Highlights of the day

  • 1754 Anthony Henday arrives at site of present-day Edmonton
  • 1891 John A. Macdonald WIns His Last Election - See Election Posters

List of Facts for March 5

  • 1496 John Cabot c1450-1498 hired by English King Henry VII to explore new lands north, west and east of England; with letters patent, Cabot sails from Bristol with one ship, forced to return; Italian merchant and explorer Giovanni Caboto Montecataluna Bristol, England
  • 1648 Charles Huault de Montmagny c1583-c1653 convenes First sitting of the Council of New France. Québec, Québec
  • 1754 Anthony Henday arrives at site of present-day Edmonton; First European to visit what is now Alberta. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1764 Governor James Murray requires inhabitants of Québec to declare their French money; before May 1. Québec, Québec
  • 1800 Fourth session of second Parliament of Lower Canada meets until May 29; penalties for harbouring runaway sailors, bridge over Jacques Cartier River. Québec
  • 1804 David Thompson 1770-1857 starts to descend the Peace River. Alberta
  • 1838 Bank of Upper Canada suspends payment; until Nov. 1, 1839. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1838 Founding of the village of Paris; near fine clay deposits used for plaster of Paris. Paris, Ontario
  • 1838 Incorporation of the Town of Kingston. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1844 Capital of the Province of Canada moved from Kingston to Montréal; revolving seat of government eventually settles in Ottawa. Montréal, Québec
  • 1844 George Brown 1818-1880 publishes First edition of the Toronto Globe. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1870 Garnet Joseph Wolseley 1833-1913 chosen to lead military expedition to Red River; Deputy Quartermaster-General. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1872 Toronto Typographical Union goes on 17 week strike against the Globe newspaper for nine-hour workday; 24 union members still arrested for’conspiracy to restrain trade’- by striking. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1873 First session of second Parliament meets until August 13; abolishes Secretary of State for Provinces; sets up Department of the Interior. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1874 First session, after Confederation, of the Prince Edward Island legislature. Charlottetown, PEI
  • 1885 North West Rebellion - Louis Riel and a group of prominent Metis hold a secret meeting; sign an oath, the Revolutionary Bill of Rights, to “save our country from a wicked government by taking up arms if necessary.” Batoche, Saskatchewan
  • 1890 federal Board of Railway Commissioners rejects D.C. Corbin’s application to build Kettle River Valley Railroad stating that cross-Boundary railroad charters were not in Dominion’s best interests.
  • 1891 John A. Macdonald leads Conservatives to victory in the seventh general election, and his last, 121 seats to 94; defeats Wilfrid Laurier with 51.5% of popular vote; fights under the slogan The old man, the old flag, the old policy’.
  • 1908 Alberta passes An Act to Amend the Coal Mines Act for the Purpose of Limiting Hours of Work Below Ground (The Coal Mines Act 1908) .
  • 1910 Disaster - Rail - Over 600 CPR rescue workers and volunteers at Bear Creek in the Rogers Pass work furiously to dig out a crew of 63 railroad workers hit by a 10 metre deep slide from Avalanche Mountain; the night before, the men were shovelling a previous avalanche from Cheops Mountain off the CPR main line; all but one man perishes. Revelstoke, BC
  • 1910 Montreal Wanderers beat Ottawa Senators 3-1 for the Stanley Cup. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1918 Court of King’s Bench and the Court of Appeal are introduced into Saskatchewan’s court system. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1943 British and Canadian bombers start Battle of the Ruhr; year-long bombing offensive against Germany. Germany
  • 1945 US, China, Soviet Union and Britain invite Canada to attend founding United Nations Conference. San Francisco, California
  • 1960 Canadians Barbara Wagner and Bob Paul win the gold medal in Ice Pairs at the World Figure Skating Championship in Vancouver; Alain Giletti of France wins the Men’s crown, Carol E Heiss of the US the Ladies, and Denny & Jones of Britain the Ice Dance. Vancouver, BC
  • 1967 Georges-Philias Vanier 1888-1967 dies at age 78; soldier, Royal 22ème Regiment; Canada’s 19th Governor-General 1959-67, and the First French Canadian to hold the position. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1968 Justice John C. McRuer’s Royal Commission on Civil Rights recommends greater protection for the individual. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1969 Réjane Laberge-Colas appointed First woman judge in the Québec Superior Court. Montréal, Québec
  • 1976 Pierre Elliott Trudeau suggests Ottawa can take unilateral action to patriate BNA Act if provinces unable to agree. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1979 Canadian tenor and actor Alan Crofoot dies by his own hand at age 50; recently had signed a contract with the Metropolitan Opera. Dayton, Ohio
  • 1980 Jay Silverheels dies; born Harold J. Smith May 26, 1919 on the Six Nations Reserve, Brantford Ontario; lacrosse player, boxer, actor, he played The Lone Ranger’s sidekick Tonto; founded the Indian Actors Workshop in 1963. Woodland Hills, California
  • 1982 Energy - Parliament passes Canada Oil and Gas Act; Petro Canada gets automatic 25% of all new offshore finds; to speed offshore oil and gas development. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1982 Steve Podborski wins men’s downhill skiing FIS World Cup title over Austria’s Harti Weirather; Toronto native the First non-European to win, with three First place finishes and two seconds during the season. Aspen, Colorado
  • 1983 Hockey - Michel Goulet of the Quebec Nordiques scores his 50th goal of the season against Hartford Whalers.
  • 1984 Connie Laliberte Rink wins the 1984 Scott Tournament of Hearts by defeating Nova Scotia 5-4. Manitoba
  • 1985 Montreal native Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders scores his 50th goal of the season against Philadelphia Flyers; becomes the First National Hockey League player to score 50 goals in eight consecutive seasons. Wayne Gretsky and Guy Lafleur have each scored 50 goals in six NHL seasons. Uniondale, New York
  • 1989 Toronto blues singer and songwriter Mary Margaret O’Hara makes her British debut at the Duke of York Theatre. London, England
  • 1990 Crown charges 8 Canadian flour mills with rigging prices for food aid; $500 million over 12 years. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1991 Environment Minister Robert de Cotret announces $25 million plan to cut toxic discharges into Great Lakes; part of Green Plan. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1992 Hockey - Mats Sundin of the Quebec Nordiques scores 5 goals against Hartford Whalers.
  • 1993 Athletics - Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson banned for life by the Canadian Track and Field Association after failing a second drug test; five years after his disgrace at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1995 Military - Canadian Airborne Regiment officially disbanded at laying-up of the colors ceremony at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa; 660 paratroopers dismissed. Pembroke, Ontario
  • 2003 Medicine - Sui-chu Kwan, who travelled to Hong Kong in February, dies of SARS in Toronto.
  • 2004 Tooker Gomberg environmentalist and former politician commits suicide by jumping from a Halifax-Dartmouth bridge
  • 2004 Abdurahman Khadr, who admitted recently to having Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden links, alleges to working for the Central Intelligence Agency as an informant.
  • 2004 Paul Okalik re-elected as Premier of Nunavut in Nunavut general election.
  • 2004 Prime Minister Paul Martin fires the President of Via Rail Marc LeFrançois.
  • 2006 Military - Master Corporal Timothy Wilson dies in a German hospital of injuries suffered in a LAV III crash on March 2 in Afghanistan.