Highlights of the day

  • 1814 War of 1812 - Americans retreat from Fort Erie; blow up fortifications before they leave.
  • 1939 National Research Council first broadcasts official time signal at EXACTLY 1:00 pm EST.
  • 1956 Maj Gen E. L. M. Burns appointed first CO of the United Nations Emergency Force.

List of Facts for November 5

  • 1666 Military - Marquis de Tracy brings his army back to Québec after a summer battling the Iroquois. Québec, Québec
  • 1768 Treaty - William Johnson and his Iroquois allies sign the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, setting boundaries among the 7 Nations of Canada Indians and the 6 Nations of the Northeastern Indians, and giving land to white settlers south of the Ohio River. Rome, New York
  • 1803 Retail - Founding of weekly public market at York; origin of the St. Lawrence Market. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1814 War of 1812 - US Gen George Izard orders the fortifications of Fort Erie destroyed by a series of blasts and explosions; British-Canadian Gen Gordon Drummond’s scouts arrive in time to find the walls destroyed, the buildings ablaze, and Izard’s army gone across to winter quarters in Buffalo after two months of skirmishing; the bloodiest engagement of the War. Fort Erie, Ontario
  • 1818 Treaty - Chippewas (Ojibwa) cede 768,000 hectares in Northumberland, Durham, Ontario, Haliburton, Hastings, Muskoka; 1,900,000 acres. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1824 Media - William Lyon Mackenzie First publishes his newspaper The Colonial Advocate in York; his radical politics win him popular support in Upper Canada. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1838 Lower Canada Rebellion - John Colborne’s British regular troops skirmish with Cyrille Côté’s 300 Chasseurs for a half hour at Lacolle, leaving 8 rebels dead. Lacolle, Québec
  • 1838 Lower Canada Rebellion - The Patriotes of Beauharnois take over the St. Lawrence River steamboat Brougham. Beauharnois, Québec
  • 1838 Jean Pothier chairs the Special Council of Lower Canada. Québec, Québec
  • 1873 Politics - Pacific Scandal - John A. Macdonald resigns after revelations of campaign financing by Sir Hugh Allan in return for the CPR contract. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1884 Rail - British Columbia portion of the Canadian Pacific Railway reaches Golden City, BC.
  • 1885 Charles Baillie-Grohman publicly posts his circular describing his project on Canal Flats. BC
  • 1887 Football - Ottawa College (ORFU) defeats the Montréal Football Club (QRFU) 10-5 to win the Dominion Rugby Football Championship. Montréal, Québec
  • 1900 Rail - CPR abandons its claims to Fernie townsite. Fernie, BC
  • 1901 Rail - CPR selects the First two of its 6 allowed sections of coal measures in the Elk River valley at Hosmer, BC.
  • 1903 Smelting - Granby Consolidated blows in furnace No. 5 at Grand Forks, BC.
  • 1906 Ranching - Saskatchewan allows ranchers to put up fences and stored feed for cattle; beginning of the end of the open range. Saskatchewan
  • 1909 Religion - Three Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions arrive in Winnipeg to open a parochial school in the parish of St. Edward’s. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1913 Religion - Alberta Mormons hold ground breaking ceremony for the new temple at Cardston; excavation for the foundation begins November 16, 1913. Cardston, Alberta
  • 1917 First World War - Cabinet bans use of grain to manufacture liquor for the rest of the war. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1923 Prohibition - Alberta electors vote for government control of liquor; after seven years of prohibition. Alberta
  • 1924 Transport - Opening of the First paved highway to from Ottawa to Montréal, Québec. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1938 Football - Ottawa Roughriders score on a 5-man, 4-lateral, 65-yard punt return. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1939 Time - The National Research Council in Ottawa first broadcasts its official time signal at EXACTLY 1:00 pm Eastern Standard Time. CBC Radio begins broadcasting the Dominion Observatory official time signal, starting with “The beginning of the long dash following ten seconds of silence…” Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1940 Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians record one of their lesser-known songs, The Moon Fell in the River, for Decca. New York, New York
  • 1944 Second World War - Lieut.-General Harry Crerar, General Guy Simonds and the 5th Canadian Armoured Division arrive in Italy. Lieut.-General Charles Foulkes succeeds Lieut.-General E. L. M. Burns as commander of the 1st Canadian Corps, and leaves for Holland to exchange appointments with Major-General H. W. Foster. General McNaughton had objected to the division of the Canadian army, and retires soon afterwards. Florence, Italy
  • 1944 Second World War - Canadian and British troops liberate Dinteloord. Dinteloord, Netherlands
  • 1955 Hockey - Montréal Canadiens Jean Beliveau scores a hat trick in 44 seconds; second fastest on record. Montréal, Québec
  • 1956 Peacekeeping - Canadian Major-General E. L. M. Burns accepts position as Commander of the First United Nations Emergency Force, as the Pearson peace plan is adopted by the UN General Assembly. United Nations, New York
  • 1960 Mack Sennett dies; silent movie actor and director, The King of Comedy, founder of the Keystone production company. On December 21, 1914, he directed the first feature-length silent film; in that year alone, he directed Charles Chaplin in 35 comedies. In 1937 he was awarded a special Oscar - ‘to the master of fun, discoverer of stars… for his lasting contribution to the comedy technique of the screen’. Woodland Hills, California
  • 1962 Peacekeeping - UN Political Committee approves Canadian formula for halting above-ground nuclear bomb tests. United Nations, New York
  • 1963 Archeology - Danish Archaeologists find first evidence of Viking ruins in Newfoundland predating Columbus by 500 years. L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland
  • 1963 Crime - Seafarers’ International Union leader Hal Banks charged with conspiring to cause bodily harm in assault on ship’s captain H. F. Walsh in 1957. Montréal, Québec
  • 1967 Robert Stanfield takes office as leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1976 Gordon Lightfoot’s single, The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald, hits #1 on the Billboard pop charts. New York, New York
  • 1976 Baseball - Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners both fill up their rosters with 30 new players apiece as new American League franchises at the AL baseball meetings; Jays pick infielder-outfielder Bob Bailor as their First choice. Miami, Florida
  • 1977 Guy Lombardo dies at age 75; bandleader, born June 19, 1902, in London, Ontario. Lombardo, his brother Carmen and his band the Royal Canadians were known for playing ‘the sweetest music this side of heaven’; his Auld Lang Syne is a New Year’s Eve staple. Houston, Texas
  • 1980 Retail - Opening of The World’s Biggest Bookstore in Toronto, with 1.5 million books on 27.3 km of shelves; 6,500 m2 in size; now part of Chapters Indigo chain. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1981 Constitution - Pierre Trudeau signs constitutional accord with nine premiers, after a late night Kitchen Cabinet” meeting involving Justice Minister Jean Chrétien, Ontario Attorney-General Roy McMurtry and Saskatchewan Justice Minister Roy Romanow; they agree on a method to repatriate Canada’s constitution, with an amending formula and a Charter of Rights and Freedoms; René Lévesque abstains, arguing that the proposed Constitution Act does not guarantee Québec’s French-only language policy. At the request of a joint resolution on 8 December 8, 1981, of the Canadian Senate and House of Commons, the British Parliament will pass the Canada Act, which is proclaimed by Elizabeth II on CBC Archives)
  • 1983 Donald Macdonald appointed by Pierre Trudeau to head the Royal Commission into Canada’s Economic Prospects; former finance minister has a mandate to examine Canada’s economic future. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1983 Hockey - Québec Nordiques and New York Rangers both score in the First 14 seconds of the 3rd period. Québec, Québec
  • 1985 Nick Sibbeston sworn in as government leader of the Northwest Territories, replacing Richard Nerysoo. Yellowknife, NWT
  • 1991 Michael Harcourt sworn in as Premier of British Columbia, replacing Rita Johnston. Victoria, BC
  • 1992 Diplomacy - Brian Mulroney offers US President-elect Bill Clinton a standing invitation to visit Canada; calls Governor’s Mansion in Little Rock, Arkansas, from his Florida retreat. Palm Beach, Florida
  • 1992 Blood System - Canadian Hemophilia Society says 800 hemophiliacs, 200 given transfusions by hospitals and the Red Cross got HIV (AIDS) virus; before heat treatment began in Nov, 1985. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1992 Environment - Ottawa says March UV ozone levels 10% lower than pre-1980 average; in Toronto and Edmonton; 4% lower on average overall. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1995 Drifter André Dallaire breaks into 24 Sussex Drive wielding a knife; Jean Chrétien’s wife Aline Chrétien fends off the intruder outside their bedroom with an Inuit sculpture; she locks the door and calls security; points up lax RCMP security. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1995 Crime - Paul Bernardo is declared a dangerous offender, meaning he will be ineligible for parole. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1995 Montréaler David Boys becomes World Scrabble Champion. Montréal, Québec
  • 1996 Jean-Louis Roux resigns as Lieutenant Governor of Québec when the magazine L’Actualité shows pictures of him at pro-Nazi rallies in the 1930s, and reveals he indulged in fascism/antisemitism in 1942 while a medical student at l’Université de Montréal; Roux admitted he had worn a swastika on his sleeve but said it was in jest. Québec, Québec
  • 1999 Aviation A Québec court decides that Onex’s bid for Air Canada is illegal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1999 Language - Québec court judge overturns parts of the province’s language law, which rules that French must be the predominant language on all store signs; the sign law will have to be redrafted. Montréal, Québec
  • 2002 Politics - Jean Chrétien suffers a defeat when many Liberal MPs vote with the opposition members to strip the Prime Minister of the right to appoint the heads of parliamentary committees. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2002 Awards - Barbados-born author Austin Clarke wins the 2002 Giller Prize for his novel The Polished Hoe. Toronto, Ontario
  • 2003 Saskatchewan Election - Premier Lorne Calvert’s NDP is re-elected with a narrow majority against the Saskatchewan Party. Saskatchewan
  • 2004 Same-Sex Marriage - A Saskatchewan judge declares that same-sex couples have the right to marry in that province; Saskatchewan the 7th province to allow homosexuals to wed. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 2010 David Steuart dies; born 1916; politician, Saskatchewan MLA (1962–1977); Leader of the Opposition (1971–1976); Senator (1975–1991). Regina, Saskatchewan