Highlights of the day

  • 1920 Painting - Art Gallery of Ontario opens exhibition entitled The Group of Seven.
  • 1945 VE-Day

List of Facts for May 7

  • 1586 John Davis sets sail on his second voyage to look for the North West Passage; with four ships: the Sunneshine, Mooneshine, Mermayd and North Starre. Dartmouth, England
  • 1657 King Louis XlV prohibits the sale of liquor to Indians. Paris, France
  • 1663 Louis Gaudais-Dupont takes possession of New France as special commissioner acting in the name of King of France. Québec, Québec
  • 1676 Michael de Beaubassin, with his brother-in-law, Sieur Richard Denys, as second in command, seize three Boston ketches taking on coal at Cape Breton; two of them are declared lawful prizes. Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
  • 1763 Pontiac’s Rising - Major Henry Gladwyn lets Pontiac and about 300 followers into Fort Detroit, but he had doubled the guard, and he and his officers, wearing their swords at the assembly on the parade ground, surrounded the intruders, who were carrying sawed off muskets under their trading blankets. Pontiac realized his plan was known, and left with his men. The next day he and three Ottawa chiefs parleyed with Gladwin, claimed there had been a misunderstanding and asked for a ceremony “to smoke the pipe of peace.” See May 1 and May 9. Detroit Michigan
  • 1766 Guy Carleton appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Québec; serves from Sept 24, 1766 to Oct. 26, 1768. Québec, Québec
  • 1771 Samuel Hearne arrives at the mouth of the Coppermine River and views the Arctic Coast. Coppermine, NWT
  • 1837 Louis-Joseph Papineau chosen leader of the Permanent Central Committee of the Patriotes at a protest meeting of about 1,200 people; they adopt the Declaration of St. Ours, declaring smuggling a public duty. St-Ours, Québec
  • 1849 Fire destroys large section of Toronto. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1855 Newfoundland achieves Responsible Government.
  • 1865 Canadian Land & Emigration Company acquires ten townships in Canada West; later founds towns of Haliburton, Ontario and Minden, Ontario Toronto, Ontario
  • 1865 New Brunswick rejects Confederation; results overturned by Leonard Tilley’s supporters the following year. Fredericton, New Brunswick
  • 1869 New Brunswick Provincial Seal authorized by Royal Warrant. London, England
  • 1870 Garnet Wolseley leaves for Red River to enforce Canadian rule with the 60th Rifles and Ontario militia and Québec militia units; they will travel via Prince Arthur’s Landing and Lake of the Woods. [painting of the expedition crossing a portage west of Thunder Bay . Toronto, Ontario
  • 1870 The Hudson’s Bay Company delivers a signed deed of surrender to the British Colonial Office, officially transferring Rupert’s Land to Canada; title sold for £200,000 and 1/20th of the fertile belt. London, England
  • 1872 Parliament passes Canadian Pacific Railway Bill; line to be completed within 10 years from Nipissing Junction to the Pacific Ocean. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1880 Assent given to the Indian Act, 1880 (An Act to amend and consolidate the laws respecting Indians) . Department of Indian Affairs created under the Minister of the Interior, who is the Superintendent of Indian Affairs. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1880 Great North Western Telegraph Company founded in Winnipeg. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1882 Manitoba Bank gets charter. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1882 Opening of Cochrane Street Methodist Church in St. John’s. St. John’s, Newfoundland
  • 1885 Fire consumes much of Farwell, British Columbia. Farwell, BC
  • 1897 Steamboats Gwendoline and Ruth of International Tranportation Co. smashed in the Jennings Canyon on the Upper Kootenay River. Gwendoline repaired, Ruth salvaged.
  • 1901 Inventor Alex Carter and machinist Walter Bowness build New Brunswick’s First automobile in their shop on Victoria Street, Moncton. Moncton, New Brunswick
  • 1903 Dock workers in Montréal go on three-day strike. Montréal, Québec
  • 1906 Ontario Hydro created as a Crown corporation. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1907 Incorporation of the Vancouver Stock Exchange; issues of British Columbia companies previously traded in Spokane and Rossland, BC; the VSE are soon listing Cobalt, Ontario silver mining shares as well. Vancouver, BC
  • 1908 Founding of the University of British Columbia as a branch of McGill University in Montréal; UBC becomes independent in 1915. Vancouver, BC
  • 1920 Painting - Art Gallery of Ontario opens exhibition titled The Group of Seven with paintings by Carmichael, Harris, Jackson, Johnston, Lismer, MacDonald and Varley; their First exhibition; initial reviews favourable, but the exhibition is not popular with the public, and only three of over 100 works are purchased. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1922 East Kootenay Power Company begins transmitting power from the Albertaerfeldie plant on the Bull River to Fernie. Fernie, BC
  • 1935 University of Toronto completes David Dunlap Observatory with a 188 cm reflector telescope; First observations take place June 9. Richmond Hill, Ontario
  • 1935 Corbin Coal Company announces that the mines at Corbin, British Columbia, to be closed. Corbin, BC
  • 1937 Canadian composer W.O. Forsyth dies at age 78. Toronto, Ontario Keyword: Music
  • 1944 Second World War - German U-boat U-548 torpedoes and sinks Royal Canadian Navy River Class frigate HMCS Valleyfield en route alone to St. John’s, Newfoundland; Valleyfield had detached from a Halifax-bound convoy, and was 80 km southeast of Cape Race; 125 crewmen die in one of the RCN’s worst losses in home waters; Battle of the Atlantic. Atlantic Ocean
  • 1945 General Dwight D. Eisenhower meets Field Marshal Jodl in a schoolhouse in Rheims to take Germany’s unconditional surrender, which is signed at 2:41 am; Soviet leader Josef Stalin refuses to recognize the document, so another is drawn up and signed by General von Keitel sand Marshal Zhukov in Berlin which stipulates that all hostilities cease at 12:01 am, May 9. Rheims, France
  • 1945 Some of the 10,000 exuberant servicemen and servicewomen in Halifax jump the gun on the end of Second World War, starting a two day riot that sees looting and vandalizing in the downtown. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1953 Louis St. Laurent starts two-day official visit to the United States. Washington, DC
  • 1965 Two Soviet diplomats expelled from Canada for plotting an espionage network. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1966 Halifax-born Denny Doherty and his group The Mamas and Papas have a #1 Billboard hit with Monday, Monday. New York, New York
  • 1966 Parent Royal Commission on Education in Québec recommends non-denominational education, local school reorganization. Québec, Québec
  • 1969 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Radio Canada bans all tobacco advertising on CBC/SRC radio and television networks. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1969 Montreal Expos manager Gene Mauch, upset at a balk call, kicks pitcher’s resin bag twice, then punts the baseball; he is ejected from the game. Montréal, Québec
  • 1973 Canada’s mayors attend ‘Cities for the 70’s’ conference; agree to seek additional funds from Ottawa and provinces Toronto, Ontario
  • 1975 Anik III launched at Kennedy Space Center; Canada’s third communications satellite. Cape Canaveral, Florida
  • 1975 Canadian Labour Congress rejects Ottawa’s proposal for voluntary wage and price restraints. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1976 Saskatchewan’s Change of Name Act is amended to allow married women to legally keep their own surnames. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1982 Ontario doctors agree to new fee plan. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1983 Sunny’s Halo the second Canadian horse to win the Kentucky Derby; owned and bred by Toronto stockbroker David J. Foster. Louisville, Kentucky
  • 1984 Colin Thatcher is arrested for the murder of JoAnn Wilson. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1985 Hockey - Edmonton Oilers take their second Stanley Cup with a 7-3 win over the Chicago Black Hawks; set a National Hockey League record for playoff wins (12). Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1987 Hockey - Detroit Red Wings 1, Edmonton Oilers 4
  • 1988 Mila Mulroney struck in the stomach by a placard during a labor rally outside a Tory gathering; a man is arrested but no charges are laid. Moncton, New Brunswick
  • 1988 Hockey - Edmonton Oilers 2, Detroit Red Wings 5
  • 1989 Military - Auxiliary minesweepers HMC Ships Anticosti and Moresby commissions into Canadian Navy. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1990 Bernard Valcourt unveils $584 million aid package to cut size of fishery; mainly to the Newfoundland communities of Trepassy, St. John’s, Grand Bank and Gaultois, as well as North Sydney, Canso and Lockeport in Nova Scotia. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1992 Cal Best issues report of Task Force on Amateur Sport; more support for amateurs; focus on developing top athletes, more professional coaching. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1992 Claude Morin admits to Radio Canada that he was a paid RCMP informant from 1974 to 1977; was a Parti Québecois insider and René Levesque’s Intergovernmental Affairs Minister. Montréal, Québec
  • 1992 Gunman murders 3 employees and leaves one permanently disabled during a robbery at a McDonald’s restaurant in Sydney River, Nova Scotia.
  • 1994 Music - Randy Bachman leads 1,322 other guitarists in an outdoor marathon playing Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s hit song Takin’ Care of Business; the jam lasts for 68 minutes and 40 seconds, setting two world records - the greatest number of guitarists and the longest mass guitar jam session in history. Vancouver, BC
  • 1997 Le Soleil publishes extracts from Jacques Parizeau’s book, Pour un Québec souverain; says if the Yes side had won the referendum, the government would make a unilateral declaration of sovereignty within a week or ten days to have the new state recognized. Québec, Québec
  • 1997 Montréal Expos score 13 runs in the 6th inning against the Giants in Candlestick Park. San Francisco, California
  • 1996 Ontario government cuts provincial income taxes by 30 per cent. Toronto, Ontario
  • 2002 Ontario court grants injunction to Marc Hall, permitting him to bring a same-sex date to his high school prom. Oshawa, Ontario
  • 2006 Basketball - Canadian NBA player Steve Nash named National Basketball Association MVP for the 2nd year in a row.