Highlights of the day

  • 1951 Charlotte Whitton elected Mayor of Ottawa; first woman mayor of a major Canadian city.
  • 1986 John Polanyi joint winner of Nobel Prize for Chemistry for development of chemical laser.
  • 1989 Wayne Gretzky passes Gordie Howe as NHL scoring leader; 1,851 career points.

List of Facts for October 15

  • 1582 Time - Gregorian calendar introduced in Catholic countries, cutting 10 prior days (October 5 becomes October 15). France
  • 1612 Samuel de Champlain made Lieutenant General of New France; First Governor of New France until 1629. Québec, Québec
  • 1641 Urban - Paul de Maisonneuve arrives on the island that will become Montréal; his colonizing company starts to build a settlement. Montréal, Québec
  • 1663 New France expels undesirables from the colony. Québec, Québec
  • 1666 Marquis de Tracy puts Mohawk villages to the torch after making peace with Senecas and Oneidas; claims Iroquois territory for King Louis XIV. New York
  • 1672 Forestry - First wood exported to France from Canada, from La Malbaie (Murray Bay). La Malbaie, Québec
  • 1690 Count Frontenac and three supply ships with 3,000 fresh soldiers evade William Phips’ squadron, slip through the blockade and relieve Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1694 Pierre d’Iberville recaptures York Fort, the stronghold of the Hudson’s Bay Company; renames it Fort Bourbon. York Fort, Manitoba
  • 1730 Antoine de Cadillac dies; soldier, explorer, and French colonial Governor, born March 5, 1658 at Les Laumets, France; 1683 arrived in Canada, and fought against the Iroquois; 1701 founded the city of Detroit; 1710-17 served as Governor of Louisiana. France
  • 1754 Anthony Henday sights the Rocky Mountains, near present day Red Deer; Hudson’s Bay Company employee is trying to get the Blackfoot to travel to Hudson Bay, avoiding the Cree middlemen. Red Deer, Alberta
  • 1777 American Revolutionary War - John Graves Simcoe appointed commandant of the Queen’s Rangers; to 1781; will be sent to Niagara to serve as First Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. Pennsylvania
  • 1785 New Brunswick Election - Governor issues writs for the election of the First representative assembly in New Brunswick. Saint John, New Brunswick
  • 1792 Upper Canada Assembly passes law providing for a fine of £20 for selling liquor in prisons; the province’s First law restricting the sale of alcohol. Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
  • 1851 Lady Elgin, wife of Governor General Lord Elgin, turns the First sod for the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Union Railway (later the Northern Railway). Toronto, Ontario
  • 1860 J. C. Haynes arrives to assist W. G. Cox in the Customs House at Rock Creek. BC
  • 1863 End of the 1st Session of the 8th Parliament of the Province of Canada; session adopts George-Étienne Cartier’s Militia Act. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1866 Fire in Québec City destroys 2,500 houses. Québec, Québec
  • 1872 Hugh Allan appointed President of the Canadian Pacific Railway; has 13 directors from all provinces. Montréal, Québec
  • 1874 Louis Riel charged with a warrant of outlawry by a Manitoba court. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1878 Nova Scotia Election - Conservative Simon Holmes defeats Philip Hill, Liberal Premier of Nova Scotia since May 11, 1875 and the former Mayor of Halifax (1861-64), who succeeded William Annand. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1878 Robert Davis resigns as Premier of Manitoba. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1884 First issue of newspaper ‘La Presse’ published. Montréal, Québec
  • 1891 Thomas Blakiston dies; explorer who accompanied James Palliser on the British North American Exploring Expedition (Palliser Expedition). England
  • 1895 Local Council of Women of Regina is organized. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1895 Spokane Ore Company incorporated provincially with $5 million in allowed capital to mine Crown Point properties near Rossland, BC. Victoria, BC
  • 1912 Thomas Wilby & Jack Haney leave Vancouver for Nanaimo after 49 days from Halifax on the First cross-Canada motor trip; Wilby tells a Province reporter that “fortune had been with us all the way across… we had no serious accident and only had to make ordinary repairs to the car on two occasions.” In fact, they had to wait several days for a new drive shaft, after the first was hopelessly twisted along one particularly rough stretch. Their best day was 185 miles (298 km), their worst 14 (19 km.) The English journalist and Reo mechanic then take the ferry to Port Alberni, BC, making the 52 day trip to establish the All Red Route. Vancouver, BC
  • 1918 First World War - Last of prisoners of war incarcerated at Morrissey, BC, sent to Kapuskasing, Ontario.
  • 1920 Aviation - Civil Avro 504K takes off on one of the First commercial passenger flights into the Canadian bush; a two day trip to The Pas, Manitoba; carried two passengers in an enlarged front cockpit. (A former Air Force 504 will make the First winter flight to James Bay in 1922.) Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1924 Royal Visit - Prince George visits Toronto; later King George VI. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1936 Mary Sullivan sworn in as member of Halifax City Council; First woman alderman in Canada. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1941 Second World War - Government prohibits the private use of glycerine; needed for explosives. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1942 Second World War - German U-Boat torpedoes cargo ship in the Gulf of St. Lawrence off Métis. Métis, Québec
  • 1943 Second World War - Second Canadian Brigade takes Vinchiaturo; Canadian tanks support British units attacking Termoli. Vinchiaturo, Italy
  • 1945 Education - Founding of the Institute of Medicine of l’Université de Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1951 Charlotte Whitton elected Mayor of Ottawa after serving in an acting capacity after death of incumbent; she is the First woman mayor of a Canadian city. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1953 Energy - Completion of Trans Mountain Pipeline to carry oil from Edmonton, Alberta to Vancouver. Vancouver, BC
  • 1954 Disaster - Hurricane Hazel drives across the Appalachians and hits South-Central Ontario with winds up to 124 km/h, 10.1 cm of rain falls in 12 hours, the heaviest rains in southern Ontario history; on Raymore Drive in Etobicoke, Ontario, 17 homes are swept into the Humber River, and 36 are killed when debris blocks a bridge and more homes are washed away; storm does $25 million damage, kills total of 83 people. Ontario
  • 1957 Queen Elizabeth II sets off a dynamite charge to signal the start of construction of the Queensway expressway in Ottawa; the $31-million, 24 km long road bisects the city along the old CPR right-of-way. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1958 State Visit - Golda Meir Israel Foreign Minister visits Ottawa. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1962 Football - Hamilton Tiger Cats quarterback Joe Zuger throws a CFL record eight touchdown passes in a 67-21 romp over Regina Roughriders. Hamilton, Ontario
  • 1963 Foreign Aid - Canada doubles contribution to UN Special Fund to $5 million. United Nations, New York
  • 1965 Road - Opening of Macdonald-Cartier Bridge across the Ottawa River, and the Gatineau Autoroute to Old Chelsea, Québec. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1967 René Lévesque resigns from Québec Liberal Party after they reject idea of Québec separation. Québec
  • 1968 Energy - Atomic Energy of Canada signs 5-year agreement with the French Atomic Energy Commission. France
  • 1968 René Lévesque chosen President of new Parti Québécois; after 3-day convention in Québec City merges the Mouvement Souveraineté-Association and the Ralliement National. Québec, Québec
  • 1969 Diplomacy - Canada and the Vatican establish diplomatic relations, as Canada opens an Embassy in the Vatican. Vatican City, Italy
  • 1969 Herbert Gray appointed Minister without Portfolio by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau; MP for Windsor West becomes Canada’s First cabinet minister of Jewish background. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1970 October Crisis continues as Prime Minister [Pierre Trudeau sends the Canadian Army into Montréal at the request of the Québec government. Chronology of the day: 9:00 pm - Premier Robert Bourassa rejects conditions imposed by the FLQ for freeing hostages James Cross and Pierre Laporte; 10:00 pm - FLQ lawyer/spokesman Robert Lemieux declares that his mandate is over; 4:00 am following morning - Trudeau proclaims the War Measures Act, giving police sweeping powers to arrest and detain without warrant anyone suspected of involvement with the FLQ. Montréal, Québec
  • 1975 Foreign Investment Review Act screening comes into effect; Foreign Investment Review Agency starts monitoring new investments. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1976 Military - Department of National Defence to buy 128 West German-made Leopard tanks for $184 million; delivery to start July 1978. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1981 Espionage - National Archives of Canada releases previously secret testimony from 1946 Taschereau-Kellock Royal Commission on Soviet espionage. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1981 RCMP seize $200 million shipment of methaqualone at Collingwood airport; largest drug seizure in Canadian history to date. Collingwood, Ontario
  • 1983 Robert Bourassa regains leadership of the Québec Liberal Party at Montréal convention; after Claude Ryan retires. Montréal, Québec
  • 1983 Baseball - Montreal Expos Tim Raines hits a three-run homer against the St. Louis Cardinals to become the First National League player to knock in at least 70 runs and steal at least 70 bases in one season. Montréal, Québec
  • 1983 Hockey - Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Black Hawks players score five goals in 1:24; sets NHL record for the fastest five goals by two teams. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1984 Trial of Colin Thatcher begins; charged with conspiracy to murder his wife Joanne. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1985 Jean Chrétien publishes his book, ‘Dans la Fosse aux Lions’ [In the Lions’ Den]. Montreal, Québec
  • 1986 University of Toronto professor John Polanyi named joint winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Stockholm, Sweden
  • 1986 René Lévesque publishes his book, ‘Attendez que je me Souvienne’ [Wait Until I Remember]. Montréal, Québec
  • 1987 Banking - Cabinet issues White Paper on the reform of Canada’s financial institutions. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1987 Strike - NFL Players Association ends its 14 day strike which began on September 22, 1987; failed to win significant gains after the owners fielded teams of non-union hockey players. North America
  • 1989 Record - Los Angeles Kings star Wayne Gretzky gets two goals and one assist against his former Edmonton Oilers teammates to pass Gordie Howe as the National Hockey League’s all time scoring leader, with 1,851 career points. His First goal ties the game in the third period, his second wins it 5-4 in overtime. Gretzky does it in his 780th NHL game; Howe’s record came in 1,767 games. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1992 Eric Hoskins wins 1992 Pearson Peace Medal, awarded by United Nations Association in Canada; 31 year old doctor gave humanitarian aid to postwar Iraq. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1992 Terrorism - Talwinder Singh Palmar killed in gun battle with Indian police; prime suspect in 1985 Air India Bombing; Sikh militant arrested in 1985 but later released. New Delhi, India
  • 1993 Federal Election - Campaign heats up as Kim Campbell’s Conservative campaign committee release series of TV ads attacking Jean Chrétien; critics charge the ads make fun of the Liberal leader’s face, partially paralysed by a childhood disease; ads later withdrawn.
  • 1996 Jean Grimaldi dies at age 98; father of the Québec music hall. Québec
  • 1999 Aboriginal - Scientists report bones of Kennewick Man, a skeleton found in Washington State, resemble Polynesians more than American Indians; challenge to view that First humans came to North America over Siberian land bridge. Kennewick, Washington
  • 2002 Crime - Man facing workplace discipline shoots and kills two co-workers at a provincial office in Kamloops, before taking his own life. Kamloops, BC
  • 2004 Bombardier and two joint-venture partners awarded a $424-million order to supply 20 high-speed trains to China’s Ministry of Railways. Beijing, China
  • 2010 Weather- Nor’easter batters Atlantic Canada; gale winds cause power outages and stop ferry services.