Highlights of the day

  • 1806 Isaac Brock appointed to command British forces in Upper Canada.
  • 1876 Sitting Bull leads Sioux people to Canada after the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
  • 2005 Michaëlle Jean installed as Governor General of Canada, succeeding Adrienne Clarkson

List of Facts for September 27

  • 1610 Samuel de Champlain returns to France; stops writing in his journal for a time. Honfleur, France
  • 1612 Count de Soissons awarded a 12 year monopoly of the fur trade in New France. Paris, France
  • 1759 First Anglican religious service on record in Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1806 Military - Isaac Brock appointed to command British forces in Upper Canada. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1839 Rebellion - Group of 58 convicted rebels sent from Québec into exile in Australia. Québec, Québec
  • 1853 Farming - First provincial agricultural exhibition held in Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1854 Disaster - Steamship ‘Arctic’ sinks off Cape Race with 300 people on board after colliding with the 250-ton French iron propeller ship S.S. ‘Vesta’; the 3,000-ton side-wheeler was the largest and most splendid ship of the Collins Line (United States Mail Steamship Company) in competition with Samuel Cunard’s Royal Mail Steam Packet Company; casualties include 92 of her 153 officers and men, and all the women and children on board, including the wife, the only daughter, and the youngest son of shipowner E. K. Collins; First great disaster involving an Atlantic Ocean liner. Cape Race, Newfoundland
  • 1858 Grand Trunk Railway completed to London, Ontario from Stratford. Stratford, Ontario
  • 1870 Henry Comstock commits suicide, blowing out his brains with his six-shooter at age 50; the silver prospector, promoter of the famous Comstock Lode in Nevada, had been prospecting without success in BC. Bozeman, Montana
  • 1876 Sioux chief Sitting Bull leads his people to Canada in the aftermath of the Battle of the Little Bighorn; his visions of victory had encouraged the uprising although he did not fight in the battle. The Sioux will stay in Canada hunting until famine forces them back to the reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. In the 1880s, he will join Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show on tour; he is killed in 1890 in a struggle with Indian police. Saskatchewan
  • 1879 Official opening of the Dominion Industrial Exhibition at Ottawa; Ottawa’s fall fair became the Central Exposition in 1896; now called the Central Canada Exhibition. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1888 Vancouver Mayor David Oppenheimer officially opens 404.9 hectare (1,001 acre) Stanley Park in the name of Lord Stanley, who will officially dedicate it the following year. The peninsula was designated as a military reserve in the early 1860s in a survey conducted by the Royal Engineers. Vancouver, BC
  • 1896 Strike by CPR telegraph operators and despatchers for shorter hours and higher wages; until October 7, 1896. Montréal, Québec
  • 1897 Columbia and Western Railway completes trackage 21.1 miles from Trail, BC, to West Robson, BC.
  • 1901 Duke of Cornwall and Duchess of Cornwall stop briefly in Regina; First British royalty to travel across Canada. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1902 Forestry - William Carlin, Peter Lund, John Breckenridge, Alfred Doyle, et al, incorporate the Crow’s Nest Pass Lumber Company. Alberta
  • 1916 First World War - 148th and 150th Battalions of Montréal Infantry, and the 189th Battalion of the Infantry of Fraserville embark for service in France. Montréal, Québec
  • 1918 First World War - General Sir Arthur Currie leads Canadian Corps troops in a three day offensive against the Canal du Nord, outflanking the last section of the Germans’ defensive Hindenburg Line. Canadians capture over 7,000 prisoners and 205 heavy guns. Germans abandon the line and continue retreating east, finally signing the Armistice November 11, 1918. Canal du Nord, France
  • 1919 Aviation - The ‘Seagull’ the First seaplane to land at Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1919 Kettle Valley Lines cease operating the Spokane and British Columbia Railway. BC
  • 1922 Broadcasting - Radio station CKAC starts broadcasting at Montréal at 430 metres (833 kHz), with a power of 2,000 watts; construction was announced May 3, 1922; the world’s First French-language radio station is owned by daily newspaper La Presse, which sold the station in 1969 (some say September 22). Montréal, Québec
  • 1928 Glen Gray’s Casa Loma Orchestra records ‘Under a Blanket of Blue’, with Kenny Sargeant on vocals. New York, New York
  • 1934 Medicine - Official opening of the Montréal Neurological Institute of McGill University. Montréal, Québec
  • 1935 CPR permitted to abandon its Kettle Valley Division’s North Fork Subdivision between Grand Forks, BC and Archibald, BC.
  • 1942 London, Ontario born actor Hume Cronyn marries Jessica Tandy. New York, New York
  • 1943 Canadian Wheat Board takes over from optional Wheat Board; price of wheat increased from 90¢ a bushel to $1.25. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1944 Aimee Semple McPherson dies of a barbiturate overdose at age 53; the evangelist and faith healer was born at Ingersoll, Ontario October 9, 1890; her health had deteriorated due to the stress of several moral and financial scandals connected with her Angelus Temple of the Foursquare Gospel, and she had recently divorced her third husband. Oakland, California
  • 1954 Medicine - Founding of the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Canada. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1954 Shigeru Yoshida Prime Minister of Japan, starts two-day visit to Canada. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1962 Opening of First session of 25th Parliament; until February 5, 1963. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1963 Education - Founding of the C.D. Howe Memorial Foundation; financial aid to young people with promise of leadership. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1963 Creston Sawmills begins operating its Fort Plywood and Lumber Company in three hangars on the air base at Macleod, Alberta.
  • 1967 Bank of Canada raises lending rate from 4 1/2% to 5%. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1968 Ernest Manning announces his intention to retire as Premier of Alberta. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1968 Post Office - Postmaster-General Eric Kierans ends Saturday mail and post office service, effective February 1, 1969. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1972 Ottawa bans sale of firecrackers after increased injuries. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1973 Labour - Québec union leader Marcel Pépin elected President of La Confédération mondial du Travail. Québec
  • 1977 Auto Racing - Gilles Villeneuve signs a 2 year contract to drive Formula One with Ferrari. Milan, Italy
  • 1977 Crime - Québec credit union manager Charles Marion released on payment of $50,000 ransom; held for 83 days in Canada’s longest kidnapping. Québec
  • 1978 Weyerhaeuser takes over Northwood Mills operation at Princeton, BC.
  • 1982 Military - General Motors of Canada wins $625 million contract to build armoured cars for US Army and Marines. London, Ontario
  • 1982 L’Evangeline stops publishing; the ‘voice of Acadia’ was the only French language newspaper east of Quebec. Moncton, New Brunswick
  • 1983 Record - Montréal Expos slugger Tim Raines hits a three-run homer against St. Louis to become the First player in National League history to knock in at least 70 runs and steal 70 bases in one baseball season; Raines goes 3-for-4 with a home run, a stolen base, and 4 RBIs in Montréal’s 10-4 win over the Cardinals; First since Ty Cobb in the majors. Montréal, Québec
  • 1985 Great grey owl becomes the official bird of Manitoba. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1987 Jacqueline Gareau wins the Montréal Marathon; André Viger comes second. Montréal, Québec
  • 1988 Olympics - Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson returns to Canada in disgrace three days after being caught out for using anabolic steroids at the Seoul Summer Olympics; the 100 m sprint race which he won in 9.79 seconds is declared null and void, and second-place winner Carl Lewis is awarded the gold medal instead. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1988 Guy Lafleur signs a one year contract with the NHL New York Rangers. New York, New York
  • 1989 Jeff Petkovich and Peter DeBernardi survive a barrel drop over Horseshoe Falls; the First two-man team to succeed. Niagara Falls, Ontario
  • 1989 Singer Elton John apologizes to 35,000 people for poor sound quality at a concert in SkyDome. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1990 Brian Mulroney appoints 8 new senators: Keon, Meighen, Forrestal, Grimard, Lavoie-Roux, Ross, Johnson, Berntson to stop the Liberal-dominated Senate from delaying his Goods and Services Tax (GST) legislation; invokes never-before-used section of the Constitution to increase the size of the Senate of Canada to 112, making 54 PCs, 52 Liberals; the Senate can send bills back to the Commons, and delay legislation for up to 180 days. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1990 Canada Packers (60%) and John Labatt (40%) merge into Maple Leaf-Ogilvie; operate Country Style Doughnuts and Buns Master franchises. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1990 Religion - His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet arrives in Canada for four-day visit; spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1990 Banking - Minister of State for Finance Gilles Loiselle revises Trust and Loan Companies Act; lets banks own insurance and trust companies; no shareholder over 10%. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1990 Robert Bourassa undergoes an operation to remove a malignant melanoma from his back; the skin cancer will eventually take his life; former Premier of Québec. Montréal, Québec
  • 1994 Harry Saltzman dies of a heart attack in Paris; film producer, born October 27, 1915 in Saint John, New Brunswick; films include Look Back in Anger (1959), Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) and The Entertainer (1960), and nine James Bond thrillers, Dr. No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), You Only Live Twice (1967), On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Live and Let Die (1973), and The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).
  • 1994 Military - US Navy closes Argentia submarine detection base; last US military base in Canada. Argentia, Newfoundland
  • 2000 Olympics - Canadians Daniel Nestor and Sebastien Lareau defeat Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge of Australia to win gold medals in tennis doubles at the Sydney Olympics.
  • 2000 Terrorism - RCMP officers arrest Sikh separatist Ripudaman Singh Malik as a suspect in the 1985 terrorist bombing of Air India 182, which killed 329 passengers; his alleged co-conspirator Ajaib Singh Bagri will be arrested October 27, 2000 Vancouver, BC
  • 2004 Epidemic - Calgary Health Region investigates e. coli outbreak affecting more than 600 people; three local restaurants are suspected. Calgary, Alberta
  • 2005 Michaëlle Jean installed as Governor General of Canada, succeeding Adrienne Clarkson. *Ottawa, Ontario September 27 - Newfoundland and Labrador municipal elections.