Highlights of the day

  • 1770 Samuel Hearne’s Journey from Prince of Wales’ Fort to the Northern Ocean.
  • 1837 Upper Canada Militia defeat rebels at Montgomery’s Tavern
  • 1941 Canada the first of the Western allies to declare war on Japan after Pearl Harbor Attack.
  • 1970 Royal Commission on the Status of Women issues report with 167 recommendations.

List of Facts for December 7

  • 1649 Jesuit priest Charles Garnier killed by Iroquois during attack on the St-Jean mission in Huronia; canonized by Pope Pius XI on June 29, 1930. Midland, Ontario
  • 1677 Religion - Benediction and opening of the Québec Seminary. Québec, Québec
  • 1678 Exploration - Louis Hennepin 1626-c1705 first European to describe Niagara Falls; with Dominique La Motte de Luciere . Niagara Falls, Ontario
  • 1729 Treaty - Mississauga Indians give up title to 5 million hectares to the Crown, including Norfolk, Wentworth and Haldimand counties. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1770 Exploration - HBC fur trader Samuel Hearne sets out west from Fort Prince of Wales on Hudson Bay on his third expedition to find a passage, by river or sea, across the Barren Lands; with Chipewyan chief Matonabbee; they travel to Alcantara Lake, and then north to the Coppermine River; he will be the First European to see the Arctic Ocean. Churchill, Manitoba
  • 1827 Mining - Canada’s First steam engine starts operating on the Albion Railway at Stellarton. Stellarton, Nova Scotia
  • 1833 Media - Journal L’Abeille Canadienne First published in Montréal. Montréal, Quebec
  • 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion - Anthony Van Egmond arrives at Montgomery’s Tavern to take command of the rebels; an experienced soldier, he is dismayed to find only 500 poorly trained men. Toronto, Ontario
  • December 7 - Upper Canada Rebellion - Governor Francis Bond Head orders Lt. James Fitzgibbon to march with Allan MacNab, 1000 loyalist volunteers and 500 militia to Montgomery’s Tavern 8 km north of Toronto; at 1:00 pm they start to skirmish with rebels hidden in the woods, but disperse them with a cannon; arriving at Montgomery’s Tavern, they fire cannon shots at the building, and the rebels flee, leaving one dead, eleven wounded, of whom four die of their wounds; the troops search the tavern, find William Lyon Mackenzie’s papers, and burn the building to the ground; rebel commander Anthony Van Egmond is captured later that day; Mackenzie flees into exile in the US, effectively ending the rebellion in Upper Canada. Toronto, Ontario
  • December 7 - Lower Canada Rebellion - Col. Charles Gore returns to Montréal with his British regulars after fighting Patriote rebels at St-Denis and St-Charles. Montréal, Québec
  • 1863 Chesapeake Affair - American Civil War - Party of 16 Confederates hijack American coastal steamer Chesapeake and sail it to Saint John, New Brunswick, for refueling, then to Nova Scotian waters, where it is recaptured by the USS Dacotah and towed into harbour at Halifax, Nova Scotia; the US vice-consul charges Nova Scotians with violation of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, but the Chesapeake Affair soon blows over. Cape Cod, Massachusetts
  • 1869 Riel Rebellion - Dr. John Schultz is captured with Charles Mair and Thomas Scott, a Canada First and Orange Lodgemember; Schultz is leading a group of 45 Ontario settlers from Portage La Prairie, Manitoba on their way to take over Fort Garry; imprisoned by Louis Riel’s provisional government. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1876 Shipping - SS Northern Light starts First regular service from Prince Edward Island to the mainland. Charlottetown, PEI
  • 1892 Politics - John Thompson sworn as Canada’s fourth Prime Minister, replacing John Abbott, who resigned due to ill health.
  • 1898 Rail - Inauguration of the Crow’s Nest Pass Railway. BC Alberta
  • 1899 Manitoba Election - Hugh John Macdonald, the son of John A. Macdonald, leads Manitoba Conservative Party to victory in the provincial election. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1900 Québec Election - Napoléon Parent elected Premier of Québec in the provincial election. Quebec
  • 1907 Health - Christmas Seals First sold to help fight tuberculosis. Canada
  • 1911 Hockey - The Patrick brothers found the National Hockey Association, with teams from New Westminster, Vancouver & Victoria. Vancouver, BC
  • 1918 Earthquake - Tremour stops the Vancouver Block clock on Granville Street; the clock has only stopped a few times since it was built in 1912; in a June 23, 1946 earthquake, and on New Years Eve, December 31, 1952. Vancouver, BC
  • 1920 Religion - Roman Catholic Archbishop Henry O’Leary arrives in Edmonton. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1935 Football - Winnipeg Blue Bombers, of the Western Interprovincial Football Union (WIFU) beat the Hamilton Tigers 18-12 to win the 23rd Grey Cup game; First western team to win the Grey Cup. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1940 Football - Ottawa Rough Riders win second game and 28th Grey Cup, beating Toronto Balmy Beach 12-5 in a two game total points competition; the only two-game series ever played. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1941 Second World War - Canada the First of the Western allies to declare war on Japan, Finland, Hungary, and Rumania; shortly after Japanese bomb US base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. US, Britain and other allied countries follow the next day. Twelve days after the Japanese attack, the Canadian government, operating under the War Measures Act, will order the removal of Japanese Canadians and Japanese citizens inland 100 miles from the Pacific coast. Ottawa, Ontario
  • December 7 - Second World War - Royal Canadian Navy Flower Class corvette HMCS Windflower rammed by Dutch freighter Zypenberg in dense fog off the Grand Banks, while escorting convoy SC.58; Windflower sinks, and 23 of her ship’s company are lost. Atlantic Ocean
  • 1944 Second World War - Conscription - Mackenzie King wins Commons’ vote of confidence in wake of conscription measure. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1953 Banking - Mercantile Bank of Canada starts operations, with head offices in Montréal; First foreign-owned bank; subsidiary of First National City Bank of New York. Montréal, Quebec
  • 1960 Security - RCMP file First report to Justice Minister Davie Fulton on the relations of Pierre Sevigny, Deputy Minister of National Defence, with Gerda Munsinger, an East German prostitute; affair a security risk; Sevigny broke off relations; no other action taken; secret until March, 1966, when the affair comes out in the House of Commons and becomes a major scandal. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1961 Hockey - Jean Beliveau appointed Captain of the NHL Montréal Canadiens. Montréal, Quebec
  • December 7 - Banking - Bank of Montréal opens branch in Tokyo; First Canadian bank in Japan. Tokyo, Japan
  • 1970 Women - Royal Commission on the Status of Women issues 488-page report with 167 recommendations on day-care, equal pay for work of equal value, maternity leave, birth control, abortion on demand, pensions and family law; instituted by Lester Pearson February 16, 1967, in response to a campaign led by Ontario activist Laura Sabia and a coalition of 32 women’s voluntary groups; chaired by journalist and broadcaster Florence Bird, with commissioners Jacques Henripin, professor of demography, John Humphrey, professor of law; Lola Lange, farmer and community activist; Jeanne Lapointe, professor of literature, Elsie MacGill, aeronautical engineer; and Doris Ogilvie, judge. RCSW held 6 months of public hearings across Canada, and heard 468 briefs. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1973 Trade - Atomic Energy of Canada sells $250 million CANDU nuclear reactor to South Korea. Korea
  • 1975 Skiing - Canadian downhill skier Ken Read takes top spot at the FIS World Cup downhhill race at Val d’Isère, with a time of 2:04:97; first major win for the “Crazy Canucks” - Dave Irwin, Jim Hunter and Steve Podborski - who also finish in the top ten against he Europeans. Val d’Isère, France See: CBC Archives clip
  • 1977 Hockey - Gordie Howe of the WHA New England Whalers scores his 1,000th professional goal in a game against the Birmingham Bulls. Hartford, Connecticut
  • 1978 Ed Schreyer appointed Governor General of Canada, assumes office on January 22, 1979 and serves until 1984. Ottawa, Ontario
  • December 7 - Fire damages the Sacré-Coeur chapel in Notre-Dame Church. Montréal, Québec
  • 1980 Constitution - Québec Premier René Lévesque tells a crowd of 14,000 at the Forum that Pierre Trudeau’s plan for unilateral patriation of the constitution is a a coup d’etat by a dictator. Montréal, Québec
  • December 7 - W. L. Morton dies in Winnipeg; historian; books include The Progressive Party in Canada (1950) and Manitoba: A History (1957). Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1982 Harry Jerome dies; track and field athlete, teacher, born at Prince Albert, Saskatchewan September 30, 1940; won the 100 m bronze in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and the 100 m gold in the 1967 Pan-American Games; First man to hold both the world 100 yard and 100 metre records; First Canadian to hold a world track record. Vancouver, BC
  • December 7 - Espionage - Hugh Hambleton convicted of spying for Soviet Union in the 1950’s; Laval University professor. London, England
  • 1990 Jean Duceppe dies at age 67; actor, father of Bloc Québecois leader Gilles Duceppe. Montréal, Quebec
  • December 7 - Jean-Paul Lemieux dies at age 86; painter, art teacher, born at Quebec City in 1904; studied at the Academia Colarossi in Italy, at la Grande Chaumière in Paris, then at Loyola and the École du Meuble in Montréal in the 1920s and 30s; taught there, replacing Paul-Émile Borduas; moved to the École des Beaux-arts in Quebec City, where he taught from 1937 to 1965; known for his ethereal figures set against receding landscapes. [some say died Nov. 7] Québec, Québec
  • 1992 Urban - Town of Hope declared a District Municipality. Hope, BC
  • 1995 Environment - British Columbia Legislature passes regulations for car makers to provide less polluting vehicles; First province in Canada. Victoria, BC
  • December 7 - Hockey - Montréal Canadiens trade goaltender Patrick Roy to the Colorado Avalanche, along with team captain Mike Keane, for 2 forwards and a promising 20-year-old goaltender. Montréal, Quebec
  • 1996 Sovereignty - Montigny Commission issues a report, Reconnaissance et Interdependance, to the Quebec Liberal Party on the evolution of Canadian federalism . Montréal, Quebec
  • 2001 Labour - Statistics Canada reported a jobless increase to 7.5%, the highest level since mid-1999.
  • 2005 Environment - The European Union and host Canada pressure the US to join an international pact to curb greenhouse gas emissions and limit the predicted chaos from global warming. Montréal, Québec