Today’s Features

  • 1841 Alexander Davidson gets first Canadian copyright for The Canada Spelling Book
  • 1931 Royal Canadian Mint opens as branch of Royal Mint; under control of Dept of Finance
  • 1969 NHL awards franchise to the Vancouver Canucks; season starts November, 1970.
  • 2005 First government of Nunatsiavut Sworn in

List of Facts for December 1

  • 1535 Health - Jacques Cartier’s men begin to experience the effects of scurvy, due to lack of vitamin C in their diet; the Iroquois will show them how to make cedar tea (tisane d’anneda) as a cure. Québec, Québec
  • 1680 Space - Halley’s Comet appears for three months; The Great Comet visible until February.
  • 1757 French and Indian War - Conflict and the thievery of Intendant François Bigot causes famine in New France; people turn to eating horses. Montréal, Québec
  • 1775 Census - American Revolutionary War - Québec numbers 5,000 inhabitants on the eve of the American attack. Québec, Québec
  • 1837 Lower Canada Rebellion - Governor Lord Gosford issues a proclamation in French and English promising an reward of 1000 pounds in provincial currency (4000 piastres) to anyone who can apprehend and hand over rebel leader Louis-Joseph Papineau; he had fled to the US. Montréal, Québec
  • December 1 - Lower Canada Rebellion - Patriote leaders Louis-Joseph Papineau and Edmund Bailey O’Callaghan arrive in the US. Middlebury, Vermont
  • 1841 Publishing - Alexander Davidson gets First Canadian copyright for The Canada Spelling Book; published by Rowell. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1844 Urban - Montréal holds First municipal elections; divided into 9 wards, with a council of 21 members. Montréal, Québec
  • 1854 Banking - Post Office offers First money order service. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1855 Rail - First train runs from Lévis to St-Thomas de Montmagny, Québec. Lévis, Québec
  • 1859 Crime - John Hogan robbed and murdered in the Don Valley by thieves known as the Brook’s Bush Gang; he is founder of The United Empire weekly, and editor of The British Colonist newspaper; Reform member of the Assembly; his body found in the River March 30, 1861; gang member James Brown will be convicted and executed March 10, 1862, in Toronto’s last public hanging. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1865 Media - Finance - The Globe newspaper publishes First authorized stock exchange lists on a regular basis. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1868 John Young, Lord Lisgar appointed Administrator of Canada; serves until February 1, 1869; then Governor General. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1869 Red River Rebellion - William McDougall enters Manitoba and formally takes possession of the North West Territory (Rupert’s Land) for Canada; commissions John Dennis to raise a police force. He had not yet been told that John A. Macdonald was refusing to pay the HBC until peaceful possession could be guaranteed. Meanwhile, at Fort Garry, the Métis National Committee has drawn up a Métis bill of rights as a condition for joining Canada; the Métis to elect their own legislature, English & French official languages. Fort Dufferin, Manitoba
  • 1874 Police - NWMP Assistant Commissioner James Macleod meets with Crowfoot, head Chief of the Blackfoot Nation, to help establish friendly ties; their relationship will lead to the successful creation of Treaty 7. Alberta
  • 1881 Rail - Andrew Onderdonk awarded the contract to built the CPR main line from Emory Bar in the Fraser River canyon to tidewater at Port Moody, BC. Montréal, Québec
  • 1892 Post Office opens a bureau at Fairview, Alberta.
  • 1896 Rail - The Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway opens line to Depot Harbour from Madawaska, Ontario, completing link to Lake Huron. Parry Sound, Ontario
  • 1900 Post Office opens branch in Lyon’s store. Blairmore, Alberta
  • 1901 New Fairview Corporation begins operating a 10-stamp mill on Stemwinder claim at Fairview, Alberta.
  • 1903 Fire guts central building of the University of Ottawa. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1907 J. N. Hammond appointed the First postmaster of Fruitvale, BC.
  • 1919 Mystery - Ambrose Small sells his chain of theatres to Trans-Canada Theatres for $2 million; promptly disappears the following day; presumably he was murdered; no trace of Small has ever been found. Ontario
  • 1920 Police - Royal North West Mounted Police becomes the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) with the absorption of the Dominion Police.
  • December 1 - British Columbia Election - John Oliver and the Liberals are re-elected in the provincial election. BC
  • December 1 - Immigration - Ottawa declares that no immigrant can enter Canada with less than $250; plus $125 per family. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1921 Rail - The Great Northern Railroad surrenders its Princeton agency to the Kettle Valley Railway. Princeton, BC
  • 1922 Auto - New Brunswick drivers switch to driving on the right-hand side of the road. New Brunswick
  • 1923 Football - Queen’s University beats Regina Riders 54-0 to win the 11th Grey Cup game. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1924 Farming - James Cobden of Dahinda, Saskatchewan, wins the World Wheat Championship at the International Hay and Grain Show in Chicago. Chicago, Illinois
  • 1926 Ontario Election - Howard Ferguson leads Conservatives to a second consecutive majority in the provincial vote. Ontario
  • December 1 - Prohibition - Ontario goes wet as voters decide on government control of sale of liquor; rather than prohibition. Ontario
  • 1928 Football - Hamilton Tigers beat Regina Riders 30-0 to win the 16th Grey Cup game. Hamilton, Ontario
  • 1930 Hockey - NHL drops 20 minute slashing-about-the-head penalty. Montréal, Quebec
  • 1931 Coinage - Ottawa branch of the Royal Mint starts operation as the Royal Canadian Mint, under the control of the Department of Finance, which acquired the buildings and land. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1935 Education - Mark McClung named the University of Alberta’s Rhodes Scholar for 1935-36; son of Nellie McClung. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1936 Urban - Completion of new Vancouver City Hall at 12th and Cambie. Vancouver, BC
  • December 1 - Botany - The purple violet (Viola cuculata) becomes New Brunswick’s official flower after a vote by school children and the Womens Institutes. Fredericton, New Brunswick
  • 1939 Second World War - Group of 7,500 Canadian Army volunteers sails for England to serve in the war. Montréal, Québec
  • 1941 Second World War - Maximum Prices Regulations passed, to begin wartime wage and price controls; based on the highest prices in the four weeks ending October 11, 1941. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1942 Mining - CNP Coal closes the old Coal Creek Colliery. BC
  • 1943 Second World War - The 1st Canadian Infantry Division starts to take control of the bridgehead on the Sangro River, Italy; will reach the Moro River by December 4, 1943; British Eighth Army making one last attempt to break through into the Lombardy Plain before winter. Italy
  • 1945 Football - Toronto Argonauts beat Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 35-0 in 33rd Grey Cup game. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1951 Road - Ontario opens new Toronto to Barrie, Ontario highway for traffic; named Highway 400 the following year. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1960 Hockey - Gordie Howe becomes the NHL’s leading scorer with 1,092 points; eventually surpassed by Wayne Gretzky. Detroit, Michigan
  • December 1 - Banking - Castro government purchases Cuban assets of the Bank of Nova Scotia. Havana, Cuba
  • 1962 Football - The Fog Bowl - Severe lakefront fog rolls into Exhibition Stadium in Toronto during the 50th CFL Grey Cup game between Hamilton Tiger Cats and Winnipeg Blue Bombers; the visibility gets worse after the half, with people in the stands unable to see a thing, so CFL commissioner Sydney Halter calls the game with 9:22 left; Bud Grant’s Winnipeg team will win the Fog Bowl the next day by a score of 28-27. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1966 Music - California folk-pop vocal group, the Mamas and the Papas earn their fourth gold record for their album, Cass, John, Michelle & Denny; Denny is Halifax-born folk rocker Denny Doherty. Los Angeles, California
  • 1969 Hockey - NHL awards league franchises to the Vancouver Canucks and Buffalo Sabres; seasons to start in the fall of 1970.
  • December 1 - Terrorism - FLQ terrorists set off a bomb on the campus of McGill University. Montréal, Québec
  • December 1 - Crime - Police forces across Canada bring in breathalyzer testing to take blood alcohol levels of suspected impaired drivers. Canada
  • 1970 Security - Commons passes the Public Order (Temporary Measures) Act to replace the War Measures Act; continues outlawing of FLQ, lets police arrest without warrant. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1971 Music - Montréal composer Galt MacDermot premieres his musical version of Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona, with lyrics by John Guare, on Broadway. New York, New York
  • December 1 - Disaster - Moving Metro subway train crashes into a second parked train in Montreal, killing one person. Montréal, Québec
  • 1973 Hockey - The NHL ends the reserve clause in future player contracts, favouring the kind of one-year option system used in National Football League contracts. Montréal, Québec
  • 1979 Music - Springhill, Nova Scotia’s Anne Murray has a #1 hit on the Billboard country charts with Broken Hearted Me. New York, New York
  • 1980 Media - Aboriginal - Founding of new northern TV network, broadcasting in Inuktitut to the eastern Arctic. Nunavut
  • 1986 Supreme Court of Canada rules that Canada Post is not obligated to provide door-to-door delivery to every Canadian household. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1987 Finance - Royal Bank buys 75% of Dominion Securities for $385 million. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1988 Health - First World AIDS Day; the disease was first reported in the early 1980s.
  • 1992 Fire destroys Eastgate Lodge in Manning Provincial Park. Alberta
  • December 1 - Immigration - Fourteen Romanian children become Canadian citizens after they are adopted by Canadian families. Canada
  • 1994 Health - Politician Lucien Bouchard is struck by flesh-eating bacteria; doctors will be forced to amputate his left leg. Montréal, Quebec
  • December 1 - Rail - Société des chemins de fer du Québec (Québec Railway Corporation) starts operating the former CN line from Limoilou, Québec to Clermont, Québec. Montréal, Québec
  • December 1 - Hockey - Wayne Gretzky’s Ninety Nine All Stars, a team made up of 20 locked out NHL stars, loses to the IHL Detroit Vipers, 4-3 in a tune-up for six-game Scandinavian tour. Detroit, Michigan
  • 1995 Labour - Government introduces employment insurance reform measures in the Commons. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1996 Politics - Dalton McGuinty elected leader of the Ontario Liberal party. Toronto, Ontario
  • December 1 - Peter Bronfman dies at age 67, financier; with his brother Edward Bronfman, created Edper, and controlled the largest conglomerate assembled in Canada. Toronto, Ontario
  • December 1 - Rail - Société des chemins de fer du Québec (Québec Railway Corporation) starts operating the former CN line between Matapedia and Chandler, Québec; short line called the Chemin de fer Baie des Chaleurs, a wholly owned subsidiary. Matapedia, Québec
  • 1998 Gun Control - New law goes into effect that requires all 3 million gun owners to be licensed and every one of an estimated 7 million rifles and handguns to be registered. Canada
  • 2003 Environment - Coalition of energy and forest companies and First Nations and environmental groups announce a framework for forest and wetland conservation to conserve at least 50% of Canada’s sub-Arctic boreal forests. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2004 State Visit - US President George W. Bush arrives in Halifax to thank Atlantic Canadians for helping thousands of stranded Americans three years ago, during the 9-11 attacks, and to deliver a speech expected to outline his foreign policy goals for the next four years. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • December 1 - Crime - Toronto mother Andrea Labbe, age 26, stabs her husband and three-year-old daughter to death before fatally cutting her own throat. Toronto, Ontario
  • 2005 Aboriginal - Constitution of Nunatsiavut (“our beautiful land”) formally adopted and the first Cabinet sworn in; the 5,300 Labrador Inuit and Kablunângajuit (people of mixed Labrador Inuit and European ancestry) are now able to make their own laws relating to cultural affairs, education and health. Nain, Newfoundland and Labrador.
  • 2008 Politics - Liberal Party and New Democratic Party table an official ‘coalition agreement’, agreeing to form a coalition government with the backing of the Bloc Québécois if they succeed in ousting the Conservative minority government in a vote of non- confidence; the coalition are in the process of drafting a letter to Governor-General Michaëlle Jean requesting the institution of a coalition government, and the ousting of the Conservative minority elected by Canadian voters two months earlier. See December 4.
  • December 1 - Banking - CIBC celebrates 40 years of the Instant Teller; a version of IDA, the money machine.