Highlights of the day

  • 1769 Walter Patterson appointed first Governor of St. John Island (PEI), separated from Nova Scotia on May 30.
  • 1789 Alexander Mackenzie views the Arctic Ocean before turning home.
  • 1915 Robert Borden attends British Cabinet meeting; first Canadian Prime Minister to be invited and first from the Dominions.

List of Facts for July 14

  • 1643 Charles La Tour leaves Boston on the Clement with reinforcements to break Charles d’Aulnay’s blockade of his fort on the Saint John River; will chase d’Aulnay back to his stronghold at Port Royal; the Clement had been sent by the Huguenot merchants of La Rochelle, France to assist La Tour in his battle against d’Aulnay. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1645 Montmagny’s Peace - Charles de Montmagny makes peace treaty with Mohawk chief Kiotsaton. Trois-Rivières, Québec
  • 1696 Pierre d’Iberville and his naval commander Simon de Bonaventure capture the English ship Newport near St. John’s. St. John’s, Newfoundland
  • 1771 Samuel Hearne reaches Coppermine River; finds native copper; witnesses massacre of Inuit families at Bloody Falls. Coppermine, NWT
  • 1775 Bruno Hecata claims Vancouver Island for Spain. Point Grenville, BC June 3, 1799. PEI
  • 1789 Alexander Mackenzie views the Arctic Ocean before turning home. Near Inuvik, NWT
  • 1789 Estaban Martinez seizes another British ship, the Princess Royal; the Nootka Crisis brings Britain and Spain to the brink of war. Nootka Sound, BC
  • 1888 Columbia Transportation Company launches steamboat Despatch [sic] (37 tons) onto the Columbia River at Farwell, BC; dismantled in 1893. Revelstoke, BC
  • 1895 E. J. Coster rides 108 miles, from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to Prince Albert, by bicycle. Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
  • 1896 Jerry Potts dies of tuberculosis and is buried in Fort Macleod Police Cemetery; the Métis scout and interpreter, born 1840 to a Blood mother and white fur trader father, helped the North West Mounted Police secure loyalty of native people in Alberta and Saskatchewan; hired as guide and translator for the NWMP’s first contingent to head west; he arranged the first meeting between Assistant Commissioner James Macleod and Blackfoot leaders in fall of 1874; helped bring about signing of Treaty Seven in 1877, assisted in convincing Blackfoot to remain neutral during North West Rebellion of 1885. Fort MacLeod, Alberta
  • 1897 Sod turning for the Crow’s Nest Line at Lethbridge, NWT. Lethbridge, Alberta
  • 1900 Alberta and British Columbia Exploration Company is incorporated in Great Britain. Capitalization: £30,000. Headquarters in Kaslo, BC. London, England
  • 1910 Lockport is officially founded. Lockport, Manitoba
  • 1915 First World War - Robert Borden attends British Cabinet meeting; First Canadian Prime Minister to be invited and First Prime Minister from the Dominions to attend. London, England
  • 1932 International Peace Garden opens on US-Canadian border. Manitoba
  • 1939 David Mansur chairs First meeting of Central Mortgage Bank; but suspended until after the War; recruited from Sun Life; later First President CMHC. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1940 Second World War - Canadian General Andrew McNaughton put in command of new Anglo-Canadian 7th Army Corps; with British and New Zealand troops as well as Canadian. Britain
  • 1943 Canadian National Railways opens Central Station in Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1953 Storm - Severe hailstorm strikes southern Alberta; hailstones the size of golf balls damage 1,800 square kilometres, kill thousands of birds. Alberta
  • 1955 Winnipeg, Manitoba pop singer Giselle Mackenzie has a #1 Billboard hit with Hard to Get. New York, New York
  • 1965 Toronto Stock Exchange members agree to declare the TSE a public institution; issue statement of principals. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1972 Dedication of new St. Boniface Cathedral; built within walls of historic cathedral destroyed by fire. St. Boniface, Manitoba
  • 1972 Donald Macdonald elected First non-European president of 91 nation International Confederation of Free Trade Unions; Canadian Labour Congress President. CBC Archives)
  • 1978 Inuit group CORE (Committee for Original Peoples’ Entitlement signs deal renouncing claims to 500,000 sq. km, including Mackenzie River delta lands, in return for surface rights and title to 95,000 sq. km of the Western Arctic and $45 million for 2,500 Inuit from 1981 to 1994. Inuvik, NWT
  • 1983 Last session in the old Courthouse in Blairmore, Alberta.
  • 1990 Eddy McDonald does record 8,437 loops in one hour with his yo-yo. PEI
  • 1990 Record - World’s largest cherry pie baked in Oliver; weighs 37,740 pounds and 10 ounces with 36,800 pounds of cherry filling a 20’ diameter pan. Oliver, BC
  • 1991 Marcel Masse confirms shut-down of Goose Bay, Labrador military base in 1995; if European nations no longer need it for test flights. Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador
  • 1996 Concert promoter Mark Drost shuts down three-day Eden music festival at Mosport Raceway early, citing safety concerns in having 30,000 fans leave the after dark; in fact, there were so many gate crashers that he didn’t have enough money to pay many of the bands performing on the final day; 55,000 people had turned up to hear 61 bands, including the Tragically Hip, the Goo Goo Dolls and Spirit of the West. Bowmanville, Ontario
  • 1996 Race driver Jeff Krosnoff and a track marshall killed in a crash during the Molson Indy race at the CNE in Toronto. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1997 Supreme Court of Canada designates André Joli-Coeur an amicus curiae to assist the Court in pleading cases which other parties such as the Government of Québec do not want to plead; friend of Jacques Parizeau and his wife Lisette Lapointe. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2000 Disaster - Tornado with winds reaching 300 km/hr roars through the Green Acres campsite at Pine Lake, killing 10 people and injuring 130 others. Red Deer, Alberta
  • 2002 During Bastille Day celebrations, Jacques Chirac is saved from an assassination attempt by a Canadian tourist. Paris, France
  • 2004 Canada pulls its ambassador from Iran, which refuses to admit observers to the trial of a policeman over a Canadian journalist’s fatal beating. Teheran, Iran
  • 2004 Yukon territory becomes the fourth province or territory to legalize same-sex marriage. Whitehorse, Yukon
  • 2005 A United States appelate court overturns the 2003 mad cow ban on beef imports from Canada; rules that Canadian beef imports do not hurt the food supply despite BSE concern; the USDA says it will life restrictions within days, effectively re-opening the border.