Highlights of the day

  • 1915 Canadian forces face German mustard gas attack at Ypres
  • 1945 Canadian Army diverts operations in Holland to feed starving Dutch people.

List of Facts for April 22

  • 1635 William Alexander given new grants of land in Canada by Charles I; proprietor of Nova Scotia. London, England
  • 1737 Opening of Canada’s First iron smelter at Les Forges de St-Maurice. Trois-Rivières, Québec
  • 1786 Guy Carleton appointed Governor-in-Chief of British North America; his brother, Colonel Thomas Carleton, appointed Lt Gov of New Brunswick. Québec, Québec
  • 1844 Founding of the Bytown Packet, later the Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1870 US Congress defeats motion to annex the Red River Colony to the United States; the motion suggested that the Americans send commissioners to the territory to negotiate terms with the settlers directly. Washington, DC
  • 1885 North West Rebellion - NWMP Inspector Francis Dickens reaches Battleford after abandoning Fort Pitt when white settlers decide to surrender to Big Bear; he is the third son of novelist Charles Dickens. Battleford, Saskatchewan
  • 1891 Alberta and British Columbia Exploration Company , incorporated. Capitalized to £20,000. Victoria, BC
  • 1893 Federal Order-in-Council reduces the price per acre charged to ranchers to buy a home range to $1.25.
  • 1896 Upper Columbia Navigation and Tramway launches steamer Ruth at Libby, Montana.
  • 1915 First World War - Second Battle of Ypres - Canadian forces bear the brunt of the first chemical weapons attack of the war. Germans launch an evening artillery bombardment and release a poisonous cloud of olive green chlorine (mustard) gas from 4,000 cylinders in front of their trenches, which a light wind carries across the fields of Flanders towards one Canadian division and two French divisions (one territorial and the other made up of Algerian and Moroccan troops); the burning, blinding effects of the gas causes the Algerians to panic and flee, while German infantry, wearing respirators, move forward and take 2,000 prisoners and 51 guns; many Canadians are gassed, but they defend their positions, wearing only wet gauze patches and urine-soaked rags over their noses and mouths; the attack opens up a 6.5 km gap; but the Canadian 13th Battalion stands firm under heavy shelling, and the Germans fail to exploit their gains. This is the first major gas attack on the western front, in defiance of the rules of the Hague Convention. The Second Battle of Ypres in Belgium marked the advent of modern chemical warfare. Ypres, Belgium
  • 1915 First World War - Calgary’s 10th Battalion fights with the 1st Canadian Division at the Second Battle of Ypres from April 22 to May 2. Ypres, Belgium
  • 1915 First World War - Troops from Manitoba fight with the Canadian Division in the Second Battle of Ypres from this day to May 15, 1915. Ypres, Belgium
  • 1919 Invention - Stephen L. Chauncey Coleman patents a “Stabilizing Bar” for motor vehicle suspensions; the prolific NB inventor later develops many improvements in automobile technology. Fredericton, New Brunswick
  • 1936 Finance - Alberta Premier William Aberhart’s Social Credit government introduces its Alberta Prosperity Certificates. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1940 J. L. Ilsley appointed Vice-Chairman of Treasury Board for duration of War; (DM Finance was ex-officio Secretary of the Treasury Board). Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1941 Second World War - Anglo-American Joint Aircraft Committee (JAC) set up to co-ordinate allocation of Allied aircraft.
  • 1943 Second World War - Air Cadet Corps is made a part of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1945 Second World War - Canadian Army halts front operations in western Holland due to the need to feed the starving Dutch people, their fields flooded and their barns looted by the retreating Germans. Netherlands
  • 1945 Hockey - Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 in game seven of the Finals, taking the Stanley Cup 4 games to 3; Walter “Babe” Pratt the first defenseman to score a Stanley Cup winning goal. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1947 Energy - Canadian Gulf Oil Company begins drilling Pincher Creek No.1 in south-west Alberta.
  • 1951 Korean War - Battle of Kapyong - Chinese army attacks the Second Battalion of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry defending Hill 677; the Princess Pats are greatly outnumbered, hundreds up against thousands of Chinese and North Koreans advancing on the South Korean capital of Seoul; they hold the enemy off for ten hours with traps and bombs, with food and ammunition dropped by plan. The battle ends April 23, with the Canadians surviving, losing 10 dead and 23 wounded, Kapyong Valley, Korea
  • 1953 Korean War - The 81st Field Regiment relieves the 1st Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, in Korea.
  • 1955 Welfare Minister Herbert Pottle resigns after a disagreement with Premier Joey Smallwood. St. John’s, Newfoundland
  • 1962 Hockey - Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 in Game Six of the Finals; winning 4 games to 2 for the Stanley Cup; the Leafs get back the trophy after 11 years; they will keep it for the next three seasons. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1963 Lester Pearson sworn in as Canada’s 14th Prime Minister; succeeds John Diefenbaker, PM since June 21, 1957; Pearson PM to April 20, 1968. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1963 Royal Commission on Education recommends formation of [Québec Ministry of Education and complete reorganization of education in the province. Parent Commission Québec, Québec
  • 1964 Saskatchewan Election - Ross Thatcher’s Liberals win a majority, defeating Woodrow Lloyd’s Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and displacing the CCF-NDP after 20 years. Saskatchewan
  • 1965 The Rolling Stones start their First North American tour in Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1968 Labour - End of six-day strike by 11,000 Ford of Canada workers. Oakville, Ontario
  • 1970 Ottawa allocates $41.2 million in federal aid to Newfoundland, and $32.5 million to New Brunswick; to compensate for regional inequality. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1971 Energy - Consumers’ Gas acquires controlling interest in Home Oil Ltd. of Calgary. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1975 Robert Bryce heads new Royal Commission on Corporate Concentration; to examine corporate power and mergers in Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1976 Hockey - Toronto Maple Leafs’ Darryl Sittler ties a playoff record set in 1944, for most goals in one game, with 5 in an 8-5 win over Philadelphia, in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Quarter-Finals.
  • 1978 Ottawa comic Dan Aykroyd makes his First ever appearance with John Belushi as The Blues Brothers on Saturday Night Live, opening the show with Hey Bartender with an intro by Paul Schaffer acting as Don Kirschner. New York, New York
  • 1979 Hockey - Montreal Canadiens’ goaltender Ken Dryden becomes the NHL’s all-time leader in playoff victories; his 72nd career playoff win moves him one ahead of Jacques Plante. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1979 Rolling Stone Keith Richards performs a benefit concert for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind as part of his 1977 release on drug charges. Richards’ band, the New Barbarians, features Rolling Stone guitarist Ron Wood, bass player Stanley Clarke, Ian McLagan on keyboards and drummer Ziggy Modeliste. They leave shortly on a big US tour, but never make a record. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1980 Olympics - External Affairs minister Mark McGuigan announces that Canada will join the US and not send athletes to the upcoming Olympic games in Moscow, to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan on December 27, 1979; U.S. President Jimmy Carter had issued the Soviet Union an ultimatum: pull out of Afghanistan by February 20 or the United States would refuse to participate in the Moscow games; Canadian athletes predict a counter-boycott of the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1983 Samuel Grange heads Ontario Royal Commission of inquiry into deaths of 28 babies at Hospital for Sick Children; nurse Susan Nelles wrongly charged. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1984 Hockey - Calgary Flames 4, Edmonton Oilers 7; Won Division Finals 4 games to 3.
  • 1988 Justice Willard Estey retires from the Supreme Court of Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1990 Hockey - Edmonton Oilers 5, Los Angeles Kings 4
  • 1991 Brian Mulroney promises Royal Commission on Aboriginal Affairs to settle all land claims by the year 2000. Victoria, BC
  • 1991 Joe Clark named Minister of Constitutional Affairs; task is to co-ordinate various ongoing negotiations and recommendations; begins work April 23. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1996 John Nunziata is expelled from the Liberal caucus for voting against the budget.Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1997 Massive flooding of the Red River in Manitoba leads to a state of emergency.