Highlights of the day

  • 1576 Martin Frobisher First sights the Baffin Island bay that now bears his name.
  • 1883 Crowd cheers as First CPR construction train crosses the Elbow River and pulls into the settlement of Calgary.
  • 1928 Ethel Catherwood wins Olympic gold medal at the Amsterdam Summer games for the running high jump.

List of Facts for August 11

  • 1576 Martin Frobisher First sights the Baffin Island bay that now bears his name; thinks it is the start of the North West Passage. Frobisher Bay, Nunavut
  • 1607 Port Royal Habitation abandoned; Poutrincourt sets out for Canso in a shallop. Annapolis, Nova Scotia
  • 1607 Samuel de Champlain charts Canso and Cape Breton coast before leaving for France with Marc Lescarbot; draws map of Atlantic coastline from Cape Breton to Cape Cod. Canso, Nova Scotia
  • 1611 Samuel de Champlain leaves Tadoussac to return to La Rochelle, France. Tadoussac, Québec
  • 1649 Laurent Berman First licensed practicing notary in New France. Québec, Québec
  • 1679 René-Robert de La Salle arrives at Detroit. Detroit, Michigan
  • 1691 Sieur de Varennes drives back an invasion force of 300 men, including New York militiamen and Iroquois led by Major Peter Schuyler at Fort Laprairie; Schuyler was intending to capture Montréal; after a heavy American attack was repulsed, Varennes mobilized some 700 soldiers and militiamen and counter-attacked the Americans; they retreated, leaving 83 dead, including 17 Amerindians, against only five or six wounded for the French. La Prairie, Québec
  • 1725 Charles Le Moyne, Baron de Longueuil appointed Administrator of New France; serves until September 2, 1726. Québec, Québec
  • 1757 French and Indian war - Montréal rejoices as Bougainville announces Marquis de Montcalm’s victory over the English at Fort William Henry. Montréal, Québec
  • 1766 William Campbell appointed Governor of Nova Scotia; takes office November 27, 1766. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1771 Hudson Bay whalers return to Britain with three kills caught off Marble Island; First known Arctic whaling expeditions. Britain
  • 1803 British Parliament passes Canada Jurisdiction Act in attempt to quell hostilities between the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company; laws to cover offenses done in Indian lands means courts of Lower Canada (and from 1821, Upper Canada) can try cases originating in fur districts. London, England
  • 1854 British Parliament passes Union Amendment Act allowing election of Legislative Council of Canada. London, England
  • 1857 Cyrus Field fails in First attempt to lay Atlantic telegraph cable; from Ireland to Trinity Bay; current too weak. Trinity Bay, Newfoundland
  • 1883 Crowd cheers as First CPR construction train crosses the Elbow River and pulls into the settlement of Calgary, a tent city whose only permanent structures are the barracks of NWMP Fort Calgary and the stores of the Hudson’s Bay Company and the I.G. Baker trading company or Montana. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1884 Rat Portage War - Boundary dispute between Manitoba and Ontario is finally settled by the Privy Council. The Macdonald Government’s “Act to provide for the extension of the boundaries of the Province of Manitoba” (44 V, c14), which went into effect August 15, 1881, extended the eastern boundary of Manitoba to a “line drawn due north from where the westerly boundary of the province of Ontario intersects the boundary dividing Canada from the United States”. The Governments of Manitoba and the Dominion understood that Manitoba’s eastern boundary lay near Port Arthur (Thunder Bay). The Government of Ontario, on the other hand, felt that her boundary did not end until the western most reaches of the Lake of the Woods, near Rat Portage (Kenora). A war over control of the territory lasted for three years. London, England
  • 1906 Pedestrian killed in First recorded fatal automobile accident in Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1911 Calgary city commissioners accept offer of property developer John Hextall to give the city the islands of Bowness Park in exchange for the extension of the municipal streetcar line to his exclusive residential community, Bowness, along the Bow River just west of Calgary. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1912 Weather - Rainstorm lasting 108 hours drenches Cap-Rouge with 216 mm; Québec City gets 196 mm of rain. Cap-Rouge, Québec
  • 1914 Record - Thermometer hits 41.7 degrees Celsius, in Newfoundland’s warmest day on record. St. John’s, Newfoundland
  • 1915 First World War - Mobilization of the 35th Sherbrooke Artillery battery for service in France. Sherbrooke, Québec
  • 1920 Crime - Murder suspect and wanted fugitive Tom Bassoff captured in the CPR railyards at Pincher Station, Alberta.
  • 1921 Julian Byng, Lord Byng of Vimy, takes office as Governor General of Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1927 Founding of the Canadian Home and School Association. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1928 Olympics - Ethel Catherwood, the ‘Saskatoon lily’, wins an Olympic gold medal at the Amsterdam Summer Olympics for the running high jump. Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • 1930 Gordon Harrington sworn in as Premier of Nova Scotia, replacing Edgar Rhodes. Halifac, Nova Scotia
  • 1931 Tim Buck arrested under Section 98 of the Criminal Code - for belonging to an ‘unlawful association’; a machinist trained in politics at the Lenin School in Moscow, Buck is one of eight Canadian Communist leaders given prison terms in Kingston Penitentiary that November, 1931. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1937 Record - Shell Taylor and Jeff Pope complete the longest canoe trip to date, from New York City through Canada to the Arctic Ocean. Nome, Alaska
  • 1941 Second World War - Government bans the use of silk; to conserve wartime supplies for parachutes. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1943 Second World War - Mackenzie King welcomes Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt to the opening of the Québec Conference. Québec, Québec
  • 1944 Second World War - Canadian Army General Harry Crerar moves into the town of Falaise in Operation Tractable, but without reinforcements from a timid Bernard Montgomery, is unable to press the attack; the Germans learn of the attack when a lost Canadian officer, with the orders on him, is captured and killed by the SS. The 18 km Falaise gap is open wide and despite heavy air strikes, the escaping Germans pour through, to fight again. Falaise, France August 11 - Second World War - Canadian Army tanks enter the outskirts of Florence with the British Eighth Army, forcing the Germans to evacuate the city. Florence, Italy
  • 1948 Olympics - Canadian team attends opening of the London Summer Olympics in Wembley Stadium. London, England
  • 1951 NFL New York Giants beat the CFL Ottawa Roughriders 38-6, in a summer exhibition football game in Ottawa. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1954 BC Lions play their First Canadian Football League game, losing 22-0 to the Montréal Alouettes in Empire Stadium; under coach and general manager Annis Stukus, the Lions have only one victory in their First CFL season; in 1959 they make the Western Conference playoffs; in 1963, coached by Dave Skrien and led by the quarterback Joe Kapp, they reach their First Grey Cup final, losing 21-10 to the Hamilton Tiger Cats; in 1964 they win their First Grey Cup, beating Hamilton 34-24. The Lions, later owned by Edmonton businessman Bill Comrie, now play in BC Place, Canada’s First covered stadium. Vancouver, BC
  • 1954 Sh-Boom, by the Toronto group The Crewcuts, stays at #1 on the pop charts for the third successive week. New York, New York
  • 1957 Disaster - Maritime Central Airlines DC-4 charter flight from England crashes, killing 79 veterans and their families. Issoudun, Québec
  • 1957 John Callihoo dies; founding president of the Indian Association of Alberta. Alberta
  • 1960 Hazen Argue chosen as national leader by Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, replacing M. J. Coldwell; Coldwell CCF leader since July 1942. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1963 Bank of Canada raises discount rate from 3 1/2% to 4%. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1965 Orford String Quartet gives its First concert. Montréal, Québec
  • 1969 Pittsburgh Steelers beat the New York Giants 17-13 in an NFL exhibition game in Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1975 Montreal Expos Jose Mangual strikes out 5 times in a game. Montréal, Québec
  • 1976 Close of Olympiad for the Physically Disabled; Canada places 5th; attended by over 1,500 athletes from 38 countries. Etobicoke, Ontario
  • 1977 Gordon Fairweather heads new Human Rights Commission; Progressive Conservative MP resigns his seat in Parliament to take the post. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1978 Opening of 11th British Empire Games, newly renamed the Commonwealth Games; to August 11, 1978; with track and field, badminton, boxing, cycling and gymnastics events; Canada will win 109 medals (45 gold, 31 silver, 33 bronze); games First held in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1930. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1986 Immigration - Two lifeboats with 155 Tamils from Sri Lanka found drifting in lifeboats off the coast of Newfoundland; rescued by fishermen, the group First claims they were refugees from India, but later admitted paying a West German ship captain to transport them to Canada illegally; allowed to stay for a year, then deported. Newfoundland
  • 1987 Bill Stoneman named new Manager of the Montreal Expos, replacing Murray Cook. Montréal, Québec
  • 1988 Montreal Expos’ Gary Carter hits his 300th home run. Montréal, Québec
  • 1990 Canadian Forces soldiers arrive at Oka to support Québec police in their standoff with Mohawk warriors at Kanasetake. Oka, Québec
  • 1990 Youth wing of the Parti libéral du Québec takes a position in favour of sovereignty. Sherbrooke, Québec
  • 1991 Charles Allard dies at age 71; MD, broadcaster, founder of Allarco, real estate and broadcasting empire; owned Superchannel and 50% of the Family Channel. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1991 Jennifer Capriati, age 15, wins her second straight tournament, beating Katerina Maleeva in the Player’s Challenge Tournament in Toronto; the $100,000 purse is the largest of her seventeen-month career. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1992 Negotiators for the United States, Canada and Mexico continued to work out final details of the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Washington, DC
  • 1993 Newspaper Le Devoir resumes publication after bailout. Montréal, Québec
  • 1993 NY Islander Brian Mullen, age 31, suffers a mild stroke. Uniondale, New York
  • 1995 Two TTC Subway trains collide, killing 3 passengers and injuring 36; worst accident in Toronto Transit Commission history, and the TTC’s first ever fatality. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1996 Jacques Villeneuve wins the Grand Prix of Hungary on the Formula One circuit. Hungary
  • 1997 Jean Chrétien writes to Lucien Bouchard cautioning him about the danger of the partitioning of Québec territory that might come with independence; says, ‘The only way to ensure that there will be no partitioning of Québec - the only legal way to be absolutely sure - is to remain part of Canada.’ Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1998 Fire - 8,000 people are evacuated as forest fires threaten Salmon Arm, BC.