Highlights of the day

  • 1701 Cadillac arrives at Detroit with a fleet of 75 canoes, 50 settlers, 50 soldiers, and two priests.
  • 1937 Bank of Canada issues Canada’s first bilingual currency.
  • 1996 Flooding Devastates Saguenay Region.

List of Facts for July 19

  • 1577 Martin Frobisher enters Frobisher Bay; explores islands and shores for gold; trades with Inuit; names Mount Warwick, no trace of kidnapped sailors lost the previous year. Frobisher Bay, Nunavut
  • 1603 Samuel de Champlain returns to Gaspé. Gaspé, Québec
  • 1611 Samuel de Champlain returns to Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1616 Marguerite Vienne dies; First French woman in New France. Québec, Québec
  • 1629 David Kirke & Lewis Kirke arrive in sight of Québec; capture the party that Samuel de Champlain sent to warn relief ships. Québec, Québec
  • 1654 Record - Marguerite Sédilot, age 11 years, 5 months, vows to marry Jean Aubuchon, in a contract before a notary; they will be married by a priest on April 12, 1655 in Montréal; supposedly the youngest bride in Canadian history; such contracts were common when there was a premium on females in the colony. Trois-Rivières, Québec
  • 1673 Count Frontenac completes Fort Frontenac; fortified base for fur trade west of St. Lawrence Valley. Kingston, Ontario July 24, start building Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit Detroit, Michigan
  • July 19 - Iroquois deed hunting ground north of Lake Ontario and west of Lake Michigan to English Crown. Oswego, New York
  • 1759 French and Indian war - English General Prates mistakenly steps in front of a mortar and is blown to pieces during the bombardment of the French at Fort Niagara; Sir William Johnson assumes command under protest of Lieutenant Colonel Eyre Massey, who argues he has seniority. After a 20-day siege, the British army force the surrender of Fort Niagara on July 26, 1759. Youngstown, New York
  • 1766 Jean-Olivier Briand becomes the 7th Bishop of Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1812 War of 1812 - British launch unsuccessful attack on Sacketts Harbor. Sacketts Harbor, New York
  • 1814 War of 1812 - Lt. Colonel William McKay captures Fort Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin; British now have base for potential 1815 attacks on St. Louis, Missouri, and down the Mississippi. Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
  • 1821 Start of excavation of the Lachine Canal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1826 First sailing regatta held in Halifax on the North West Arm; First regatta in Canada. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1830 Lord Aylmer appointed Governor of Lower Canada. London, England
  • 1833 Montréal city council adopts coat of arms with the four national flowers of France (fleur-de-lys), England (rose), Scotland (thistle), and Ireland (shamrock), and the motto Concordia Salus. Montréal, Québec
  • 1840 Samuel Cunard’s First steamship, the paddle steamer Britannia arrives at Boston from Halifax 14 days and 8 hours after leaving Liverpool, England and Halifax, Nova Scotia; First scheduled transatlantic mail service by steamship, and a blow to the age of sailing ship; won the Admiralty contract to provide a fixed schedule mail service to Halifax and Boston in 1839, started the British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, and launched Britannia in May. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1844 François-Xavier Garneau appointed city clerk of Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1875 Passage of the Parliament of Canada Act, defining the powers and privileges of its members. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1884 North West Rebellion - Louis Riel speaks to a meeting in Prince Albert, and states that his aims in agitating for responsible government in the Northwest are constitutional; reassures the newly formed Settlers’ Union, who nervously endorse his proposals. Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
  • 1884 Construction of Winnipeg’s second City Hall begins. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1888 Steamboat Okanagan launched onto Lake Okanagan; built by Pringle and Harris at Spallumcheen, BC.
  • 1908 Start of festivities marking the 300th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain’s founding of Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1918 Disaster - Start of Spanish flu epidemic that will kill over 30,000 people in Canada.
  • 1921 Official start of prohibition of manufacture, importation, and sale of liquor in Ontario. Ontario
  • 1933 Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, led by J. S. Woodsworth, holds a convention in Regina and adopts the CCF’s federal program, the Regina Manifesto. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1933 La Presse acquires newspaper La Patrie. Montréal, Québec
  • 1937 Bank of Canada issues Canada’s First bilingual currency. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1944 Second World War - Canadians and British start Operation Goodwood/Atlantic, to secure Vaucelles, France and Colombelles, France, and prepare the break through to Falaise, France. General Dempsey, commander British 2nd Army, launches his Eighth Corps of three armoured divisions south of Caen, France; attacked by 1st SS Panzer Division and forced to halt; 7th Armoured Division fails to capture Verrières and Bourguebus Ridges; the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division under Maj. Gen. Charles Foulkes comes into line to join the 3rd and 2nd Armoured Brigades of the 2nd Canadian Corps under Lt. Gen. Guy Simonds, who fight on the Eighth’s right with infantry; ordered to cross the Orne River into the southeastern suburbs of Caen, force the enemy out of his entrenched positions there, and then forge southward into open country. Their tanks are neutralized by German anti-tank fire and the infantry are decimated as they advance; they gain Colombelles and the Queen’s Own captures Giberville, France. The rest of the 8th Brigade passes south, and by nightfall the Canadian 3rd Infantry Division has taken Cormelles, France and the eastern part of Vaucelles; the southern part of Caen is cleared; the Black Watch cross the Orne River, and advance to St-Andre-sur-Orne, France and the northern edge of Verrières Ridge. Normandy, France
  • 1945 Second World War - End of Halifax ammunition dump crisis after day of terror. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1948 John Bracken resigns as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party; will be replaced by George Drew. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1950 Public health officials are shocked to find rats in Edmonton; Alberta had been believed to be Canada’s only rat free province. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1950 Korean War - UN asks RCAF transport squadron to assist in United Nations airlift in Korea. Korea
  • 1952 Canadian team attends the 15th Olympiad, opening today in Helsinki; 68 other nations and 4,925 competitors attend; until August 3, 1952; Canada will win one gold medal, George Genereux in Shooting. Helsinki, Finland
  • 1958 Kwame Nkrumah Prime Minister of Ghana starts four-day visit to Montréal and Ottawa; addresses Parliament. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1958 Princess Margaret opens Okanagan Lake Bridge in Kelowna. Kelowna, BC
  • 1963 Julius Nyerere President of Tanzania visits Ottawa. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1965 Yukon Territory and Northwest Territories represented for the First time at a federal-provincial conference. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1969 Pierre Trudeau announces western Canadian wheat farmers will get $250 million in interest-free advance cash payments for their farm-stored grain; effective August 1, 1969. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1976 NBC airs last episode of The Rich Little Show, TV variety program hosted by Ottawa-born comic Rich Little. Hollywood, California
  • 1977 Ottawa raises qualifying period for unemployment benefits from 8 weeks to 10-14 weeks; cuts benefit period to from 10 to 50 weeks. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1978 US and Canada start 10-year program to resurface and rebuild Alaska Highway and Haines Highway. Yukon
  • 1980 Olympic Boycott - Canada joins the USA and other nations in protesting the invasion of Afghanistan, by boycotting the 22nd Olympiad, opening today in Moscow; 81 other nations and 5,326 competitors attend; until August 3, 1980. Moscow, Russia
  • 1981 Weather - Hailstones the size of tennis balls fall near Toronto, causing millions of dollars worth of damage. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1981 Ontario Hydro closes down Douglas Point and Rolphton nuclear power stations due to leaks in Douglas boiler. kincardine, Ontario
  • 1990 Peter Pocklington sells Palm Dairies to Beatrice Foods of Toronto for an estimated $100 million. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1993 Original lineup of the Vancouver rock band Loverboy start 2 week reunion tour of Western Canada with a show in Penticton; last played together in 1991 at a benefit for seriously-ill record producer Brian McLeod. Penticton, BC
  • 1994 Rolling Stones play a surprise date at the RPM club to preview of their Voodoo Lounge tour; had been rehearsing at a private school and an empty hangar at Pearson Airport; a thousand fans pay only $5 apiece to see the hour and a half show. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1996 Disaster - Start of torrential rains in Québec’s Saguenay and North Shore regions; up to 277 mm will fall around the Réserve faunique des Laurentides, bursting dams, dikes and embankments, killing 10 people, destroying 22,488 homes and leaving 10,000 homeless; inquiry later reports the region’s system of dams was poorly maintained. Saguenay, Québec
  • 1996 Montréal singer Céline Dion performs at the opening ceremonies of the Atlanta Centennial Olympics (XXVI Olympiad), singing The Power of the Dream, commissioned for the occasion, and written by David Foster, Kenneth (Babyface) Edmonds and Linda Thompson. The Canadian team joins 197 other nations, as Atlanta native and heavyweight boxer Evander Holyfield carries the Olympic torch into the stadium with a female Greek gold medalist from the 1992 Barcelona Games; they give the torch to Janet Evans, who hands off to Muhammad Ali for the official lighting of the flame. Atlanta, Georgia
  • 1997 Demonstration - Disgruntled Canadian fishermen start three-day blockade of an Alaskan ferry to protest overfishing of Pacific salmon by Alaskan fishermen. Vancouver, BC
  • 1999 Public hearings begin in Nanaimo on the expropriation of a 140-square-mile area of Nanoose Bay by the federal government from the province. The area was used by the US for torpedo testing. Nanaimo, BC
  • 2004 Two-time Olympic Judo medallist Nicolas Gill is chosen by the Canadian Olympic Committee to be Canada’s flag-bearer at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.