Highlights of the day

  • 1755 Canada’s first post office opens in Halifax, with subsidized direct mail to Britain.
  • 1878 First railway train reaches Winnipeg after 30 hour trip from St. Paul, Minnesota.
  • 1910 Rudyard Kipling encourages people of Medicine Hat to keep their city’s colourful name.

List of Facts for December 9

  • 1657 Retail - The Jesuit Relations reports that 100 settlers were killed by the Iroquois in the St. Lawrence valley this year; also that on this day in Three Rivers, M. de la Poterie opened an establishment where wine was sold to the Natives: two pots for a winter beaver and one pot for a summer beaver. And since the troubles were not resolved by these means, people complained about the existence of the establishment, to the extent that M. de La Poterie was forced to send to Québec for the will of the Governor regarding said establishment. The Governor concluded that it should not remain opened, but he did not force him to close it down. Trois-Rivières, Québec
  • 1755 Postal - First post office in Canada opens in Halifax, mainly for military communications, along with subsidized direct mail to Great Britain and New York by ship; in 1788, regular mail packets begin from Halifax; origin of Cunard Line. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1757 Famine in New France causes the inhabitants to butcher their horses; due to a poor harvest and the thievery of Intendant François Bigot. Québec, Québec
  • 1843 Education - George Mountain founds Bishop’s University at Lennoxville, as a liberal arts college; Anglican Bishop of Montréal. Lennoxville, Québec
  • 1851 Religion - George Williams opens Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) branch; First in North America. Montréal, Québec
  • 1858 Politics - Robert Baldwin dies at 54; co-Premier of the Union of the Canadas; attained responsible government with Louis LaFontaine in their Great Ministry of 1848-1851. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1862 Coinage - Numismatic Society of Montréal founded; Canada’s First coin club; Adélard Boucher named First president. Montréal, Québec
  • 1871 Alfred Boyd, First Premier of Manitoba, resigns to make way for a representative of the Métis. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1878 Rail - First St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway train arrives at Winnipeg late this evening after 30 hour trip from St. Paul, Minnesota; end of Kitson’s Red River Transportation Company stern wheelers. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1880 Opening of the 3rd Session of the 4th Parliament of Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1883 Time - New Brunswick adopts Eastern Standard Time, until 1902. Fredericton, New Brunswick
  • 1896 Rail - F. A. Heinze contracts Winters, Parson and Boomer to lay track on the C&W Railway right-of-way from Trail Creek Landing, BC, to West Robson, BC.
  • 1908 Finance - Standard Stock and Mining Exchange sets up a clearing house; later absorbed by the TSE. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1910 Disaster - Explosion rocks West Canadian Collieries’ Bellevue coal mine at 1900 hrs; 30 miners die. Bellevue, Alberta
  • December 9 - Place Name - British author Rudyard Kipling writes a letter to encourage the people of Medicine Hat to keep their city’s colourful name. Medicine Hat, Alberta
  • 1916 Rail - Canadian Pacific Railway inaugurates the 8 km long Connaught Tunnel through Macdonald Mountain in the Selkirk Range, eliminating the old climb over Rogers Pass and 8 km of snowsheds that protected the main CPR line from frequent avalanches caused by up to 15 metres of snow each winter; Canada’s longest rail tunnel took two years to blast, and cost $2 million. Revelstoke, BC
  • 1919 Colonel E.G. Prior installed as the Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia. Victoria, BC
  • 1920 Mining - Canada Copper Company quits mining on Copper Mountain and concentrating at Allenby, BC.
  • 1923 Thomas Shaughnessy dies in Montréal; CPR President; born October 6, 1853. Montréal, Québec
  • 1926 First session of 16th Parliament of Canada meets until April 17, 1927; will establish the Department of National Revenue; set up system of old age pensions. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1933 Football - Toronto Argonauts beat Sarnia Imperials, 4-3, to win the 21st Grey Cup game. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1936 Royalty - Canada told that King Edward VIII intends to abdicate; he is assisted by his financial advisor, Torontonian Sir Edward Peacock. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1939 Politics - Arthur Meighen officially resigns as leader of the Conservative Party at a convention; replaced on December 11, 1939 by John Bracken. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • December 9 - Symbols - Québec adopts a new coat of arms and the motto, Je me souviens [I Remember]. Québec, Québec
  • December 9 - Football - Winnipeg Blue Bombers beat Ottawa Rough Riders, 8-7, to win the 27th Grey Cup game. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1940 Religion - George Lloyd dies; Anglican Bishop of Saskatchewan 1922-1931. Lloydminster, Saskatchewan is named in his honour. Saskatchewan
  • 1941 Second World War - British Special Operations Executive (SOE) opens Camp X (STS - Special Training School - 103) as a special school for spies and special operatives, mostly Canadians or Americans; SOE also operates Hydra station, to handle top-secret British transatlantic radio intelligence; closes in 1943; James Bond author Ian Fleming claimed to have been one of the graduates. Whitby, Ontario
  • December 9 - Second World War - Fear of Japanese invasion spreads on west coast; government orders blackouts; closes Japanese-Canadian newspapers, schools. BC
  • December 9 - Second World War - Battle of Hong Kong - Japanese ground forces attack across the frontier of the New Territories; capture the key position of Shing Mun Redoubt; D Company of the Winnipeg Grenadiers dispatched to the mainland to strengthen this sector. Hong Kong, China
  • December 9 - John Hart sworn in as Premier of British Columbia, replacing Duff Patullo, in power since November 15, 1933; serves to December 29, 1947. Victoria, BC
  • 1943 Second World War - Canadian troops cross Moro River; push through San Leonardo towards Ortona; open bloody new campaign. Moro River, Italy
  • 1944 Energy - Abasand Oils Ltd. refinery completed; starts operating on December 16, 1941; Bituminous Sands Permit No. 1 originally granted to Max Ball and associates’ Canadian Northern Oil Company in 1930. Fort McMurray, Alberta
  • December 9 - Education - Victor Barbeau and others found the Académie canadienne-française; changed its name to the Académie québécoise in 1992. Montréal, Québec
  • 1947 Second World War - Lethbridge woman and her 13 year old daughter return home after being trapped in Bulgaria with relatives since 1938; unable to leave when war erupted in 1939; Communist government refused to let her leave in 1945. Lethbridge, Alberta
  • 1950 Trade - Canada suspends export permits for Korea, China, Hong Kong, and Macao. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1953 Hockey - Montréal Canadiens (with 106) and Toronto Maple Leafs (with 98) amass 204 penalty minutes in an NHL game. Montréal, Quebec
  • 1955 Riot - Mob of 3,000 demonstrates against higher transit fares; rioting causes $100,000 in damage to city buses and streetcars. Montréal, Quebec
  • 1956 Disaster - Trans Canada Air Lines Flight 810 (9), a four-engine DC-4M-2 Northstar, crashes onto the east side of Mount Slesse near Chilliwack during heavy weather; all 62 people on board are killed. The plane carried five football players fresh from the CFL ALL-Star Game in Vancouver - Calvin Jones of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and Mel Becket, Mario DeMarco, Ray Syrnyk and Gordon Sturtridge of the Saskatchewan Roughriders - and a mystery man by the name of Kwan Song who was rumoured to be carrying a sizeable fortune in cash. Bodies will not be found until the following May 12, 1957, when a female mountaineer named Elfrida Pigou discovered the gruesome crash site, setting off a stampede of macabare treasure hunters. The area proved too rugged to recover all the human remains or wreckage and some is still scattered across the cirques below the peak’s east face. The site is now protected by commemorative legislation as a result of the activities of the Families of Slesse organization, who were concerned about inroads by logging operations and souvenir-hunters. The name “Slesse” is the native name for the peak, and comes from the Halqemeylem word Selóysi, meaning “the fang”. Chilliwack, BC
  • 1963 Auto - Studebaker Corporation announces plan to move car plant from South Bend, Indiana to Hamilton. Hamilton, Ontario
  • 1965 Cinema - Canadian-born film producer Harry Saltzman and his partner Cubby Broccoli host the World premiere of their new James Bond movie, Thunderball, starring Sean Connery, in Tokyo; the picture will gross $141.2 million worldwide. Tokyo, Japan
  • 1968 André Laurendeau and Davidson Dunton issue their second Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism Report; recommends more English Canadian children take French language courses. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1971 Transport - Montréal Métro subway trains collide, killing one passenger and destroying 36 cars. Montréal, Quebec
  • 1972 Martin Hartwell found alive 32 days after his bush plane crashed in the Arctic; 3 passengers died in crash; Hartwell had eaten human flesh to stay alive. NWT
  • 1973 Media - Official opening of Place Radio-Canada. Montréal, Québec
  • December 9 - Comedy - The Royal Canadian Air Farce First airs on CBC Radio. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1977 Canadair Ltd. wins $100 million contract to build components for Lockheed Aurora and P-3C planes. Montréal, Québec
  • December 9 - Disaster - Executive jet crashes in Labrador, killing eight, including four executives of Churchill Falls Corporation. Labrador, Newfoundland
  • 1978 Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi release their version of the Sam & Dave single, Soul Man, under the name, The Blues Brothers. New York, New York
  • 1979 Budget - Finance Minister John Crosbie introduces a tough budget (no pain, no gain); leads to the defeat of the Joe Clark ministry in the House. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1980 Education - Princeton Secondary School opens. Princeton, BC
  • 1985 Media - Financier Conrad Black acquires a controlling interest in the London Daily Telegraph newspaper. London, England
  • 1990 Religion - Pope John Paul canonizes Marie Marguerite d’Youville, founder, in 1755, of the Sisters of Charity of the Hôpital Général (Soeurs grises or Grey Nuns); born Marie-Marguérite Dufrost de La Jemmerais at Varennes, Québec, October 15, 1701; educated by the Ursulines of Québec; died in Montréal December 23, 1771; first Canadian-born person to be canonized. Ottawa, Ontario
  • December 9 - Rail - Last train out of Midway, BC.
  • 1998 Media - Quebecor Inc. acquires Sun Media for $983 million, topping Torstar’s bid by $80 million. Toronto, Ontario
  • 2000 Espionage - Russian President Vladimir Putin says he will free Canadian Edmond Pope, whose efforts to acquire Russian technology ran parallel to Canadian efforts to buy advanced Shkval torpedoes from a defense plant in Kyrgyzstan.
  • 2001 Pro Wrestling - Canadian Chris Jericho becomes first to unify WWE and the WCW Championships.
  • 2004 Same Sex Marriage - Supreme Court of Canada rules that Parliament can redefine marriage to include same-sex couples, but it adds that religious officials cannot be forced to perform unions against their beliefs. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2005 Environment - Former US President Bill Clinton speaks at a climate conference in Montréal; called Bush’s global warming stance “flat wrong”. Montréal, Québec
  • 2007 Justice - Robert Pickton found guilty of second-degree murder in the deaths of six women who disappeared from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Vancouver, BC