Highlights of the day

  • 1773 Ship ‘Hector’ arrives off Pictou, Nova Scotia with 200 Scottish farmers fleeing high rents.
  • 1874 Cree, Saulteaux, Assiniboine and others sign Treaty #4 in Southern Sask. & Alberta.
  • 1884 Frederick Denison sails for Egypt with 386 Voyageurs to help General Kitchener ascend the Nile.
  • 1959 Georges Vanier installed as Canada’s First French Canadian and 19th Governor General.

List of Facts for September 15

  • 1535 Jacques Cartier decides to winter in the country, lays up his ships in the Ste-Croix River (now Rivière St-Charles); Donnacona tries to stop him from going upriver to Hochelaga. Québec, Québec
  • 1587 Cartography - John Davis arrives back in England with important charts of the coasts of Greenland, Baffin Island and Labrador. Britain
  • 1663 Music - Mgr. François de Laval arrives in Québec with the colony’s First church organ. Quebec, Quebec
  • 1664 Religion - Creation of the First New France parish: Notre-Dame de Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1688 Jacques de Denonville abandons and demolishes Fort Niagara to meet the demands of the Iroquois. Fort Niagara, New York
  • 1697 Pierre d’Iberville recaptures York Factory from the Hudson’s Bay Copany. York Factory, Manitoba
  • 1749 First domestic grapes brought from France are harvested in New France. Montréal, Québec
  • 1763 Abbé Montgolfier elected Roman Catholic Bishop of Québec in secret; the choice was later rejected by the English, who did not object when Jean-Olivier Briand was consecrated in Paris in 1766, after an appeal to the King of England to maintain the Catholic hierarchy. Québec, Québec
  • 1773 Imigration - Ship ‘Hector’ arrives off Pictou with 200 Scottish immigrants, mostly tenant farmers fleeing high rents in Loch Broom, Sutherland, Scotland. Pictou, Nova Scotia
  • 1777 American Revolutionary War - John Butler receives Royal Warrant to raise Butler’s Rangers, a regiment of loyalists. Montréal, Québec
  • 1815 Selkirk Settlement colonists return to Red River after being driven out by angry Métis. Manitoba
  • 1823 A whale is sighted in Montréal harbour. Montréal, Québec
  • 1841 Rebellion - US President John Tyler issues proclamation to suppress secret societies; directed at Canadian republicans. Washington, DC
  • 1842 William Draper resigns from Executive Council and Assembly to let more French Canadians into government. Montréal, Québec
  • 1860 Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), starts touring British North America and the Colonies; witnesses French acrobat Blondin crossing the Niagara Falls on a tightrope; First official Royal visit to Canada. Niagara Falls, Ontario
  • 1870 Canada Central Railway opens from Chaudière Station (Broad Street Station) to Carleton Place, Ontario. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1874 Treaty - Cree, Saulteaux, Assiniboine and others sign Treaty #4 (Qu’Appelle Treaty) in Southern Saskatchewan and Alberta; 120,054 sq km; $12 per Indian; schools; farm instruction; acreage. Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan
  • 1881 First Acadian festival takes place. New Brunswick
  • 1884 Lt.-Col. Frederick Denison sails for Egypt with 386 Canadian Nile Voyageurs to help General Herbert Kitchener ascend the Nile, mount a resistance to the revolutionary Mahdi, and rescue General George Gordon, besieged in Khartoum, Sudan. The boatmen were organized by Garnet Wolseley, who had commanded the Red River Expedition in 1870, with the help of Denison and the Canadian militia; many were recruited from the ranks of the Hudson’s Bay Company, some were lumbermen, Caughnawaga Indians or Ottawa boatmen; sixteen die in the attempted resue; they were Canada’s First official participants in an overseas war. Québec, Québec
  • 1885 P.T. Barnum’s famous circus elephant Jumbo charges and is killed by a Grand Trunk Railway train in the St, Thomas railway yard; weighed over 3,900 lbs. and was probably the largest pachyderm ever in captivity; the collision derails the train, and 150 people are needed to haul the 24 year old elephant’s body up an embankment. Jumbo’s death was a great loss to Barnum’s show, but the loss was somewhat mitigated when Barnum was able to exhibit both the taxidermied hide of the beast and its skeleton at the same time. St. Thomas, Ontario
  • 1899 Energy - Joseph Hooker buys 400 Crown-held acres along the Bull River canyon preparatory to generating electricity. Bull River, BC
  • 1905 Governor General Earl Gray and Lady Gray visit the Crowsnest Pass by train. Alberta
  • 1906 Cowley gazetted as a village, with Percy Biddell as first overseer. Cowley, Alberta
  • 1912 Post Office opens branch at Bull River, BC.
  • 1915 Smelting - Northport Smelting and Refining sells the Northport smelter, dormant since 1911, to Edgar Day of the Hercules Mining Company and the Tamarack & Custer Consolidated Mining Company. BC
  • 1916 First World War - 22ème Régiment (Québec) 25th Regiment (Nova Scotia) and 26th Regiment (New Brunswick) battalions take Courcelette; as British launch new Battle of the Somme offensive; tanks used for the First time in modern warfare. Flers-Courcelette, France
  • 1916 First World War - Alberta’s 49th Battalion fights in the Battle of the Somme until September 22, 1916. Flers-Courcelette, France
  • 1916 First World War - Saskatchewan troops fight in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, at the Battle of the Somme. Flers-Courcelette, France
  • 1917 Dominion Bridge finishes construction of the centre span of the Québec Bridge; will open for traffic December 3, 1917. Québec, Québec
  • 1922 Diplomacy - Prime Minister Mackenzie King refuses to support the British in the Chanak Affair, asserting foreign policy independence for the first time. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1922 Unveiling of Red Deer Cenotaph, In proud and grateful remembrance of those who served in the Great War 1914-1918. Red Deer, Alberta
  • 1927 Diplomacy - Canada elected to one of non-permanent seats on the Council of the League of Nations. Geneva, Switzerland
  • 1938 Donald Gordon appointed Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada for seven year term; on resignation of J. A. C. Osborne. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1939 Finance - Donald Gordon runs new Foreign Exchange Control Board, organized by Walter Gordon; also administers 10% War Exchange Tax on non-Empire imports. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1940 Second World War - RAF Fighter Command claims victory in the Battle of Britain; 176 enemy aircraft destroyed by fighter planes; British casualties are lighter - only 25 aircraft lost with 13 pilots killed or missing; German losses are the highest since August 18, 1940; many Canadian piots involved. Two days later it becomes clear Hitler had indefinitely postponed Operation Sealion - his plan to invade Britain, even thogh bombing raids continue into the autumn. Britain
  • 1946 Disaster - RCAF Dakota transport plane crashes near Estevan, killing 21 Royal Canadian Air Force pilots from 124 Squadron, returning lend-lease Cornell aircraft to the US; human error later blamed for the crash. Estevan, Saskatchewan
  • 1949 Opening of 1st session of 21st Parliament; until December 10, 1949. Ottawa, Ontario September 15 - Parliament - William Ross Macdonald sworn in as Speaker of the House of Commons; term ends June 11, 1953; Liberal. Ottawa, Ontario September 15 - Canadian Mohawk actor Jay Silverheels stars as Tonto, with Clayton Moore as the masked hero, in first episode of ABC-TV’s The Lone Ranger. Hollywood, California
  • 1950 Korean War - UN forces make amphibious landing at Seoul’s port city of Inchon to cut off North Korean forces in the south; start drive toward Seoul. Inchon, Korea
  • 1951 Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) meets in Ottawa; until September 20, 1951. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1957 John Diefenbaker appointed member of the Imperial Privy Council by Queen Elizabeth II. London, England
  • 1957 Ottawa singer Paul Anka’s hit single ‘Diana’ stays at #1 on the pop music charts. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1958 Cécile Langlois gives birth to a son; First of the Dionne quintuplets to become a mother. Montréal, Québec
  • 1958 Commonwealth Economic Conference held at Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1959 Major-General Georges Vanier is installed as Canada’s First French Canadian and 19th Governor General, replacing Vincent Massey; the soldier-diplomat serves until 1967. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1960 Montréal Canadiens star Rocket Richard retires from NHL hockey at age 39; with a record 544 goals, plus 82 playoff tallies; ending career of 18 seasons; Maurice Richard joined in the 1942-43 season and was soon called ‘the Rocket’ because of his great speed and brilliant goal scoring. Montréal, Québec
  • 1961 John Diefenbaker opens Sir Alexander Campbell Building, new Post Office Headquarters. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1967 Administration of the Northwest Territories transferred from Ottawa to Yellowknife after the town is named the NWT capital on January 17, 1967.
  • 1969 Energy - Manitoba Hydro decides not to divert Churchill River and flood Southern Indian Lake; would displace 700 people. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1969 Energy - Reinforced US oil tanker ‘Manhattan’ reaches Sachs Harbour on trip through North West Passage. Sachs Harbour, Nunavut
  • 1970 Voting - Manitoba lowers its voting age to 18. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1971 Environment - Twelve members of the Vancouver-based Don’t Make a Wave Committee sail from Vancouver on board a chartered 24 metre halibut seiner, the ‘Phyllis Cormack’, bound for to Amchitka Island, Alaska, to witness the US underground detonation of 5.2 megaton bomb along the North Pacific Mid-Ocean Ridge and protest nuclear testing. Among the crew are Bob Hunter of the Vancouver Sun, Ben Metcalfe of the CBC and Bob Cummings, from the Georgia Strait. Panels reading Green and Peace are dangled from the bridge, giving rise to the new Greenpeace organization they start during the trip. The seas are too rough, and the group has to change to a 47 metre converted mine sweeper, the ‘Edgewater Fortune’. Hunter will become First president of Greenpeace from 1973-1977. Vancouver, BC
  • 1972 Dave Barrett sworn in as NDP Premier of British Columbia, replacing Socred W.A.C. Bennett, who had governed for 20 years. Victoria, BC
  • 1972 Strike by DeHavilland Aircraft workers ends after eight months. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1975 Hockey - Yvan Cournoyer named captain of the NHL Montréal Canadiens. Montréal, Québec
  • 1976 Darryl Sittler scores Team Canada’s winning goal in overtime to beat Czechoslovakia 5-4; Canada wins First inaugural Canada Cup tournament 2 games to nothing. Montréal, Québec
  • 1978 Energy - Syncrude Canada officially opens its 50,000-barrels-per day plant, after five years of construction. Fort McMurray, Alberta
  • 1978 School patroller Jean-Luc Lafrenière, age 11, is killed by a car; he is the First Canadian patroller to die in the line of duty. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1979 Québec singer Robert Charlebois performs at the Palais des Congrès de Paris. Paris, France
  • 1979 Swedish supergroup Abba open their First North American tour in Vancouver. Vancouver, BC
  • 1984 Pope John Paul II celebrates Mass before 500,000 of the faithful at Downsview Airport; later consecrates the Slovak Cathedral of the Transfiguration in Unionville, Ontario, built by Denison Mines magnate Steve Roman. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1986 Trial starts for 17 members of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang in Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1987 Hockey - Team Canada beats the USSR to win the Canada Cup, two games to one. All three games decided by 6-5 scores. Hamilton, Ontario
  • 1988 Mother Theresa gives a speech in Montreal. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1991 Space - Astronauts on board NASA Space Shuttle flight STS-48 deploy Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, containing the Canadian Wind Imaging Interferometer (WINDII). Space
  • 1991 Nancy Scranton wins the 19th du Maurier Golf Classic.
  • 1991 Warner Troyer dies at age 59; broadcaster, veteran of CBC’s This Hour Has Seven Days, The Public Eye, The Fifth Estate; co-host of CTV’s W5; author of seven books. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1992 Statistics Canada reports on language preferences from 1991 Census: 17.1 million Canadians (60.5%) identify English as their mother tongue; down from 60.6% in 1986. 6.8 million (23.8%) identify French; down from 24.3% in 1986. 4.1 million (13%) identify another language, especially Chinese, Spanish or Punjabi; up from 11.3% in 1986. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1992 Aid - Canadian planes deliver 10 loads of 150 tonnes of relief supplies to famine-ravaged Somalia; three C-130 cargo planes and 71 personnel supporting the Red Cross and the UN. Somali Republic
  • 1993 Blood System - Other provinces follow lead of Nova Scotia and Québec, announcing compensation plan for people who contracted HIV through tainted blood products before officials started screening blood for the AIDS virus; Ottawa to hold inquiry on reform of the blood system. Canada
  • 1994 Due South premieres on CBS; stars Paul Gross as a Mountie in Chicago. Hollywood, California
  • 1994 Hamilton-born SCTV veteran Martin Short premieres his comedy variety program, The Martin Short Show, on NBC. Hollywood, California
  • 1994 Lise Bacon appointed to the Senate. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1996 Baseball - John Olerud the 81st Toronto Blue Jays player to be hit this season, breaking the club record, a record held by the 1911 Washington Senators, most hit batsman in a season. The Jays beat the New York Yankees, 3-1. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1999 Louise Arbour sworn in as Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, replacing Antonio Lamer; the day after stepping down as chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal investigating crimes in the former Yugoslavia. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1999 Roman Catholic Church in Québec refuses to apologize to 3,000 orphans - the so-called Orphelins de Duplessis - who claimed that they were sexually and physically abused in church-run institutions; were declared mentally ill to qualify for federal subsidies. Montréal, Québec
  • 2001 Terrorism - Liberal government brings in new anti-terrorist legislation; to bolster police powers, allow preventative arrests and investigative hearings, and provide stiffer jail sentences for terrorists. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2001 Bryden Family officially open their vineyard at Columbia Gardens near Fruitvale, BC.