Highlights of the day

  • 1912 Harry Oakes and the Tough brothers stake claims on the gold-rich “Kirkland Lake Break.”
  • 1998 Start of Ice Storm that hits Québec, Ontario and New Brunswick.

List of Facts for January 8

  • 1679 Explorer and fur trader Cavalier de La Salle reaches Niagara Falls; one of his boats is wrecked on Lake Ontario on this day. Niagara Falls, Ontario
  • 1814 Governor Miles Macdonnell forbids the export of pemmican or other provisions from Assiniboia. Manitoba
  • 1820 Demasduwit (Mary March) dies of TB; one of the last of the Beothuk tribe; born 1796; March 1819 captured at Red Indian Lake in a fight that killed her husband, Nonosbawsut; taken to Twillingate and put in the care of Anglican missionary John Leigh, who got her to record a Beothuk vocabulary; 1828 W.E. Cormack placed her body side by side with her husband in an elevated sepulchre. Bay of Exploits, Newfoundland
  • 1838 Edward Theller 1804-1859 fires on Fort Malden from vessel ‘Anne ‘, while Thomas Sutherland occupies Bois Blanc Island; US sympathizers of rebels called Hunter’s Lodges. Amherstburg, Ontario
  • 1838 Mgr Lartigue criticizes the Patriotes. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1869 First suspension bridge over the Niagara Gorge at Niagara Falls was opened to traffic. Queenston, Ontario
  • 1870 Government ends issuing of licences to American fishing vessels; operating since end of reciprocity in 1866. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1885 Kenlis School District No. 6, the First rural school district in the Northwest Territories, is established. Kenlis, Saskatchewan
  • 1900 Hugh John Macdonald sworn in as Premier of Manitoba, replacing Thomas Greenway. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1904 Canadian Pacific opens line from Ottawa; started by the Ottawa and Gatineau Valley Railway Dec. 28, 1891. Maniwaki, Québec
  • 1904 CP leases the C&E for 999 years.
  • 1906 CPR lays the First rails eastward from Spences Bridge on the Nicola, Kamloops and Similkameen Railway.
  • 1912 Harry Oakes and the Tough brothers snowshoe six miles through the dark and -40F cold from Swastika and at midnight start staking the expired Burroughs claims on the “Kirkland Lake Break”; they wear five pairs of pants to keep out the bitter cold, and use a candle in a tin can as a source of light to read their compasses as they stake in the dark. Another prospector, Bill Wright, arrives too late, but stakes neighbouring claims. By 1813, the “Tough-Oakes-Burnside” (Toburn) mine is in full production at a modest rate of 100 tons a day. Oakes will use his profits to develop the Lakeshore Mine in Kirkland Lake in 1917 with Bill Wright. Swastika, Ontario
  • 1915 H.G. Bellinger of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry dies at the Ypres salient. First Canadian known to have been killed in WWI.
  • 1923 Canadian soprano Sarah Fischer sings the role of Pamina in Mozart’s Magic Flute; First opera broadcast from Covent Garden. London, England
  • 1927 Aviation - Blatchford Field opens; the first licensed airfield in Canada; today’s Edmonton City Centre Airport. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1932 The Albertan newspaper reports that a chinook in Calgary had caused a 36 degree swing in temperature on the previous day, from 8 degrees below zero to 44 degrees above zero. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1941 Federal Minister Ian Mackenzie announces that the RCMP will be registering all Japanese Canadians in British Columbia; a national security matter under the War Measures Act. They are later moved inland to detention camps. Vancouver, BC
  • 1942 Conference on Japanese Matters convened in Ottawa.
  • 1943 Stuart Garson sworn in as Premier of Manitoba, replacing John Bracken, who had governed for 21 years. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1943 Second World War - First tanker convoy from Trinidad to North America attacked by a U-boat wolf pack, which sinks seven of the nine tankers. Battle of the Atlantic
  • 1945 Brantford, Ontario becomes the first Canadian community to fluoridate its water supply.
  • 1947 Montreal Police hire First 9 female constables. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1947 Start of Canadian Citizenship Week.
  • 1947 Toronto Maple Leaf rookie Howie Meeker scores 5 goals in an NHL game. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1948 A.G.L. ‘Andy’ McNaughton 1887-1966 appointed permanent delegate to United Nations, and Canada’s representative on UN Security Council. United Nations, New York
  • 1948 Mackenzie King 1874-1950 sets record as longest serving Prime Minister in the Commonwealth, with 7, 825 days in office; Canada’s 10th Prime Minister. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1950 Annexations enlarge the size of Ottawa fivefold. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1954 First Alberta crude oil reaches Sarnia through the new pipeline from Edmonton. Sarnia, Ontario
  • 1960 Antonio Barrette sworn in as Premier of Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1961 British police arrest Canadian George Lonsdale and four others for spying at the Royal Navy base in Portland. Portland, England
  • 1961 Canadian baritone Robert Goulet makes his US TV debut on The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS. New York, New York
  • 1964 Ottawa grants $2, 500, 000 to eight provinces for cultural centres similar to Charlottetown and Québec. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1964 Roger Brossard appointed to investigate 1956 trial and execution of Wilbert Coffin; Royal Commissioner. Québec
  • 1968 Canada pledges $21.6 million to UN’s world food program for 1969 and 1970 at FAO conference.. United Nations, New York
  • 1976 Canada, US, USSR, Sweden, Finland and Czechoslovakia agree to take part in Canada Cup hockey tournament.
  • 1979 Canadian rock band Rush named the Canada’s official ‘Ambassadors of Music ‘. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1982 Statistics Canada reports Canada’s unemployment rate at 987, 000 or 8.6% of the work force; highest since figures First taken in 1946. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1990 Canada formally joins the Organization of American States (OAS) as its 33rd member. Caracas, Venezuela
  • 1991 Keith Spicer’s Citizen’s Forum on Canada’s Future launches its First satellite town hall meeting, people from Vancouver to Saint John, New Brunswick commenting; will release its report on June 27, after 300, 000 interviews and $23 million in costs. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1993 Former Mayor Jean Drapeau undergoes a successful triple bypass operation. Montréal, Québec
  • 1996 Fisheries Minister Brian Tobin announces he is quitting federal politics to run for the job of provincial Liberal leader and Premier of Newfoundland, replacing Clyde Wells; will be elected by acclamation. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1998 Disaster - US Northeast and Canada hit with a severe ice storm; at least 16 people are reported killed, 3 million people are left without power and damage is estimated to reach $350 million.
  • 1998 Operation Recuperation - Over 15,000 Canadian Forces personnel from more than 200 units respond in what is the largest deployment for a natural disaster in Canadian history. In hard-hit Quebec, 4, 000 soldiers to help Hydro-Quebec with the worst ice storm damage; 1.3 million households will lose power in Eastern Ontario and Quebec. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2005 Canadian Disaster Assistance Response Team arrives in Sri Lanka to help provide fresh water, tents, food and medical assistance to victims of the tsunami disaster.
  • 2006 Skiing - Kyle Nissen, Jeff Bean, Warren Shouldice and Ryan Blais finish first, second, third, and fourth in men’s Freestyle Grand Prix at the World Cup Aerials.
  • 2009 Crime - Drug war violence breaks out in Vancouver. Vancouver, BC
  • 2010 Weibo Ludwig arrested as a suspect in connection to numerous bombings of sour-gas installations In the Dawson Creek area of British Columbia, beginning in October 2008. After an extensive search of his farm by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, he was released without charge. Alberta