Today’s Features

  • 1806 Pierre Bédard & the Parti canadien publish first newspaper written wholly in French.
  • 1837 William Lyon Mackenzie calls for rebellion in Proclamation to the People of Upper Canada
  • 1957 St. Lawrence Seaway opens for traffic as first ship passes through Iroquois Lock at Cornwall.
  • 1917 Birth of the NHL as Five Owners Agree on new league. (old Montreal and Toronto logos below)

List of Facts for November 22

  • 1594 Martin Frobisher dies; Arctic explorer, discoverer of Frobisher Bay for England. London, England
  • 1599 Acadia - François Gravé du Pont buys La Roche’s fur trading monopoly, sets up company with Honfleur merchant Pierre Chauvin; both veteran St. Lawrence River fur traders; Chauvin a Huguenot. St-Malo, France
  • 1612 Samuel de Champlain named Lieutenant of Henry II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, proprietor of New France. Paris, France
  • 1726 Taxation - New France brings in First tax and control of alcoholic beverages. Québec, Québec
  • 1806 Media - Pierre Bédard and the Parti canadien start publishing a Nationalist newspaper Le Canadien; to counter the attacks of the Québec Mercury and agitate for greater power and control of political patronage by French Canadians; Canada’s First newspaper written wholly in French. Québec, Québec
  • 1806 Media - The Royal Gazette First printed to provide a record of Assembly debates and public notices; First newspaper in Newfoundland. St. John’s, Newfoundland
  • 1812 War of 1812 - John Strachan urges the citizens of York, Upper Canada, in a sermon, to help repel the American invaders. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1837 Lower Canada Rebellion - Charles Gore leaves Montréal for Sorel, Québec on the steamboat Saint George with 500 men; his plan is to meet up with George Wetherall at St-Charles, Québec, and move with a combined force of 2,000 Waterloo veterans against the Patriotes in the Richelieu Valley. Montréal, Québec
  • 1837 Lower Canada Rebellion - Louis-Joseph Papineau presides over a meeting of Patriote leaders at St-Charles. St-Charles, Québec
  • 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion - William Lyon Mackenzie calls for rebellion in message to the people of Upper Canada published in his paper The Constitution. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1842 Painting - Toronto painter Paul Kane watches and sketches an eruption of Mount St Helens. Washington, USA
  • 1852 Communications - Frederick Gisborne completes laying North America’s First submarine telegraph cable from Cape Tormentine to Carleton Head, PEI. Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick
  • 1869 Red River Rebellion - Louis Riel and his advisors decide to form a Provisional Government to prevent William McDougall from assuming his duties as lieutenant-governor. Manitoba
  • 1885 North West Rebellion - Crowd of 50,000 pro-Louis Riel demonstrators gather in Montréal to protest his hanging in Regina. Montréal, Québec
  • 1888 Military - First Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories asks the Dominion government to reconsider the claims of Métis troops that had been rejected. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1898 Mning - The British-America Corporation acquires the Le Roi Mining and Smelting Company. BC
  • 1910 Rail - Cascade Tunnel work suspended in favour of the original Vancouver, Victoria & Eastern Railway alignment up the Otter and over to the Coldwater north of Coquihalla Summit. Coquihalla, BC
  • 1911 Rail - Vancouver, Victoria & Eastern Railway abandons the Cascade Tunnel; revert to original alignment up the Tulameen River. Coalmont, BC
  • 1915 First World War - Finance - The First Canadian War Loan of $50 million issued; raised to $100 million on November 30, 1915. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1917 Hockey - Five National Hockey Association Owners decide to start a new League, the National Hockey League; incorporated by Frank Calder on December 19
  • 1917 Hockey - Birth of the NHL Toronto Arenas, later the Maple Leafs. Toronto, Ontario - Play first game on December 19
  • 1917 Hockey - Birth of the NHL Toronto Maple Leafs. Toronto, Ontario - Play first game on December 19
  • 1926 Building - Inauguration of the new Palais de Justice, designed by architect Ernest Cormier. Montréal, Québec
  • 1943 Second World War - RAF and RCAF crews start aerial bombing of Berlin. Britain
  • 1944 Second World War - Canadian Army Council tells General Andy McNaughton that only conscription will provide enough reinforcements; members threaten to resign if he doesn’t agree; eventually 13,000 conscript zombies will be sent overseas. London, England
  • 1951 Korean War - Chinese and North Korean forces attack Hill 355, held by the Second Battalion of the Royal 22e Régiment; the troops are occupying a 7 km front extending north-east from the Samichon River; D Company meets heavy shelling, but holds the position for 96 hours in harsh, snowy conditions. Canadian losses are 15 killed and 34 wounded. Samichon River, Korea
  • 1951 Ontario Election - Leslie Frost leads Progressive Conservatives to third consecutive majority in provincial election. Ontario
  • 1956 Olympics - Canadian team attends opening of the XVI Olympiad, or the Melbourne Summer Olympics. Canada will win two gold medals: coxless fours rowing: Donald Arnold, Ignace d’Hondt, Lorne Loomer, Archie MacKinnon; and smallbore rifle shooting, prone: Gerald Ouellette. Also one silver medal, in rowing eights: David Helliwell, Phillip Kueber, Richard McClure, Douglas McDonald, William McKerlich, Carleton Ogawa, Donald Pretty, Lawrence West, Robert Wilson. Also three bronze medals, in women’s three metre diving: Irene MacDonald; in the equestrian three-day event, team: Jim Elder, Brian Herbinson, John Rumble; and in smallbore rifle shooting, prone: Gilmour Boa. Melbourne, Australia
  • 1957 Shipping - The new St. Lawrence Seaway opens for traffic as the First ship passes through the Iroquois Lock at Cornwall. Cornwall, Ontario
  • 1961 Arts - Founding of the Québec Arts Council / Conseil des Arts du Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1961 Cinema - Film producer Cubby Broccoli and his New Brunswick-born colleague Harry Saltzman start a publicity campaign to make a star out of Sean Connery, their choice for James Bond. Hollywood, California
  • 1962 Sport - Opening of British Commonwealth Games in Perth; until December 1, 1962; Canada places fourth; Harry Mann wins gold medal in boxing; Dick Pound in swimming; Mary Stewart in swimming; Bruce Kidd in track. Perth, Australia
  • 1963 Finance - John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s assassination leads to closing of Toronto Stock Exchange in mid session for First time. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1971 Justice - FLQ terrorist Bernard Lortie sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder of Québec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte during the October Crisis, 1970. Montréal, Québec
  • 1972 Hockey - Pittsburgh Penguins set an NHL record for scoring fastest 5 goals (2:07). Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • 1974 Energy - Trade - Ottawa cuts crude oil exports to the US to help increase Canadian self-sufficiency in oil; to begin 1975; imports expected to end by 1982. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1980 Jules Léger dies; former Governor General of Canada born at St-Anicet, Québec, April 4, 1913. Léger was the brother of brother of Cardinal Paul-Émile Léger; he was a career diplomat, joining the Department of External Affairs in 1940, and serving as Lester Pearson’s Undersecretary of State 1968-72; sworn in as Governor General January 14, 1974; suffered a stroke that June which impaired his speech; his wife, Gabrielle Léger helped him read the Speech from the Throne, in 1976 and 1978; served until January, 1979. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1981 Football - Edmonton Eskimos beat Ottawa Rough Riders 26-23 in the 69th Grey Cup, becoming the First CFL team to win 4 consecutive Grey Cups; will go on to defeat Toronto Argonauts in 1982 for 5 in a row record. Montréal, Québec
  • 1981 John Howard Kelly of Calgary dies; journalist, lawyer, businessman. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1983 Census - Statistics Canada reports that Canada’s population will reach 25,000,000 on this day or the next. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1984 Politics - Jacques Parizeau resigns as Minister of Finance and leaves the Parti québécois after the PQ decides to drop separatism from its formal platform. Québec, Québec
  • 1986 Elzire Dionne dies; mother of the Dionne Quintuplets, the First quints on record to survive. North Bay, Ontario
  • 1986 Hockey - Edmonton Oilers’ Wayne Gretzky scores his 500th career goal in 5-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks; reaches mark in record-setting 575 games, becomes the 13th NHLer to score 500 goals. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1992 Cinema - Genie Awards - David Cronenberg wins Best Picture, Director, 6 other Genies for Naked Lunch, based on William Burroughs novel; Jean-Claude Lauzon wins Genie Award as Best Original Screenplay for film Leolo; Leolo wins total of 3 awards; Tony Nardi wins Genie Award as Best Actor for role in film La Sarrasine; Peter Suschitzky wins Genie Award as Best Cinematographer for film Naked Lunch; Janet Wright wins Genie Award as Best Actress for role in film Bordertown Cafe. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1993 Krever Commission - Justice Horace Krever starts his public hearings into Canada’s blood supply system, and how over 1,000 hemophiliacs and blood transfusion patients contracted AIDS from tainted blood and blood products between 1980 and 1985, before the Canadian Red Cross began testing for the HIV. New Canadian Blood Services will take over the system in September, 1998, on Krever’s recommendation. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1995 Roméo Leblanc named 25th Governor General of Canada, replacing Ray Hnatyshyn; First Acadian to hold the post; sworn in January 29, 1990. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1995 Don Morin sworn in as Premier of the Northwest Territories, replacing Nellie Cournoyea. Yellowknife, NWT
  • 1995 Cinema - Canadian comic Jim Carrey appears in the film, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, opening on this day. Los Angeles, California
  • 1995 Media - CBC / SRC announces it is cutting 2,000 jobs to deal with a budget cut of $227 million. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1995 Diplomacy - Marcel Masse named Québec’s Délégué général / Agent General in Paris. Québec, Québec
  • 1996 Cinema - Film version of Michael Ondaatje’s novel The English Patient opens in theatres across North America. Los Angeles, California
  • 1998 Rail - Omnitrax begins operation of the Okanagan Valley Railway using ex-CN Vernon-Kelowna-Lumby trackage and CP’s Vernon-Sicamous. BC
  • 1999 Crime - Larry Fisher is found guilty of 1969 murder of Gail Miller based on genetic testing and DNA evidence; verdict ends 30-year ordeal of David Milgaard, who was wrongly convicted and spent 23 years in jail for the murder. Fisher, a serial rapist, had been convicted of 7 sexual assaults, inclusing four in Saskatoon around the time of Miller’s death. The case had been taken away from the Saskatoon polics and was finally resolved by the RCMP. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 2002 Forestry - Scientists report that the infestation of tree-killing pine beetles in British Columbia forests now covers an area nearly 75% the size of Sweden and is still spreading rapidly. BC
  • 2003 Hockey - The Heritage Classic, the first outdoor game in NHL history, is played on a flooded rink in Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium in freezing temperatures. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 2004 Alberta Election - Ralph Klein wins his 4th consecutive mandate as Premier of Alberta in the provincial election. Alberta
  • 2005 Forestry - Trade - US Commerce Department says it will comply with a NAFTA panel’s ruling to cut US duties on imports of Canadian softwood lumber; in December the department says it will cut import duties in half to 10.81%. Canada continues to press no duties under the Free Trade deal. Washington, DC
  • 2006 Music - John Allan Cameron dies; born 1938; Nova Scotia folk singer.
  • 2006 Politics - Stephen Harper Introduces motion to recognize the Quebecois as a nation within Canada. Ottawa, Ontario