Highlights of the day

  • 1792 First Montréal Post Office opens — regular twice-weekly mail service between Canada and the US.
  • 1861 Britain Arms Canada During the Trent Affair.
  • 1943 Beginning of the Battle of Ortona — Canada’s Stalingrad.

List of Facts for December 20

  • 1792 Postal — Opening of First Montréal Post Office, with regular twice-weekly mail service between Canada and the United States. Montréal, Québec
  • 1803 Territory — Louisiana Purchase officially takes effect; the US acquires parts or all of present-day Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota west of the Mississippi River, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, northern Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, the portions of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado east of the Rocky Mountains, and Louisiana on both sides of the Mississippi River, including the city of New Orleans. USA
  • 1817 Banking — Bank of Montréal starts operations; incorporated three years later, on December 20, 1820. Montréal, Québec
  • 1861 Trent Crisis — The War Office orders 18 British transport ships loaded with men, arms and supplies to Canada. Sixteen batteries of Royal Artillery are earmarked, with four companies of Royal Engineers and 11 battalions of infantry, for a total of over 11,000 men; 50,000 rifles and 2 1/4 million rounds of ammunition are also sent for the defence of Canada in case the Trent Affair was not settled without war. Britain
  • 1864 Fenian Raids — Canadian militia sent near US border to guard against possible Fenian raids; Irish-American secret society dedicated to end of British rule in Ireland. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1883 Bridge — C. C. Schneider builds the First metal cantilever bridge between the US and Canada over the Niagara River gorge. The 150-metre-long structure is the first to be called a cantilever — a cantilever bridge usually has only two towers that support the span between them. It is followed by John Roebling’s Railroad Suspension Bridge, Samuel Keefer’s Honeymoon Suspension Bridge, Edward Serrell’s Lewiston-Queenston Suspension Bridge, Schneider’s cantilever, Leffert Buck’s arch bridge at the falls as well as Buck’s arch built under Roebling’s suspension bridge. Queenston, Ontario
  • 1884 Farming — Founding of the Manitoba and Northwest Farmers’ Union; members send a list of grievances to Ottawa. Saskatchewan
  • 1886 Communications — The all-Canadian telegraph system opens for regular traffic; First official inaugural message sent from New Westminster to Canso, Nova Scotia, in three minutes, and then relayed to England by submarine cable. New Westminster, BC
  • 1891 Weightlifting — Montréal strongman Louis Cyr withstands the pull of 4 horses. London, England
  • 1893 Hotel — Official opening of the Chateau Frontenac hotel in Québec City. Québec, Québec
  • 1901 Communications — Minister of Finance William Fielding assures Gugleilmo Marconi of a warm welcome in Nova Scotia to continue his experiments in wireless telegraphy, and offers Canadian government assistance; the Anglo-American Telegraph Company, with its underseas cable to Europe, had a monopoly in Newfoundland, and threatened to sue Marconi, who then set up shop in Cape Breton. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1905 Police — John Ingram dies; Winnipeg’s and western Canada’s, First Chief of Police. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1911 Road — Alberta adopts The Highways Act. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1911 Frank and Lester Patrick open the Denman Arena, at that time one of the world’s largest artificial ice rinks; destroyed by fire in 1936. Vancouver, BC
  • 1912 Rail — First Kettle Valley Railway locomotive into Penticton arrives by Lake Service. Penticton, BC
  • 1918 Rail — Cabinet authorizes use of the collective title Canadian National Railways; Order in Council P.C. 3122. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1918 Aboriginal — League of Indians of Canada founded on the Six Nations Reserve: Fred Loft, president. Brantford, Ontario
  • 1919 Rail — Cabinet passes Order in Council creating the government owned Canadian National Railways, to unite and rescue five near-bankrupt railroads: the Grand Trunk Railway, Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, Canadian Northern Railway, Intercolonial Railway and Canadian Government Railways (National Transcontinental); Canadian National Railways was incorporated June 6, 1919; the longest line in North America, with over 50,000 km of track in the US and Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1919 First World War — Government rescinds War-Time Restrictions Act; lifting ban on horse racing and grain liquor distilling. Ontario
  • 1922 Drivers in British Columbia switch from driving on the left side of the road to driving on the right. BC
  • 1928 Postal — First international dogsled mail leaves Minot for Montréal. Menot, Maine
  • 1929 Diplomacy — Canada resumes diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1930 Music — Canadian bandleader Guy Lombardo has a #1 hit with You’re Driving Me Crazy. New York, New York
  • 1932 Labour - 13,000 unemployed men gather in Edmonton’s Market Square for a hunger march. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1943 Second World War — 2nd Cdn Infantry Brigade breaks German defences on the outskirts of Ortona, aided by 1 Canadian Armour Brigade and a heavy artillery barrage covering the advancing Canadians’ flanks with a smoke screen; Maj-Gen Chris Vokes and the 1st Canadian Division have been ordered by Bernard Montgomery to take the medieval seaport of Ortona, as part of the advance of Monty’s Eighth Army up the Italian Adriatic coast; Loyal Edmonton Regiment and Seaforth Highlanders of Canada attack from the south, since the town flanked by sea cliffs on the north and east and by a deep ravine to the west; Canadians suffer heavy casualties before German forces withdraw on the night of December 27, 1943; 1,372 Canadians killed at Ortona — almost 25% of all Canadians killed in the Mediterranean theatre. Ortona, Italy
  • 1944 Second World War — RCAF Squadrons Nos. 435 and 436 fly their first operational mission, supplying Orde Wingate’s Fourteenth Army on its epic march south on the Burma Road. Burma, Myanmar
  • 1945 Labour — Ford Motor Company and UAW come to agreement to end the Windsor Strike; 17,000 workers off the job since September 12, 1945; on December 13, 1945, both parties agreed to binding arbitration under Justice Ivan Rand of the Supreme Court of Canada; Rand’s arbitration award, rendered January 29, 1946, denied the UAW’s demand for a closed shop, but provided for a compulsory checkoff of union dues for all employees in the bargaining unit whether they were union members or not. Windsor, Ontario
  • 1965 Foreign Affairs — Canada puts embargo on export of oil and arms from Canada to Rhodesia. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1972 Fishery — Ottawa bans whaling on Canadian east coast, because of declining numbers. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1973 Hockey — Henri Richard of the Montréal Canadiens scores his 1,000th NHL point with an assist in a 2-2 tie with the Buffalo Sabres. Montréal, Québec
  • 1988 Language — Three Liberal anglophones resign from the Robert Bourassa cabinet to protest passage of Bill 178 requiring French only on outside signs, but permitting bilingual signs inside; Ontario Premier David Peterson later says that Bourassa’s decision to use the notwithstanding clause drove a stake through the heart of the Meech Lake Accord. Québec, Québec
  • 1988 Hockey — Pittsburgh Penguins Mario Lemieux scores his 600th NHL goal. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • 1990 Constitution — Bélanger-Campeau Committee finishes hearings after receiving some 200 briefs and 600 submissions; special Joint Commission set up by Robert Bourassa and Jacques Parizeau to study Québec’s relationship with Canada; will issue report on March 27, 1991, stating that the cost of Québec independence will be minimal; recommending that a referendum on Québec sovereignty be held by October if the province did not receive a suitable offer from the rest of Canada. Montréal, Québec
  • 1991 Hockey — NHL Governors grant National Hockey League membership to the new Ottawa Senators and the Tampa Bay Lightning teams; the Ottawa group is led by real estate investor Bruce Firestone; the original Senators went out of business in 1932, due to the Depression, and were sold to St. Louis interests. Miami, Florida
  • 1991 Military — US Navy announces plans to close Argentia base in 1994; 500 personnel will leave; once the largest US base on foreign soil. Argentia, Newfoundland
  • 1995 Military — Lieutenant General Jean Boyle appointed Canada’s new Chief of Defence Staff; will take over from General John de Chastelain January 1, 1996. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1995 Music — Burton Cummings records a solo album, Up Close and Alone, before a live audience at CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto; released March 27, 1996. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1995 Media — Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers Council says it will voluntarily restrict advertising; effort to head off new government restrictions. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1996 Cinema — Ottawa comic Dan Aykroyd stars as William Haney in the film My Fellow Americans, with Jack Lemmon, James Garner; sets an all-time December weekend opening gross record with over $20.5 million. New York, New York
  • 1999 Music — Nova Scotia-born country legend Hank Snow dies of pneumonia; born Clarence Eugene Snow at Brooklyn, Nova Scotia, near Liverpool May 9, 1914; a victim of child abuse, Snow was booted out of the house at age 12 by his stepfather, and worked as a fisherman, stevedore, packer and fish peddler, saving his money to buy a guitar; 1933 got first radio job with CHNS Halifax, billed as Clarence Snow and his Guitar; 1936 made his first recordings for Canadian RCA Victor in Montréal as Hank, The Yodelling Ranger, becoming Canada’s #1 best-selling artist; also featured on CBC, where he gained coast-to-coast exposure; 1944 made his first appearances in the US and made several tries to break into the US market; Jan. 7, 1950, made his debut on the Grand Ole Opry; Mar 28, 1950, recorded I’m Movin’ On, which became a monster hit; 1950s settled permanently in Nashville, Tennessee; 1958 became a US citizen; 1976 indicted into the Country Music Hall of Fame; 1979 indicted into the Juno Awards Hall of Fame; 1994 on his 80th birthday, awarded an honorary degree by St. Mary’s University in Halifax, and spoke to the graduates by videotape. Snow recorded over 80 albums, placed over 85 singles on the Billboard best-seller list, including Golden Rocket, I Don’t Hurt Anymore, Rhumba Boogie, Hello Love, I’ve Been Everywhere, I Went to Your Wedding, and sold nearly 90 million records. Madison, Tennessee
  • 2002 Inflation — Higher energy prices send Canadian inflation to an 11-year high, above the Bank of Canada’s target range; analysts say the steep inflation rate will not yet trigger higher interest rates. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2002 Justice — Supreme Court of Canada rules that the book One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dads and others with gay themes cannot be banned from kindergarten classrooms on religious grounds. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2005 Peacekeeping — Canadian police officer serving as a UN peacekeeper is shot to death near a slum on the outskirts of the capital. Port-au-Prince, Haiti
  • 2010 Politics — Stephen Harper makes two more Senate appointments, giving his party its long-sought majority in the upper chamber. Ottawa, Ontario