Highlights of the day

  • 1787 Sir John Johnson meets Mississauga chief Wabukanyne to negotiate the Toronto Purchase.
  • 1908 University of Alberta opens as 45 students go to classes above a school in Strathcona.
  • 1912 Canadian Mack Sennett releases 1st Keystone Comedy movie; later hires Charlie Chaplin.

List of Facts for September 23

  • 1577 Martin Frobisher returns to England from his second voyage to the Arctic with 200 tons of supposed gold ore as ballast; his three kidnapped Inuit, a man, woman and child, die a month later, likely of influenza. The iron pyrite ore is used for building a laneway, giving rise to the legend that the streets of London were “paved with gold.” Gravesend, England
  • 1578 Humphrey Gilbert sets sail on First trip to North America to find the North West Passage; authorized by Queen Elizabeth I to explore and found colonies in North America or other lands of his finding; will be turned back at Cape Verde by the Spaniards; will reach Newfoundland on his second voyage. Plymouth, England
  • 1644 Religion - Governor Charles de Montmagny lays the cornerstone of the church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix; with Father Jérôme Lalemont. Québec, Québec
  • 1675 Robert de La Salle becomes the proprietor of Fort Frontenac, after being given letters of nobility and the seigneury of Cataraqui; will settle the site and use the fort as a base for western exploration. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1787 Treaty - Sir John Johnson of the British Indian Department and Deputy Surveyor General John Collins meet Mississauga chiefs Wabikane, Neace, and Pakquan at Carrying Place (Kenté) on the Bay of Quinte. Johnson agrees to pay the Ojibwa £1,700 ($8,500, or about $200,000 in current dollars), for a tract of land covering 101,528 hectares (250,880 acres), virtually all the land now covered by Toronto. The Toronto Purchase, ratified later, includes a small amount of cash and 149 barrels of goods, including axes, cloth, gunpowder, 2,000 gun flints, 24 brass kettles, 10 dozen mirrors, 2 dozen laced hats, a bale of flowered flannel, and 96 gallons of rum. Governor Guy Carleton also wanted land on the Bay of Quinte (near the current city of Belleville). The land is surveyed a year later, but not settled for another six years. In comparison, on May 24, 1626, Peter Minuit bartered about $24 worth of beads and trade goods for the island of Manhattan. Belleville, Ontario
  • 1844 Lord Metcalfe dissolves Parliament and forces an election. Montréal, Québec
  • 1873 Ambroise Lépine arrested for treason; Métis president of the court-martial which condemned Thomas Scott in the 1870 Red River Rebellion. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1873 Labour - Founding of the Canadian Labour Union as central organization representing 31 unions; First convention of organized labour; membership fees at five cents every three months; disbanded in 1878 after failing to become a national federation. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1874 Theatre - Toronto’s Grand Opera House opens with a performance of Sheridan’s Restoration comedy The School for Scandal. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1876 The new Ottawa Football Club plays its first game, against the Aylmer Football Club. The game is held at Cartier Square in Ottawa; in 1898, the rugby football club will re-organize itself as the Ottawa Rough Riders. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1893 Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway opens extension to the Madawaska River; will reach Depot Harbour at Parry Sound on Georgian Bay on December 1, 1896. Eganville, Ontario
  • 1897 William Mackenzie and Donald Mann et al buy the Vancouver, Victoria & Eastern Railway for $75000. Vancouver, BC
  • 1897 Lot 1901 registered as the townsite of Wardner, BC.
  • 1899 Regular railway passenger service extended to the Columbia River. Grand Forks, BC
  • 1903 Labour - CNP Coal’s unionized workforce at Morrissey, BC and Michel joined the Fernie, BC miners in the UMWA as District 18. Michel, BC
  • 1904 Royal North West Mounted Police establish post at Fullerton on Hudson Bay near Chesterfield Inlet. Fullerton, Nunavut
  • 1905 Government closes the Canadian Customs bureau in Fort Steele, BC.
  • 1907 Currency - Government issues proclamation setting the fineness and weight of the silver and bronze coins of Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1908 Education - Forty-five students attend First classes of the University of Alberta held on the top floor of an elementary school in Strathcona, Alberta. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1912 Richmond, Québec-born Mack Sennett releases his First Keystone Comedy movie, financed by two of his bookie friends, a ‘split-reel’ of two comedies starring Mabel Normand and Ford Sterling. He is already a silent screen veteran, acting with fellow Canadians Marie Dressler and Mary Pickford. In 1914 alone, he directed 35 comedies featuring his new star Charles Chaplin. In 1935, after directing a Buster Keaton movie, he went bust, and returned to Canada a pauper.
  • 1915 First World War - Québecker Joseph Tremblay the First Canadian soldier to die at the front in First World War. France
  • 1925 Saskatchewan Wheat Pool becomes the largest grain marketing organization in North America. Saskatchewan
  • 1925 Mackenzie King addresses the Liberal Party conference in Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1931 Depression - Nineteen families, forced off their farms by drought, take up residence in the Legislative Buildings in Winnipeg to protest lack of assistance to farmers. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1943 Second World War - 860 aircraft pass through Edmonton’s Blatchford Field; involved in the Commonwealth Air Training Plan (CATP) and building of the Alaska Highway. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1955 Kelowna Mines Hedley Limited stops working the Nickel Plate mine at Hedley, BC.
  • 1956 Founding of the First Portuguese-Canada Club. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1957 Diana, by Paul Anka, stays at #1 on the pop charts for another week. New York, New York
  • 1957 John Diefenbaker addresses UN General Assembly for the First time. United Nations, New York
  • 1961 Daniel Johnson, Sr. elected leader of the Union Nationale Party. Québec, Québec
  • 1961 Connie-Gail Feller dethroned after less than 6 weeks as Miss Canada because she returned home for a religious holiday without permission from officials; Feller, the First Ottawan to wear the crown, replaced by runner-up Miss Victoria. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1969 Keith Holyoake, Prime Minister of New Zealand starts state visit to Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1971 Trial - FLQ terrorist Bernard Lortie found guilty of the 1970 kidnapping of Québec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte. Montréal, Québec
  • 1973 Labour - United Auto Workers and Chrysler Canada sign a contract giving Canadian auto workers wage parity with the US for the First time. Windsor, Ontario
  • 1981 Chief Dan George dies at age 82; born June 24, 1899; First Nations leader, movie actor. Vancouver, BC
  • 1985 Canadian performer Joni Mitchell plays at the First Farm Aid concert, joining Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, John Fogerty and John Mellencamp; to raise funds for distressed midwest farmers. Champaign, Illinois
  • 1985 Tunagate - Fisheries Minister John Fraser resigns over the so-called Tunagate affair; in 1986 he will be elected Speaker of the House of Commons. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1985 Guy Lafleur dismissed from public relations post with the NHL Montréal Canadiens. Montréal, Québec
  • 1986 Gordie Drillon dies; born October 23, 1913. Drillon was called up from the Syracuse Stars to the Toronto Maple Leafs to replace ailing Charlie Conacher; he played with Toronto until 1942, and was the last Leaf to win the NHL scoring title (1938). Toronto, Ontario
  • 1989 Baseball - Toronto Blue Jays bat out of order against the Milwaukee Brewers in the 6th inning. Oops. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1990 Brian Mulroney appoints five new senators: James Kelleher, Trevor Eyton, Claude Castonguay, John Lynch-Staunton, Mabel DeWare; brings Senate of Canada up to strength. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1991 New Brunswick Election - Frank McKenna wins provincial election with 46 seats, down from 58 seat sweep; anti-bilingual Confederation of Regions Party forms official opposition; CoR wins 8 seats; 3 PC, 1 NDP. Fredericton, New Brunswick
  • 1991 New York Islanders Mike Bossy & Denis Potvin inducted into the International Hockey Hall of Fame. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1992 Bill Comrie purchases BC Lions football team from the CFL. Vancouver, BC
  • 1992 Québec hockey player Manon Rhéaume plays one period in goal for the NHL Tampa Bay Lightning, giving up 2 goals on 9 shots in a 6-4 loss to the St. Louis Blues; 20 year old the First woman to play in a National Hockey League exhibition game, and with one of the 4 major professional sports teams. Tampa, Florida
  • 1995 Dionne Quintuplets - Annette Dionne, Cécile Dionne and Yvonne Dionne three of the surviving quints, claim in a TV interview that they were sexually abused by their late father; repeated in their book, The Dionne Quintuplets: Family Secrets. Montréal, Québec
  • 1996 Canadian comic actor Jim Carrey marries Picket Fences actress Lauren Holly in Malibu. Malibu, California
  • 1997 First Nations Bank of Canada opens in Saskatoon to provide banking services to Aboriginal clients. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
  • 2003 Ward Hunt Ice Shelf fractures; the 443 sq km ice shelf releases water within a contained freshwater lake. Arctic Ocean 2008, September 23 - Politics - Stephen Harper outrages some members of the arts community by stating that ordinary Canadians aren’t impressed by artists at rich galas. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2010 Environment - Suncor Energy unveils reclaimed oilsands tailings pond on the original Tar Island site; CEO Rick George calls it a “big historic event” for the oilsands industry. Fort McMurray, Alberta