Highlights of the day

  • 1869 Red River Insurrection begins as Louis Riel stops Canadian surveyors on André Nault’s farm.
  • 1899 Boer War breaks out; Canada will send volunteers to the conflict in South Africa.
  • 1911 Robert Borden sworn in as Prime Minister, succeeding Wilfrid Laurier; 9th Dominion Ministry.
  • 1952 CBFT Montréal carries first hockey telecast in Canada, Canadiens vs. Red Wings; first Soirée du Hockey.
  • 1972 Québec Nordiques play their first WHA game; in the Colisée arena.

List of Facts for October 11

  • 1535 Jacques Cartier returns to Stadacona from his trip upriver to Hochelaga; he and his crew settle in for the winter. Québec, Québec
  • 1615 Samuel de Champlain and war party of 500 Hurons are ambushed by Onondagas and Senecas near present-day Syracuse; Hurons get worst of fighting after three hour battle; Champlain wounded by an arrow; party withdraw back across Lake Ontario; French use guns against the Iroquois for the First time. An image shows Champlain firing his blunderbuss in the battle. Perryville, New York - Read Champlain’s Account
  • 1676 Count Frontenac sets up public markets at Québec, Trois-Rivières and Montréal. Québec
  • 1754 Anthony Henday meets a party of Blackfoot hunters; he tries to convince them to travel to Hudson Bay to trade directly instead of through Cree middlemen, but they will eventually decline; First European/Blackfoot contact. Red Deer, Alberta
  • 1776 American Revolutionary War - Guy Carleton inflicts heavy losses on General Benedict Arnold’s American fleet at Valcour Island off Crown Point; First naval battle of Lake Champlain a British victory, but it stalls Carleton’s plans to invade the rebel colonies from Canada. Ticonderoga, New York
  • 1849 Montreal Gazette publishes The Annexation Manifesto, asking for union with U.S. if commercial difficulties with Britain cannot be resolved. Montreal, Québec
  • 1850 Rail - Opening of the St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad from Longueuil, Québec to Richmond. Richmond, Québec
  • 1853 Rail - Northern Railroad reaches Barrie from Toronto, Ontario. Barrie, Ontario
  • 1869 Red River Rebellion - Canadian surveyor Adam Clark Webb and his crew try to mark off a long farm field belonging to Métis André Nault, a cousin of Louis Riel; when Nault asks them to leave and they refuse, a group of 16 unarmed Métis led by Riel arrive; Riel places his foot on the surveyor’s chain, and tells the crew ‘You go no further’. This incident marks the beginning of the Red River Insurrection; the Métis and others object to transfer of Rupert’s Land to Canadian sovereignty without being consulted, and wihout their own government; they fear a flood of eastern settlers will destroy their way of life. St-Vital, Manitoba
  • 1873 Toronto Argonaut Football Club loses its First game of rugby football to the University of Toronto. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1875 Immigration - A party of almost 300 Icelanders land on the steamer International en route to their colony of New Iceland on the western shore of Lake Winnipeg; harsh Icelandic winters, volcanic eruptions and an epidemic that killed over 200,000 of their sheep caused them to look for a new home. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1884 Building - Two dynamite explosions rock new Québec Parliament Buildings. Québec, Québec
  • 1887 Farming - First convention of the North West Farmers’ Association opens. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1899 Boer War breaks out as the Dutch settlers (Boers) declare war on Britain; Canada will send volunteers to the conflict. South Africa
  • 1899 First shipment of ore carried on the C&W Railway, from City of Paris mine at White’s Camp to CP’s smelter at Trail, BC.
  • 1900 City of Phoenix incorporated. Phoenix, BC
  • 1910 Adam Beck, President of the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario inaugurates its First electrical service, sending Niagara power by a new transmission line to Berlin, now Kitchener; service goes into Toronto by 1911. Kitchener, Ontario
  • 1911 Robert Borden sworn in as Prime Minister, succeeding Wilfrid Laurier; serves to October 12, 1917, then heads the Unionist Government to July 10; ninth Dominion Ministry. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1911 Hockey - Canadian leagues decide to go with teams of six players instead of seven; the rover position is abolished. Montréal, Québec
  • 1911 CPR opens its Manistee station at Galloway, BC.
  • 1915 Fur Trade - Tearing down of old Fort Edmonton begins. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1917 First World War - Robert Borden Cabinet bans strikes and walkouts for duration of war; under the War Measures Act. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1918 First World War - Lt. Wallace Algie of the 20th Battalion, 1st Central Ontario Regiment, is killed in a battle north east of Cambrai, after taking two machine gun nests, and capturing a German officer and 10 men. He is awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously January 21, 1919. Cambrai, France
  • 1918 First World War - The Union Government brings in new regulations for wartime labour; bans strikes and lockouts. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1920 Aviation - Wing Commander Robert Leckie arrives from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia in the First flight across Canada; Air Commodore A. K. Tylee and three other pilots take over the plane for the flight to Vancouver, BC, arriving October 17, 1920; total elapsed time 45 hours and 20 minutes for a flight of 5,488 km. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1926 Politics - Hugh Guthrie chosen as interim party leader by Conservative Party, replacing Arthur Meighen; serves to October 12, 1927. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1930 Hockey - Ottawa Senators trade defenceman King Clancy to the Toronto Maple Leafs; Toronto manager Conn Smythe gives up $35,000 and two players for Clancy, who was coming off the most productive season of his career, with 17 goals and 40 points in 44 games. In his second season with the Leafs, Clancy helped his team win the Stanley Cup. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1934 Politics - Pro-Fascist demonstration takes place at the Monument National in Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1942 North West Passage - Henry Larsen sails the RCMP patrol vessel St. Roch into Halifax harbour after making the First west-to-east crossing of the Northwest Passage; one of his eight-man crew had died of a heart attack in the Arctic as the wooden sailing schooner with an auxiliary engine spent the winter in the ice less than 80 km from the North Magnetic Pole. The St. Roch was built in North Vancouver, BC in 1928. A wooden schooner with sail and auxiliary engine, she left Vancouver in the summer of 1940, took the southerly route through the Arctic islands, and spent two winters trapped in the ice; she was the second ship to sail the Passage, after Roald Amundsen’s Gjoa in 1908. She returned to Vancouver July-Oct. 1944 by the northerly Lancaster Sound route, and today you can see her berthed in Vancouver’s Maritime Museum. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1944 Second World War - 1st Canadian Infantry Division returns to the line and the 5th Division goes into corps reserve; for three weeks, the Canadians will fight in the watery Romagna area south of the Po Valley. Romagna, Italy
  • 1952 CBFT television in Montréal carries the First hockey telecast in Canada, Montréal Canadiens vs. Detroit Red Wings, in French; origin of Radio-Canada’s la Soirée du Hockey. Montréal, Québec
  • 1954 Saskatchewan’s First Senior Citizen’s Week begins. Saskatchewan
  • 1959 Paul Anka’s single Put Your Head on My Shoulder reaches #1 on the Billboard pop charts. New York, New York
  • 1960 Housing - Ottawa brings in program to help low-income families find rental housing. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1961 Military - Opening of the National Defence Medical Centre; to serve veterans and members of the three services; also Parliamentarians. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1962 Military - First of 200 Canadian-built CF-104 Starflghter jets leave for West Germany; to join RCAF strike-reconnaissance squadron. Zweibrucken, Germany
  • 1966 Elections - Parliamentary Committee on the Study of Election Expenses recommends full disclosure of election spending by parties and candidates. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1967 Saskatchewan Election - Ross Thatcher leads Saskatchewan Liberal Party to a second consecutive majority. Saskatchewan
  • 1967 Strike - Québec Justice Minister Frédéric Dorion orders 6,000 Montréal Transportation Commission employees back to work, after 80-day strike. Montréal, Québec
  • 1968 Politics - Opening of a congress of independantists to found the Parti Québecois; René Lévesque will be elected President the following day. Montréal, Québec
  • 1968 River - US pays Canada $52.1 million for BC flood control benefits from the Columbia River project. Washington, DC
  • 1970 October Crisis continues; Chronology of the day: 2:15 am - police search the homes of several suspects; 9:03 am - discovery of communiqué from the FLQ Chénier cell; FLQ extend deadline; 10:30 am - FLQ lawyer/spokesman Robert Lemieux arrested; 12:00 am - Robert Bourassa meets his Cabinet in the Queen Elizabeth Hotel; 1:00 pm - discovery of a further communiqué from the Chénier FLQ cell; 5:00 pm - another communiqué from the Chénier cell; 9:45 pm - Bourassa offers to negotiate to free the hostages; 10:00 pm - FLQ deadline expires. Montréal, Québec
  • 1972 Hockey - WHA Québec Nordiques play their First World Hockey Association game; takes place in the Colisée arena. Québec, Québec
  • 1975 TV - Canadian Lorne Michaels produces his first Live from New York! It’s Saturday Night! show, with George Carlin as the First guest host; the late-night comedy show will showcase many Canadian comics, including, in this First season, Ottawa native Dan Ackroyd; other ensemble members include Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin and the voice of Don Pardo. New York, New York
  • 1977 Manitoba Election - Sterling Lyon leads the Progressive Conservatives to victory in provincial election; ousts NDP Premier Ed Schreyer after eight years in office. Manitoba
  • 1978 Opening of 4th session of the 30th Parliament; until March 26, 1979. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1981 Baseball - Montreal Expos pitcher Steve Rogers leads his team to a 3-0 victory over Philadelphia in Game 5 of the National League East Divisional playoff; throws a 6-hit shutout and knocking in 2 Expo runs. Montréal, Québec
  • 1984 Hockey - Penguins rookie Mario Lemieux scores on his First shift of his First NHL game, putting his First shot behind Bruins goaltender Pete Peeters. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1985 Baseball - Toronto Blue Jays lose third game of American League Championship Series as Kansas City Royals take a 6-5 comeback victory, led by George Brett, who has four hits, including two homers. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1992 Baseball - Toronto Blue Jays Roberto Alomar hits 2-run homer against Oakland A’s pitcher Dennis Eckersley to send Game 4 of the American League Championship Series into extra innings; Toronto down 6-1 in seventh, goes on to beat the Athletics 7-6 in the 11th; Jays take 3-1 series edge in ALCS playoff; Eckersley saved 51 games for Oakland during the regular season. Oakland, California
  • 1994 Gérald Godin dies; politician and Parti Québecois Culture Minister, poet, Les Cantouques (1966). Québec