Highlights of the day

  • 1864 Raid on St. Albans, Vermont by Confederate fugitives hiding in Montreal.
  • 1903 Canada Loses Alaska Boundary Dispute
  • 1973 Pierre Trudeau meets Chairman Mao; they have the longest handshake in history.

List of Facts for October 19

  • 1753 Fur trader Paul de La Malgue dies at French post Fort de la Rivière au Boeuf; succeeded by Legardeur. Ohio
  • 1760 Jonathan Belcher appointed Administrator of Nova Scotia; serves until September 25, 1763. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1844 Disaster - Gale force winds force water from Lake Ontario and Lake Erie onto the streets of Toronto and Buffalo; as many as 200 persons drown on the lakes. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1863 Sculpture - Monument unveiled to commemorate those who died in the Battle of Ste-Foy in 1759, after the fall of Québec. Ste-Foy, Québec
  • 1864 St. Albans Raid - Confederate States of America Lt. Bennett Young from Kentucky leads 25 Confederate Civil War fugitives hiding in Montréal to St. Albans, where they rob three banks of $200,000, torch the town and kill one person, before escaping back across the border to St-Jean, Québec; thirteen are arrested a few days later, and held for extradition, but are released on a technicality by a Montréal police magistrate, who ruled the raid was an act of war; northernmost engagement of the American Civil War. St. Albans, Vermont
  • 1869 Red River Insurrection - John Bruce elected President of new Metis National Committee; Louis Riel Secretary. St. Norbert, Manitoba
  • 1895 Media - W. F. Thompson publishes the First edition of the Trail Creek News. BC
  • 1903 Alaska Boundary Dispute - Canadian delegation refuses to sign the decision of the Alaska Boundary Commission; the Yukon is left without a port. Washingon, DC
  • 1907 Arctic - Captain Elzéar Bernier returns to Québec on the Canadian Government steamship ‘Arctic’. Québec, Québec
  • 1911 Currency - Royal Mint sends dies for a new Canadian $1 silver coin to its Ottawa Branch. London, England
  • 1916 First World War - Corporal Leo Clarke, 2nd Battalion, Eastern Ontario Regiment, killed in action after single handedly fighting off 22 Germans attacking his trench near Pozières; awarded Victoria Cross posthumously October 26, 1916. Etretat, France
  • 1920 West Kootenay Power and Light Company connects Copper Mountain to its grid. BC
  • 1926 Mackenzie King attends Imperial Conference in London to November 23, 1926; discussing Balfour Report. London, England
  • 1927 Persons Case - Mackenzie King sends the petition of the Famous Five to the Supreme Court of Canada, asking for a ruling on the question, “Does the word ‘Persons’ in section 24 of the British North America Act, 1867, include female persons?” (Edwards v. Canada (Attorney General) [1928] S.C.R. 276) Ottawa, Ontario See: The Famous FIve and the Persons Case See: Persons Case - Supreme Court Ruling
  • 1929 Fire destroys Le Collège de St-Jean. St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec
  • 1929 Valcourt incorporated as a town. Valcourt, Québec
  • 1931 Depression - Federal government approves a Saskatchewan relief camp plan for single unemployed men. Saskatchewan
  • 1933 Olympics - Berlin Olympic Organization Committee vote to introduce basketball into the 1936 games; invented by Almonte, Ontario’s James Naismith. Berlin, Germany
  • 1940 Second World War - Minesweeper HMCS Bras d’Or disappears while keeping the Romanian freighter Ingener N. Vlassopol under surveillance in the Gulf of St Lawrence; last known position was 40 20N - 063 50W, near ; the entire ship’s company of 30 men are lost. Anticosti Island, Québec
  • 1944 Second World War - Canadian Army troops liberate Aardensburg. Aardensburg, Netherlands
  • 1945 Aviation - Government investigates expropriating airline services of Canadian Pacific. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1945 Parliament unanimously ratifies Canada’s signing of United Nations Charter and establishment under UN auspices of the International Court of Justice at The Hague. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1945 Aviation - Government investigates expropriating airline services of Canadian Pacific. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1945 Parliament unanimously ratifies Canada’s signing of United Nations Charter and establishment under UN auspices of the International Court of Justice at The Hague. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1948 Thomas Kennedy sworn in as Conservative Premier of Ontario, replacing George Drew. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1950 Korean War - Victorious United Nations forces enter Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. Pyongyang, Korea
  • 1956 Constitution - Québec Premier Maurice Duplessis rejects an offer from Ottawa of grants to universities; cites provincial control of education under the BNA Act. Québec, Québec
  • 1957 Hockey - Rocket Richard scores his 500th career goal, assisted by Jean Beliveau and Dickie Moore, against netminder Glenn Hall of the Chicago Blackhawks at 15:52 of the First period during a 3-1 Montreal win; First NHL player to reach that mark; does so in his 863rd career regular-season game. Montreal, Québec
  • 1959 Ottawa-born pop singer Paul Anka has a #1 Billboard hit with his single, ‘Put Your Head on My Shoulder’. New York, New York
  • 1960 Columbia River Treaty - Canada and the US sign agreement to build joint Columbia River project for hydro power and flood control. Washington, DC
  • 1964 Education - Opening of Brock University in St. Catharines. St. Catharines, Ontario
  • 1966 Hockey - Boston Bruins defenseman Bobby Orr, wearing his number 4 sweater, plays in his First NHL game, earning an assist in Boston’s 6-2 win over Detroit. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1966 Energy - Canada signs 10-year deal with Britain for delivery of Canadian uranium oxide. London, England
  • 1966 Elizabeth Arden dies at age 81; founder of the cosmetics manufacturing giant was born Florence Nightingale Graham in Toronto, Ontario, December 31, 1884. USA
  • 1967 Transport - Cunard Steamship Lines ends Canadian passenger service to Montréal; faced with growing competition from airlines, the company moves its ships into the cruise business. Montréal, Québec
  • 1970 October Crisis - House of Commons approves introduction of the War Measures Act, 190 votes to 16. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1970 October Crisis - Police discover the FLQ hideout where Québec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte was hidden, and then murdered. Montréal, Québec
  • 1970 October Crisis - The body of the Québec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte lies in state in the Palais de Justice. Québec, Québec
  • 1973 Foreign Affairs - PM Pierre Trudeau visits Mao Tse Tung; has a long handshake with the old ruler. Beijing, China
  • 1977 Stephen Juba dies; Mayor of Winnipeg 1956-1977. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1981 Baseball - Rick Monday of the LA Dodgers hits a solo two-out homer in the top of the ninth inning to lead the Dodgers to a 2-1 win over the Montréal Expos in Game 5 of the NLCS; the Dodgers go on to win the World Series. Los Angeles, California
  • 1984 Grant Notley killed in an plane crash near High Prairie; Alberta NDP leader First elected to the Legislature in 1971; served as a one-man caucus for 11 years; 1982 became Leader of the Opposition. when a second New Democrat was elected. High Prairie, Alberta
  • 1987 Black Monday - The Toronto Stock Exchange follows New York down, as a crashing stock market leads to global financial panic. The TSE 300 Index drops 407 points, and the Dow Jones plunges 508.32 points, or 22.62 per cent, wiping out $500 billion in share values. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1989 Josée Chouinard wins second gold medal in artistic skating at the World Figure Skating Championships. Paris, France
  • 1989 Hockey - Peter Stastny of the Québec Nordiques scores his 1,000th point against Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago, Illinois
  • 1992 trade - C.D. Howe Institute says business services and high tech big winners in Canada-US free trade; losers labour-intensive industries like furniture, clothing, food. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1992 Yukon Election - John Ostashek leads Yukon Party to close win in territory vote; 7 seats to NDP incumbent Tony Penikett’s 6; Yukon Party coalition of ex-PCs. Whitehorse, Yukon
  • 1993 Baseball - Toronto Blue Jays Paul Molitor comes within a double of hitting for the cycle, and Roberto Alomar adds 4 hits to back winner Pat Hentgen in a 10-3 romp over the Phillies, as Toronto takes a 2-1 World Series lead. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • 1995 Richard Li takes control of Gordon Capital Corp., ending 16-month internal management struggle at Toronto securities firm; Hong Kong financier. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1996 Piers McDonald sworn in as government leader of the Yukon, replacing John Ostashek. Whitehorse, Yukon
  • 1999 Human Rights - Federal Court of Canada rules against federal government in 15-year-old pay-equity dispute; Ottawa must pay out $3.6 billion, mostly to female clerks. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1999 Aviation - Air Canada announces a takeover bid for Canadian Airlines. Montréal, Québec
  • 2003 Afghan movie “Osama” by director Siddiq Barmak won the top prize at Montréal’s New Movie and New Media Festival, one of the first features produced in Afghanistan and nominated since the fall of the Taliban. Montréal, Québec
  • 2004 Bank of Canada raises its interest rates .025% from 2.25 to 2.50%. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2004 Justice - Toronto lawyer successfully challenges a traffic ticket on the basis that the city had not posted bilingual traffic signs in accordance with Ontario’s French Language Services Act of 1986. Toronto, Ontario
  • 2005 Crime - Canadian police arrests a Rwandan man in Toronto, charging him with crimes against humanity during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Toronto, Ontario
  • 2006 Environment Minister Rona Ambrose introduces Clean Air Act in the Commons; criticized by environmentalists and Opposition politicians for offering no substantive action on climate change until at least 2011. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2007 Crime - Gunmen murder six people in a highrise apartment in Surrey, BC; dead include Chris Mohan and Ed Schellenburg, both innocent bystanders; the other four are drug dealers; the “Surrey Six” slayings. Surrey, British Columbia
  • 2010 Education - Quebec government passes Bill 115 after more than 20 hours of an emergency debate; sets out who qualifies to attend English public school. Quebec, Quebec