Highlights of the day

  • 1666 Intendant Jean Talon starts New France census, Canada’s first
  • 1911 Founding of Shell Company of Canada Ltd. as a branch of Royal Dutch Shell.

List of Facts for March 21

  • 1666 Census - Intendant Jean Talon starts census of New France; 3,215 persons counted in the first Canadian census. Québec, Québec
  • 1821 Fur Trade - North West Company agrees to merge with the Hudson’s Bay Company; effective June 1, 1821, to run for 21 years under the name of the Hudson’s Bay Company. London, England
  • 1829 Education - The Montreal Medical School, founded in 1823 as the Montreal Medical Institution, is incorporated as the first constituent faculty of McGill College and Canada’s first medical faculty; in 1833, the Faculty of Medicine awarded McGill University’s first degree, and Canada’s first medical degree, to William Leslie Logie. Montreal, Québec
  • 1836 Education - Collège de Chambly gets a charter. Chambly, Québec
  • 1864 Politics - Macdonald-Dorion Ministry resigns after John Sandfield Macdonald fails to achieve coalition with Étienne-Paschal Taché, who distrusted Antoine-Aimé Dorion; George-Étienne Cartier, John A. Macdonald and George Brown are waiting in the wings. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1865 Prince Edward Island votes against Confederation. PEI
  • 1881 Rat Portage War - Macdonald Government passes “An Act to provide for the extension of the boundaries of the Province of Manitoba” (44 V, c14). The Act extended the eastern boundary of Manitoba to a “line drawn due north from where the westerly boundary of the province of Ontario intersects the boundary dividing Canada from the United States”. The Governments of Manitoba and the Dominion understood that Manitoba’s eastern boundary lay near Port Arthur (Thunder Bay). The Government of Ontario, on the other hand, felt that her boundary did not end until the western most reaches of the Lake of the Woods, near Rat Portage (Kenora). The Act goes into effect August 15.
  • 1885 North West Rebellion - Louis Riel sends a message to NWMP Superintendent Leif Crozier demanding surrender of his detachment at Fort Carlton, 32 km from Batoche. Riel threatens, “to commence without a delay a war of extermination upon those who have shown themselves hostile to our rights.” Batoche, Saskatchewan
  • 1889 Urban - Sorel gets city charter. Sorel, Québec
  • 1894 Politics - British Columbia passes the Legislative Electorates and Elections Act which divided the West Kootenay District into North and South Ridings. Victoria, BC
  • 1895 Fire destroys steamboat Spokane at Kaslo; the hull is repaired and the boat re-launched on August 1, 1895 as a barge. Kaslo, BC
  • 1898 Yukon Field Force authorized to support the Canadian government and the North-West Mounted Police in maintaining law and order during the Klondike Gold Rush; 80% of the gold seekers were American, which posed a threat to Canadian sovereignty. The YFF was composed of 203 officers and men from the Permanent Force of the Canadian Militia, with infantry, artillery, and cavalry; served from 1898 to 1900, based at Fort Selkirk with a detachment at Dawson City. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1906 Urban - North Battleford becomes a village. North Battleford, Saskatchewan
  • 1910 Rail - Canadian Northern Pacific Railway incorporated to accept support of British Columbia government in construction of Pacific portion of Canadian Northern’s network. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1911 Duke of Connaught appointed Governor General of Canada; serves until 1916. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1911 Disaster - RNWP Corporal W.J. Dempster and team finally discover the bodies of Inspector Francis Joseph Fitzgerald and three other members of the “Lost Patrol”, 40 kilometres away from Fort McPherson. Yukon
  • 1911 Energy - Founding of Shell Company of Canada Ltd. as a branch of Royal Dutch Shell. The company begins marketing gasoline in Montreal, while in B.C., Shell of California sets up business in Vancouver where it operates as the Shell Company of British Columbia. The two companies operate as separate entities until they merge in 1957. Shell Canada was bought out by its parent company in 2007 to cut taxation costs. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1917 First World War - Robert Borden attends Imperial War Conference; to April 27, 1917. London, England
  • 1918 First World War - German army starts offensive on the Somme before American troops can arrive to join the War; Second Battle of the Somme ends in November, with one million casualties. France/Belgium
  • 1921 Hockey - Over 11,000 fans jam Vancouver’s Denman Arena to see the PCHA Vancouver Millionaires play the first game of the Stanley Cup series against the NHL Ottawa Senators; world record for the largest crowd to see a hockey game; Ottawa will win the series three games to two. Vancouver, BC
  • 1932 Farming - The Albertan reports that the 1931 Alberta wheat crop is for the First time greater than that of Saskatchewan. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1940 Alberta Election - William Aberhart leads Alberta Social Credit Party to a second consecutive majority in the provincial election. Alberta
  • 1942 Politics - J. S. Woodsworth dies; a Methodist minister, he was First leader of the CCF; pushed Mackenzie King to enact an old-age pension plan; born Etobicoke, Ontario, July 29, 1874. Vancouver, BC
  • 1949 Rail - CPR unveils its first “roomette” sleeper cars. Montreal Quebec - CBC Archives
  • 1949 Rail - CPR No. 907 blows up and destroys the Brookmere 3-stall roundhouse; rebuilt as a 4 stall structure, demolished in 1972. Brookmere, BC
  • 1951 Military - Department of National Defence authorizes enlistment of women as regulars in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1962 Health - Ministry of Health bans the drug thalidomide after it is blamed for causing birth defects when taken by pregnant women. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1970 Music - Burton Cummings and The Guess Who release their hit single American Woman; the Winnipeg group have a blockbuster number one single on their hands. New York, New York
  • 1973 Hockey - Frank Mahovlich scores his 500th goal against Vancouver Canucks; becomes 5th NHLer to score 500 goals.
  • 1977 Environment - Greenpeace Foundation abandons protest against annual seal hunt off coast of Newfoundland; due to bad weather, ice conditions, and lack of money. Newfoundland
  • 1981 Hockey - Dave “Tiger” Williams of the Vancouver Canucks the first in NHL history to score 30 goals and get 300 penalty minutes in the same season. Williams is still the NHL’s career leader in penalty minutes. Vancouver, BC
  • 1984 Environment - Canada signs agreement with 9 European countries to cut sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions; key components of acid rain. Europe
  • 1985 Medicine - Rick Hansen launches his Man in Motion world tour to raise money for spinal cord research. Vancouver, BC
  • 1990 Hockey - Luc Robitaille of the Los Angeles Kings scores his 50th goal of the season against Vancouver Canucks.
  • 1990 Constitution - New Brunswick Premier Frank McKenna tries to salvage the Meech Lake Accord, proposes ‘companion resolution’, with safeguards for women, natives and northerners; also gives Ottawa role in promoting linguistic duality. Fredericton, New Brunswick
  • 1991 Justice - Supreme Court of Canada rules 9-0 that the fetus is not a legal person; no guarantee to life under Criminal Code; upholds BC Court of Appeal ruling. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1992 Cinema - John Ireland dies of leukemia at 78; born January 30, 1914 in Vancouver, BC. Ireland was a Hollywood leading man, with over 200 movies and TV shows under his belt, including All the King’s Men; Rawhide’s Jed Colby, Cassie and Company. Santa Barbara, California
  • 1993 Music - Anne Murray inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at Juno Awards ceremony; her 25th year in show business. Toronto, Ontario (Canadian Register of Historic Places)
  • 1993 Hockey - Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins scores his 50th goal of the season against Edmonton Oilers.
  • 1994 Military - Government launches civilian inquiry in the behaviour of the Canadian Airborne Regiment in Somalia. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1994 Hockey - Wayne Gretzky ties Gordie Howe’s NHL record of 801 goals. Los Angeles, California
  • 1997 Music - US talk show host Oprah Winfrey surprises guest Céline Dion by flying in her parents and all of her 13 brothers and sisters from Québec; Dion will sing two numbers with her family, then sings a ballad she wrote to honour a niece who died of cystic fibrosis. Chicago, Illinois
  • 1997 Politics - Nova Scotia Premier John Savage announces his resignation. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 2002 Parliament passed an Sir Wilfrid Laurier Day.”