Highlights of the day

  • 1819 Founding of the Collège St-Boniface in Red River.

List of Facts for January 12

  • 1598 King Henri IV awards Troilus de Mesgouez, Marquis de La Roche c1540-1606 further ownership and the trading monopoly of New France; appoints him Lieutenant General of Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador. Paris, France
  • 1644 Jeanne Mance founds the Hotel Dieu Hospital in Montreal. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1700 Marguerite Bourgeoys dies in Montreal; founder of the Grey Nuns. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1743 Francois de Varennes de La Verendrye sights Big Horn Range with brother Louis-Joseph; not quite the Rocky Mountains, as had been supposed. South Dakota
  • 1759 James Wolfe 1727-1759 appointed Major-General and Commander-in-Chief of land forces in expedition against Québec. Louisbourg, Nova Scotia
  • 1819 Founding of the Collège St-Boniface in Red River. Here’s a William Napier watercolour of St. Boniface 40 years later. St. Boniface, Manitoba
  • 1842 John Ings publishes the First issue of The Islander newspaper. Charlottetown, PEI
  • 1860 Governor James Douglas issues a proclamation allowing preemption of land, not to exceed 160 acres, by any British subject. It makes available unsurveyed land in the Lower Mainland for farms to feed the gold mining camps, although at $1 an acre it also attracts speculators. Legislative Council passes a land ordinance which claims all lands within the Colony’s boundaries for the Crown. Victoria, BC
  • 1868 Nova Scotia votes to leave Confederation unless it can get better terms. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1891 Lady Aberdeen Association for the distribution of Literature to Settlers in the West begins sending out books to settlers across the prairies. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1895 Opening of Mont Tremblant Park. St-Jovite, Québec
  • 1897 London and Vancouver Finance and Development Company formed in England to buy up British Columbia mining properties; A.T. Nation, director.
  • 1910 Wilfrid Laurier introduces his Naval Service Bill in the House of Commons to create a Canadian navy; proposal is for naval college and a force of 11 ships. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1912 J. B. Maclean publishes the First weekly edition of the Financial Post, to provide investment information; 1987 acquired by the Toronto Sun; 1988 started as a daily tabloid; 1998 folded into Southam’s new National Post. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1913 Fire destroys Pat Burns’ Calgary meat packing plant, the largest in western Canada; firemen fought the blaze in -35 C cold with low water pressure; losses over $1 million, with thousands of carcasses destroyed. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1916 Opening of Parliament; Cabinet Order in Council raises Canadian troop strength in First World War to 500, 000. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1917 Mount-Royal railway tunnel drilling completed. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1918 Joe Malone of the Montreal Canadiens scores 5 goals against Ottawa.
  • 1918 Montreal Canadien Joe Malone scores 5 goals as his team beats Ottawa 9-4. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1925 Rose Marie has its Canadian premiere at the Royal Alexandra Theatre; with music by Rudolph Friml and Herbert Stothart and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach; operetta set in Canada, a land of mountains, snow and singing Mounties. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1940 Military - Canada issues $200 million war loan. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1942 Military - Germans submarines begin Operation Drumbeat against Allied east coast shipping as U-123 sinks British SS Cyclops at 1.49 AM off Nova Scotia; 40 crew, 46 passengers and 1 gunner killed; 56 crew, 33 passengers and 6 gunners rescued by Canadian minesweeper HMCS Red Deer. 5 U-boats are already patrolling off US East coast and another 10 are on their way across the Atlantic.
  • 1945 Military - Japan bombs Saskatchewan, as an incendiary balloon bomb is found on a farm south of Regina.
  • 1949 Canex ceases milling tungsten at Emerald mine operation and begins converting the mill to concentrate lead and zinc as well.
  • 1951 Albert Guay hanged for dynamiting an airplane. Montréal, Québec
  • 1951 Religion - Archbishop Paul-Emile Leger of Montréal appointed to the College of Cardinals. Vatican City, Italy
  • 1957 End of nine-day railway strike by 1,100 CPR employees in the Regina area. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1957 End of two-week locomotive drivers’ strike. Montréal, Québec
  • 1970 Canadian rock group The Band appear on the cover of Time magazine. New York, New York
  • 1977 Air Canada suspends regular flights to Moscow, Prague, and Brussels, cuts domestic schedule; to offset 1976 operating losses. Montréal, Québec
  • 1977 Federal Court of Canada upholds restriction on use of French in Canadian airspace. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1977 Karen Kain and Frank Augustyn perform with the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow; the National Ballet of Canada stars are the First Canadian dancers so honored . Moscow, Russia
  • 1977 Stephen Stills/Neil Young band gets a gold record for its album, Long May You Run; Young’s last collaboration with his former band mates. New York, New York
  • 1977 Via Rail Canada is incorporated to operate inter-city passenger rail service. Montréal, Québec
  • 1979 Opening of the Nickle Arts Museum; Alberta oil pioneer Samuel C. Nickle gave the University of Calgary $1 million to start the museum in 1970, to celebrate his 81st birthday; Dr. Carl O. Nickle also donated his 10, 000 item coin collection, and the Nickle Family Foundation gave several works of art to the new Museum. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1980 Calgary’s Ken Read wins the World Cup downhill race at Kitzbuhel. Kitzbuhel, Austria
  • 1981 Justice Minister Jean Chrétien rewrites the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in proposed constitutional package, giving the provinces more power. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1984 Richard Nerysoo becomes government leader of the Northwest Territories, replacing George Braden. Yellowknife, NWT
  • 1989 Korean automaker Hyundai produces its First Sonata automobile at its Bromont factory. Bromont, Quebec
  • 1989 Television - Comedy - “Kids in the Hall” series debuts on CBC-TV.
  • 1993 Penguins star Mario Lemieux announces he is being treated for Hodgkin’s Disease, a form of lymphatic cancer. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • 1994 Daniel Johnson, Jr. becomes Premier of Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1995 Toronto-born rock superstar Neil Young inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; with the Allman Brothers Band, Janis Joplin and Frank Zappa. Cleveland, Ohio
  • 2004 Broadcasting - Rick Mercer Report and This is Wonderland debut on the CBC.
  • 2004 Canadian Alliance Party votes itself out of existence to become Conservative Party of Canada.
  • 2004 Politics - Stephen Harper announces his resignation as Leader of the Opposition, to run for the leadership of the new Conservative Party of Canada; elected March 20. Ottawa Ontario.
  • 2008 Traffic accident near Bathurst leaves eight people dead, including a woman and seven teenagers who were all members of the Bathurst High School basketball team. Bathurst, New Brunswick
  • 2010 “The Beaver” magazine changes its name to “Canada’s History”; originally the house magazine of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Winnipeg Manitoba
  • 2010 Disaster - Haiti struck by magnitude 7.3 earthquake that kills over 100,000 people, including scores of Canadians, and leaves thousands homeless and starving; former Governor General Michaëlle Jean involved in aid program.