Highlights of the day

  • 1672 Count Frontenac presides over his First meeting of the Sovereign Council of New France.
  • 1792 Governor John Graves Simcoe convenes the First meeting of the legislature of Upper Canada at Newark.
  • 1970 Jack McClelland and Claude Ryan launch the Committee for an Independent Canada,
  • 1984 Brian Mulroney sworn in as Canada’s 18th Prime Minister at age 45.

List of Facts for September 17

  • 1672 Count Frontenac presides over his First meeting of the Sovereign Council of New France; announces the war now existing between France and Holland, and therefore with the Dutch colony to the south. Québec, Québec
  • 1747 Marquis de la Galissonière arrives at Québec to serve as Commandant general of New France; serves to October 21, 1749; advocates building a string of garrisoned posts down the Ohio Valley to hold the English colonies along the east coast, and distract the English militarily. Québec, Québec
  • 1759 French and Indian War - Jean de Ramezay, lieutenant du roi at Quebec, signs the official French capitulation of Quebec in a house at 25 Rue Saint-Louis, not far from the Ursuline convent, and today the office of the consulate of France; the following day he hands over the town to General George Townshend, Wolfe’s successor. Quebec, Quebec
  • 1764 Justice System - Court system set up in Québec; legal cases arising prior to October 1, 1764 are allowed to be tried in common courts in the French language; Walter Murray appointed Receiver General. Québec, Québec
  • 1792 Governor John Graves Simcoe convenes the First meeting of the legislature of Upper Canada at Newark [Niagara . Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
  • 1792 Jean Panet elected First Speaker of the Lower Canada Assembly by a vote of 28-18; favours French language. Quebec, Quebec
  • 1835 Governor Lord Aylmer leaves Québec for England. Québec, Québec
  • 1841 Governor General Lord Sydenham, diagnosed with tetanus, caused by a fall from his horse; will die two days later. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1844 Library - Opening of the Montréal Municipal Library, with 2,000 volumes. Montréal, Québec
  • 1849 Stony Monday Riot takes place in Bytown (now Ottawa), on the aftermath of Lord Elgin’s signing of the Rebellion Losses Bill, and the burning of the Parliament Buildings in Montreal, by Tory mobs enraged at the government compensating those who had participated in the rebellion unless they had been convicted of treason. When Lord Elgin let it be known that he was considering relocating the capital of the Province of Canada to Bytown, and had scheduled a visit, Tory supporters, including mayor Robert Hervey, opposed organizing a reception for the Governor General. When the Reform supporters in the North Ward Market (now the Byward Market), held a planning meeting, a riot broke out when the Tories tried to disrupt the meeting. Sticks and stones gave way to firearms; 30 people were wounded and one man, David Borthwick, was shot to death. On September 19, the two sides met on the Sappers Bridge over the Rideau Canal, this time with cannons, muskets and pistols, but the militia arrived in time to defuse the situation. Lord Elgin delayed his visit until July 1853.
  • 1859 Opening of Victoria Bridge; takes Grand Trunk Railway trains from Montréal Island to the south shore; the bridge is covered, and features stone piers shaped to deflect ice, designed by Samuel Keefer. Montréal, Québec
  • 1859 Royal Engineers Lieutenant H. S. Palmer, commissioned to roughly determine an alignment for a trail to Rock Creek, leaves Fort Hope in company with the Chief Factor of HBC Fort Colvile, Angus McDonald. Hope, BC
  • 1868 Fire - Barkerville burns to the ground after a miner tries to kiss a dance hall girl; in their struggle, they dislodge a stovepipe and set the canvas ceiling of the saloon on fire; residents forced to take refuge from the heat and the sparks in Williams Creek; the gold mining town will be rebuilt, but will eventually become a ghost town; although reconstruction began the next day, the gold rush was dwindling. Barkerville, BC
  • 1870 Louis Riel returns to Manitoba to assist the Métis and Adams Archibald in forming a working government in the province; stays for two years; makes secret visit to St. Norbert; urges Métis not to support Fenians; given support by George-Étienne Cartier. St. Norbert, Manitoba
  • 1870 Marc Girard, chosen to represent Franco-Manitobans, becomes a member of the province’s Legislative Council. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1878 Federal Election - John A. Macdonald defeats Alexander Mackenzie in Canada’s 4th general election; wins 142 seats to 64 for the Liberals; will serve to June 6, 1891; secret ballot and simultaneous voting First used; . Canada
  • 1878 Edgar Dewdney re-elected MP for the District of Yale in the 4th general election. Yale, BC
  • 1878 Honoré Mercier loses his seat by only 6 votes in the 4th general election. Québec
  • 1882 Cree Chief Piapot tries to delay the CPR by pulling out railroad survey stakes west of Regina. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1904 Arctic - Captain Joseph Bernier departs from Québec on the Canadian government steamship ‘Arctic’; given the command because of his interest in the Polar regions (he had devised a plan to reach the North Pole via the Bering Strait); will make 12 expeditions into polar seas in the next 20 years; he will spend the winter in Hudson Bay collecting Canadian customs duties from whalers and traders. Québec, Québec
  • 1908 Henri Julien dies at age 50; painter, caricaturist; Julien began his career with the Desbarats printing firm in 1868; 1874 traveled with the NWMP expeditionary force sent to suppress the liquor traffic on the Prairies for the Canadian Illustrated News; 1888 art director and cartoonist for the Montréal Star. Montréal, Québec
  • 1908 Dissolution of the 10th Parliament. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1917 Dominion Bridge cranes start to lift the central span of the 2nd Québec Bridge slowly into position; succeed on September 20, 1917; finally opens to traffic December 3, 1917. Ste-Foy, Québec
  • 1917 McGillivray Creek Coal and Coke incorporated. BC
  • 1941 Second World War - Strikes declared illegal for the remainder of the war. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1942 Second World War - Royal Canadian Navy warship attacks German U-Boat in the St. Lawrence before the submarine flees. Rimouski, Québec
  • 1944 Second World War - Bernard Montgomery launches Operation Market-Garden, an airborne offensive to capture five bridges across the Rhine River delta; Canadians participate in the air and on the ground, in what is billed as one of the largest airborne invasions ever undertaken. Arnhem, Netherlands
  • 1944 Second World War - Canadian Army forces besiege Germans in the French port of Boulogne. Boulogne, France
  • 1945 Trans Canada Airlines’ First Lougheed Constellation passenger plane arrives at Dorval airport. Montréal, Québec
  • 1949 Disaster - Early morning fire consumes the Canada Steamship Lines Great Lakes cruise liner ‘Noronic’ at a pier in Toronto harbour; 130 of the 522 passengers, mostly American tourists, die; built at Port Arthur in 1913, Noronic was the largest Canadian and most luxurious passenger steamer ever placed in service on the Great Lakes. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1949 Lester Pearson represents Canada at First North Atlantic Treaty Council {NATO) meeting. Washington, DC
  • 1951 Northwest Territories Election - First elections held for Northwest Territories Council, to sit in Yellowknife, NWT. NWT
  • 1952 Crime - Edwin Alonzo Boyd captured in barn near Toronto, with William Russell Jackson, and Leonard Jackson; Boyd Gang rounded up after biggest manhunt in Canadian history. North York, Ontario
  • 1953 Jean Lesage appointed Quebec Minister of Natural Resources; later Premier of Québec. Quebec, Quebec
  • 1963 Diplomacy - Lester Pearson addresses the UN General Assembly, outlining proposals to strengthen peacekeeping forces. United Nations, New York
  • 1964 Cinema - Canadian-born film producer Harry Saltzman and his partner Cubby Broccoli host the World premiere of their new James Bond movie, Goldfinger, starring Sean Connery, Honor Blackman, Gert Frobe and Harold Sakata, at the Odeon Leicester Square theatre; Shirley Bassey sings the title song. London, England
  • 1964 House of Commons Flag Committee meets for the first time to research and choose a design for a new Canadian flag. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1970 Jack McClelland and Claude Ryan launch the Committee for an Independent Canada, to protest high levels of foreign investment in Canada, and the tax breaks enjoyed by US magazines such as Time and Readers Digest.
  • 1971 Guy Lafleur plays his First NHL game with the Montréal Canadiens, getting three assists in the Canadiens’ 7-4 exhibition game win against the Bruins, at the Montréal Forum. Montréal, Québec
  • 1972 Opening of Cartier-Brébeuf National Historic Park in Québec City; in honour of Jacques Cartier and Jean de Brébeuf. Québec, Québec
  • 1974 First female RCMP recruits start training at Regina. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1974 Renaude Lapointe elected Speaker of the Senate. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1975 Gordie Howe appointed President of the Houston Aeros hockey team; the Floral, Saskatchewan native is the First playing president in major league sports. Houston, Texas
  • 1975 Guess Who Day is declared in Winnipeg to honour the local supergroup Guess Who. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1978 Toronto actor Lorne Greene stars in new TV sci-fi adventure, Battlestar Galactica, on ABC. Hollywood, California
  • 1984 Brian Mulroney sworn in as Canada’s 18th Prime Minister at age 45, succeeding John Turner; with 40 Cabinet members, the biggest cabinet in Canadian history; including ex PM Joe Clark as Minister of External Affairs. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1985 Tainted Tuna Scandal erupts in Ottawa after CBC-TV public affairs show revealed that a million cans of rancid and decomposed tuna had been distributed to Canadian supermarkets; approved by Fisheries Minister John Fraser after inspectors had ruled it unfit for human consumption; government recalls tuna two days late; Tunagate causes Fraser to resign September 23, 1985. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1987 Montreal actor William Shatner stars in last episode of TV crime drama T.J. Hooker on CBS. Hollywood, California
  • 1988 Olympics - Games of the 24th Olympiad begin in Seoul, with the Canadian team joining 14,000 athletes from 160 countries. Seoul, Korea
  • 1988 Canada’s First aboriginal diocesan council established in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie. Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
  • 1990 Record - Toronto Blue Jays win 6-4 win over the Yankees; victory watched by 49,902 at the SkyDome, giving the Blue Jays a major league baseball season attendance record; the Jays will finish the season with 58 consecutive sellouts and a total attendance of 3,885,284. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1991 Military - Defence Minister Marcel Masse cites end of Cold War as Canada to cut military in Europe from 6,600 to 1,100 over 15 years saving $11 billion; Baden-Solingen base to close in 1994 and Lahr in 1995. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1991 Baseball - Only 4,355 turn out to see the Montréal Expos play the NY Mets at Shea Stadium. Brooklyn, New York
  • 1992 Statistics Canada reports record Canadian trade levels; exports rise to $13.1 billion; imports to $12.5 billion in July; merchandise trade surplus of $623 million; projected federal deficit $30 billion. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1995 Gustafsen Lake Crisis - End of armed standoff between police and aboriginal protestors occupying a private ranch after medicine man allowed into the native camp; protesters claimed land was sacred territory; 17 people charged by RCMP. Gustafsen Lake, BC
  • 1995 Kettle Valley Steam Railway Heritage Society reopens Trout Creek Canyon Bridge. Summerland, BC
  • 1996 Vancouver actor Michael J. Fox debuts in situation comedy Spin City on ABC-TV. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1997 Diplomacy - Canada joins 88 other countries in signing a treaty to ban antipersonnel land mines; US abstains. Montréal, Québec
  • 1999 Treaty Rights - Supreme Court of Canada rules a 1760 treaty guaranteed the Mi’kmaq (Micmac) an aboriginal right to fish, hunt and log year round for subsistence; ruling sparks a controversy as Mi’kmaq start to fish out of season; right later clarified to include conservation of stock as a necessity. Ottawa, Ontario