Highlights of the day

  • 1833 Liner Lady of the Lake hits an iceberg en route from England; 215 people perish.
  • 1870 Canada buys Rupert’s Land for £300,000 (the equivalent of $11 million) from the Hudson’s Bay Company.
  • 1984 Parliament passes bill creating the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). (logo right)

List of Facts for May 11

  • 1675 Jean Oudiette awarded the monopoly of the beaver trade in New France for a period of seven years. Quebec, Quebec
  • 1684 La Rochelle merchant Bergier appointed by King Louis XIV as his ‘lieutenant in the government of the country and coasts of Acadia;’ sends out two ships, the St. Louis and the Marianne, to chase off New England fishermen sold licences by Michel de la Vallière; arrives back at France in October. Paris, France
  • 1690 King William’s War - William Phips captures Port Royal; sent by Massachusetts Governor. Annapolis, Nova Scotia
  • 1717 Founding of the Canadian Commercial Exchange; forerunner of the Montréal Stock Exchange. Montréal, Québec
  • 1799 Liverpool privateer “Charles Mary Wentworth” returns home from the Caribbean with five captured ships. Liverpool, Nova Scotia
  • 1820 Opening of first session of Tenth Parliament of Lower Canada; meets until May 24, 1820. Québec, Québec
  • 1833 Passenger ship Lady of the Lake sinks after striking an iceberg en route to Québec from England; 215 people perish. Atlantic Ocean
  • 1839 Founding of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Upper Canada. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1847 Henry Sherwood forms Canadian administration with Daly and Draper. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1856 John Farrell appointed First Roman Catholic Bishop of Hamilton. Hamilton, Ontario
  • 1870 Canada’s agent in London, Sir John Rose, delivers a bank draft for £300,000 (the equivalent of $11 million) to the Hudson’s Bay Company in full payment for the title to Rupert’s Land. The land includes all territories drained by rivers flowing into Hudson Bay (most of today’s Prairie provinces, northern Ontario, northwestern Québec and portions of the Northwest Territories.) The HBC keeps blocks of land around its trading posts and 1/20 of the fertile belt (2.8 million hectares). London, England
  • 1880 Alexander Galt appointed First Canadian High Commissioner to Britain, replacing Sir John Rose as Canada’s agent; to May 30, 1883; the new office gives Canada full representation in the UK. London, England
  • 1885 North West Rebellion - Major-General Frederick Middleton and more than 800 soldiers of the North-West Field Force continue to attack Gabriel Dumont and his Métis and Cree warriors at Batoche, capital of Louis Riel’s provisional government; battle will rage another day, until May 12. Batoche, Saskatchewan
  • 1886 John Herron elected president of the Canadian North-West Territories Stock Association, at Fort Macleod. Fort Macleod, Alberta
  • 1896 Edmund James Flynn becomes Conservative Premier of Québec. Québec
  • 1901 British Columbia charters granted for Coast-Kootenay Railway, the Vancouver & Grand Forks Railway, the Midway & Vernon Railway (J.H. Senkler, A.P. Judge, Edgar Bloomfield) and the Kootenay Central Railway Company (R.L.T. Galbraith, J.A. Harvey, Dr. Hugh Watts, J.B. Lagley, W.R. Ross, Dr. J.H. King).
  • 1903 CNP Coal incorporates the Morrissey, Fernie and Michel Railway Company.
  • 1906 James Dunsmuir commissioned Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia. Victoria, BC -*May 11 - CPR transatlantic passenger liner Empress of Britain docks at Quebec City for the first time. Québec, Québec.
  • 1910 British Columbia city of Trail incorporated. Trail, BC
  • 1911 Bob St. Henry makes the First aeroplane flight in Saskatoon, and one of the earliest in the province. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
  • 1934 Weather - A black blizzard sweeps across the prairies; the dust storm forces motorists to drive with their headlights on and train crews to shovel sand off the railway tracks. Manitoba
  • 1940 Second World War - British Prime Minister Winston Churchill names New Brunswick-born Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, as his Minister of Aircraft Production. ‘The Beaver’ is publisher of the Daily Express newspaper. London, England
  • 1942 Second World War - German submarine U-553 torpedoes British merchant ship SS Nicoya, 11 kilometers from the municipality and Cloridorme, Gaspé. This is the first ship sunk by the Germans in the Battle of St. Lawrence. All the passengers survive and are rescued on the morning of May 12. -*May 11 - Second World War - Public Works Minister P.J.A. Cardin resigns from federal cabinet over conscription issue. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1943 J. Walter Jones becomes Premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing Thane Campbell PEI
  • 1944 Second World War - Canadian Army tanks see action near Monte Cassino as Allies launch major offensive south of Rome. Cassino, Italy
  • 1960 Howard Beebe, President of the Indian Association of Alberta, asks for legislation to delay the payment of oil and gas royalties to Indian women who marry white men. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1962 RCMP arrest 9 Sons of Freedom Doukhobors; sentenced to 15 years in prison for bombing power station. Nelson, BC
  • 1963 Military - Prime Minister Lester Pearson announces Canada will acquire U.S. nuclear warheads, after two days of talks with President John F. Kennedy. His predecessor, John Diefenbaker, had refused. Ottawa, Ontario -*May 11 - John Turner marries Geils McCrae Kilgour; Canadian Prime Minister June-Sept. 1984. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1964 CN-CP Telecommunications opens Montréal-Vancouver microwave network. Montréal, Québec
  • 1966 Labour - Teamsters Union ends 4-week strike that disrupted transport across Ontario. Ontario
  • 1966 US composer Irving Berlin celebrates his 78th birthday, in Toronto, Ontario.
  • 1968 4,500 British Columbia lumber workers end strike that began October 4, 1967. Vancouver, BC
  • 1968 Hockey - Montreal Canadiens sweep St Louis Blues in 4 games for the Stanley Cup. St. Louis, Missouri
  • 1968 Toronto Transit Commission opens new subway extensions, adding 9.6 km to the system. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1970 Pro-abortion group stages demonstration in the public galleries, interrupting House of Commons business. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1972 Hockey - Boston Bruins beat New York Rangers 4 games to 2 for the Stanley Cup. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1981 Start of First Toronto Theatre Festival; 19 theatres stage 34 plays over 10 days. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1983 Mob of 100 fishermen burn and sink two fisheries patrol boats at to protest lobster quotas. West Pubnico, Nova Scotia
  • 1984 Parliament passes bill creating the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS); civilian security agency to replace the RCMP Security Service when dealing with espionage, terrorism and subversion; Bill given Royal Assent June 21. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1985 Music - Ottawa pianist Angela Hewitt wins the Toronto International Bach Piano Competition, launching her career on the world stage. Toronto, Ontario -May 11 - Crestbrook Forest Industries moves its headquarters into the renovated Central School building, a Heritage site. Cranbrook, BC
  • 1987 Hockey - Edmonton Oilers 3, Detroit Red Wings 2
  • 1988 Hockey - Detroit Red Wings 4, Edmonton Oilers 8; Oilers win Conference Finals 4 games to 1.
  • 1990 Finance - Donald Cormie, founder of Principal Group, is sued for $235 million by the Alberta Government; suit will be dropped in return for compensating investors. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1992 Media - Baton Broadcasting buys former CBC affiliates CFPL-TV of London and CKNX-TV of Wingham; pays Blackburn family $31.5 million. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1999 Energy - Chevron Canada of Calgary announces discovery of one of Canada’s largest natural gas deposits, near the town of Fort Liard in the Northwest Territories. Fort Liard, NWT
  • 2000 Ralph Klein Government passes the Health Care Protection Act (Bill 11); aim is to preserve the health care system by expanding the role of private sector surgery facilities. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 2003 Hockey - Anson Carter scores in overtime against Sweden as Canada wins gold at the world hockey championship for the first time in 7 years. Helsinki, Finland