Highlights of the day

  • 1791 Constitutional Act creates Upper and Lower Canada, each province with own legislature.
  • 1814 British torch Washington to avenge burning of York, Upper Canada in 1813.
  • 1944 Battle of Normandy ends; Canadian Army has 18,444 casualties incl. 5,021 dead.
  • 1949 North Atlantic Treaty goes into effect; NATO created by Canada, US, 10 European countries.

List of Facts for August 24

  • 1535 Jacques Cartier sets sail westward towards the mouth of the Saguenay River, which he reaches September 1, 1535. Sept-Îles, Québec
  • 1541 Jacques Cartier’s crew plants cabbage, turnips and lettuce; shoots appear 8 days later; the expedition will find quartz ‘diamonds’ and ‘gold’ pyrites on Cap Rouge; later gives rise to the disparaging saying in France, ‘faux comme un diamant du Canada.’ Cap Rouge, Québec
  • 1603 Samuel de Champlain and Francis de Pontgravé leave for France; reach Honfleur, France on September 20, 1603. Gaspé, Québec
  • 1660 Pierre Radisson & Médart des Groseilliers are fined for trading without a license, and their rich load of furs from the West is confiscated by the New France authorities; they decide to approach the English about forming a company to trade into Hudson Bay; origin of HBC. Montréal, Québec
  • 1782 Jean-François de Galaup, Count de Laperouse attacks the HBC post at York Factory, then commanded by Samuel Hearne. Churchill, Manitoba
  • 1791 Constitutional Act proclaimed at Québec to meet the wishes English-speaking Loyalists now settling in the western part of the province; Order-in-Council divides Canada at Ottawa River; each province with own legislature and governor; Upper Canada capital at Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario); Lower Canada capital at Québec; under Act passed June 10, 1791 by the British Parliament; . Québec, Québec
  • 1814 War of 1812 - Major-General Robert Ross marches 5,000 troops into Washington, D.C., after defeating an American force at Bladensburg, Maryland. Meeting no resistance, they burn the White House, the Capitol, the National Library and almost every public building in the city before a downpour douses the flames; a response to the burning and sacking of York, Upper Canada (Toronto) a year earlier. Washington, DC
  • 1852 James Douglas founds Nanaimo; takes possession of coal deposits for the Hudson’s Bay Company. Nanaimo, BC
  • 1867 Federal Election - Election riots break out in Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1870 Red River Rebellion - Colonel Garnet Wolseley’s troops occupy Fort Garry and raise the Union Jack soon after. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1870 Red River Insurrection ends as Louis Riel flees south with other members of his government as Gaarnet Wolseley’s troops occupy Fort Garry; he is warned to lie low for a time. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1873 Disaster - First day of the Great Nova Scotia Cyclone, as an Atlantic Hurricane slams into Nova Scotia, washing away wharves and destroying at least 1200 fishing boats in the Atlantic provinces; up to 500 drowned. Nova Scotia
  • 1877 Alexander Graham Bell obtains Canadian telephone patent. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1885 First census of the Northwest Territories. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1891 Dr. A.R.C. Selwyn of the Dominion Geological Survey samples crude oil seepages in the Flathead River valley. BC
  • 1894 C&KSN’s steamboat Columbia burns to the waterline near Waneta, BC.
  • 1898 Alaska Boundary Dispute - Opening of conference at Québec to discuss the Alaska Boundary issue; until October 11, 1898, when the conference adjourns; resumes in Washington from November 7, 1898 until February 21, 1899. Québec, Québec
  • 1905 F. D. White appointed Commissioner of the North West Territories. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1908 Canadian boxer Tommy Burns knocks out Bill Squires in the 13th round for the world heavyweight boxing championship. Sydney, Australia
  • 1909 First professional medical examination in Saskatchewan is held in Regina. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1921 Sam Hughes dies; controversial wartime defence minister. Lindsay, Ontario
  • 1922 American Smelting and Refining Company buys the Northport smelter for scrap. BC
  • 1923 Consolidated Mining and Smelting opens its new Concentrator plant at Chapman Camp near Kimberley, BC.
  • 1925 Granby Mining and Smelting sending concentrate from to Trail, BC, & Tacoma, Washington. Allenby, BC
  • 1931 Québec Election - Louis Taschereau reelected in Québec provincial election for the Liberals; 493,885 Québeckers vote out of 639,005 registered; serves as Premier 1920-36, until his defeat by Maurice Duplessis; his son Robert Taschereau was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada 1963-67. Québec
  • 1933 Cobourg, Ontario actress Marie Dressler stars in Dinner At Eight, opening at the Astor, with co-stars Lionel Barrymore, John Barrymore, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery, and Billie Burke. New York, New York
  • 1944 Second World War - Battle of Normandy ends; has cost the Canadian Army 18,444 casualties including over 5,021 dead. The 3rd Canadian Army Division also suffered greater losses than any other division within the 21st army Group. The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division suffered the next highest, even though it did not arrive in France until July 7, 1944. Canadian battle casualties slightly exceeded 3,000 in June, 5,500 in July, and 7,400 for the period 1-23 August. Normandy, France
  • 1949 North Atlantic Treaty goes into effect, with the parties agreeing that an armed attack against one country would be considered ‘an attack against them all.’ NATO created by Canada, the US and 10 European countries. Brussels, Belgium
  • 1965 First subway trains run on Montréal Métro; limited service. Montréal, Québec
  • 1967 Education - Ontario Premier John Robarts announces plans to establish French-language secondary schools in Ontario. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1968 Montréal, Québec actor William Shatner appears on the cover of TV Guide with fellow actors Deforest Kelley and Leonard Nimoy of Star Trek. New York, New York
  • 1969 US oil tanker Manhattan leaves Chester on trial voyage through Northwest Passage; helped by Canadian Coast Guard ice-breaker John A. Macdonald. Chester, Pennsylvania
  • 1970 Governor General Roland Michener opens Saskatchewan Centre of the Arts in Regina. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1971 White Paper on Defence proposes maintaining NATO commitment; plus pollution control of coastal waters and policing of territorial limits and fishing zones. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1972 Edmonton chosen as site for the 1978 Commonwealth Games. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1972 Gordie Howe and Jean Beliveau inducted into the International Hockey Hall of Fame. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1972 Immigration - Ottawa lets Asians with British passports enter Canada; expelled from Uganda August 5, 1972 by Idi Amin; 4,420 Ugandan Asians enter as immigrants over next three months. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1974 First Francophone International Youth Festival ends at Québec City; 25 French-speaking countries participate. Québec, Québec
  • 1974 Ottawa, Ontario pop singer Paul Anka’s (You’re) Having My Baby peaks at #1 on the Billboard pop singles chart. New York, New York
  • 1975 Libby Dam on upper Kootenay River in Montana dedicated; built by Corps of Army Engineers; waters back up into Canada.
  • 1981 Toronto Star starts publishing Monday to Friday morning edition. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1988 Trial - Minnesota North Stars hockey player Dino Ciccarelli sentenced to 24 hours in jail and a $1,000 fine for assault; released after two hours; First NHL player to be jailed for a penalty on ice; hit Luke Richardson of the Toronto Maple Leafs over the head twice with a hockey stick. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1990 Gulf War - Brian Mulroney orders destroyers Athabascan, Terra Nova and supply ship Protecteur with 934 personnel to the Persian Gulf to participate in Gulf War. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1990 Gulf War - Canadian Chargé d’affaires William Bowden refuses to close Canadian Embassy in Kuwait City, as ordered by Saddam Hussein; five other Canadians and 17 Kuwaiti employees have no water or electricity. Kuwait
  • 1990 Trade - Binational free trade panel rules in favour of Canadian pork producers; says US International Trade Commission wrong to put 8/kg tariff on Canadian products. Washington, DC
  • 1991 Bryan Adams’ (Everything I Do) I Do It for You stays at #1 on the Billboard pop singles chart. New York, New York
  • 1992 Valery Fabrikant shoots to death four fellow professors at Concordia University, Matthew Douglass, Michael Hogden, Aaron Saber, and Phoivos Ziogas; angry at the corruption that he perceived to be in the Engineering department; University Rector blames handgun permit laws. Montréal, Québec
  • 1999 Conrad Black announces plans to sell the Southam Inc. chain and the National Post newspaper to Izzy Asper’s CanWest Global. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1999 Onex announces a plan to buy and merge Air Canada and Canadian Airlines. Toronto, Ontario
  • 2001 Conrad Black announces agreement to sell the National Post newspaper to CanWest Global.
  • 2004 Jurists Louise Charron and Rosalie Abella are nominated to the Supreme Court of Canada. Ottawa, Ontario