Highlights of the day

  • 1875 Northwest Mounted Police build Fort Calgary, with logs floated down the Bow River.
  • 1811 Isaac Brock appointed Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada.
  • 1875 Supreme Court of Canada holds first sittings.
  • 1907 Alexander Graham Bell and wife Mabel found the Aerial Experiment Association.

List of Facts for September 30

  • 1585 John Davis returns to England from his Arctic explorations. Dartmouth, England
  • 1682 Governor Joseph Le Febvre arrives in New France with his Intendant, Jacques de Meulles. Montréal, Québec
  • 1731 Military — Construction of first armed warship in New France, at Terrebonne. Terrebonne, Québec
  • 1738 Religion — Grey Nuns found nunnery at Montréal; les Sœurs Grises. Montréal, Québec
  • 1746 King George’s War — Jacques de La Jonquière leads remnants of 65-ship French armada, ravaged by storms and typhus, back to France; 2,400 men eventually die, none in action; no shots fired in the Duc d’Anville’s failed attempt to recapture Louisbourg and Acadia. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1760 French and Indian War — Major Robert Rogers visits the site of Toronto on his way to Fort Détroit; he views the ruins of French Fort Toronto, and describes it in his journals as a proper place for a factory; he moves on to Fort Niagara and finds the French have departed as well. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1811 Isaac Brock appointed Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1850 Arctic — Robert McClure caught by ice in Prince of Wales Strait between Banks and Victoria Island; last gap in Northwest Passage; spends two winters in Mercy Bay on the north coast of Banks Island. Victoria Island, Nunavut
  • 1865 John Michel appointed Administrator of Canada; serves until February 12, 1866. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1874 Reverend James Nisbet dies; pioneer, founder of Prince Albert. Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
  • 1875 Supreme Court of Canada holds first sittings. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1875 Police — Work continues on the Northwest Mounted Police fort being built at Fort Calgary, with logs floated down the Bow River. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1877 Dr. Barnardo arrives in Winnipeg for the purpose of developing an industrial farm scheme for British orphans at Russell, Manitoba. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1886 Blackfoot Chief Crowfoot arrives in Montréal with delegation of western chiefs; given lifetime CPR pass. Montréal, Québec
  • 1899 Fire destroys most of Cascade City, BC.
  • 1907 Alexander Graham Bell and his wife Mabel Bell found the Aerial Experimental Association at Baddeck; with two young Canadian engineers, Casey Baldwin and John McCurdy, as well as US Army Lt. Thomas Selfridge and engine maker Glenn Curtiss. Baddeck, Nova Scotia
  • 1913 Consolidated Mining and Smelting closes the St. Eugene mine at Moyie, BC.
  • 1929 Finance — Canadian stock index hits 322.6; peak of bull market. Toronto, Ontario Montréal, Québec
  • 1937 Board of Railway Commissioners grants the Vancouver, Victoria & Eastern Railway permission to suspend service west of Hedley, BC
  • 1944 Second World War — Maj Gen Daniel Spry’s 3rd Canadian Division captures the French Channel port of Calais after five days of fighting. Calais, France
  • 1947 Diplomacy — Canada elected to United Nations Security Council to fill one of the elected two-year terms vacated by Australia, Poland and Brazil; besides the 10 elected, non-permanent members, the Council has five permanent members: Britain, China, France, the USA and the USSR. United Nations, New York
  • 1950 Disaster — Great Alberta fire finally burns out after casting a one week pall of smoke over most of North America; biggest forest fire to hit Canada in modern times started in northeastern BC; burned for 222 days and torched a stretch of forest 245 kilometres long and over 14,000 square kilometres in extent; smoke detected as far away as Great Britain and Holland. Canadian astronomer Helen Hogg wrote, “Anyone who witnessed it, as I did, the great smoke pall of September 24 to 30, 1950 can never forget the eeriness of the occurrence and the extraordinary gloom. The sun was turned to various shades of blue or violet over much of the eastern part of the continent.” The city of Toronto had to turn on the street lights at midday. In New York, lights at baseball stadiums had to be turned on to illuminate midafternoon ball games.
  • 1950 Currency — Federal Cabinet decides to free exchange rate of the Canadian dollar, putting it on the open market. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1953 Military — McGill University scientists develop radar system for early warning against air attacks. Montréal, Québec
  • 1954 Nova Scotia Election — Henry Hicks wins the provincial election for the Liberal Party of Nova Scotia, replacing Harold Connolly. Nova Scotia
  • 1955 Operation Franklin complete; a geological survey of Canada’s Arctic Archipelago. Nunavut NWT
  • 1955 State Visit — Lester Pearson leaves Canada on an official tour of 12 countries, including Soviet Union, Singapore, India, Far East. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1960 Space — Black Brant, the First all Canadian sounding rocket, launched from Churchill. Churchill, Manitoba
  • 1963 British Columbia Election — W.A.C. Bennett wins provincial elections for the Social Credit Party. BC
  • 1966 Media — Toronto-born Roy Thomson, later Lord Thomson of Fleet, acquires control of The Times of London. London, England
  • 1967 Energy — Completion of the 45,000 barrels per day Great Canadian Oil Sands (GCOS) plant at a cost of $240 million; extraction starts five days ahead of schedule. GCOS (now Suncor) is the first large-scale commercial plant dedicated to oil sands production. Says Alberta Premier Ernest Manning, This is a red-letter day, not only for Canada but for all North America. No other event in Canada’s centennial year is more important or significant. Fort McMurray, Alberta
  • 1970 Space — Telesat Canada signs $31 million deal with Hughes Aircraft of California to build Anik, Canada’s First domestic communications satellite (comsat). Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1971 Environment — Greenpeace crew arrested by the US Coast Guard at Akutan Island, charged with a customs infraction; trying to reach Amchitka Island to protest a series of underground nuclear tests. Alaska
  • 1972 Community of Jersey auctioned off piecemeal. Jersey, BC
  • 1973 Peter Pitseolak dies at Cape Dorset; Inuit photographer, artist and writer; recorded Inuit legends and traditions, illustrating them with his own drawings; acquired First camera from Oblate missionary, and documented the igloos and dog teams of the Inuit hunters as the old era ended. Cape Dorset, Nunavut
  • 1974 Riot — RCMP riot squad officers stop 200 Aboriginal people from entering the Parliament Buildings during the official opening of First session; a bloody scuffle erupts; 30th Parliament the longest in Canadian history; sitting until July 30, 1976; PM Pierre Trudeau. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1977 Language — Ottawa to phase out language training and bilingualism pay bonuses for the public service by 1983. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1977 Impaired Driving — Supreme Court of Canada upholds provincial ruling that two or more breath analyses necessary to convict person. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1981 International Olympic Committee votes to give Calgary the 1988 Winter Olympic Games. Calgary, Alberta
  • 1984 Wildlife — High water levels prove fatal to 10,000 caribou, who drown while their herd is crossing the Caniapiscau to move to winter pasture. Caniapiscau River, Québec
  • 1985 Banking — Federal government liquidates the insolvent Northland Bank. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1986 Parliament — Canadian MPs elect the Speaker of the House of Commons by secret ballot for the first time. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1986 Record — Lake Ontario’s water outflow reaches 844 billion litres per day, the greatest outflow since the start of record keeping in 1860; over 25% above normal. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1987 Bank of Nova Scotia buys investment dealer Macleod Young Weir for $483 million; price later cut by $64 million. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1988 Baseball — Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Dave Stieb is one out away from a no-hitter for the second consecutive game, but falls short again when Jim Traber bloops a single over the head of First baseman Fred McGriff. Stieb finishes with his second straight one-hitter 4-0 over the Orioles. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1989 Neil Young performs his new hit single, Rockin’ in the Free World, on Saturday Night Live. New York, New York
  • 1989 Baseball — Toronto Blue Jays score 3 runs in the bottom of the eighth to beat Baltimore 4-3 and clinch the American League East baseball title; the surprising Orioles, in First place for much of the season, will finish second only one season after losing 107 games. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1990 His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet, unveils The Canadian Tribute to Human Rights, aka the Human Rights Monument, a 9-metre-tall sculpture of red granite and concrete at the corner of Lisgar and Elgin streets in Ottawa; designed by Montréal artist and architect Melvin Charney; the facade bears the text of the first sentence of Article One of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Tous les êtres humains naissent libres et égaux en dignité et en droits. The words Equality, Dignity, and Rights — in English and French — are etched on granite plaques and carried by anthropomorphic figures behind the facade. They also appear on granite plaques within the Monument, known as the House of Canada, in 73 of Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples’ languages. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1991 Jean Beetz dies at age 64; retired Supreme Court of Canada justice, helped Pierre Trudeau draft constitutional policy. Montréal, Québec
  • 1991 Bernard Ostry resigns as Chair of TV Ontario after audit shows excessive spending on dinners and travel. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1992 Supreme Court of Canada votes 5-4 to deny bid of Sue Rodriguez, who suffered from Lou Gehrig’s disease, for doctor-assisted suicide; rules Criminal Code sanctions against assisting in a suicide do not infringe on her rights; Victoria woman will commit suicide four months later, aided by a sympathetic doctor. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1992 Charlottetown Accord — Total of 52 Charlottetown Referendum Yes committees are now registered; including the Business Council on National Issues; also Status of Women Canada, Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Federation of Francophones; 17 for the No side, including the National Citizens Coalition; also CUPW, BC Liberals, Québec arm of Canadian Auto Workers. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1993 Impaired Driving — Statistics Canada reports drunk driving charges dropped 45% between 1981 and 1991; tougher laws, more policing, education, lower alcohol sales (down 10%). Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1994 Military — Halifax-class frigate “HMCS Regina” is commissioned. Saint John, New Brunswick
  • 1994 NHL postpones start of hockey season for at least 2 weeks to deal with labour strife. North America
  • 1994 Crime — Supreme Court of Canada rules a man accused of sexual assault can use the defence that he was too drunk to know what he was doing. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1996 Sovereignty — Jean Chrétien government asks the Supreme Court of Canada to rule on the legality of a unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) on the part of the Province of Québec. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1996 Yukon Election — NDP defeats Yukon Party 10 seats to 7 in territorial election; each party wins 44% of the popular vote. Whitehorse, Yukon
  • 2002 Media — Canadian Broadcasting Corporation announces Ron MacLean will not be returning as host of Hockey Night in Canada; CBC later agrees to MacLean’s salary demands. Toronto, Ontario
  • 2004 Air Canada emerges from bankruptcy protection. Montréal, Québec
  • 2004 Rideau Hall announces that Governor General Adrienne Clarkson will serve an additional year as Canada’s viceroy; at the request of Prime Minister Paul Martin. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2009 Cirque du Soleil co-founder Guy Laliberte blasted into orbit aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, becoming Canada’s first “space tourist”; paid $35 million for a 12-day stay aboard the International Space Station to help raise awareness of World drinking water problems. Space