Highlights of the day

  • 1754 Anthony Henday Visits the Blackfoot; first European in Alberta.
  • 1814 Sir George Prevost leads British Force to Defeat at Plattsburgh on Lake Champlain.
  • 1898 Fire destroys the town of New Westminster, BC
  • 2001 List of Canadians Killed in World Trade Center Bombing

List of Facts for September 11

  • 1541 Jacques Cartier reaches the Lachine rapids above Montréal; on his third voyage to Canada. Montréal, Québec
  • 1543 Jean-François de Roberval returns from his failed expedition to found a colony and discover the mineral wealth of the Saguenay, and sells his ships to pay his bills. La Rochelle, France
  • 1586 John Davis sails for England; contrary winds stop him from exploring Hamilton Inlet. Hamilton Inlet, Labrador
  • 1654 Simon Le Moyne arrives back at Ville-Marie after an expedition to Iroquois country as far as present-day Syracuse, New York. Montréal, Québec
  • 1738 Pierre de La Vérendrye leaves Lake of the Woods to explore the West; will found a fort on the site of Portage La Prairie, Manitoba. Kenora, Ontario
  • 1754 HBC fur trader Anthony Henday the First European to enter what is now Alberta. Alberta
  • 1784 Walter Patterson annexes PEI to Nova Scotia; Lieutenant-Governor until July 26, 1786. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1805 Alexander Grant appointed Administrator of Upper Canada, serves until August 25, 1806; President of the Council. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1814 War of 1812 - Thomas Macdonough defeats British fleet under Sir George Prevost on Lake Champlain, while Alexander Macomb beats back British landing force from Plattsburgh; leads to retreat of main British force back to Canada. Plattsburgh, New York
  • 1833 Québec-built steamship ‘Royal William’ reaches England safely; the wooden paddle wheeler is the First ship to cross the Atlantic under steam all the way, although sails are raised whenever the wind is fresh; the two steam engines are kept running, but the ship goes slowly under sail because of the drag from the paddle wheels. Once every four days, the engineers have to stop the Royal William’s machinery for a few hours to clean salt build-up from the boilers, left behind by evaporating sea water; they will eventually find a solution by condensing the exhaust steam from the engines to get fresh water. Gravesend, England
  • 1833 See: Royal William Steamship Launched at Québec
  • 1839 Athletics - First track and field meet in Canada held near Toronto; at the Caer Howell grounds. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1847 Disaster - Hurricane hits coast of Newfoundland, killing 300 people. Newfoundland
  • 1854 MacNab-Morin Ministry takes office at the beginning of the 1st session of the 5th Parliament of the Province of Canada; Alan MacNab Minister of Agriculture Canada West; A-N Morin Commissioner of Crown Lands. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1861 Transport - Opening of Toronto Street Railway line; First horse-drawn streetcars in Canada; Montréal follows in November. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1861 Prince Napoléon of France arrives in Montréal for a visit. Montréal, Québec
  • 1868 Anglican Reverend Cyprian Pinkham arrives in Red River; later Bishop of Calgary. Manitoba
  • 1875 British Columbia Election - George Walkem and Conservatives returned to power. BC
  • 1885 Trial - Cree Chief Big Bear (Mistahimaskw) found guilty on the charges of treason and felony for his part in the North West Rebellion; sentenced to three years in jail. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1888 First - Governor-General Lord Stanley records an address to the President of the United States onto an Edison phonograph; this is the world’s oldest known sound preserved on a record. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1898 Fire over two days destroys the town of New Westminster. New Westminster, BC
  • 1905 William Mackenzie & Donald Mann hold sod-turning ceremony at Fort William to start construction of the Lake Superior branch of their Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. Thunder Bay, Ontario
  • 1905 John Ware dies after being thrown from his horse; Alberta’s First black rancher came north in 1882 as a cowboy on a cattle drive for the North-West Cattle Company (later the Bar U); bought his own land in 1891 on the north fork of Sheep Creek and later ranched near Brooks. Brooks, Alberta
  • 1914 Vilhjalmur Stefansson draws maps of Norway Island, Bernard Island and Wilkins River; before preparing for winter at Cape Kellett. Cape Kellett, Nunavut
  • 1914 B&N railway ends all operations. Kootenai Valley Railway continues service from Bonner’s Ferry to the Boundary. BC
  • 1916 Disaster - The centre span of the Québec Bridge collapses and falls into the river as it is being hoisted into place; had been rebuilt after the first crash on August 29, 1907 - 13 workers killed. Work resumes and the bridge is completed in September, 1917, carrying the tracks of the National Transcontinental Railway across the St. Lawrence River; at the time it is the world’s longest cantilever bridge, and the largest bridge in the world; the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) inaugurates it on August 22, 1919. Ste-Foy, Québec
  • 1925 Canadian National Railways drives the last spike on its Vernon, BC, to Kelowna line, 33.5 miles. Kelowna, BC
  • 1928 Le Manoir Richelieu hotel at Murray Bay destroyed by fire. La Malbaie, Quebec
  • 1929 Aird Commission tables a report that will lead to the creation of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1940 Clifford Clark recommends rent control through the Wartime Prices and Trade Board. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1942 Second World War - Royal Canadian Navy Flower Class corvette HMCS Charlottetown torpedoed and sunk in the St. Lawrence, near Cap Chat, by U-517; she had just delivered a convoy to Rimouski, Québec and was returning to Gaspé; ten of her ship’s company are lost; minesweeper HMCS Clayoquot rescues the 55 survivors. The attack occurred less than a week after loss of RCN patrol vessel HMCS Raccoon. Cap Chat, Québec
  • 1942 Second World War - Government orders all Canadian women, single and married, born between 1918 and 1922, to register with the Unemployment Insurance Commission; due to critical shortage of labour in wartime; many volunteer to help with the harvest. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1944 Second World War - Mackenzie King hosts US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British PM Winston Churchill at the second Québec Conference held in the Chateau Frontenac hotel; to September 16, 1944; the main item on the agenda is the Allied invasion of Europe. Québec, Québec
  • 1956 Canadian flying ace Billy Bishop dies at age 62; top scoring Canadian and Imperial flying ace of First World War, credited with 72 kills; First Canadian airman to win the Victoria Cross, for a lone 1917 attack on a German airfield; honorary air marshal during Second World War; wrote books Winged Warfare and Winged Peace. Palm Beach, Florida
  • 1958 Camilien Houde dies; former Mayor of Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1958 Robert Service dies. The Bard of the Klondike came to Canada at age 20, ‘for I was not satisfied with a humdrum existence.’ After working with the Canadian Bank of Commerce in Victoria, BC, he was transferred to the Whitehorse, Yukon branch in 1905, and then to Dawson City, Yukon where wrote his famous poems, The Shooting of Dan McGrew and The Cremation of Sam McGee. Service worked as an ambulance driver and newspaper correspondent during First World War. Lancieux, France
  • 1959 Paul Sauvé sworn in as Premier of Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1960 Olympics - The 17th Summer Olympic games close in Rome; Canada takes home only one medal, a silver in Rowing Eights: Donald Arnold, Walter d’Hondt, Nelson Kuhn, John Lecky, Lorne Loomer, William McKerlich, Archie MacKinnon, Glen Mervyn, Sohen Biln. Rome, Italy
  • 1962 Opening of 42-story Royal Bank of Canada Building; Place Ville-Marie; built by New York developer Charles Zeckendorf. Montréal, Québec
  • 1964 Ontario Supreme Court orders Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce to pay $1,375,000 to Brilund Mines; Brilund defrauded by three New Yorkers. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1968 Crime - Charles Lavern Beasley gives himself up at refueling stop at Dorval Airport after ordering an Air Canada Moncton to Toronto flight to fly to Cuba; Texan commits First air hijacking in Canada. Montréal, Québec
  • 1969 Opening of Space Research Institute on Canada-US border, at Highwater and North Troy, Vermont; college for advanced aerospace studies. Highwater, Québec
  • 1972 Olympics - Munich Summer Olympics end; Canada takes home two silver medals in Swimming: 100-metre butterfly: Bruce Robertson and 400-metre individual medley: Leslie Cliff; plus three bronzes, two in swimming: 200-metre backstroke: Donna-Marie Gurr and 4x100-metre medley relay: Erik Fish, Robert Kasting, William Mahoney, Bruce Robertson; one in Yachting: Soling: Paul Coté, John Ekels, David Miller. Munich, Germany
  • 1973 Helen Hunley appointed Alberta’s First woman Solicitor-General. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1974 Canada Night in London, as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Band and Joni Mitchell play a concert in 80,000-seat Wembley Stadium. London, England
  • 1974 Peacekeeping - Canadian contingent of UN peacekeeping force arrives in Cyprus; to stay until December, 1974. Cyprus
  • 1975 John Turner resigns as Finance Minister from Pierre Trudeau Cabinet in protest over bringing in wage and price controls. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1975 Nicole Juteau the First woman constable in the Sûreté du Québec provincial police - SQ. Québec
  • 1977 Manitoba Election - Sterling Lyon leads Progressive Conservatives to victory over NDP under Ed Schreyer in the provincial election. Manitoba
  • 1980 Record - Montréal Expos Ron LeFlore steals his 91st base of the season and Rodney Scott steals his 58th, in a 6-5 win over the Chicago Cubs, breaking the major league-record for stolen bases by teammates in one season. Lou Brock and Bake McBride set the old baseball record with the 1974 Cardinals. Montréal, Québec
  • 1984 Pope John Paul II arrives in Montréal; visits Oratoire St-Joseph, beatifies Marie-Léonie Paradis; celebrates mass at Olympic Stadium before 65,000 people, then in the evening at Jarry Park. Montréal, Québec
  • 1986 Stock Market - Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver stock exchanges experience massive sell-off as Wall Street dives to worst one-day stock market decline since Oct. 28th, 1929; Black Thursday.
  • 1987 Ontario Election - David Peterson leads Ontario Liberals to landslide victory over Frank Miller’s Conservatives, after two years of minority governing with NDP support. Ontario
  • 1987 Lorne Greene dies at age 72. Born in Toronto, Ontario February 12, 1915, actor Greene was best known for his role as Pa Ben Cartwright in the American TV series Bonanza. Greene started his rise to fame as a CBC radio newscaster (he was known as ‘The Voice of Doom’ for his wartime broadcasts). After his move to Hollywood, he starred in Sailor of Fortune, Roots (John), Battlestar Galactica (Comdr. Adama) and as narrator of the Last of the Wild. Santa Monica, California
  • 1989 Start of judicial enquiry into alleged sexual abuse by Christian Brothers at Mount Cashel orphanage. St. John’s, Newfoundland
  • 1990 Manitoba Election - Gary Filmon wins majority in for the Progressive Conservatives in the provincial election: 30 seats, 42% of vote; NDP Gary Doer gets 20 seats, 29% of vote; Liberal Sharon Carstairs gets 7 seats and 28% of vote. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1990 Fred Stewart Alberta Telecommunications Minister announces $951 million sale of 60% of Telus Corp (formerly AGT) a success; 140,000 Albertans own shares. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1990 Equality Party joins with Unity Party to fight for English rights in Québec. Montréal, Québec
  • 1992 New Brunswick Election - Frank McKenna wins second term in provincial election for the Liberals; takes 47 of the 54 seats. New Brunswick
  • 1993 Neil Young performs on the album Bob Dylan: The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration, which enters the charts on this day; others playing Dylan songs include John Mellencamp, Tom Petty, Chrissie Hynde and Eddie Vedder. Los Angeles, California
  • 1995 Jacques Parizeau announces when the next sovereignty referendum will be held - the day before Halloween; a year less a day after he was elected. Québec, Québec
  • 1995 Finance - Canadian dollar plunges as polls show the Yes side in the lead in Québec’s proposed referendum campaign on sovereignty. Chicago, Illinois
  • 1997 Medicine - Federal and provincial health ministers agree on a new Canadian Blood Agency after Ottawa agrees to pay the lion’s share of startup costs; was to replace the Canadian Red Cross Society on September 1, 1998, but postponed to let tainted-blood victims or creditors appeal a recent court decision allowing the Red Cross to transfer its assets (and liabilities) to the new system. The Red Cross had managed Canada’s blood program for over 50 years, but went bankrupt in July, 1998 to avoid $8 billion in potential damages from lawsuits brought by Canadians infected by hepatitis C-tainted blood. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1998 Disaster - Divers off Nova Scotia recover the cockpit voice recorder from Swissair Flight 111 which had crashed September 2, 1998 with 229 people aboard. The data recorder was found September 6, 1998.
  • 1999 Trial - Canadian journalist Murray Hiebert sentenced to 6 years in prison for contempt; Kuala Lumpur court jailed him for writing that Malaysia was becoming increasingly litigious. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 2000 Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day and Progressive Conservative leader Joe Clark win by-elections to win seats in the House of Commons.
  • 2001 Terrorism - Al Qaeda terrorists hijack four jetliners and crash two into the World Trade Center in New York and one into the Pentagon in Washington; 25 Canadians are killed, as well as two people married to Canadians.
  • 2001 Over 200 trans-Atlantic flights heading to the US are diverted to eastern Canadian airports; over the North Pacific, commercial carriers en route from Asia to North America are diverted to airports in Western Canada, primarily Vancouver. NAV CANADA faces an enormous task of draining the skies under Canadian control, handling 239 diverted aircraft from overseas as well as those destined for the U.S. and Canada. All will land safely in Canada without incident. Of these, 38 go to Gander, 1 to Deer Lake, 21 to St. John’s, 8 to Stephenville, 7 to Goose Bay, 47 to Halifax, 10 to Moncton, 10 to Mirabel, 7 to Dorval, 14 to Toronto, 4 to Hamilton, 15 to Winnipeg, 6 to Edmonton, 13 to Calgary, 1 to Yellowknife, 3 to Whitehorse and 34 to Vancouver. Gander receives 6,600 diverted passengers; Vancouver about 8,500. The last aircraft to land is from the Pacific. By about 6:00 PM EDT, all planes have landed safely.
  • 2001 Canada’s border with the United States is put on high alert in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the United States.
  • 2001 Canadian government initiates both Operation Support and Operation Yellow Ribbon.
  • 2001 Over 33,000 stranded passengers and aircrew are welcomed into Canadian homes and public facilities. By September 16, 2001, all diverted planes will have departed with their passengers for their intended destinations.
  • 2001 A plaque honouring Canadian victims of September 11th is unveiled at an Ottawa’s Beechwood Cemetery on January 14, 2002; bears the names of 24 Canadian victims, as well as two others who were married to Canadians.
  • 2001 Another plaque is dedicated to the Canadian 9/11 victims on March 18, 2003, in a meditation room in the East Block of Parliament Hill in Ottawa; five family members, representing three victims of the tragedy, attend the ceremony, joined by deputy Commons Speaker Bob Kilger, Canadian Alliance Leader Stephen Harper, religious representatives and several MPs, including Ontario Liberal Dan McTeague who spearheaded the idea of honouring the victims.
  • 2001 See: List of Canadian World Trade Center Victims, September 11, 2001
  • 2003 Disaster - Two separate plane crashes kill 10 people in Northern Ontario on the same day. Ontario