Highlights of the day

  • 1632 Champlain appointed Canada’s First Royal Governor
  • 2010 Vancouver Olympics end with Canada winning 14 gold medals, the most for any country (host or otherwise) in any Winter Olympics.

List of Facts for March 1

  • 1632 Samuel de Champlain appointed first Governor of the royal colony of New France, on the restoration of the colony back to France after its capture by the Kirkes. Paris, France
  • 1751 Jean-Louis, Comte de Raymond appointed Governor of île Royale Cape Breton Island with headquarters at Louisbourg. Paris, France
  • 1755 Military - Jean-Armand Dieskau appointed commander of the French regular troops in Canada. Québec, Québec
  • 1815 War of 1812 - Governor George Prevost is officially notified of the Peace of Ghent. Quebec, Quebec.
  • 1815 Governor Prevost disbands the Lower Canada militia after the War of 1812. Québec
  • 1837 Lower Canada Rebellion - Colonial Secretary Lord John Russell and the British government reject the Ninety-Two Resolutions, a list of political and economic reforms drawn up by Louis-Joseph Papineau and his Parti patriote supporters. London, England
  • 1838 Lower Canada Rebellion - Robert Nelson, Cyrille Côté and other patriotes are arrested and detained by US authorities after they are forced to retreat back into the United States by the Lower Canada militia. Vermont
  • 1878 Postal - First official post office in Edmonton opens. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1878 Communications - G. & G. Flewwelling lease New Brunswick’s First telephones. Hampton, New Brunswick
  • 1881 Retail - Henry Birks opens a larger jewellery store on St. James Street; In 1893, he formed a partnership with his three sons (William, John and Gerald), under the name of the firm became Henry Birks and Sons. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1881 Aboriginal - Hayter Reed appointed Indian Agent at Battleford. Battleford, Saskatchewan
  • 1883 Media - Nicholas Flood Davin publishes the First issue of the Regina Leader; today’s Regina Leader-Post is Saskatchewan’s oldest surviving newspaper; Davin was an Irish lawyer who served as a war correspondent in the Franco-Prussian War, came to Canada in 1872 and worked for the Toronto Globe before heading west. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1888 Postal - Post Office starts First parcel post service between Canada and the US. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1893 Smelting - Frederick Heinze incorporates the Montana Ore Purchasing Company in Montana; will purchase BC ores.
  • 1895 Postal - Post Office established in Rossland, BC.
  • 1898 Ontario Election - A. S. Hardy’s Liberals win a majority in the provincial election. Ontario
  • 1898 Smelting - CPR buys Frederick Heinze’s Canadian assets. Walter Aldridge assumes control of the Trail smelter, known thereafter as the Canadian Smelting Works. Trail, BC
  • 1899 Urban - Revelstoke incorporated as a city. Revelstoke, BC
  • 1900 Energy - Rail - CNP Coal announces that it would apply to Ottawa for a charter for the Kootenay Lake Railway to connect the Pass to the Great Northern Railway mainline at Jennings, Montana. BC
  • 1900 Rail - Contractors turn over the Grand Forks-Midway portion of the Columbia and Western to the CPR. Grand Forks, BC
  • 1903 Politics - Henri Bourassa founds the Ligue nationaliste or Nationalist League to oppose British imperialism and promote a new nationalism that focused on the Canadian duality, provincial rights and national economic and social policies. Montréal, Québec
  • 1905 Transport - Steamboat Alberta sinks at the dock at Kaslo, BC.
  • 1912 Banking - Union Bank of Canada opens branch in Bellevue, Alberta.
  • 1917 Police - Alberta Provincial Police established under Major A.E.C. McDonnell to enforce provincial law, after Government of Alberta cancels contract with RNWMP. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1918 Harlan Brewster dies in office; Premier of British Columbia. Victoria, BC
  • 1927 Boundary - Judicial Committee of the Privy Council decides in favour of Newfoundland claim on Labrador boundary rather than Canada’s; settles long-standing dispute between Newfoundland and Québec; two years earlier, Newfoundland had offered to sell Labrador to Québec for $30 million. London, England
  • 1929 Fire hits Columbia Avenue, Rossland, BC.
  • 1939 Aviation - C. D. Howe opens First Trans-Canada Air Lines transcontinental passenger service from Montréal to Vancouver; Minister of Industry, Trade and Commerce. Montréal, Québec
  • 1943 Second World War - Founding of the Canadian Women’s Army Corps as part of the Canadian forces; CWACs have full military titles and can hold commissions. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1943 Road - Work begins on the Alaska Highway to secure military transport access to Alaska in the event of Japanese invasion in Second World War. Dawson Creek, BC
  • 1944 Second World War - Government ends meat rationing. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1945 Second World War - Canadian Army Major Frederick Tilston wins VC for bravery in Hochwald Forest. Hochwald, Germany
  • 1945 Forestry - Mike Dumont sells his Galloway sawmill to Jostad and Nelson who form the Galloway Lumber Company. Galloway, BC
  • 1953 Farming - US removes embargo on Canadian livestock placed after outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 1952. Washington, DC
  • 1957 Urban - Estevan becomes a city. Estevan, Saskatchewan
  • 1963 Education - BC government establishes Victoria College as the University of Victoria; also founds Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC. Victoria, BC
  • 1965 Disaster - Gas explosion kills 28 in apartment complex in La Salle. La Salle, Québec
  • 1965 Music - Theatre - Ottawa unveils design for $18 million Centre for Performing Arts (today’s National Arts Centre) in the National Capital; with 2,300-seat opera, 900 seat theatre and 300 seat studio. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1965 Parks Canada announces $6 million to develop Kejimkujik National Park in southwestern Nova Scotia. Kejimkujik, Nova Scotia
  • 1971 Bill Davis takes office as Premier of Ontario, replacing John Robarts. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1972 Music - Toronto rocker Neil Young’s hit song Heart of Gold makes it to #1 on the Billboard charts. New York, New York
  • 1973 Figure Skating - Karen Magnussen of Vancouver wins the Ladies gold medal at the World Figure Skating Championships in Czechoslovakia. Prague, Czech Republic
  • 1974 Aboriginal - BC Court of Appeals rules Indian child can be adopted by non-Indian parents without losing status. Victoria, BC
  • 1974 Urban - City of Castlegar incorporated. Castlegar, BC
  • 1975 Music - Canadians Anne Murray and Oscar Peterson each win a Grammy Award. Hollywood, California
  • 1976 Energy - Alberta Government founds Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund with windfall oil royalties. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1977 Hockey - Steve Shutt of the Montréal Canadiens scores his 50th goal of the season against the New York Islanders. Montréal, Québec
  • 1978 Politics - Parliament revises Canada Elections Act, ending political party status for seven groups; twelve parties stay officially registered. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1981 Energy - Alberta cuts oil production to protest Ottawa’s energy policy; Ottawa replies by compensation charge as Energy Minister Marc Lalonde matches Alberta cutbacks by the so-called Lougheed Levy to subsidize imports. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1983 Communications - Federal government drops rule requiring licences for private ownership of satellite TV dishes. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1987 Retail - Coffee giant Starbucks opens its first Canadian outlet in Vancouver, in the old CPR Waterfront Station; the chain first opened in Seattle on March 30, 1971; moved into Ontario January 20, 1988, when it opened five outlets in the Toronto area. Vancouver, BC
  • 1988 Hockey - Edmonton Oilers Wayne Gretzky picks up assist No. 1,050 in a game winning goal against the Los Angeles Kings, becoming the NHL’s all-time assist leader; he breaks the 26-year mark of Gordie Howe in only 681 games, vs Howe’s 1,767 games. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1989 Athletics - Track coach Charlie Francis tells Dubin Inquiry that his pupil Ben Johnson and other athletes knowingly took banned steroids; testifies Johnson started using steroids in 1981; Johnson also admits guilt in testimony that June. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1989 Space - The Canadian Space Agency is created by an Act of Parliament. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1991 Communications - Maclean-Hunter sells CHCH-TV to WIC Western International Communications for $46 million. Hamilton, Ontario
  • 1995 Housing - Real estate developer Bramalea Inc. seeks court protection from its creditors; for the second time in the 1990s. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1995 Music - Pete Townshend present as the Canadian stage production of the Who’s rock opera Tommy opens at the Elgin Theatre; Broadway version won Tony Awards for composer Townshend and Canadian director Des McAnuff. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1996 Basketball - The Dallas Mavericks set an NBA 3-point record attempting 44 three-pointers in a 119-111 victory over the Vancouver Grizzlies. Vancouver, BC
  • 2005 External Affairs - Frank McKenna becomes the new Canadian Ambassador to the United States. Washington, DC
  • 2010 March 1 - Olympics - Canada ends the Olympics with 14 gold medals, the most for any country (host or otherwise) in any Winter Olympics. The Canadian Olympic team also wins the most medals it has ever won – 26. In the medal tally, the U.S. comes first with 37 medals, also the most for any country (host or otherwise) in any Winter Olympics. The closing ceremony starts at 5:30 Pacific Time at BC Place Stadium. At the closing show, Michael Bublé, Neil Young, Avril Lavigne, K-os, Nickelback, Simple Plan, Hedley, Marie-Mai and Alanis Morissette perform, and William Shatner, Catherine O’Hara and Michael J. Fox also appear. The Olympic flag is given to Mayor Anatoliy Pakhomov of Sochi, Russia, host of the 2014 Winter Olympics. Vancouver, BC