Leap Day - Today’s Features

  • 1796 Jay Treaty proclaimed; defines boundary between Loyalist and US territories.
  • 1944 Canadian troops help drive the Japanese invaders from Burma.
  • 1980 Jeanne Sauvé appointed First female Speaker of the House of Commons.

List of Facts for February 29

  • 1704 Queen Anne’s War - Deerfield Massacre - Major Jean-Baptiste de Rouville and his four brothers attack and burn an English settlement at Salmon Falls in the Connecticut River valley with a band of 250 French and Abenaki Indians, killing 43 civilians and capturing over 100; the attack was in part a religious crusade to retrieve a French church bell acquired by the Indians of New France that had been captured by a privateer, taken to Salem and sold to the people of Deerfield, who apparently were unaware of its origins; the captive English English settlers were forced to march 370 km north to Canada. Colonel Church will later attack Grand Pre, Nova Scotia, in retaliation for this guerrilla warfare; the Deerfield church bell is eventually taken to the Saut St-Louis (Caughnawaga) mission on the St. Lawrence, across from Lachine, where it still hangs in the Iroquois chapel. Deerfield, Massachusetts
  • 1704 Queen Anne’s War - Deerfield Massacre - Eunice Williams and her father John Williams, the Protestant minister of Deerfield, among the more than 100 English settlers captured by Indians and brought to Caughnawaga, near Montréal; she becomes ‘Margaret,’ wife of a Mohawk leader. Deerfield, Massachusetts
  • 1796 Boundary - George Washington proclaims the November 19, 1794. Terms include the withdrawal of British troops from forts in US territory, the free passage of merchants between countries and agreement to establish commissions to set the boundary between Loyalist and American territories; both parties to have free use of the Great Lakes. Washington, DC
  • 1812 Farming - John Burrows Honey settles 200 acres in what is now downtown Ottawa. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1860 Mrs. Kwong Lee arrives in British Columbia; the first female Chinese immigrant to Canada. Victoria, BC
  • 1892 Farming - Minister of the Interior Edgar Dewdney informs western ranchers that they can buy one tenth of their current holdings for $2.00 per acre: the remainder can be re-leased, but with the understanding this it would be subject to forfeit at the government’s whim. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1944 Second World War - British and Indian troops, with some Canadians, finally drive the Japanese invaders from Burma. Myanmar See: Canadians in Burma.
  • 1952 Energy - Last load of coke removed from coking ovens at Coleman, Alberta.
  • 1956 CNP Lumber closes Wardner lumber mill. Wardner, BC
  • 1960 State Visit - Premier Segni of Italy starts three-day visit to Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1968 Energy - Kaiser Coal acquires the entire coal holdings of Crow’s Nest Industries.
  • 1980 Women - Politics - Jeanne Sauvé appointed First female Speaker of the House of Commons; will take office April 14, 1980, at the opening of the First session of the 32nd Parliament. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1980 Hockey - Gordie Howe of the Hartford Whalers becomes the First NHL player to score 800 career goals; this is his final year in pro hockey; he was with Detroit 1946-71, then 1973-77 with Houston Aeros and 1977-79 with New England Whalers of the WHA. Hartford, Connecticut
  • 1984 Pierre Trudeau announces resignation as Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party; after some deep thinking during a walk in a snowstorm the previous night; he had stepped down in 1979 but ran again and won a majority when the Liberals defeated the fledgling Joe Clark government. When asked why he chose February 29th to announce his retirement, he replied, Well, because it’s a good day. It’s the first day of the rest of my life - it seemed like a good day to have a last day. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1992 Hockey - Raymond Bourque of the Boston Bruins scores his 1,000th point against Washington Capitals.
  • 1996 Literature - Sinclair Ross dies; banker, writer, born at Shellbrook, Saskatchewan January 22, 1908; raised by his mother, Ross left school at 16 to join the Royal Bank of Canada at Abbey, Saskatchewan; 1934 published his First short story, No Other Way, in London, England; other stories include The Painted Door, A Field of Wheat and The Lamp at Noon, later anthologized in The Lamp at Noon and Other Stories (1968); 1941 published As For Me and My House, a novel on small-town life in the Depression; other works include The Well (1958), Whir of Gold (1970), and Sawbones Memorial (1974). Vancouver, BC
  • 1996 Hockey - Wayne Gretzky plays his first game with the St. Louis Blues after being traded from Los Angeles Kings; scores his first goal with them against the Vancouver Canucks, to tie the game. Vancouver, BC.
  • 2004 Cinema - Denys Arcand’s film The Barbarian Invasions wins the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Hollywood, California
  • 2004 Curling - Colleen Jones’ Nova Scotia rink wins the Scott Tournament of Hearts. Red Deer, Alberta