Today’s Features

  • 1812 War of 1812 - British regulars, Canadian militia and St. Regis Mohawks defeat Americans at French Mills.
  • 1837 Lower Canada Rebellion - Wolfred Nelson and followers defeat Col. Charles Gore at St-Denis.
  • 2005 Ottawa announces $1.9 billion compensation for survivors of abuse at native residential schools.

List of Facts for November 23

  • 1617 Marriage - Anne Hébert marries Étienne Jonquet; First marriage on record in the colony. Québec, Québec
  • 1725 Claude Dupuy appointed Intendant of New France; serves from August 28, 1726 to August 30, 1728. Paris, France
  • 1760 Religion - Anne Carr baptized; First Protestant baptism in Québec. Verchères, Québec
  • 1809 Justice - Edward Jordan hanged for piracy; his tarred and chained corpse is hung on a gibbet at the entrance to Halifax Harbour; convicted in Canada’s First piracy trial; seized a vessel that was previously his property. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1812 War of 1812 - British regulars, Canadian militia and St, Regis Mohawks cross border, defeat Americans in skirmish at French Mills on the Salmon River. Fort Covington, New York
  • 1815 Energy - Montréal installs First street lamps, fueled by whale oil; First streetlights in Canada. Montréal, Québec
  • 1837 Lower Canada Rebellion - Patriote leader Wolfred Nelson leads his followers in defeating Col. Charles Gore and his 2,000 British troops at the battle of St-Denis. Gore’s Waterloo veterans, 6 companies of infantry and a detachment of artillery, have no success against the deadly fire of the rebels, holed up in Nelson’s distillery and behind the thick stone walls of the Maison Saint-Germain; after seven hours of fighting, the British suffer 6 dead and 11 wounded, Nelson’s Patriotes lose 12 men and seven wounded; a British prisoner, Lt. Jack Weir, is also killed trying to escape; Nelson later jailed in Montréal; Louis-Joseph Papineau, Thomas Storrow Brown, Edmund Bailey O’Callaghan and a young George-Étienne Cartier flee to St-Hyacinthe, Québec, then to Vermont. St-Denis-sur-Richelieu, Québec
  • 1837 Lower Canada Rebellion - Patriote leader Amury Girod sets up a rebel camp at St-Benoît, north of Montréal, intending to attack the city. St-Benoît, Québec
  • 1837 Energy - Montréal shops First lit by coal gas; replacing whale oil. Montréal, Québec
  • 1852 Communications - Frederick Gisborne finishes laying North America’s First undersea telegraph cable from Cape Tormentine, NB to Carleton Head, PEI. New Brunswick
  • 1869 Red River Rebellion - Louis Riel proposes the formation of a provisional government for Rupert’s Land. Manitoba
  • 1877 Fishery - Halifax Fisheries Commission awards Canada $5.5 million from the United States, in payment for San Juan Island, fishing rights, and free navigation of the St. Lawrence River in perpetuity. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1885 Rail - First CPR through-freight arrives in Port Moody from the East. Port Moody, BC
  • 1888 Founding of the Board of Trade of Fort Macleod, District of Alberta. Fort Macleod, Alberta
  • 1900 Finance - Toronto Mining and Industrial Exchange and Standard Mining Exchange amalgamate to form the Toronto Mining Exchange; will finance a new gold and silver boom. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1904 Olympics - Third Olympic games close. Canada did not send an official team, but Canadians bring back four golds, in golf (George Lyon), lacrosse (Winnipeg Shamrocks), soccer and in the 56 lb. weight throw (Étienne Desmarteau). St. Louis, Missouri
  • 1912 Football - Hamilton Alerts rugby football team suspended by the ORFU for refusing to field a full team in a replay of a protested game, Hamilton, Ontario
  • 1913 Prohibition - Banish the Bar movement begins with a mass temperance meeting in Regina. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1916 Harlan Brewster sworn in as Premier of British Columbia, replacing William Bowser; serves to March 1, 1918. Victoria, BC
  • 1918 Health - Spanish Flu outbreak in Calgary is declared over, but a second epidemic breaks out soon after. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1925 John Brownlee sworn in as UFA Premier of Alberta, succeeding Herbert Greenfield; serves to July 10, 1934. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1926 Disaster - Explosion in the McGillivray Coal and Coke mine at Coleman kills 10. Coleman, Alberta
  • 1944 Second World War - Conscription - Mackenzie King switches his policy, announces that 16,000 home defence conscripts (zombies) will be sent to England as reinforcements; riots follow in Montréal and Québec. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1946 Football - CFL Toronto Argonauts beat Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 28-6 in 34th Grey Cup game. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1952 Korean War - Red Chinese forces launch three-day offensive against Le Royal 22e Régiment (the Van Doos) in Korea; a young UN journalist named René Lévesque interviewed members of the regiment. Korea
  • 1955 Postal - New post office building opens in Princeton, BC.
  • 1959 Rail - Last KVR train crosses the Coquihalla section of the Kettle Valley Subdivision due to washout at Lear, BC.
  • 1960 Boxing - Toronto boxer George Chuvalo beats Bob Cléroux to regain the Canadian heavyweight championship; will lose the title again to Cleroux in a return bout. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1962 Nova Scotia’s Hank Snow has a Billboard #1 country & western hit with his single, I’ve Been Everywhere. New York, New York
  • 1963 Espionage - Kitchener, Ontario, native Ronald Lippert and his partner W. D. Milne tried for smuggling explosives and endangering Cuban security; Milne freed, Lippert, who claimed he was working for the CIA, gets 30 years; arrested in Cuba in October; Lippert released in 1973. Havana, Cuba
  • 1968 Strike - RCMP arrest 114 students at Simon Fraser University for trespassing in the third day of a sit-in to demand the SFU reform its admission and accreditation policies; 56 students fined $250 each. Burnaby, BC
  • 1972 Banking - Queen’s Park passes law allowing people access to credit agency information banks. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1975 Football - CFL Edmonton Eskimos squeak by Montréal Alouettes 9-8 in 63rd Grey Cup game. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1980 Football - CFL Edmonton Eskimos wallop Hamilton Tiger Cats 48-10 in 68th Grey Cup game. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1981 Aboriginal - Québec government states that it does not agree to restore native and women’s rights in proposed Constitution, in opposition to Ottawa and the other provinces. Québec, Québec
  • 1988 Hockey - Edmonton Oilers Wayne Gretzky scores his 600th career NHL goal. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1995 Media - CBC says it will drop all US-produced television programs from its prime-time schedule. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1995 Unity - Jean Chrétien unveils federal unity plan; Prime Minister suggests distinct society thrust; introduces a law to give each of Canada’s four regions a constitutional veto. The West complains that it deserves more than one. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2000 Crime - Canada Customs authorities arrest Lai Changxing, a fugitive smuggler from Fujian province in China. Vancouver, BC
  • 2005 Aboriginal - Canadian government announces a $1.9 billion compensation package to benefit tens of thousands of survivors of abuse at native residential schools. National Chief Phil Fontaine of the Assembly of First Nations says the package covers, “decades in time, innumerable events and countless injuries to First Nations individuals and communities.” Justice Minister Irwin Cotler calls the decision to house young Canadians in church-run residential schools “the single most harmful, disgraceful and racist act in our history.” Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2008 Football - CFL Western Division champion Calgary Stampeders defeat the East Division champions Montreal Alouettes 22-14 in the 96th Grey Cup at Olympic Stadium; Calgary QB Henry Burris wins the MVP award. Montreal, Quebec