Highlights of the day

  • 1503 Name ‘Newfoundland’ first used in Daybooks of King’s Payments; Canada’s oldest European place name.
  • 1816 Opening of First stagecoach line in Upper Canada; from York to Niagara.
  • 1917 Parliament passes new tax on income to help pay for the war effort and recovery.
  • 1943 German U-boat sinks RCN destroyer HMCS St. Croix, south of Iceland; total 145 perish.

List of Facts for September 20

  • 1503 First use of name ‘Newfoundland’, in the Daybooks of King’s Payments (fish tax rolls); Canada’s oldest place name of European origin; in 1504, English fishermen will establish St. John’s as a shore base; first English settlement in North America. Newfoundland
  • 1603 Samuel de Champlain returns to France to report on his findings; learns of death of Aymar de Chaste that May 13, 1603; presents King Henri IV with a map of the St. Lawrence River. The map has not yet been found. Paris, France
  • 1603 Norman sea captain Thomas Chefdostel rescues eleven starving survivors of the la Roche colony; the convicts will be presented to King Henri IV and pardoned. Sable Island, Nova Scotia
  • 1641 Paul de Maisonneuve arrives in New France to establish Ville-Marie and colonize the island of Montréal. He had a rough crossing, leaving La Rochelle on August 8. Québec, Québec
  • 1656 Thomas Temple and William Crowne acquire Charles de La Tour’s rights to Acadia, in return for 5% of the products of the territory. London, England
  • 1697 King William’s War - France and England sign the Treaty of Ryswick, under which England, Spain, Holland and the Holy Roman Emperor make peace with France at the end of the War of the Grand Alliance; King William’s War (1689-1697) in America; all places taken during the war to be mutually restored; France returns York Factory and the Hudson’s Bay Company posts seized by Pierre d’Iberville between 1686 and 1697; France gives Newfoundland to the British in exchange for Acadia; France and Spain recognize King William III (William of Orange) as King of England. Rijswijk, Netherlands
  • 1745 New England force destroys French settlement at Three Rivers, Prince Edward Island. Three Rivers, PEI
  • 1788 Fur Trade - Captain John Meares launches his tender, North West America, at Nootka; built by Chinese shipwrights over a frame Meares had brought from Macao, it was the first European ship built on Pacific coast. Nootka, BC.
  • 1816 Transport - Opening of First stagecoach line in Upper Canada from York to Niagara. Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
  • 1819 James Monk appointed Administrator of Lower Canada; serves until March 17, 1820. Québec, Québec
  • 1825 Census - End of 1825 Census of Lower Canada, taken from June 20 to September 20. Québec
  • 1854 Edmund Walker Head appointed Governor General of the Povince of Canada; serves from December 19, 1854 to October 25, 1861. London, England
  • 1860 J. F. Allison files a pre-emption on a quarter section of land in the Similkameen Valley near today’s Princeton. Princeton , BC
  • 1860 John Marston, Royal Engineer, retired, files a pre-emption in a quarter section on what is today the townsite of Princeton. Princeton , BC
  • 1870 Lieutenant-Governor Adams Archibald, a Father of Confederation, appoints Manitoba’s First government. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1907 Moyie Fire hall completed; hose tower added in 1909. Moyie, BC
  • 1917 First World War - Arthur Meighen presents the Military Voters Act, giving the vote to soldiers and sailors under 21, and serving women; female relatives of servicemen also get the vote. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1917 Taxation - Parliament passes new tax on income as a temporary measure to help pay for the war effort and post First World War recovery. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1919 Lethbridge Northern Irrigation District formed; primarily for sugar beet farming. Lethbridge, Alberta
  • 1927 Labour shortage boosts wages on Alberta farms to $15 per day for a man with a grain binder and a team. Alberta
  • 1935 Aviation - Roland Groome killed in a plane crash with a student pilot; pioneer of flight; first commercially licensed pilot in Canada. REgina, Saskatchewan
  • 1936 Rail - Train No.11, Kootenay Express, derails a Corra Linn power plant in the Kootenay valley. Nelson, BC
  • 1938 Mining Disaster - Three killed and four injured in bump in No.1 East mine at Coal Creek, BC.
  • 1943 Second World War - German U-boat U-305, using a new acoustic torpedo, hits and sinks Royal Canadian Navy Town Class destroyer HMCS St. Croix, while she is escorting convoy ON.202, south of Iceland; 65 members of the ship’s company perish; five officers and 76 men are rescued by HMS Itchen, however, only two days later, the Itchen is also torpedoed by an enemy submarine; only one St. Croix sailor, Stoker W. Fisher, survives the two sinkings; one of the men lost was Surgeon Lt W. L. M. King, RCNVR, Prime Minister Mackenzie King’s nephew. Atlantic Ocean
  • 1944 Second World War - Canadians take San Fortunato Ridge and the town of Potenza, an important road centre east of Salerno; Germans fight desperately to hold them back from Po Valley and prevent the British Eighth Army from advancing toward the rear of the German defence and assisting in the US breakout from the Salerno bridgehead. The breakout is accomplished, and on October 1, 1943, the Fifth Army will enter Naples. Potenza, Italy
  • 1956 George Drew resigns as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1962 Mining - Opening of potash mine at world’s largest known reserves at Esterhazy. Esterhazy, Saskatchewan
  • 1962 Mohammad Ayub Khan, President of Pakistan, arrives in Canada for five-day state visit. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1965 Foreign Aid - Canada and Britain agree to share cost of survey for Zambia-Tanzania Railway. Tanzania
  • 1966 External Affairs Minister Paul Martin Sr. chairs 21st session of the UN General Assembly. United Nations, New York
  • 1966 Welfare - Ottawa and New Brunswick agree to spend $114 million to fight rural poverty over next 10 years. New Brunswick
  • 1968 Energy - Ottawa cancels development of $150 million intense neutron generator (ING). Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1972 Terrorism - RCMP bomb squad defuses a letter bomb in a park after removing it from the Israeli Consulate in Montréal; at the Israeli Embassy in Ottawa, the RCMP find explosives in one of six envelopes arriving from Amsterdam. Arab terrorist group Black September believed responsible; Israeli official in London, England, killed a day earlier after opening a letter. Ottawa, Ontario Montréal, Québec
  • 1973 Toronto rocker Neil Young and Crazy Horse play the opening show at the Roxy, LA’s newest rock & roll nightclub. Los Angeles, California
  • 1974 Energy - Ottawa raises average US export price of natural gas by 66%; BC then raises price of its natural gas exported to the US by 50%. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1977 Ottawa announces removal of wage and price controls, effective April 14, 1978. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1977 Energy - Canada and US sign agreement for construction of natural gas pipeline across the Yukon; for shipment of Alaska natural gas. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1977 Inco announces layoffs of 3,500 mining and smelting workers in Canada by mid-1978. Sudbury, Ontario
  • 1977 Tariff - Ottawa starts 3-year program to protect textile and clothing industry from imports. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1983 Energy - Alberta, Ottawa and Esso Resources Canada agree to scaled-down Cold Lake oilsands project. Cold Lake, Alberta
  • 1984 Pope John Paul II holds a huge outdoor mass on LeBreton flats in Ottawa before returning to the Vatican; to close his 12 day papal visit to Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1985 Lincoln Alexander installed as Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario;; First Black Canadian to hold a vice regal position in Canadian history Toonto, Ontario
  • 1987 Pope John Paul II arrives to hold a mass for thousands of Roman Catholic faithful, mainly native people, at Fort Simpson, fulfilling a promise he made September 18, 1984, when fog prevented him from making a planned visit. Fort Simpson, NWT
  • 1991 Bob Rae proposes social charter in Constitution; with medical care, unemployment insurance, education as rights. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1991 Fredrick Eaton appointed Canadian High Commissioner to Britain, replacing Donald Macdonald; department store tycoon and major Conservative contributor. London, England
  • 1991 Military - Ottawa will spend $165 million over five years to train pilots at Portage La Prairie military base; to compensate for shutdown of Base Portage. Portage La Prairie, Manitoba
  • 1992 Royal Bank of Canada reports per capita debt in Saskatchewan as $14,000; highest in Canada; 75% higher than Québec; total provincial debt almost $14 billion. Saskatchewan
  • 1995 Telecom - MCI Communications Corp offers $1-billion (U.S.) for SHL Systemhouse Inc, Canada’s fifth-largest technology company. Toronto, Ontario
  • 2005 Fishery - Canada’s Fisheries Minister Geoff Regan says Canada is trying to build international momentum to combat overfishing. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2005 Canadian rocker J. D. Fortune wins the TV reality show contest on ‘Rock Star: INXS’; becomes new lead singer of Australian rock band INXS.