Highlights of the day

  • 1690 Frontenac refuses to surrender to William Phips and 2,200 invaders from Massachusetts.
  • 1970 Pierre Trudeau proclaims War Measures Act to detain suspected FLQ sympathizers.

List of Facts for October 16

  • 1652 Major Lambert Closse drives off Iroquois after two day battle near Montreal; town saved by barking dogs. Montreal, Québec
  • 1666 Marquis de Tracy military governor of New France (1663-67), leads army of 1000 French regulars, 600 New France militia and 100 Hurons and Algonquins in 300 boats and canoes to attack the Mohawk nation; arrives at deserted village of Andarague after rain-soaked march of several days; destroys settlement and corn crops. as well as three other settlements; expedition ordered by Jean Talon left Québec September 14, 1666 after peace talks failed; the Iroquois will turn to the English for help. New York
  • 1679 Fur Trade - Sovereign Council of Québec rules that liquor may not be taken to Indian villages. Québec, Québec
  • 1689 Daniel de Du Luth defeats Iroquois on Lake of Two Mountains outside Montréal. Oka, Québec
  • 1690 William Phip arrives at Québec with 37 ships and 2,200 men from Massachusetts, and gives Count Frontenac one hour to surrender; he refuses. Frontenac declares that his only response would be from “the mouths of my cannons”. Phips decided to make a combined land assault and naval bombardment. His landing force, 1,200 men led by Major John Walley, failed to cross the well-defended Saint-Charles River, and the naval bombardment failed because the New Englanders’ guns were unable to reach the high battlements of the city, and ran out of ammunition. Smallpox also ravaged Phips’ troops, and two transports were lost because he had no river pilots. Québec, Québec
  • 1710 Queen Anne’s War - Francis Nicholson and Charles Hobby capture the French settlement of Port Royal after two previous failures in 1704 and 1707; War of the Spanish Succession 1702-1713. Annapolis, Nova Scotia
  • 1731 Military - French engineers build Fort St-Frédéric at the southern end of Lake Champlain. Crown Point, New York
  • 1736 Smelting - Cugnet and Company take over the iron smelting operations of the Forges de St-Maurice. Trois-Rivières, Québec
  • 1785 Fire - Forest fires cause black rain in Eastern Canada, as soot from the fires mixes with precipitation. Canada
  • 1792 Upper Canada Assembly renames the province’s judicial districts: Hesse-Western District, Nassau-Home District, Mecklenburg-Midland District, Lunenburg-Eastern District. Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
  • 1813 John Jacob Astor with his Pacific Fur Company partners, sells Fort Astoria to the North West Company; under duress of the War of 1812; proclaimed British territory. Astoria, Oregon
  • 1820 Cape Breton Island officially rejoins Nova Scotia. Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
  • 1838 Rebellion - Dr. Edward Thellier and four other Patriotes make a daring escape from the Québec Citadel. Québec, Québec
  • 1841 Queens University in Kingston is chartered. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1857 Currency - British Treasury approves weight of the new Canadian coinage: the 20¢ piece - 71.73 grains of 0.925 fine silver. London, England
  • 1869 Red River Resistance - Louis Riel elected Secretary of the new Comité National des Métis (National Council of the Metis), formed to discuss their rights with Ottawa; he was well known throughout the Red River Settlement because of his confrontation with the Canadian survey party. Manitoba
  • 1873 Police - Lieutenant-Colonel George French is appointed the First Commissioner of the North West Mounted Police (NWMP). Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1875 Football - Ontario wins First Québec vs. Ontario rugby football game. Montréal, Québec
  • 1878 Alexander Mackenzie ends his only elected term of office; Canada’s First Liberal prime minister. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1883 Trial - Gold Commissioner Edward Kelly finds for R. E. Sproule in the Bluebell dispute. BC
  • 1901 Inauguration of the Victoria Bridge. Montréal, Québec
  • 1905 Education - Opening of new 2-room school at Coleman. Coleman, Alberta
  • 1908 Edmonton Rugby Foot-ball Club re-organizes as the Edmonton Esquimaux (later Edmonton Eskimos). Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1909 Baseball - Pittsburgh Pirates catcher George Gibson, from London, Ontario, helps his team defeat the Detroit Tigers 8-0 to clinch the World Series; holds Pirates record for most games played by a catcher (1,203). Detroit, Michigan
  • 1911 James Flemming sworn in as Premier of New Brunswick, replacing Sir John Hazen. Fredericton, New Brunswick
  • 1911 Sculpture - Unveiling of a monument to the Marquis de Montcalm. Québec, Québec
  • 1911 Energy - Winnipeg receives First electric power. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1914 First World War - Over 30,000 soldiers of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) reach Britain for training at Salisbury Plain. Britain
  • 1914 Kettle Valley Railway opens Midway to Penticton, BC, section. Midway, BC
  • 1939 Second World War - Government orders the First Canadian Division to Britain. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1940 Religion - The Pope names eight Jesuit martyrs as the First North American Saints, the Patron Saints of Canada. Vatican City, Italy
  • 1944 Second World War - Lt. Gen. Harry Crerar promoted to the rank of General; First Canadian to hold that rank in the field. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1945 Start of First United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization conference of 29 countries, including Canada; FAO meets until November 1, 1945. Québec, Québec
  • 1946 Hockey - Gordie Howe from Floral, Saskatchewan plays in his First NHL game, and scores his First goal as a Detroit Red Wing; against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Detroit, Michigan
  • 1951 Transport - TTC Islands Ferry Thomas Rennie christened; operated by the Toronto Transit Commission between the city and the Toronto Islands. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1953 Religion - Roman Catholic Church in Canada issues a report discouraging teenagers from forming steady romantic attachments. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1961 Trade - Canada sells $20 million worth of wheat to Poland. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1963 Welfare - Government increases old age security pensions to $75 per month. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1968 Hockey - Toronto Maple Leafs Jim Dorey gets 9 penalties in a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins; spends total of 48 minutes in the penalty box (44 minutes on 7 penalties in a period); NHL record for most penalties in a single hockey game. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1969 Transport - New Brunswick to build $4 million container shipping terminal in Saint John. Saint John, New Brunswick
  • 1970 October Crisis - At 4:00 am, Pierre Trudeau declares ‘a state of apprehended insurrection’ and imposes the War Measures Act, after Québec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte was found murdered. Canadian troops are ordered to protect public figures, and police round up and interview 497 possible suspects, arresting 250, including Michel Chartrand, and searching 170 homes, in an attempt to break the FLQ cell structure and find British diplomat James Cross, also kidnapped by the terrorists. The Act lets Cabinet overrule civil rights and authority. It is the First time emergency powers have been used in peacetime, and the only use of the 1914 statute during a domestic crisis; it could be invoked when the Cabinet perceived the existence of ‘war, invasion or insurrection, real or apprehended’. Chronology of the day: 04:00 am - Proclamation of the War Measures Act; 11:00 am - government issues special emergency regulations; 5:00 pm - Premier Robert Bourassa approves the proclamation of an emergency; 8:00 pm - Mayor Jean Drapeau approves the government’s action; 10:15 pm - Pierre Trudeau addresses the nation. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1971 Hockey - Toronto Maple Leafs Norm Ullman records his 1,000th NHL point in a 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1976 Hockey - Toronto Maple Leafs Lanny McDonald scores a hat trick in 2 minutes 54 seconds; possibly an NHL record. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1978 By-elections - Fifteen federal by-elections are held across the country; the governing Liberals lose five seats, which leads to a Federal Election in May, 1979. Canada
  • 1981 Canada Post becomes a crown corporation, the Canada Post Corporation/Société canadienne des postes; the new corporation will take over January 1, 1982. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1985 National Bank and Mercantile Bank merge to form the National Bank of Canada/Banque national du Canada. Montreal, Québec
  • 1987 Medicine - Baby Paul Holc of Surrey, BC, receives a donor heart at the Loma Linda University Medical Centre from an Ontario-born baby girl when he is only 3 hours old; world’s youngest heart transplant born by caesarean section with a potentially fatal heart malformation. Loma Linda, California
  • 1987 Canadian actor Matt Frewer stars in the last episode of his TV sci-fi adventure ‘Max Headroom’ on ABC. Hollywood, California
  • 1987 TD Green Line Investors Service buys 100% of Gardiner Group. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1989 Stan Waters elected by 240,000 voters in Canada’s First Senate election, a consultation held by the Alberta government; in June 1990, after a wait of 9 months, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney accedes to the wishes of the Alberta electorate and appoints him to the Senate. Alberta
  • 1989 Running - Montrealer Luc Gingras wins the Detroit Marathon. Detroit, Michigan
  • 1989 Roberta Jamieson is appointed Ontario’s new Ombudsman; the 37-year-old Mohawk women is the first aboriginal Canadian to hold the post. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1992 Charlottetown Accord - Federal Court Justice Barry Strayer rejects appeal by Native Women’s Association of Canada to halt referendum; says right to be included in talks expired March 12, 1992. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1992 Statistics Canada reports youth violence offenses up to 855 per 100,000 in 1991, up from 415 in 1986; assault charges total 632 per 100,000, up from 300 in 1986. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1992 Toronto rocker Neil Young joins George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and others in a salute to Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden. New York, New York
  • 1993 Baseball - Toronto Blue Jays beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-5, in Game 1 of the World Series; Jays put game away with 3-run rally in 7th inning at SkyDome; Al Leiter gets the victory in relief. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1993 Crime - Roger Warren charged with First-degree murder for the September 18, 1992, bomb blast at Giant Mine in Yellowknife that killed nine miners; during a labour dispute. Yellowknife, NWT
  • 2000 Beaton Tulk sworn in as Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, replacing Brian Tobin. St. John’s, Newfoundland
  • 2001 Mike Harris announces he will resign as Premier of Ontario the following April or March, citing personal reasons and the need for fresh leadership; will be replaced by Ernie Eves. Toronto, Ontario
  • 2001 Energy - Devon Energy Corporation merges with Anderson Exploration Limited and Northstar Energy Corporation to form Devon Canada. Alberta
  • 2003 Politics - Canada’s 2 conservative parties, the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party agree in principle to unite; union will stop splitting the right and give the governing Liberal Party a competitive race in the upcoming 2004 federal election. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2008 Crime - Bomber hits another Encana natural gas pipeline facility off BC Highway 2. British Columbia