Highlights of the day

  • 1691 Count Frontenac forced to issue money made of cut-up playing cards, to pay the troops in the Quebec garrison, when a supply ship fails to arrive.
  • 1867 Pvt Timothy O’Hea awarded Victoria Cross for putting out fire in boxcar carrying explosives.

List of Facts for January 7

  • 1608 Jean de Biencourt, Baron de Poutrincourt 1557-1615 gets Port Royal grant reconfirmed; De Monts’ trading monopoly extended for one year; one ship to go to Port-Royal, one to the St. Lawrence, one with Champlain to Quebec. Annapolis, Nova Scotia
  • 1691 Louis de Buade et de Palluau, Comte de Frontenac 1622-1698 is forced to issue money made of cut-up playing cards, to pay the troops in the Quebec garrison, due to the non-arrival of a supply ship. Quebec, Quebec
  • 1756 Charles Lawrence appointed Governor of Nova Scotia; serves from July 23 to September 24, 1761. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1778 First public library founded at Québec with 1, 815 volumes. Québec, Québec
  • 1799 Founding of the Québec Library. Québec, Québec
  • 1836 William Lyon Mackenzie 1795-1861 loses his Assembly seat in a rowdy, corrupt election; Tories win majority; Bidwell also loses. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1839 Crown executes Republican rebels Hiram Lynn, Daniel Bedford, Albert Clark, Cornelius Cunningham, Joshua Doan and A. Perley. London, Ontario
  • 1856 First gas street lights turned on in Bytown. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1859 First Canadian silver coins issued. Montréal, Québec
  • 1867 Military - Private Timothy O’Hea is awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery in 1866, protecting the lives of 800 emigrants on a Grand Trunk train menaced by a fire in a boxcar carrying explosives. This is the only VC awarded for a brave deed not done in the face of the enemy. Québec
  • 1868 Jean-Baptiste Labelle’s Cantate - la Confederation performed at the city hall in Montreal; work dedicated to George-Etienne Cartier, the Father of Confederation. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1889 British Columbia Cattlemen’s Association formed at Kamloops.
  • 1896 Domestic electricity supplied to Rossland, BC.
  • 1896 Mackenzie Bowell 1823-1917 loses seven members of his Cabinet, as half resign in opposition to his leadership. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1902 Toronto Mining Exchange Ltd. changes name to Standard Stock and Mining Exchange Ltd.. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1903 Robert A. Davis dies; businessman and politician; Premier of Manitoba 1874-1878. Manitoba
  • 1904 Marconi Co. establishes CQD as the First international radio distress signal - it means Come Quickly Distress - a signal used by the Titanic after she struck an iceberg; later changed to SOS. Sydney, Nova Scotia
  • 1910 Ottawa Senators sweep Galt, Ontario team in 2 games to win the Stanley Cup. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1920 Joe Malone of the Quebec Bulldogs scores two goals, leading his team to a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Arenas. Malone becomes the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer to that date with 59. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1925 Harry Broadbent of the NHL Montréal Maroons scores five goals in a 6-2 victory over Hamilton. Montréal, Québec
  • 1935 CPR begins train service into Kelowna on CN rails.
  • 1949 Premier Maurice Duplessis announces a new provincial labour code. Québec, Québec
  • 1950 Nova Scotia native Hank Snow makes his debut on the Grand Ole Opry; later that year, his recording of ‘I’m Movin’ On’ stays on the Billboard country chart for 44 weeks, selling over a million copies. Nashville, Tennessee
  • 1953 Pope Pius XII names Mgr. Leger a Cardinal. Vatican City, Italy
  • 1955 Broadcasting - Speech from the Throne and opening ceremonies of the Canadian Parliament are broadcast live on television for the First time. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1958 Robert Usher is elected chairman of the Regina collegiate board for a fifteenth term. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1960 Antonio Barrette 1899-1968 sworn in as Union Nationale Premier of Québec on the death of Paul Sauvé . Québec
  • 1963 Manitoba awards contracts for Red River Floodway, largest earth-moving job ever undertaken in Canada; called ‘Duff’s Ditch ‘. Manitoba
  • 1963 Palace Pier dance hall destroyed by fire; home of the Trump Davidson dixieland big band from 1944 to 1961. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1966 Canada sends emergency food supplies to drought-stricken Zambia, Rhodesia, Bechuanaland, Basutoland; together with Britain and Australia. Africa
  • 1966 Gene Kiniski defeats veteran champion Lou Thesz two falls to one to become the world professional heavyweight champion; ex-Edmonton Eskimo football star had already beaten British Empire champion Whipper Billy Watson. USA
  • 1968 CN suspends Turbo train service to Toronto after a month of operatons because of technical problems related to cold weather. Montréal, Québec
  • 1969 600 Indians and Métis protest Manitoba Hydro project calling for a 10.7m (35-foot) increase in water level. Manitoba
  • 1971 US-owned Mercantile Bank of Canada to begin program to have at least 75% Canadian ownership by 1980. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1974 Bora Laskin sworn in as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, succeeding Gérald Fauteux. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1978 Sun Life insurance company announces plans to move head office to Toronto. Montréal, Québec
  • 1981 Hockey - Drummondville Québec native Marcel Dionne of the NHL Kings scores his 1, 000th point with a goal in a 5-3 victory over the Hartford Whalers. Los Angeles, California
  • 1983 Politics - Mayor Ralph Klein gets tough on “bums and creeps” coming to Calgary, Alberta
  • 1983 Ontario seizes assets of Greymac Trust Company, Crown Trust Company, and Seaway Trust Company, owned by Leonard Rosenberg. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1984 Douglas Cardinal is selected to design the National Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Québec; Albertan Métis architect. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1984 Train wreck near Medicine Hat releases dangerous gases, forcing evacuation of 800 people. Medicine Hat, Alberta
  • 1984 Hockey - Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers scores his 50th goal of the season against Hartford Whalers.
  • 1986 Chris Clifford of the Kingston Canadians the First goalie in the Ontario Hockey League to score a goal; in 53 year history of the OHL. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1986 Levesque sisters from Quebec arrested in Italy for heroin smuggling. Italy
  • 1990 Football - Bronislau ‘Bronko’ Nagurski 1908-1990 dies at age 81; born Nov. 3, 1908 in Rainy River, Ontario; football running back, defensive tackle, grew up there and in International Falls across the border; joined the Chicago Bears after legendary college career at Minnesota (1927-29); played with Bears 1930-1937, 1943; known for his toughness; gained 4, 031 yards in 9 seasons; All - NFL, 1932, 1933, 1934; in the 1932 NFL championship game against the Portsmouth Spartans, Nagurski won the game for the Bears with a disputed pass to Red Grange. As a result the NFL changed its rules on passing; his two TD passes clinched Bears’ 1933 title win; again helped 1943 Bears to NFL crown after 6-year stint professional wrestling, scoring a touchdown against the Washington Redskins; retired to wrestling until 1960; 3-time world heavyweight champion, defeating Dean Detton (1937), Lou Thesz (1939), and Ray Steele (1941); voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a charter member in 1963. His son Bronko Nagurski Jr. would play eight seasons with the Hamilton Tiger Cats of the Canadian Football League. (some say died Jan 8). International Falls, Minnesota
  • 1992 Capitol Records decides not to renew Anne Murray’s contract; with the label for 22 years, and recorded 30 albums; top 10 singles for Capitol included Snowbird, Danny’s Song, You Won’t See Me and You Needed Me. Los Angeles, California
  • 1995 New Brunswick Southern Railway starts operations over former CP trackage from McAdam to Saint John; branch from McAdam to St. Stephen. Saint John, New Brunswick
  • 1996 Blizzard kills two Ontario men in separate traffic accidents; two-day storm blamed for at least 100 deaths in north-eastern US, worst to hit the region in 70 years. Ontario
  • 1998 Alan Eagleson again pleads guilty to fraud in a Toronto courtroom; the former hockey lawyer/agent and president of the NHL Players Association is sentenced to 18 months in prison; a day earlier, in Boston, Massachusetts, he had been convicted and fined $1 million. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1998 Canadian government apologizes to the nation’s indigenous peoples for past acts of oppression; pledges $245 million for counseling and treatment programs. Canada’s aboriginal population is about 810,000; includes 38,000 Inuits and 139,000 Metis, people of mixed Indian and white ancestry.
  • 2002 Military - Canada announces plans to send 750 soldiers to join US combat operations in Afghanistan.
  • 2004 Randy Ferbey wins Canada Cup curling opener.
  • 2004 The National Hockey League suspends the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Mats Sundin for one game after he throws his stick into the stands after it breaks; no one is hurt.
  • 2005 Disaster - Minister of Health Ujjal Dosanjh arrives in Sri Lanka to survey the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami damage.