Highlights of the day

  • 1793 Upper Canada passes decree against slavery - all slave children born henceforth free at age 25.
  • 1972 Henderson scores on Tretiak with 34 seconds left giving Team Canada a 6-5 victory over USSR.
  • 1981 Supreme Court of Canada rules 7-2 that Parliament can act alone to patriate the BNA Act.

List of Facts for September 28

  • 1535 Jacques Cartier and crew sail across Lac St-Pierre (called Lac Angoulème) on their way to Montréal. Lac St-Pierre, Québec
  • 1607 Samuel de Champlain and his colonists return to France from Port Royal. Honfleur, France
  • 1663 Sovereign Council of New France forbids selling or giving liquor and firearms to the Aboriginal people. Québec, Québec
  • 1685 Epidemic of smallpox breaks out in New France; devastates Huron and Iroquois communities. Québec
  • 1737 Marguerite d’Youville leases the ‘Le Verrier’ house in Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1793 Human Rights - Assembly of Upper Canada passes decree against slavery - all slave children born in Upper Canada after this date were to become free at age 25. Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario - See also July 9.
  • 1813 War of 1812 - British defeated by the Americans in a York Bay naval battle. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1839 Rebellion - Prison ship leaves Quebec carrying 60 American raiders bound for Tasmania. Québec, Québec
  • 1843 Opening of third session of 1st Parliament of the Province of Canada; meets until December 9, 1843; 60 of 84 members; new duty on American horses, cattle & grain, to reciprocate against US tariff. Montréal, Québec
  • 1854 Edward Belcher arrives in England after having to abandon 4 icebound ships in the Arctic; he and his Royal Navy captains are court martialled, but honourably discharged or acquitted. London, England
  • 1857 Great Western Railway opens from Galt, Ontario to Guelph, Ontario. Cambridge, Ontario
  • 1867 Toronto officially becomes the capital of Ontario. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1869 George-Étienne Cartier makes a speech supporting the British connection against Canadian independence. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1869 Sculpture - Québec sculptor Louis-Philippe Hébert sails for Italy to continue his studies. Québec, Québec
  • 1869 William McDougall departs from Ottawa after he is appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Rupert’s Land and NWT; will be stopped by the Métis at the border. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1872 George-Étienne Cartier departs for London to get treatment for Bright’s Disease; he will die there. Québec, Québec
  • 1885 Riot breaks out in Montréal against compulsory smallpox vaccination. Montréal, Québec
  • 1892 New Brunswick abolishes its Legislative Council, or upper house. Fredericton, New Brunswick
  • 1899 Telegraph service opens from BC to Dawson City. Dawson, Yukon
  • 1901 Police - Two troops of the NWMP escort His Royal Highness the Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V) during his visit to Calgary; one of the last occasions on which the old style full dress uniform is used; changes in 1902 to a style more akin to today’s uniform. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1916 L. W. Hill travels from Vancouver to Spokane over the third main line of the Great Northern Railway; the only occasion that GN uses the line. Vancouver, BC
  • 1917 Ethel Maclachlan of Regina becomes the First woman to serve as a Juvenile Court judge and Justice of the Peace in Canada. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1918 First World War - Frederick Banting, medical officer of the 46th Canadian Battalion, 13th Field Ambulance Brigade, Canadian Army Medical Corps (CAMC) is wounded in the arm, but neglecting his own safety, dresses the wounds of others in the batallion for nearly seventeen hours; for these actions he will be nominated for, and will receive, the Military Cross for valour; later discoverer of insulin. Haynecourt, France
  • 1929 Hudson Bay Railway reaches its northern terminus at Churchill; originally operated by Canadian National Railways on behalf of the Government; became part of the CN system in 1951, then privately run. Churchill, Manitoba
  • 1929 Joe Hess of the University of Alberta makes the First interception return for a touchdown in Canadian football. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1930 Sculpture - Monument to Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine unveiled in Parc LaFontaine. Montreal, Quebec
  • 1931 Saskatchewan School for the Deaf opens. Saskatchewan
  • 1931 Theatre - An American Tragedy opens in the Capitol Theatre in Calgary. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1939 Second World War - British Commonwealth Air Training Plan facilities to be set up in Canada to train pilots from Britain and the rest of the Commonwealth.
  • 1942 Second World War - RCAF warplanes make First attacks on Japanese forces on Kiska Island in the Aleutians. Kiska, Alaska
  • 1942 NHL New York Americans hockey team folds. New York, New York
  • 1945 Calgary Bronks football team changes its name to the Calgary Stampeders. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1954 Two Canadian acts have Billboard #1 records - Sh-Boom, by the Toronto group The Crew-Cuts, and I Don’t Hurt Anymore, by Nova Scotia country singer Hank Snow. New York, New York
  • 1957 Winnipeg’s Gisele MacKenzie hosts her own music and variety show, The Gisele MacKenzie Show, making its debut on NBC. New York, New York
  • 1959 Rail - Last regularly scheduled CPR steam train leaves Ottawa’s Union Station, which will become a government conference centre. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1960 Opening of new ‘Seaway Skyway’ bridge from Prescott to Ogdensburg, New York. Prescott, Ontario
  • 1961 Canadian actor Raymond Massey stars in new Dr. Kildare medical drama series on NBC, assisted by Richard Chamberlain as his young colleague. Los Angeles, California
  • 1968 Energy - BC Premier W. A. C. Bennett opens Dr. Gordon M. Shrum Powerhouse at $485 million Peace River hydro-electric project. Hudson Hope, BC
  • 1969 Terrorism - FLQ bomb explodes outside the home of Montréal mayor Jean Drapeau. Montréal, Québec
  • 1970 Report of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada issued. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1971 Margaret Birch appointed a minister without portfolio; First woman named to an Ontario cabinet. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1978 World Energy Conference opens in Banff. Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani, the Saudi technocrat who is OPEC’s public face, later pays a visit to Syncrude. Banff, Alberta
  • 1981 Supreme Court of Canada rules 7-2 that Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s constitutional plan is strictly legal; Parliament can act alone to patriate the BNA Act; but a ‘convention’ requires substantial provincial consent, in that the plan does not follow normal constitutional procedures; suggests unilateral action might breach the spirit of federalism, and it is the duty of Ottawa to try and forge provincial consent. The new constitution, brought home without provincial consent, will be signed by the Queen on April 17, 1982. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1981 Olympics - International Olympic Committee awards Calgary the 1988 Winter Olympics. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1982 Prince Edward Island Election - James Lee leads Progressive Conservatives to reelection victory in provincial election, winning 22 of 32 seats. PEI
  • 1982 L’Évangeline of Moncton shuts its doors; only French-language newspaper east of Québec. Moncton, New Brunswick
  • 1992 Poll - CROP survey released today says No vote in Québec is 49%; Yes vote 37%; Undecided 14%. Montréal, Québec
  • 1992 Mario Lemieux signs a hockey contract with the NHL Pittsburgh Penguins worth $42 million over 7 years; will end up owning the team. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • 1993 Labour - Bell Canada announces 5,000 job cuts. Montréal, Québec
  • 1993 Montréal Expos Dennis Martinez beats the Marlins, becoming the 7th pitcher in history to win 100 games in both the American and National Leagues. Montréal, Québec
  • 1995 Alcan Aluminium takes after-tax charge of $280 million; writes down investment in scrapped Kemano hydroelectric project in British Columbia; company to seek compensation from BC. Montréal, Québec
  • 1995 Québec Southern Railway starts operating former CP short lines from Lennoxville, Québec to St-Jean, Québec, Brookport to Wells River, Vermont, Farnham, Québec to Ste-Rosalie Junction and Stanbridge, Québec. Québec
  • 1996 Lucien Bouchard rejects hard-liners in the Parti Québecois who want a unilingual Québec. Quebec, Quebec
  • 1997 Gordon Kirke releases report on prevention of sexual abuse of junior hockey players, brought to forefront by revelations of former player Sheldon Kennedy. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1997 Baseball - Larry Walker from BC leads National League in home runs at season’s end with 49; also second in batting (.366) and third in RBIs (130); will be named League MVP. Canada/USA
  • 2000 Pierre Trudeau dies at age 80 of the effects of prostate cancer and Parkinson’s Disease; lawyer, politician, 15th Prime Minister of Canada 1968-79, 1980-84, Liberal Party Leader 1968-1984, born at Montréal, Québec, the son of Charles-Emile Trudeau and Grace Elliott. Trudeau attends Collège Jean de Brébeuf, B.A. 1940; l’Université de Montréal, LL.L. 1943; Harvard University, M.A. Political Economy 1945; École des sciences politiques, Paris 1946-1947; London School of Economics 1947-1948; Canada’s First PM born in the 20th century; his state funeral will take place on October 3, 2000. Montréal, Québec