Highlights of the day

  • 1870 George-Étienne Cartier’s Manitoba Act comes into effect; creating a new bilingual province in the West.
  • 1998 British Columbia negotiates Nisga’a Land Agreement with the Nisga’a First Nation.

List of Facts for July 15

  • 1578 Martin Frobisher reassembles English fleet after bad storm; one ship crushed by ice, two missing, one deserts; crew survive. Hudson Strait, Nunavut/Québec
  • 1691 Henry Kelsey travels up Saskatchewan River and Carrot River to the Prairies; First European to record the buffalo and grizzly bear. The Pas, Manitoba
  • 1695 Thomas Crisafy sent by Count Frontenac with 700 men to restore Fort Frontenac. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1774 Juan Hernandez sights Queen Charlotte Islands; contacts Haida people; names northwestern point of islands Santa Margarita; First BC place name given by Europeans. Queen Charlotte Islands, BC
  • 1811 David Thompson reaches Pacific Ocean at Cape Disappointment, mouth of Columbia River; finds the Pacific Fur Company’s Fort Astoria and learns that the PFC had already claimed the region. Cape Disappointment, Oregon
  • 1812 War of 1812 - George Prevost takes office as Governor-in-Chief of British North America; serves to May 4, 1814. Quebec, Quebec
  • 1838 Lord Durham meets with Reformers Robert Baldwin and his father Dr. William Baldwin; they argue that Upper Canada and Lower Canada can win ministerial responsibility while still remaining part of the British Empire. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1846 First issue of the Hamilton Spectator newspaper. Hamilton, Ontario
  • 1870 George-Étienne Cartier’s Manitoba Act comes into effect; creates new bilingual province in West. Manitoba enters the Dominion as our fifth province; The North West Territories (Rupert’s Land) is officially transferred to Canada; Canada takes over all land between Ontario and British Columbia. The original boundaries of Manitoba were 1/18th of what they became; the small, square size earned it the nickname “the postage stamp province.” The province is named Manitoba, meaning, ‘The Great Spirit Speaks’, after a cave on the shore of Lake Manitoba, where the wind made a haunting sound. The Act recognizes Métis land claims by setting aside 566,000 hectares; gives English and French languages equal status; guarantees Protestant and Roman Catholic educational rights. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1870 North West Territories are transferred to the Dominion of Canada. Saskatchewan
  • 1870 North West Territories are transferred to the Dominion of Canada. Alberta
  • 1870 The Province of Manitoba is created. Manitoba
  • 1878 Hamilton District Telegraph Company opens First telephone exchange in the British Empire. Hamilton, Ontario
  • 1889 British Postmaster gives CPR imperial mail contract; to transport mail from Halifax or Québec to Hong Kong. London, England
  • 1891 James Ross drives the last spike on the Calgary and Edmonton Railway (C&E) at Strathcona, Alberta on the south bank of the North Saskatchewan River opposite Edmonton. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1898 West Kootenay Power and Light starts transmitting 22,000 volts of power from Plant No.1 on the Lower Kootenay River 32 miles to Rossland, BC.
  • 1908 Canadian soprano Louise Edvina makes her professional debut at Covent Garden, as Marguerite in Gounod’s opera Faust; settled in London and made only one concert tour of Canada, in 1916; she died in 1948. London, England
  • 1910 Fire starts on Zincton Summit in the Slocans; will destroy much K&S trestle and bridgework. BC
  • 1917 The body of painter and park guide Tom Thomson is found in Canoe Lake; was last seen trolling past Wapomeo Island on July 8, 1917, and his upturned canoe was discovered later that day; the cause of his death remains a mystery. Algonquin Park, Ontario
  • 1921 Transport - US cancels wartime legislation giving Canadian vessels free access to American ports. Washington, DC
  • 1930 Control of Manitoba’s natural resources is transferred to the province under the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement. Manitoba
  • 1946 Justice J. C. McRuer heads Royal Commission investigating a Soviet espionage network in Canada; secret information found to be leaked by the spies, among whom were Labour-Progressive Party MP Fred Rose. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1950 Fog causes 60 tonne liner Franconia to run aground in the St. Lawrence River off Île d’Orleans after leaving Québec City for Liverpool. Québec, Québec
  • 1959 Queen Elizabeth II officially opens the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver; the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra then performs a gala concert under the batons of Sir Ernest MacMillan and Nicholas Goldschmidt, with soloists Betty-Jean Hagen, violin, and soprano Lois Marshall. Vancouver, BC
  • 1961 John Brownlee dies; lawyer, politician, and executive; Premier of Alberta from 1925-1934. Alberta
  • 1963 Royal Commission on Great Lakes Shipping suggests board of trustees to control major maritime unions. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1966 Parliament founds Crown agency to operate National Arts Centre in Ottawa. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1969 Edward Schreyer sworn in as NDP Premier of Manitoba, replacing Conservative Walter Weir. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1977 Ottawa to raise strength of Canadian Armed Forces by 4,700 to 83,000. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1978 Ottawa offers $45 million to 2,500 Inuit in western Arctic from 1981 to 1994; to own surface rights; negotiations with Committee for Original Peoples’ Entitlement (CORE). Nunavut
  • 1982 Anik I satellite retired after ten years service; Canada’s First communications satellite. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1983 Ottawa approves US cruise missile testing in northern Canada for early in 1984. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1990 Federal minister John Caccia emerges after 3 days of meetings with Mohawk leaders on Kanesetake reserve with tentative agreement; Mohawks wants complete police withdrawal and amnesty. Oka, Québec
  • 1991 Harry LaForme appointed head of federal commission to settle land claims from breaches of treaty; Indian Commissioner of Ontario. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1993 Australian rock band Midnight Oil play a free concert for 3,000 fans in a field of tree stumps at Clayoquot Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island; lead singer Peter Garrett said the show was being held to protest the massacre of BC’s ancient rain forests. Clayoquot Sound, BC
  • 1996 Federal government extends pension and other benefits to same-sex partners of government employees. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1998 British Columbia negotiates Nisga’a Land Agreement with the Nisga’a First Nation; first land rights negotiations begun by tribe in 1887; they are granted 1, 930 square kilometres of the Naas River valley and $190 million dollars; will govern and police themselves if they ratify the Agreement.
  • 2004 Peterborough, Ontario hit with 235 mm of rain, backlogging the city’s sewer system and flooding streets.