### Highlights of the day

  • 1643 Maisonneuve Plants a Cross on Mount Royal.
  • 1936 Barbara Hanley elected in the Ontario town of Webbwood; Canada’s First woman mayor.

List of Facts for January 6

  • 1643 Paul de Chomedy, Sieur de Maisonneuve, plants a wooden cross on Mount Royal to offer thanks to the Virgin Mary for saving the settlement of Ville Marie from flooding. See December_24. Montréal, Québec
  • 1781 Military - Royal Navy press gang seizes Lunenburg farmers in Halifax and puts them on a British Man-of-War, in spite of a jury finding that the impressment is illegal. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1786 First sitting of the New Brunswick legislature takes place at Saint John. Saint John, New Brunswick
  • 1789 Guy Carleton, Baron Dorchester 1724-1808 founds an agricultural college at Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1818 Peregrine Maitland 1777-1854 appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada; serves from Aug. 13, 1818 to Aug. 23, 1828. Ontario
  • 1824 First meeting of the bilingual Literary and Historical Society of Québec, Canada’s oldest; Earl of Dalhousie, Governor in chief of Canada 1820-28, got a royal charter for the Society in 1831; originally operated a museum, and published Transactions series; after 1944, it operated solely as a library. Québec, Québec
  • 1845 Protestants and Catholics riot in Stratford following the council election; eighty men fight in the streets. Stratford, Ontario
  • 1874 Education - Opening of the École Polytechnique de Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1877 McLean’s open the First flour mill in Manitoba; wheat is quickly replacing fur as Manitoba’s main product. Manitoba
  • 1879 Education - Laval University opens a branch in Montreal; today’s Université de Montréal. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1883 Founding of the Ontario Rugby Football Union. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1893 Great Northern last spike, Scenic, Washington.
  • 1913 One room school building opened for classes. Burmis, Alberta
  • 1915 Military - Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry go into action in France during First World War.
  • 1918 Military - Canadian Captain J. Hedley of the Royal Flying Corps sucked from his seat and out of the plane while diving to escape German fighters; slipstream pulled him back to the plane when it levelled out. France
  • 1920 T. A. Crerar chairs a meeting of Ontario and Prairie farmers’ organizations to establish the National Progressive Party; he had resigned from Borden’s Union cabinet in 1919 to protest the high tariff. The Progressive Party will elect 65 members to Parliament in the election of Dec. 1921. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1935 CP suspends passenger service on Lake Okanagan: last regular sailing of the Sicamous. Hull repairs and superstructure modifications (‘Texas’ deck removed and aft part of ‘B’ deck). Relaunched in July.
  • 1936 Barbara Hanley elected in the Northern Ontario town of Webbwood; Canada’s First woman mayor. Webbwood, Ontario
  • 1937 Brother André [Alfred Bessette dies; faith healer, religious counsellor, born at St-Gregoire-d’Iberville Aug. 09 1845. Montréal, Québec
  • 1947 Prime Minister W. L. Mackenzie King receives the First Canadian Citizenship certificate. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1950 Richard Harvey dies; wool grower, developer of the Romnellet sheep. Alberta
  • 1953 Start of Vancouver’s longest wet spell on record; ends 29 days later, with rain recorded on every one of 29 days; Victoria will have rain for 33 days in a row in 1986. Vancouver, BC
  • 1965 Canada part of new NATO anti-submarine destroyer squadron. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1966 First issue of ‘ The Drum’, in English, Inuit, and Loucheux dialect; First newspaper of its kind in the Arctic. Nunavut
  • 1966 John Walter Grant MacEwan appointed lieutenant-governor of Alberta (to July 2nd, 1974).
  • 1966 Ontario lets federal government take responsibility for Native education, housing, and employment. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1971 Neil Young returns to Canada for his First concerts since pre-stardom days; named best male singer and best composer this year, and his album After the Goldrush named best of the year, in a poll by readers of Melody Maker magazine. Vancouver, BC
  • 1974 Startup of the Global Television network in southern Ontario; Canada’s third TV network is now known as CanWest-Global and is controlled by Izzy Asper. Ontario
  • 1975 Manitoba to require disclosure of assets and business interests of legislators and senior officials. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1977 Prince Andrew starts attending Lakefield College School near Peterborough, for two terms; second in line to the British throne. Lakefield, Ontario
  • 1978 Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada announces plans to move head office from Montréal to Toronto. Montréal, Québec
  • 1980 Philadelphia Flyers set NHL record of 35 straight hockey games without a defeat. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • 1988 Bombardier signs contract to deliver 50 locomotives to Nigeria. Montréal, Québec
  • 1992 Québec Superior Court judge rules that a 25-year-old paralyzed patient, ‘Nancy B,’ suffering from a rare neurological disorder and on life support, has no hope of recovery and has the right to die. Doctors will remove her life support on February 13, after a 30 day appeal period lapses. Québec, Québec
  • 1996 Hockey - Canadien Pierre Turgeon gets his 300th career NHL goal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1997 Jean Coutu and Uniprix acquire Cumberland pharmacies. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1997 Saskatchewan court sentences former MLA Michael Hopfner to 18 months in jail for fraud; sixth former member of the Legislature to be convicted. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1998 Alan Eagleson pleads guilty to fraud in a Boston courtroom; the former hockey lawyer/agent and president of the NHL Players Association is fined $1 million; a day later, in Toronto, he is sentenced to 18 months in prison. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1998 RCMP apologizes to former PM Brian Mulroney for identifying him as a criminal suspect in an alleged Airbus kickback scheme. Montréal, Québec
  • 2000 CRTC orders CBC to stop airing foreign films in prime time and to cut sports programs by 20% while devoting more time to cultural programming; network will refuse, claiming the need for revenue. Gatineau, Québec
  • 2004 U.S. Dept. of Agriculture announces that DNA testing has determined that a cow in Washington state infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy was born in Alberta.
  • 2005 Lois Hole, lieutenant-governor and Queen of Hugs of Alberta, dies in the Royal Alexandra in Edmonton. Alberta
  • 2006 Canadian Junior Hockey Team wins its 12th Gold Medal in the World Junior Hockey Championship. Vancouver, BC
  • 2009 Team Canada wins the 2009 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships for the 5th time in a row. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2010 Curling - The 2010 Newfoundland and Labrador Scotties Tournament of Hearts opens in St. John’s, Newfoundland.