a training organization of the British RFC, with stations at Camp Borden (main site), Beamsville, Hamilton (armament school), North Toronto (Armour Heights, Leaside and Long Branch), and Deseronto (Mohawk and Rathburn). The Curtiss JN-4 (Jenny) was used for training. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1916 First World War - John Kerr of the 49th Canadian Infantry Battalion, born in Fox River, Nova Scotia, earns a Victoria Cross for his actions at Courcelette during the Battle of the Somme; during a bombing attack he runs along the parados under heavy fire until he is in close contact with the enemy, and opens fire at point blank range; thinking they are surrounded, 62 Germans surrender; giving up 250 yards of trench; although Private Kerr’s fingers have been blown off by a bomb, he escorts the prisoners back under fire with two other men before having his wound dressed. Courcelette, France
  • 1916 Prohibition goes into effect in Ontario, after a night when liquor stores and saloons sell out all their stocks. Ontario
  • 1917 Cardinal Bégin asks Québeckers to vote for prohibition; they do not. Montréal, Québec
  • 1918 Vilhjalmur Stefansson returns to Vancouver from his Canadian Arctic Expedition, begun in 1913. Vancouver, BC
  • 1939 Second World War - Royal Canadian Navy escorts the First of many ship convoys for Britain; RCN vessels guard the freighers in formation to protect against German U-Boat attacks. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1943 Second World War - Germans fail to wipe out Salerno beachhead. Salerno, Italy
  • 1944 Second World War - Canada recognizes provisional government of French Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1945 Second World War - British accept formal surrender of Hong Kong from the Japanese. Hong Kong, China
  • 1946 Réal Caouette elected MP for the riding of Pontiac; later Créditiste leader. Temiskaming, Québec
  • 1947 Military - Parliament publishes a White Paper on the Defense of Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1957 Strike - 6,500 Aluminum Company of Canada employees at Arvida end four-month strike. Arvida, Québec
  • 1957 Epidemic - Canada hit by epidemic of Asian flu.
  • 1959 Walter Shaw sworn in as Premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing Alex Matheson. Charlottetown, PEI
  • 1960 Diplomacy - Canadian diplomat Yves Prévost becomes President of the United Nations General Assembly. New York, New York
  • 1960 Glassco Commission - Grant Glassco chairs Royal Commission to examine role and programs of federal government. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1962 International Nickel Company grants $2.5 million to Laurentian University in Sudbury. Sudbury, Ontario
  • 1963 Canada sells Soviet Union $500 million worth of wheat. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1964 Lester Pearson signs Columbia River Treaty jointly with President Lyndon Johnson and British Columbia Premier W. A. C. Bennett; after being ratified by both countries. Canada to build three dams for water storage to produce maximum flood control and power downstream; US makes lump sum prepayment of US$254.4 million for 30 years of power benefits; downstream benefits revert to Canada in 1994. Controversy erupts over environmental damage to salmon runs. Blaine, Washington
  • 1969 Atomic Energy of Canada sells $35 million nuclear research reactor to Taiwan Atomic Energy Council. Taiwan
  • 1973 Vancouver-born actor Raymond Burr stars in The New Perry Mason, a CBS revival of his TV crime drama. Hollywood, California
  • 1974 Canada’s First women RCMP recruits sworn into the force as constables. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1974 Baseball - Catcher Gary Carter plays his First game as a member of the Montréal Expos; in Jarry Park. Montréal, Québec
  • 1980 Federal-provincial conference on the constitution ends in quibbling. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1984 Pope John Paul II spends the morning in Winnipeg, then flies to Edmonton, Alberta that evening; First papal visit to Canada. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1986 Queen Elizabeth II augments the Coat of Arms of Saskatchewan with a crest and supporters. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1987 Environment - Opening of Montréal conference sponsored by the UN Environmental Program; 24 countries and the European Community will sign the Montréal Protocol, a treaty designed to protect Earth’s ozone layer by calling on nations to control and reduce use of cholorfluorocarbons or CFCs by the year 2000, to restore atmospheric ozone that protexts the earth from radiation; 49 other countries express their approval but for various reasons do not sign the protocol. The MP will be amended in 1990 and 1992. By 1997 156 nations will have signed the Montreal Protocol. CFCs are used in refrigeration. Montréal, Québec
  • 1988 Olympics - Canadian team attends opening ceremonies of the 24th Olympiad; Seoul Summer Olympics events start the next day. Seoul, Korea
  • 1991 Jenny Jones debuts her TV talk show ‘The Jenny Jones Show’ in syndication; born in London, Ontario, Jones started her career touring Canada and the US as a drummer in a rock band; she then worked as a backup singer/arranger with Wayne Newton in Las Vegas, formed her own band, ‘Jenny Jones and Company’, worked on the game show and standup comedy circuit, then, after a one-year tour with Englebert Humperdinck, developed a popular comedy show for women called Girls’ Night Out, which led to a contract with Warner Brothers, who developed her show. Hollywood, California
  • 1992 Brian Perry of the Canadian Tax Foundation says taxes increasing; OECD report says Canada’s tax revenues up to 39.4% of GNP in 1991; up from 37.1% in 1990 and 34.5% in 1989; versus US rate of under 30%. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1992 Commons passes bill passed ending Family Allowance baby bonus system; replaced by more support for working poor, and an earned income supplement for those working; benefit shrinks as income rises. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1992 Québec bureaucrat Diane Wilhelmy sees her taped telephone call released criticizing Premier Robert Bourassa for ‘caving in’ during talks leading to the Charlottetown Accord. Québec, Québec
  • 1993 Peacekeeping - Canadian forces engage in an intensive firefight with Croatian forces during Operation Medak pocket. Croatia
  • 1993 Blood System - Government announces inquiry to recommend how to reform the blood system to make it more efficient and safer; day after provinces announce compensation plan for people who contracted HIV through tainted blood products before officials started screening blood for the AIDS virus. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1996 Heritage Minister Sheila Copps opens Canadian Information Office, a new national unity agency. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1996 India plays Pakistan in First one day cricket international in Canada held in Toronto. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1996 Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Borje Salming, Boston Bruins right winger Bobby Bauer, CBC announcer Bob Cole and New York Islanders coach Al Arbour, winner of four consecutive Stanley Cup titles, inducted into the International Hockey Hall of Fame. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1997 Environment - Heritage Minister Sheila Copps rejects business development plan for town of Banff, Alberta; plan had serious environmental implications. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1998 Jim Gregory, Chairman of the International Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee, announces new members: in the Player Category, Peter Stastny, who began his NHL career with the Québec Nordiques in 1980 after defecting from Czechoslovakia, and Michel Goulet, who signed as an underage free agent with the WHA’s Birmingham Bulls in 1978; in the Veteran Player category, Roy Conacher, younger brother of Charlie Conacher and Lionel Conacher; in the Builder Category, Monsignor Athol Murray from Notre Dame College in Wilcox, Saskatchewan; Yvon Pedneault and Howie Meeker were also selected in recognition of their media work. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1999 Saskatchewan Election - Premier Roy Romanow leads Saskatchewan NDP to narrow re-election minority, with 29 seats to the Saskatchewan Party’s 26 and 3 Liberals. Saskatchewan
  • 2000 Olympics - Opening of 27th Olympic games at Sydney. Sydney, Australia
  • 2004 Same Sex Marriage - Supreme Court of Manitoba rules the province’s ban on same-sex marriages unconstitutional. Winnipeg, Manitoba