Highlights of the day

  • 1621 Eustache Martin baptized; first French child born in North America.
  • 1921 Nova Scotia fishing schooner Bluenose wins her first International Schooner Championship
  • 1945 United Nations Day - Canada joins 50 other countries as UN charter takes effect at the San Francisco Conference.
  • 1992 Dave Winfield two run double in 11th gives Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 win over Atlanta Braves; win 1st World Series 4 games to 2.

List of Facts for October 24

  • 1621 Eustache Martin baptized; born to Marguerite Langlois, the wife of Abraham Martin, the farmer who gave his name to the Plains of Abraham; First French child born in North America. Québec, Québec
  • 1676 Count Frontenac grants Michel de Beaubassin a large tract of land at the Isthmus of Chignecto; later known as the Beaubassin seigneury; Beaubassin and his brother-in-law Richard Denys were privateers; Frontenac was pleased that they had seized three English ketches from Boston that were taking on coal at Cape Breton. Québec, Québec
  • 1755 French and Indian War - First British expedition against the French held Fort Niagara ends in failure after Braddock’s defeat at Fort Duquesne; the French increased the garrison and improved the fortifications. Youngstown, New York
  • 1808 Theatre - Presentation of two Molière plays at Québec - L’Avare and Le Mariage Forcé. Québec, Québec
  • 1837 Rebellion of 1837 - Mgr. Jean-Jacques Lartigue condemns revolt against civil authority, and urges obedience; during the Patriote Assembly of the Six Counties at St-Charles, Québec; First Roman Catholic Bishop of Montréal. Montreal, Québec
  • 1850 Currency - British Treasury sends memorandum to Colonial Secretary Earl Grey criticizing Canadian Inspector-General Francis Hincks’ proposed Currency Act of 1850; the Act, passed August 10, 1850 and set to become law January 1, 1850, pegs the $US at 5 Canadian shillings, and provides for Canadian silver coins matching US denominations; Grey informs Lord Elgin that the Act should be disallowed. It is not until July 1, 1858, that Britain permits Canada to have a decimal currency. London, England
  • 1852 Toronto Stock Exchange opens for business. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1865 Prison - The Mayor of Toronto lays cornerstone of the Industrial Farm along the Don River; fire will gut the partially completed building a few months later, and construction has to start over; later called the Don Jail, and now known as the Toronto Jail. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1876 David Mills appointed Minister of the Interior. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1886 Immigration - Utah Mormon Church leader Charles Ora Card, sent to Canada to find a place of ‘peace and asylum’, finds a site between the Belly River and St. Mary River and dedicates it to the Lord for future Mormon settlement; earlier travelled to BC, but found much of the best land already taken. The Mormons are skilled dryland farmers. Fort Macleod, Alberta
  • 1886 Rail - D. C. Corbin and the Northern Pacific Railroad form the Spokane Falls and Idaho Railroad Company, with access to the BC interior. BC
  • 1897 R. J. Bowen conducts the First service in St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Dawson City. Dawson, Yukon
  • 1901 Niagara Falls - Anna Edson Taylor 43 year old Bay City, Michigan teacher, a widow and a non-swimmer, goes over the 50m Canadian Falls in a 1.4 by 1m wooden barrel and survives; First person to perform the feat; puts the cash award into the mortgage on a Texas ranch; hopes to make a fortune by touring the world, but dies in poverty. Niagara Falls, Ontario
  • 1903 Charles Melville Hays of the Grand Trunk Railway gets a charter for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, to run from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Prince Rupert. BC; to be built by December 1, 1911; the GTPR will be combined with the National Transcontinental Railway, built by the Government between Moncton, New Brunswick and Winnipeg; the GTPR’s portion will be built using federal bond guarantees that lead Hays to choose the highest railway standards at an extravagant cost; the outbreak of First World War speeded the decline and the line was nationalized in 1919. On July 12, 1920 the GTPR was placed under the management of Crown corporation Canadian National Railways (CNR) and in 1923 was completely absorbed into the CNR. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1903 Football - The coach of the Carlisle Industrial School for Aboriginals football team has football-shaped patches sewn to the front of his players’ sweaters to fool an opposing team. Carlisle, Saskatchewan
  • 1913 Children - Founding of Montréal child welfare agency, L’association du Bien-Être de la Jeunesse. Montréal, Québec
  • 1921 Sailing - Nova Scotia fishing schooner Bluenose defeats the New England schooner Elsie by almost 5 km to win her first International Schooner Championship. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1924 Trial - Former Ontario provincial treasurer Peter Smith and financier Aemilius Jarvis found guilty in connection with the Ontario Bond Scandal. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1926 Communications - First beam system of wireless transmission to England inaugurated at Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1928 Camilien Houde elected Deputy in the Québec Assembly; later Mayor of Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1928 Canadian Post Office issues Canada’s First bilingual stamp series, with a bust of King George V and the words ‘Postes’ and ‘Postage’. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1931 Independent Labour Party of Saskatchewan is created in Regina. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1945 United Nations Day - The United Nations charter takes effect at the San Francisco Conference, as Canada and 50 other countries come together determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war; to reaffirm faith in human rights; to promote social progress and better standards of life; to practice tolerance and live together in peace and unite their strength to maintain international peace and security; today, there are 185 member countries in the United Nations, led by a Secretary-General, controlled by the General Assembly and the Security Council. The Security Council has five permanent members (United States, Great Britain, France, China, Russia) and ten temporary members (serving 2-year terms, representing five regions of the world). Fifty-four members sit on the Economic and Security Council for three-year terms. There is also a Trusteeship Council and an International Court of Justice. At least fifteen agencies also exist under the auspices of the United Nations, such as the International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Health Organization. Since 1971, by unanimous request of the General Assembly, this day has been observed throughout all UN member nations as a public holiday, United Nations Day. San Francisco, California
  • 1946 Pauline Vanier awarded la Croix de Guerre de France for her wartime work for the Red Cross. Paris, France
  • 1950 Canadian country singer Hank Snow has a #1 Billboard hit with I’m Movin’ On. New York, New York
  • 1951 London, Ontario actor Hume Cronyn and wife Jessica Tandy star in the Broadway debut of The Fourposter. New York, New York
  • 1960 Jean Drapeau and his Civic Party win Montreal municipal elections; sworn in as Mayor of Montréal on October 31, 1960. Montreal, Québec
  • 1961 State Visit - John Diefenbaker leaves Canada for six-day official visit to Japan. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1961 Energy - Start of construction on the Manic 2 power dam. Manicouagan, Québec
  • 1962 Military - John Diefenbaker authorizes full Canadian air defence alert status known as ‘Defcon 3’ in reaction to the Cuban Missile Crisis that broke two days earlier, when the US ordered Soviet missiles out of Cuba. The alert should have gone out earlier, under treaties with the US, but Diefenbaker delayed, angering the Kennedy government. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1962 Rail - Last Spike removed from the Coquihalla Section of the Kettle Valley Railway. Coquihalla, BC
  • 1962 Tom Symons appointed First President and Vice Chancellor of Trent University. Peterborough, Ontario
  • 1964 Olympics - Closing of the XVIII Olympiad in Tokyo; Canada takes home one gold medal in the Summer Olympic Games: (Coxless pairs: George Hungerford, Roger Jackson); two silver (Judo - Plus 80 kilograms: Doug Rogers; and Track and Field - 800 m: Bill Crothers); and one bronze (Track and Field - 100 m: Harry Jerome). Tokyo, Japan
  • 1964 Toronto’s Gale Garnett has a #1 Billboard hit with We’ll Sing in the Sunshine. New York, New York
  • 1966 Communications - SATCOM earth station starts operations near Mill Village; Canada’s First satellite communications earth station. Mill Village, Nova Scotia
  • 1967 Montréal Mayor Jean Drapeau granted two-year deferral of payment to Ottawa; to turn Expo ‘67 site into permanent exhibit; money owed to Ottawa for worlds fair construction. Montreal, Québec
  • 1968 Montréal annexes Ville St-Michel. Montréal, Québec
  • 1971 Union Nationale party votes to change its name to Unité-Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1972 Baseball - Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson dies of heart disease at age 53; had become the First black major league player of this century, starting with the Montréal Royals and moving to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947; 1949 MVP; 1st black American elected to Baseball’s Hall of Fame. New York, New York
  • 1973 Justice - Commons votes to continue partial ban on capital punishment for another five years; except for murders of policeman or prison guards. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1974 Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO) has a #1 Billboard hit single with You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet/Free Wheelin’. New York, New York
  • 1975 Gordon Lightfoot releases new album, ‘Gord’s Gold’. New York, New York
  • 1975 Manitoba Historical Society holds its First annual Dalnavert Ball. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1978 Hockey - NHL Toronto Maple Leafs score 28 points against the New York Islanders; set own team record. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1978 Crime - Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones convicted of heroin possession, given a one-year suspended sentence and ordered to put on a future charity concert for the blind. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1979 Strike - End of 8 month long strike at the Montréal Transport Commission/CTCUM. Montréal, Québec
  • 1981 Pierre Trudeau co-chairs conference of 22 world leaders at Cancun to find solutions to economic disparities between. Cancún, Mexico
  • 1983 Immigration - Ottawa changes entry policy to give precedence to those wanting to open businesses. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1987 Parti Québecois comes out against free trade with the United States. Québec, Québec
  • 1988 Hockey - Montrealer Mike Bossy retires due to back problems; NY Islanders’ & NHL high scorer. New York, New York
  • 1990 Police - RCMP Commissioner Norman Inkster says Aboriginal officers in the force may wear braids on duty; ‘without giving up their traditional spiritual needs’. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1991 Céline Dion and Peabo Bryson release hit duet single, ‘Beauty And The Beast’; theme song for Disney cartoon version of the fairy tale. New York, New York
  • 1991 Michael Porter says Canada must overhaul social programs and business climate to have long-term prosperity; $1.2 million study for Business Council on National Issues. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1992 Baseball - Dave Winfield whacks a two run double in the 11th inning to give the Toronto Blue Jays a 4-3 win over the Atlanta Braves; Jays take baseball’s World Series four games to two, and are the First team from outside the United States to take the title; game actually won on the 25th, as it went on after midnight. Atlanta, Georgia
  • 1992 Politics - Preston Manning says the Reform Party will phase out the GST and balance federal budget in 3 years if elected; 1,700 delegates meet at National Convention. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1995 Diplomacy - Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and 200 other world leaders celebrate the 50th anniversary of the United Nations organization, founded in San Francisco fifty years ago today; largest gathering of world leaders in history. New York, New York
  • 1995 Aboriginal - The Grand Council of the Crees of Québec, under leadership of Matthew Coon Come and the Inuit First Nations of Nouveau-Québec hold their own referendum on Québec secession. The Cree voters are asked: “Do you consent, as a people, that the Government of Quebec separate the James Bay Crees and Cree traditional territory from Canada in the event of a Yes vote in the Quebec referendum?”; 96.3% of the Cree vote in favour of retaining the relationship with Canada. Of 6,380 eligible voters, 77% participated in the Cree referendum. Québec, Québec
  • 1995 Finance - The Québec government and its agencies buy up hundreds of millions of Canadian dollars in a move to stabilize markets ahead of the sovereignty referendum. Chicago, Illinois
  • 1995 Bank Rate - Bank of Canada rate rises 98 basis points, the largest jump in 3 years. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1995 Environment - Ottawa and provinces agree to establish strict air pollution emission standards for new cars by the year 2001. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2005 Education - Striking British Columbia teachers go back to work after two weeks off the job. Victoria, BC
  • 2009 Hockey - Steven Harper in attendance at ceremony unveiling a monument on hockey pioneer James Creighton’s grave site in Beechwood Cemetery. Ottawa, Ontario