Highlights of the day

  • 1759 Battle for Quebec Begins as Wolfe’s Artillery Starts Siege.
  • 1812 General William Hull crosses Detroit River with 2,500 troops, occupies Sandwich; first American invasion in War of 1812.

List of Facts for July 12

  • 1690 King William III (William of Orange) leads 36,000 Dutch and English soldiers in defeating an Irish/French force of 26,000 troops under King James II, William’s uncle, at the Battle of the Boyne, about 50 km north of Dublin. James Stuart, deposed in 1688 from the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland and backed by Louis XIV, flees to France. His son-in-law and nephew, the Dutch Protestant King William of Orange, led an army the majority of which were Dutch, Germans, Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, Finns, Huguenots, English and Scots, as well as the Dutch Catholic Blue Guards. The anniversary of the battle is celebrated by the Orange Order patriotic society, founded in Ireland in the 1790s, which came to Canada with Irish Protestant immigration and grew rapidly in the 1830s. John A. Macdonald was a member, and Orange parades were once a common sight in Canadian cities. Drogheda, Ireland
  • 1742 Christopher Middleton passes Whalebone Point on board the Furnace; discovers Cape Dobbs, Wager Bay, Repulse Bay; with William Moor in the Discovery. Repulse Bay, Nunavut
  • 1759 French and Indian War - James Wolfe orders cannon to start firing on Québec from heights of Levis; that night Jean-Daniel Dumas leads 1,600 soldiers, mostly students, in a disastrous night attack on the English; the young men panic and fire on each other. Levis, Québec
  • 1782 John Parr appointed Governor of Nova Scotia; takes office October 19, 1782. London, England
  • 1812 War of 1812 - US Brigadier General William Hull crosses the Detroit River with 2,500 troops and occupies the town of Sandwich; First American invasion in the War of 1812; worried about a new alliance between the British and the Indians led by Tecumseh, Hull will soon retreat to Detroit, and surrenders to the British a month later. US President James Madison had called for 50,000 volunteers to invade Canada but only 5,000 signed up. Windsor, Ontario
  • 1836 Canada’s First railway, the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railway, starts service between Laprairie, Québec opposite Montréal and St-Jean on the Richelieu River; a portage road. St-Jean, Québec
  • 1839 Upper Canada government cancels Orange Order parade in Cobourg, as a concession to Reformers. Cobourg, Ontario
  • 1843 British Parliament passes the Canada Corn Act, that lets Canadian wheat into the UK with minimal duty; creates a boom all along the St. Lawrence Valley. London, England
  • 1849 Riot between Orangemen and Roman Catholics in Saint John kills twelve. Saint John, New Brunswick
  • 1850 Joseph Signay appointed First Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archbishop of Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1871 Toronto and Nipissing Railway opens for traffic to Uxbridge, Ontario; 3’6 gauge line converted to standard by 1884; North America’s First public narrow gauge railway. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1874 Founding of the Ontario Agricultural College; today the University of Guelph. Guelph, Ontario
  • 1876 Acrobat Maria Spelterina walks across Niagara Falls backward on a tightrope, with peach baskets on her feet; 23 year old takes 11 minutes to cross; the following week, she walks across blindfolded, then with her wrists and ankles manacled. Niagara Falls, Ontario
  • 1883 W.A. Baillie-Grohman appointed provincial Justice of the Peace for the Kootenay district of British Columbia. BC
  • 1888 Honoré Mercier’s government passes the Jesuits Estates Act, creating a fund of $400,000 for property confiscated in 1773 from the Jesuit Order on the cession of Canada to Great Britain. The Jesuits re-established in Canada in 1842. In 1871 the Pope authorized them to negotiate a settlement of their estates. Archbishop Elzéar-Alexandre Taschereau intervened, asking that revenue of the estates go toward the upkeep of Catholic schools. Premier Mercier then asked Pope Leo XIII to arbitrate the dispute, and the settlement fund was divided among the Jesuit Order, Université Laval, and selected Catholic dioceses, with some going to protestant education. Québec, Québec
  • 1889 George Buchanan’s lumber mill at Harrop starts operations. Harrop, BC
  • 1897 City of Greenwood incorporated. Greenwood, BC
  • 1898 Canada post office issues stamp celebrating start of penny postage in the British Commonwealth; supposedly designed by Postmaster General William Mulock. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1899 British Columbia implements eight hour work day for underground miners province-wide. Victoria, BC
  • 1910 Film Censorship - Film of a boxing match becomes the First motion picture to be banned in Saskatchewan. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1912 Montréal transport workers go on strike; to July 15, 1912. Montréal, Québec
  • 1914 Inaugural run of the steamboat Sicamous. BC
  • 1915 First World War - Canadian Army orders harvest furloughs to Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) soldiers still in training camps in Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1917 Charles Magrath appointed Dominion Fuel Controller. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1934 Winnipeg, Manitoba is declared the best choral city in the Dominion by a member of McGill University’s Faculty of Music. Montréal, Québec
  • 1952 Fire destroys orginal Jasper Park Lodge. Jasper, Alberta
  • 1952 Canada signs agreement with Ceylon to provide aid under Colombo Plan. Colombo, Sri Lanka
  • 1960 Louis Robichaud sworn in as Premier of New Brunswick, replacing Hugh John Flemming. Fredericton, New Brunswick
  • 1963 Terrorists destroy Queen Victoria monument in Dominion Square in a dynamite explosion. Montréal, Québec
  • 1973 Ottawa puts forward ocean policy to ensure Canadian control of technical and industrial knowledge; emphasis put on special programs in marine science and technology. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1973 Supreme Court of Canada rules federal Indian Act inoperative because it discriminates against Native people. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1978 Alfred Bessette declared venerable by Pope Paul VI; lay brother at the Oratoire St-Joseph in Montréal known as Frère André. Rome, Italy
  • 1980 Kaiser Resources Limited opens new headquarters on the Natal townsite. Natal, BC
  • 1981 Strike by 48,000 BC woodworkers shuts down forest industry; 60,000 workers off the job by July 20, 1981. BC
  • 1991 Crestbrook Forest Industries shuts down the last operation on the old Rodger’s mill site in Creston; salvaged soon after. Creston, BC
  • 1997 Boxer Lennox Lewis defends his WBC heavyweight boxing crown against Henry Akinwande; his ring record is 32-1-1. Las Vegas, Nevada
  • 1997 St. Jacobs Railway starts passenger service over the former CN Waterloo Spur between Waterloo and Elmira, Ontario. Waterloo, Ontario
  • 2000 Matthew Coon Come, Grand Chief of the Cree of Northern Québec, elected new leader of the Assembly of First Nations, beating incumbent Phil Fontaine. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2002 Ontario court rules that refusing legal recognition to same sex marriage is unconstitutional. Toronto, Ontario