Highlights of the day

  • 1781 William Twiss Builds North America’s First Lock Canal
  • 1930 Mackenzie King appoints 45 year old Cairine Wilson Canada’s first woman Senator.
  • 1965 Maple Leaf Flag Inaugurated in Parliament Hill Ceremony

List of Facts for February 15

  • 1625 Samuel de Champlain appointed representative of the viceroy of Canada and instructed to find a route to China. Paris, France
  • 1764 Fur Trade - Pierre Laclède founds a fur post at St. Louis. St. Louis, Missouri
  • 1781 William Twiss finishes building North America’s First lock canal at Coteau du Lac, on the St. Lawrence River. Coteau-du-Lac, Québec
  • 1792 John Graves Simcoe nearly drowns at Quebec. As his wife related, “Colonel Simcoe and I were going to walk on the ice bridge. As there was a narrow space containing water between the land and the ice, a plank was laid across, which Colonel Simcoe had passed, and stepping back to give me his hand, he slipped into the water, but luckily caught hold of the plank which supported him until the Canadians who were near and on my screaming out “au secours” (help) assisted him out. Had the plank given away he must have gone under the ice and it would have been impossible to have got out.” Québec, Québec
  • 1839 Lower Canada Rebellion - Last public hanging of leaders of the rebellion in Lower Canada; 12 Patriotes hanged at the Prison du Pied-du-courant at the corner of Rue Notre-Dame and Rue de Lorimier; notary Joseph Cardinal; law student Joseph Duquette, notary Pierre-Theophile Decoigne, farmer and Lt. of Militia François-Xavier Hamelin, farmer and Captain of Militia Joseph Robert, farmers Ambroise Sanguinet and Charles Sanguinet (brothers), notary François Chevalier de Lorimier, painter Pierre-Remi Narbonne, teacher François Nicolas, farmer Amable Daunais, French soldier Charles Hindenlang. Montréal, Québec
  • 1839 Lord Sydenham names Kingston the first capital of the Province of Canada but doesn’t move there until May due to an illness, and elections that take place in March and April; opens Parliament June 14. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1870 Red River Rebellion - Métis forces capture the Portage Party. Manitoba
  • 1872 Province - British Columbia Legislature meets for the First time as a province of Canada; the British Columbia Act came into effect on July 20, 1871.
  • 1880 Family - Canada’s First quintuplets born in Little Egypt, Nova Scotia, near Pictou; three live one day, the other two survive two days. Pictou, Nova Scotia
  • 1881 Rail - An Act Respecting the Canadian Pacific Railway, Victoria 41, Chapter 1 (Pacific Railway bill) receives Royal Assent; CPR chartered and given until May 1, 1891, to finish the line. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1888 External Affairs - Fishery - British Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain signs the Chamberlain-Bayard Treaty giving US fishermen rights in inshore Canadian waters; later rejected by British Parliament, but US fishermen allowed to take out Canadian licenses. USA
  • 1895 James Donaldson of Lethbridge is tarred and feathered on this night. Lethbridge, Alberta
  • 1905 Rail - Vancouver, Victoria & Eastern Railway completed into Phoenix, BC
  • 1901 Boer War - Lord Strathcona’s Horse awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal - first unit to receive that honour. London, England
  • 1910 External Affairs - Canada signs reciprocity agreements with Germany; mutual tariff reductions. Berlin, Germany
  • 1923 Military - King George V grants the prefix “Royal” to the Canadian Air Force, making it the “Royal Canadian Air Force”. London, England
  • 1926 Mackenzie King wins by-election in Prince Albert after losing North York riding October 29, 1925. Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
  • 1926 Rail - Canadian National Railways commences passenger service on branch between Kamloops and Kelowna, BC. Kamloops, BC
  • 1930 Women - Mackenzie King appoints 45 year old Cairine Wilson Canada’s first woman Senator, four months after the Persons Case judgment was handed down by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Previously, women had not been allowed to serve in the Senate as lower courts had ruled they were not full “persons” under the law. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1932 Olympics - Third Winter Olympic games close at Lake Placid; Winnipeg Hockey Club team (The Winnipegs) take home Gold Medal in Ice Hockey for Canada; in other medals, Alex Hurd wins the Silver Medal in 1500 Metre Speedskating and Bronze in the 500 Metre race; William Logan takes the Bronze Medal in 1500 Metre Speedskating and Bronze in the 5000 Metre race; Frank Stack wins the Bronze Medal in 10000 Metre Speedskating; Montgomery Wilson wins the Bronze Medal in Figure Skating. Lake Placid, New York
  • 1938 Forestry - British Columbia Spruce Mills Company quits cutting timber at Lumberton, BC.
  • 1946 Espionage - Mackenzie King tells Parliament about Soviet spy ring activities in Canada; explains measures needed to investigate, detain suspects; based on revelations from Igor Gouzenko, a former clerk at the USSR Embassy in Ottawa; charges are later laid against 21 people, and 11 are convicted. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1950 Retail - Government lifts the last wartime price controls on goods; brought in during Second World War. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1950 Military - RCAF and USAF rescue the air crew of a downed American B-36 bomber on Princess Royal Island after a two day search around Queen Charlotte Sound; lost during a flight from Alaska to Texas. BC
  • 1955 Figure Skating - Canadian figure skaters Frances Dafoe and Norris Bowden win the world championship in Pairs figure skating for the second year in a row. Europe
  • 1965 Symbols - Canada’s new red and white Maple Leaf Flag is inaugurated in a ceremony on Parliament Hill;; adopted after two-year debate and Royal Proclamation by Queen Elizabeth II Jan. 28; replaces the Red Ensign; its blazon is Gules on a Canadian pale argent a maple leaf of the first; official proportions are 2 by length and one by width, with a white square in the centre the width of the flag. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1965 Symbols - Archbishop M.C. O’Neill dedicates Canada’s new national flag at a ceremony held at the Legislative Building in Regina. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1968 Olympics - Skiing - Nancy Greene wins the Gold Medal in Women’s Giant Slalom at the Tenth Winter Olympics in Grenoble. Grenoble, France
  • 1973 Education - Pearson College of the Pacific to be built north of Victoria; modeled after United World College of the Atlantic in Wales; named after the late Prime Minister Lester Pearson. Victoria, BC
  • 1973 Energy - Ottawa restricts oil exports to US, due to possible shortages. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1973 Transport - CN suspends tug and barge service on Lake Okanagan, BC.
  • 1975 Hockey - Yvan Cournoyer of the Montréal Canadiens scores 5 goals against Chicago Blackhawks. Montréal, Québec
  • 1976 Olympics - Closing of the 12th Winter Olympic games at Innsbruck. Kathy Kreiner takes home the Gold Medal in Womens Giant Slalom; in other medals, Kathy Priestner wins Silver in 500 Metre Speedskating and Toller Cranston wins Bronze in Figure Skating. Innsbruck, Austria
  • 1977 The Citizenship Act, passed in 1976, comes into effect; defines ‘citizen’ as ‘a Canadian citizen’; gives both native-born and naturalized citizens equal entitlement to all the rights, powers and privileges and subject to all the obligations, duties and liabilities of a citizen, which are governed by provincial and federal laws and the Constitution Act; citizens of the age of majority are guaranteed political rights including the right to vote and run for office; children born abroad on or after this date are automatically citizens if either parent was a citizen at the time of birth. Canada
  • 1977 Banking - Royal Bank of Canada transfers three head office departments from Montréal to Toronto. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1979 Music - Anne Murray wins Grammy Award for top female vocalist; pianist Oscar Peterson, wins the jazz instrumental soloist Grammy. Hollywood, California
  • 1980 External Affairs - Iran officially complains to the UN that Canada had abused diplomatic privilege by smuggling six Americans out of Iran using diplomatic passports. United Nations, New York
  • 1980 Hockey - Wayne Gretzky ties NHL record with 7 assists. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1982 Disaster - Oil drilling rig Ocean Ranger capsizes and sinks in 18 m waves during a fierce storm on the Grand Banks 315 km east of St. John’s; all 84 crewmen, 56 of whom are Newfoundlanders, drown in worst marine disaster in Canada since Second World War; owned by New Orleans-based Ocean Drilling and Exploration Co (ODECO) and under contract to Mobil Oil Canada to drill the Hibernia oil field; enquiry later found seawater entered the ballast control room through a broken porthole and shorted the panel controlling the rig’s stability. Newfoundland
  • 1983 Literature - Tamarack Review ceases publication. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1991 External Affairs - Trade - Canada joins Mexico and US in talks on a continental free-trade pact. Washington, DC
  • 1996 Aboriginal - Nisga’a Treaty - Nisga’a Tribal Council initials agreement in principle with Canada and British Columbia; First modern-day treaty in BC calls for grant of $190 million and communal ownership of, and self-government over, 1,930 sq km of land in the Nass River valley in northwestern BC. Victoria, BC
  • 1996 Politics - Prime Minister Jean Chrétien throttles protestor Bill Clennett, who was disrupting Flag Day ceremonies in Hull; launches a small controversy over what was called Chrétien’s Shawinigan Handshake. Gatineau, Québec
  • 2000 Media - Thomson Corp announces it is putting all but one of its 130 newspapers up for sale in order to move the company into providing electronic content; keeping ownership of the Globe and Mail newspaper. Toronto, Ontario
  • 2006 Olympics - Speed Skating - Anouk Leblanc-Boucher wins bronze in Ladies’ 500m Short Track Speed Skating. Turin, Italy 2010, February 15 - Olympics - Mike Robertson wins a silver medal in Men’s snowboard cross at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Vancouver, BC February 15 - Foreign Affairs - Fishery - Canada closes its ports to fishing boats from the Danish territories of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, after their refusal to accept international shrimp quotas.