Highlights of the day

  • 1787 Nova Scotia Bishop Charles Inglis opens University of King’s College, Canada’s oldest.
  • 1813 US Gen James Wilkinson sets out with 8,000 men from Sackets Harbor to attack Montreal.
  • 1952 CBLT-TV Toronto broadcasts Canada’s First English-language hockey telecast.

List of Facts for November 1

  • 1610 Henry Hudson realizes it is too late to leave for England; orders Prickett and Staffe and his crew to haul the Discovery aground at the bottom of James Bay near the mouth of the Nottaway River and prepare winter quarters; they are not able to leave until June 18, 1611. James Bay, Québec
  • 1696 King William’s War - Pierre d’Iberville marches across the Avalon Peninsula to capture and burn Ferryland. Ferryland, Newfoundland
  • 1733 Smelting - Les Forges de St-Maurice start smelting iron from bog deposits. Trois-Rivières, Québec
  • 1739 Smelting - Upper furnace of the Forges de St-Maurice starts smelting operations. Trois-Rivières, Québec
  • 1787 Education - Anglican Bishop Charles Inglis directs opening of new academy of higher education at Windsor; beginning of the University of King’s College, Canada’s oldest, by Loyalist refugees who split from what is now Columbia University in New York. King’s College eventually moved to Halifax; now part of Dalhousie University. Windsor, Nova Scotia
  • 1809 John Molson’s steamboat Accommodation departs on its First voyage to Québec City; from Montréal in less than three days; North America’s First regular steamship service. Montréal, Québec
  • 1813 War of 1812 - American invasion of Lower Canada begins, as US Army General James Wilkinson sets out with 8,000 men from Sackets Harbor to attack Canada down the St. Lawrence; General Wade Hampton gathers 4,200 at Lake Champlain to attack Montréal from the south. Sackets Harbor, New York
  • 1833 Banking - Opening of the City Bank of Montreal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1838 Lord Durham sails for England to report on the state of the Canadas. Québec, Québec
  • 1838 John Colborne, Lord Seaton appointed Administrator of Lower Canada; serves until January 17, 1839. Québec, Québec
  • 1847 Education - Normal School (teachers college) opens at Toronto. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1849 Energy - Québec streets First lit by coal gas. Québec, Québec
  • 1869 Red River Rebellion - Louis Riel seizes Fort Garry; leader of Métis uprising against the influx of white settlers into Manitoba without consultation. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1873 Police First North West Mounted Police (NWMP) officers begin arriving at Lower Fort Garry. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1879 Education - Emmanuel College is established at Prince Albert; First school for higher education in the Northwest Territories. Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
  • 1880 Acheson Irvine appointed fourth Commissioner of the NWMP; serves to March 31, 1886. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1884 Rail - Prince George, later King George V, drives the last spike of the Harbour Grace Railway, opening traffic on Newfoundland’s First railway, running between St. Johns, Newfoundland and Harbour Grace; Prince visiting the province as a midshipman aboard H.M.S. Cumberland. Harbour Grace, Newfoundland
  • 1893 Charles Mackintosh installed as Lieutenant-Governor of the Northwest Territories. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1905 City of Cranbrook incorporated. Cranbrook, BC
  • 1906 Mining - W. L. Hamilton acquires a coal prospect in the Crowsnest’s valley from J. C. Drewry. Bellevue, Alberta
  • 1907 Great Northern Railroad acquires and merges the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway which it had leased in 1890. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1909 Transport - Lethbridge Viaduct officially opened for traffic. Lethbridge, Alberta
  • 1924 National Hockey League awards a hockey franchise to the Boston Bruins; the NHL’s First US team. Montréal, Québec
  • 1925 Justice - John Ward sentenced to eight years and 20 lashes for his part in a bank robbery in Creston, BC.
  • 1927 Education - Queen’s Park shelves Regulation #17; Ontario had banned French language instruction in Ontario schools past Grade 1. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1935 William Patterson sworn in as Premier of Saskatchewan, replacing Jimmy Gardiner. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1939 Aviation - Trans-Canada Air Lines starts daily coast-to-coast flights between Montréal and Vancouver, BC. Montréal, Québec
  • 1941 Opening of the Rainbow Bridge to Niagara Falls, New York. Niagara Falls, Ontario
  • 1952 Media - Foster Hewitt calls the play-by play on CBLT-TV, Toronto as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins 2-1 in an NHL game; this is Canada’s First English-language hockey telecast. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1952 Media - Toronto Mayor Alan Lamport debates with opponent Nathan Phillips in the First political debate on Canadian TV. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1955 Foreign Aid - Lester Pearson opens Canada Dam in India, built with Canadian aid. India
  • 1956 Mining - Second Springhill mine disaster; 39 miners are killed, but rescuers soon save another 89 trapped men. From 1881 to 1969, 424 miners lose their lives at Springhill. Springhill, Nova Scotia
  • 1957 Speedboat Racing - Bob Hayward pilots Miss Supertest III to a world record of 184.54 miles per hour. Picton, Ontario
  • 1958 Mining - Coal mine rescue workers bring 7 more men out; in all, 74 miners die underground in the Number Two Cumberland mine, in the third Springhill mine disaster; last body recovered November 6, 1958 from the 3,960 metre depth, in the deepest coal workings in North America. Springhill, Nova Scotia
  • 1959 George McClellan appointed 13th Commissioner of the RCMP; serves to August 14, 1967. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1959 Hockey - Jacques Plante of the Montréal Canadiens becomes the first NHL goalie to wear a protective face mask as a regular part of his uniform. After a shot from Rangers centre Andy Bathgate opens an inch-long gash from Plante’s upper lip into his left nostril, he returns to the ice with seven stitches and a mask. Montréal, Québec -
  • 1966 Mining - Cominco shuts down HB mine operations. BC
  • 1966 Mining - International Nickel to spend $100 million to double production of nickel at Thompson. Thompson, Manitoba
  • 1970 Medicare - Québec brings in universal health insurance plan. Québec
  • 1971 Media - Douglas Creighton starts publishing the daily tabloid ‘The Toronto Sun’ with other unemployed Toronto Telegram staffers; First issue has 48 pages; origin of the current Sun Media chain owned by Quebecor. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1971 Media - First issue of The Body Politic, Canada’s first major gay magazine. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1973 Education - Waterloo Lutheran University in Waterloo, Ontario becomes a public institution, renaming itself Wilfrid Laurier University. Cambridge, Ontario
  • 1978 Hockey - Wayne Gretzky is acquired by the Edmonton Oilers. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1979 Québec tables White Paper Québec-Canada: A New Deal, proposing a less radical ‘sovereignty-association’ option; Québec to be politically independent while keeping benefits of economic union. Québec
  • 1979 Art Gallery of Ontario opens the Treasures of King Tutankhamen exhibition; runs until December 31, 1979; 750,000 people attend. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1982 Immigration - Ottawa to reduce immigration by about 25% in 1983, to 105,000-110,000 immigrants. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1983 Strike - BC Government Employees Union workers start 13-day strike to protest pay and job restraint. BC
  • 1985 Don Getty sworn in as Premier of Alberta, replacing Peter Lougheed; serves to December 13, 1992. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1987 Politics - Reform Party elects Preston Manning as its First leader, at its inaugural convention. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1987 René Lévesque dies in Montréal at age 65; leader of the separatist Parti Québécois and former Premier of Québec (1976-1985); started in journalism as war correspondent with US forces during Second World War; joined Radio-Canada in 1946 as radio and TV reporter; hosted popular show, Point de Mire; 1960 won seat in Québec National Assembly as Liberal; held several portfolios in Lesage government; 1967 left Liberal party and united several separatist groups to form Parti Québecois; 1976 led PQ to power; 1980 lost referendum on sovereignty; 1985 gave up leadership of PQ. Montréal, Québec
  • 1990 Keith Spicer appointed Chairman of the Citizen’s Forum on Canada’s Future; to interview Canadians, seek opinions and solutions on the Constitution, and report by July 1, 1991. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1991 Roy Romanow sworn in as NDP Premier of Saskatchewan, replacing Grant Devine. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1991 Rail - Ottawa announces $6 million, 2 year study for high speed train corridor between Windsor, Ontario and Québec City; estimated cost $7 billion shared by Ottawa, Ontario, Québec. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1992 Boulevard St-Cyrille renamed Boulevard René-Lévesque. Montréal, Québec
  • 1992 McGill University named best in Canada by Maclean’s Magazine. Montréal, Québec
  • 1992 Space - Canadian Space Agency astronaut Steve Maclean lands safely at Kennedy Space Center on board Shuttle Columbia after 10 day STS-52 mission; laser physicist from Ottawa tested Canadarm and space station construction jobs, plus Canada’s Advanced Space Vision System (ASVS). Cape Canaveral, Florida
  • 1995 CP Rail starts commuter service between Vancouver and Mission, BC. Vancouver, BC
  • 1999 Forestry - Weyerhaeuser Canada acquires the MacMillan-Bloedel Corporation. Vancouver, BC
  • 2001 Grain - United Grain Growers (UGG) and Agricore merge to become Agricore United. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 2007 Crime - Ontario issues a provincewide Amber Alert after a newborn baby is abducted from the Sudbury Regional Hospital; Kirkland Lake resident, Brenda Batisse, will be arrested that evening, without harm to the baby. Sudbury, Ontario