Highlights of the day

  • 1668 Groseilliers reaches Rupert River on Nonsuch; success of trade leads to HBC founding.
  • 1962 Alouette 1 launched to study ionosphere; first Canadian built satellite.
  • 2004 Montréal Expos play last game in Montréal; move to Washington in 2005. See April 14, 1969.

List of Facts for September 29

  • 1498 John Cabot receives a reward of £200 from King Henry VII for his discoveries in North America; Italian merchant and explorer Giovanni Caboto Montecataluna. London, England
  • 1642 Jesuit Father René Goupil and layman Jean de Lalande are tortured and killed by the Iroquois, who blamed the Black Robes for pestilence and for siding with their Huron enemies; the two are elevated to sainthood as Jesuit Martyrs. Auriesville, New York
  • 1658 Education - Marguerite Bourgeoys departs for France with Jeanne Mance to recruit young girls to be teachers in New France. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1661 Jacques Lemaître, sculptor, killed by the Iroquois. Québec
  • 1665 Germain Morin ordained at Québec; First Canadian-born Roman Catholic priest. Québec, Québec
  • 1668 Fur Trade - Captain Zachariah Gillam reaches Rupert River on the ketch Nonsuch with Médart des Groseilliers; they proceed to build Charles Fort, make a treaty with the local chief and spend the winter trading. The financial success of this venture leads to the creation of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Charles Fort, Québec
  • 1710 Queen Anne’s War - Francis Nicholson sails from Boston with 2,000-man force to attack the French at Port Royal. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1852 Rail - New Brunswick issues contracts for a railway to run from Nova Scotia to the boundary of Maine. New Brunswick
  • 1864 Chilcotin War - Justice Matthew Begbie, a man fluent in the Shuswap and Chilcotin languages, sentences five Chilcotins to hang at Quesnel Mouth, ending the Chilcotin Uprising; in defence of their actions, chief Klatsassin said they were waging war, not committing murder; Tsilhqot’in men Klatsassin, Telloot, Tah-pitt, Piele, and Chessus will be hanged on August 15. Quesnel, BC
  • 1877 Governor-General Lord Dufferin refers to Manitoba as the keystone province in a speech at Winnipeg. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1897 Clara Warren teaches the First school class in Wardner, BC.
  • 1898 Prohibition - Canada holds national referendum on the prohibition of alcoholic beverages; 278,380 for, 264,693 against; government takes no action in view of close vote.
  • 1898 CPR completes Goat River bridge. BC
  • 1902 Banking - Banks in Dawson City announce that they will no longer accept gold dust as legal tender; concern that miners lost money on transactions as gold dust particles were lost in handling. Dawson City, Yukon
  • 1905 Library - Opening of the Carnegie Library at Guelph; built partly with funds from the Carnegie Foundation. Guelph, Ontario
  • 1908 Founding of the Calgary Rugby Football Union, with several city and district teams. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1911 Blairmore granted patent as a town; gazetted October 24, 1911, elects First council on November 11, 1911. Blairmore, Alberta
  • 1911 Kettle Valley Railway steel reaches Brookmere, BC.
  • 1914 First World War - Arthur Currie appointed to command the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade; a militia commander from Victoria, BC, known for his artillery skills. France
  • 1921 Georges Vanier marries Pauline Archer; future Governor General. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1922 Diplomacy - Mackenzie King declares that Canada is not automatically at war when Britain is; during the Chanak Crisis in the Dardanelles; officials leaked British request for troops, to force Canada’s hand. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1926 Montreal born actress Norma Shearer marries MGM studio head Irving Thalberg; it is said she has her pick of parts thereafter. Hollywood, California
  • 1930 Hamilton Tigers beat the University of British Columbia team 38-1 at Athletic Park, in the First Canadian football game played under lights; the touring Tigers defeated all seven western teams by a combined score of 195 to 19. Vancouver, BC
  • 1930 Rail - Final section of PEI’s 3’6 gauge railway converted to standard gauge; work started in 1919. PEI
  • 1931 Strike - Black Tuesday as three protesting strikers are killed when the RCMP fights a pitched battle with Estevan coal miners. Estevan, Saskatchewan
  • 1937 Weather - The Albertan reports that the Calgary airport is to be equipped with a full-time meteorological station. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1944 Second World War - Defence Minister James Ralston flies to Europe to check reports of Canadian infantry shortages. Montréal, Québec
  • 1948 Baseball - London Majors score five runs in the top of the ninth to defeat Fort Wayne (Indiana) General Electrics 5-0 in the deciding game of the best-of-seven international sandlot series. Detroit, Michigan
  • 1954 William Thomson dies; pioneer Prairie physician. Saskatchewan
  • 1955 RCMP - CBS-TV debuts its Sergeant Preston adventure show, about a Yukon Mountie who urges on his team with the stirring cry of On King, ON You Huskies!; also on radio from 1947-55. New York, New York
  • 1962 Space - Canada launches its First orbiting satellite, Alouette 1, on a Thor-Agena B rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base; mass: 145 kg; cost $2.9 million; to study ionosphere from 1000 km in space; joint project of Defence Research Board and Canadian electronics industry. Vandenburg AFB, California
  • 1966 Crime - Montreal police arrest eight people for drug trafficking, seize $3 million worth of heroin. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1969 September 29, 1969
  • 1982 Space - Canada announces program to put First Canadian in orbit within 2 years. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1982 Energy - Ottawa bails out debt-laden Dome Petroleum. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1985 Pierre-Marc Johnson elected leader of the Parti Québecois; decides to keep sovereignty on the back burner and calls an election to get a new mandate. Québec, Québec
  • 1988 Olympics - Ottawa’s Carolyn Waldo wins a gold medal in synchronized swimming at the 24th Olympiad in Seoul. Two days later she will wins another gold in the duet competition with Michelle Cameron, becoming the First Canadian female to win two gold medals at a summer Olympics competition. Seoul, Korea
  • 1988 Wildlife - International forum on the beluga whale held at Tadoussac; species endangered by pollution in the St. Lawrence River and Saguenay River. Tadoussac, Québec
  • 1989 NDP leader Ed Broadbent announces his retirement from politics. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1989 Jeffrey Petkovich and Peter DeBernardi the First to go over Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side of Niagara and live to tell the tale. Niagara Falls, Ontario
  • 1992 Labour - Statistics Canada says 500 full time jobs a day disappeared during recession of past three years; 11 businesses, 73 people a day go broke. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1995 Mining - Falconbridge and Luxembourg-based Minorco SA announce plans to proceed with $1.75-billion development of Collahuasi copper deposit in northern Chile. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1995 Parti Québecois and other groups sponsor pro-sovereignty rally in the Montréal Forum. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1996 Ottawa’s Alanis Morissette finishes her First U.S. tour. Houston, Texas
  • 2003 Weather - Hurricane Juan makes landfall at Halifax as a category 2 storm; two people are killed directly and 5 indirectly. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 2003 Religion - Canadian Muslim author Irshad Manji publishes The Trouble With Islam: A Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith. She is reported saying: I leave my fellow Muslims with a very basic question here: Will we remain spiritually adolescent, caving to cultural pressures to conform or will we finally mature to the full fledged citizens that we are allowed to be in this part of the world? Toronto, Ontario
  • 2004 Baseball - Montréal Expos play their last game in Montréal, losing to the Florida Marlins 9-1 in front of a a season high 31,395 crowd who came out to the Big O to say good bye; the team moves to Washington, DC in the 2005 season. Montréal, Québec
  • 2004 New owners announce that the Montréal Expos will move to Washington for the 2005 season, and change their name to the Nationals. Washington, DC
  • 2004 About 24 North Koreans in successfully scale the wall of the Canadian embassy in Beijing seeking asylum. Beijing, China
  • 2004 Sculpture - Nelson city council reject plan to build a monument dedicated to American draft dodgers. Nelson, BC
  • 2005 Medicine - Supreme Court of Canada gives all-clear to government of British Columbia to sue cigarette companies for the cost of treating smoking-related illnesses and to seek damages dating back 50 years as well as costs for future smoking-related maladies. Ottawa, Ontario