Highlights of the day

  • 1611 OTD 400 years ago - Sieur de Biencourt arrives at Port Royal with the first Jesuits in New France.
  • 1775 Quebec Bishop Briand forbids Canadian women to marry soldiers in the invading American army.
  • 1867 Queen Victoria decrees that Canada should come into being July 1.
  • 1970 NHL awards franchise to Vancouver Canucks.
  • 1987 Rick Hansen ends Man in Motion tour after 40,000 km through 34 countries.

List of Facts for May 22

  • 1611 Sieur de Biencourt arrives at Port Royal with the First Jesuits in New France, fathers Pierre Biard and Énemond Massé. Massé was also part of the first group of Jesuits who arrived at Québec on June 19, 1625, with Charles Lalement and Jean de Brébeuf. Annapolis, Nova Scotia
  • 1616 Samuel de Champlain departs to visit the Nipissing tribe up the Ottawa River. Québec, Québec
  • 1633 Samuel de Champlain returns to Québec with Jean de Brébeuf and fathers Massé, Daniel, and Davost, who take over the Recollet missions; determines to rebuild colony with help of the Jesuit Order. He will build a church, Notre-Dame-de-la-Recouvrance to give thanks for their arrival after a long and arduous voyage. Québec, Québec
  • 1775 American Revolutionary War - Jean-Olivier Briand, Bishop of Québec sends out a mandement ordering loyalty to Britain, asking the Canadiens to close their ears to the call of the rebels and defend their country and their king against the invasion; also forbids Canadian women to marry soldiers in the invading American army. Québec, Québec
  • 1786 Guy Carleton appointed Governor-in-Chief of British North America (Québec and Maritimes); serves from October 23, 1786 to December 15, 1796. London, England
  • 1820 Lord Dalhousie lays the cornerstone of Dalhousie University in Halifax; to be modelled on the University of Edinburgh, open to youth of all religions and every class of society, and with professors lecturing on classics, mathematics, and eventually moral and natural philosophy. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1820 New Brunswick Executive Council authorizes £125 for a mail courier between Fredericton and the Miramichi, New Brunswick and an additional £50 for the courier from Miramichi to Nepisiguit, New Brunswick. Fredericton, New Brunswick
  • 1838 Col. Robert Sweeny kills Major Henry Warde in a duel on the Montréal race track; Warde had sent a love letter to Sweeny’s wife; last fatal duel in Canada. Verdun, Québec
  • 1844 William Harris founds the Bytown Packet newspaper; now the Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1848 Group of 105 Franklin expedition survivors abandon Erebus and Terror 25 km off Victory Point on NE of King William Island; start trek via the Back River toward the Hudson’s Bay Company posts on Great Slave Lake. King William Island, Nunavut
  • 1850 Henry Grinnell finances American expedition in search of the lost Franklin expedition; two ships commanded by Edwin De Haven will enter Wellington Channel in August, 1850; find some Franklin relics. New York, New York
  • 1853 University of Toronto vests teaching powers in new non-denominational University College; University now limited to examination and degree granting. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1859 Hudson’s Bay Company’s licence to trade in North America expires; HBC continues to administer North American possessions for the British Crown. London, England
  • 1865 Judge Peter O’Reilly and Constable Arthur Vowell arrive on the Wild Horse to take charge of the East Kootenays. BC
  • 1867 Queen Victoria decrees that the Dominion of Canada should come into being on July 1, 1867. London, England
  • 1868 Minister of Militia and Defence George-Étienne Cartier gets Royal Assent for First Canadian Militia Bill; first active units not mustered for three years. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1872 Charles Hastings Doyle appointed administrator of Canada; serves until June 24, 1872. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1872 Lord Dufferin appointed Governor-General of Canada; serves from June 25, 1872 to November 14, 1878. London, England
  • 1878 British Columbia Election - BC electorate returns G.A. Walkem to power. Galbraith and Gallagher returned but amendment to the Constitutional Act of 1871 eliminates Gallagher’s seat. BC
  • 1893 Lord Aberdeen appointed Governor-General of Canada; serves from September 18, 1893 to November 12, 1898. London, England
  • 1893 CPR launches steamboat Aberdeen (544 tons) at Okanagan Landing. Retired in 1916. BC
  • 1894 Steamboat Gwendoline leaves Golden on maiden voyage and passes through the Canal Flats canal southbound a few days later. Golden, BC
  • 1895 J. Murray registers The Anti-Confederate newpaper. St. John’s, Newfoundland
  • 1902 Earth tremor at 7 p.m. causes explosion and blow-out at No.2 Mine of Coal Creek Collieries at Coal Creek mine, 8 km from Fernie, killing 128 miners. Fernie, BC
  • 1911 Canadian Northern Pacific and the Vancouver, Victoria & Eastern Railway exchange running rights on sections of their respective trackages in south-western British Columbia. BC
  • 1919 Citizenship - Parliament passes passes the Nickle Resolution recommending that Canadians not accept foreign hereditary titles. This was a resolution rather than an Act of Parliament, and a recent threat to contact Westminster to prevent Conrad Black from accepting a seat in the British House of Lords caused Black to renounce his Canadian Citizenship to comply with the resolution. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1928 Edmonton’s Revillon building goes up in flames, causing $400,000 damage and prompting a reform of the city’s fire department. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1939 Royal Standard waves over the Peace Tower for the First time during King George VI’s visit to Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1940 Chubby Power named Air Minister. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1943 Second World War - Battle of the Atlantic - German Admiral Karl Doenitz withdraws his U-boats from the North Atlantic after mounting losses. Brest, France
  • 1944 Second World War - Royal Canadian Navy puts two new RCN torpedo boat flotillas into action off the coast of France. Atlantic Ocean
  • 1945 Second World War - Canadian government announces that Japanese incendiary ‘balloon bombs’ designed to start forest fires have been found in western Canada. Vancouver, BC
  • 1963 NATO ministerial conference approves in principle the formation of a nuclear strike force under NATO direction. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1964 Ross Thatcher sworn in as Premier of Saskatchewan. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1965 Québec’s Mad Dog Vachon beats Igor Vodic to become the National Wrestling Association champion. Omaha, Nebraska
  • 1966 BC-born actor Raymond Burr performs in the last original Perry Mason episode titled The Case Of The Final Fade-Out; features writer Erle Stanley Gardner, creator of the fictional lawyer, as the judge. Hollywood, California
  • 1967 1934 World Champions Saskatoon Quakers hockey team is inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame. Saskatchewan
  • 1970 Birth of the NHL Buffalo Sabres. Buffalo, New York
  • 1970 Birth of the NHL Vancouver Canucks. Vancouver, BC
  • 1970 Burton Cummings and The Guess Who from Winnipeg earn their First of three gold records for both the album and single, American Woman; other hits on the album include, These Eyes, Laughing, and No Sugar Tonight. The group, which dates back to 1963, will disband in 1975. Randy Bachman played lead guitar before leaving the group in August, 1970 to form Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Cummings joined the group in 1966. New York, New York
  • 1970 Canadian Radio-Television Commission (CRTC) introduces 50% Canadian content program rules for radio and TV; CanCon requirements effective September, 1971 for private sector. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1971 Norwegian cruise vessel Meteor catches fire in Strait of Georgia; 70 passengers saved, 32 crew members killed. Victoria, BC
  • 1971 Opening of Ontario Place on shore of Lake Ontario by Exhibition Place; $23 million amusement showcase. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1972 The Guess Who record their Live at the Paramount album. Seattle, Washington
  • 1974 Canada suspends shipments of all nuclear equipment to India after that country detonated a 12-kiloton nuclear explosive in the Rajasthan desert using Canadian materials on May 18. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1975 Arthur Maloney former Progressive Conservative MPP appointed First Ombudsman of Ontario. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1979 Federal Election - Joe Clark leads [Progressive Conservative Party of Canada PCs to minority power, defeating Pierre Trudeau in general election; wins 136 seats to 114 for the Liberal Party; with 26 NDP; 6 Social Credit; 76% turnout; Canada’s youngest prime minister has only two members from Québec, says he will govern as if he had a majority; defeated in November, 1979 on a non-confidence vote, he will lose to Trudeau in the election of February 16, 1980.
  • 1983 Toronto Blue Jays Cliff Johnson hits record 18th pinch hit home run. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1987 Rick Hansen of Williams Lake, BC, accomplishes the first world tour by wheelchair; ends his heroic Man in Motion saga after 792 days, 467 of which were spent on the road; raises at least $15 million for spinal cord research and the disabled; the 29-year-old Hansen pumped his wheelchair 3,600 times an hour for 26 months, travelling 40,000 km through 34 countries, and wore out 117 tires and 11 pairs of gloves. Vancouver, BC
  • 1987 Edmonton Oilers 3, Philadelphia Flyers 5
  • 1988 Edmonton Oilers 6, Boston Bruins 3
  • 1990 Environment Minister Lucien Bouchard resigns from Mulroney Cabinet and PC caucus with several other members after sending a telegram to a PQ meeting in Alma, Québec, encouraging separatism; says he will not support Charest Committee changes to Meech Lake Accord, because they dilute Québec’s five minimal conditions to accept the constitution; says ‘this country doesn’t work any more.’ Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1990 NATO scraps plans for low level flight training centre at Goose Bay, Labrador; cites $500 million cost, plus reduction in east-west tensions. Brussels, Belgium
  • 1990 Boston Bruins 1, Edmonton Oilers 5
  • 1991 UN Development Program 1991 report finds Canada second best place to live after Japan; praises education and health systems. United Nations, New York
  • 1994 New Toronto NBA franchise unveils its name Toronto Raptors and logo of a basketball playing dinosaur. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1997 Federal Progressive Conservative leader Jean Charest says that if he were Prime Minister, his government would recognize the independence of Québec only if the referendum question were absolutely clear. Montréal, Québec
  • 2003 Catriona Le May Doan announces that she is retiring from speed skating; won two Olympic gold medals (500 metres) and a bronze (1000 metres), won several world championships and set numerous world records.
  • 2003 SARS re-emerges in a Toronto hospital. Toronto, Ontario
  • 2008 Ice Hockey pioneer James Creighton honoured with a plaque at the Centre Bell. Montreal, Quebec