Highlights of the day

  • 1671 New France Intendant Jean Talon orders bachelors to marry Filles du Roy or lose hunting and trading rights.
  • 1818 Britain and US sign Treaty of London, fixing border from Lake of Woods to the Rockies along the 49th parallel.
  • 1903 Alaska Boundary tribunal supports US claim; Canadian members refuse to sign lopsided award.

List of Facts for October 20

  • 1611 Henry Hudson’s mutineers on board the Discovery reach London in a half-starved condition; all the ringleaders including Juet had died; Bylot, Syms, Edward Wilson, Prickett, Matheus, Bond, Clements and Motter are questioned, and a recommendation made that they be hanged; the trial does not take place until 1618, and the Admiralty court finds the survivors not guilty. Gravesend, England
  • 1629 Samuel de Champlain taken to London by the Kirke brothers after the capture of Québec; left Tadoussac, Québec September 14, 1629; he petitions the English to return New France to the Company of 100 Associates and is refused; he will be released and sent to Dieppe, France on November 30, 1629; the Kirkes occupy Québec until 1632. London, England
  • 1634 Jesuit priest Jean de Bre makes his way to the Petun Indian nation in southwestern Ontario. Ontario
  • 1659 Religion - Arrival of the First Ursulines (Grey Nuns or Soeurs Grises) at Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1670 Marriage - Intendant Jean Talon awards gift of 20 livres to women married at 16, men married at 20. Québec, Québec
  • 1671 Marriage - Jean Talon, the Intendant of New France, orders the colony’s bachelors to marry the women brought over from France - the so-called Filles du Roy - or lose their fishing, hunting and fur-trading rights. Québec, Québec
  • 1686 Fire destroys la Maison des Ursulines (Grey Nuns or Soeurs Grises) at Québec. Québec, Québec
  • 1712 Francis Nicholson appointed Governor of Nova Scotia and Placentia (Newfoundland); serves to October 18, 1714. Nova Scotia
  • 1758 Military - Marquis de Montcalm promoted to Lieutenant-General and Commander-in-Chief of all French forces in Canada. Québec, Québec
  • 1818 Border - Britain and the US sign the Treaty of London, agreeing that their mutual boundary should run westward from the Lake of Woods (in Minnesota), along the 49th parallel of north latitude to the Rocky Mountains; they agree to joint control of the Oregon country; they also sign a North American Fishing Convention which restores US fishing and curing rights around the Gulf of St. Lawrence. London, England
  • 1839 Lord Sydenham sworn in as Governor General of British North America, replacing Lord Durham; will persuade Upper Canada to consent to a union with Lower Canada in a united province; will draft the Union Act; his policy of anglicization wins him the hatred of the French Canadians. Québec, Québec
  • 1854 Lewis Drummond introduces bill to abolish seignorial tenure in Canada East; 160 seigneurs held title to land farmed by 72,000 habitants. Québec
  • 1855 Capital - Toronto serves in rotation as the new provincial capital of the Province of Canada 1855-59; until Ottawa becomes the capital in 1859. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1864 Fenian Raids - Canadian government calls out militia on rumours of Fenian attacks. Montréal, Québec
  • 1865 Capital - Queen Victoria issues a Royal Proclamation fixing Ottawa as the permanent seat of the government of the Province of Canada; in advance of Confederation. Windsor, England
  • 1871 George-Étienne Cartier’s Militia General Order Number 24 authorizes the formation of two batteries of garrison artillery to provide for the ‘care, protection and maintenance of forts, magazines, armaments and warlike stores recently or about to be handed over [by Great Britain] to the Canadian Government in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec’. These batteries formed the basis for the future Royal Canadian Artillery. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1881 Fred Stimson registers his Bar U brand in the NWT. Battleford, Saskatchewan
  • 1884 Media - First issue of newspaper La Presse. Montréal, Québec
  • 1887 Premiers Conference - Québec Premier Honoré Mercier hosts First Interprovincial Premiers Conference: the five premiers adopt 21 resolutions for free trade with the US; John A. Macdonald is invited, but refuses to attend. Québec, Québec
  • 1887 Lewis Wallbridge dies in Winnipeg; last Speaker of the Assembly of the Province of Canada. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1897 Kootenay Coal Company incorporated federally; headquartered in Montréal, James Baker, president and George Cox, vice-president. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1899 Alaska Boundary Crisis - Britain and US agree on provisional boundary between Alaska and Canada after two years of talks; protests from Canadians follow, and issue referred to an international tribunal in 1903. Washington, DC
  • 1902 First] train of the Calgary and Edmonton Railway rolls into Edmonton on the rails of the Edmonton, Yukon and Pacific Railway; crosses over the North Saskatchewan River on the Low Level Bridge from Strathcona, Alberta. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1903 Alaska Boundary Dispute - Joint High Commission issues Canada/Alaska boundary award, the commissioners voting 4-2 to support the US claim for a boundary running behind the heads of the inlets, but agreeing to equal distribution of 4 islands at the mouth of the Portland Canal; the British commissioner, Lord Alverstone, Lord Chief Justice of England, breaks the deadlock, but the two Canadian members, A. B. Aylesworth and Sir Louis Jetté, refuse to sign the lopsided award, and return to Ottawa; the award dismays Canadians, and leads to a determination to protect Canada’s own interests through the creation of the Department of External Affairs. Washington, DC
  • 1905 Granby Consolidated blows in Nos. 7 and 8 furnaces at Grand Forks smelter. Grand Forks, BC
  • 1909 Rail - British Columbia Conservative government announces its Railway Policy, granting the Kettle Valley Railway a $5,000 per mile subsidy for a 150-mile portion of its project, a tax break, and a free right-of-way across crown lands. Victoria, BC
  • 1914 Rail - The Vancouver, Victoria & Eastern Railway completes its connection from Princeton to the Kettle Valley Railway at Brookmere, BC. Princeton, BC
  • 1915 Dr. Robert Brett installed as Lieutenant Governor of Alberta; serves to October 29, 1925. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1916 William Martin sworn in as Premier of Saskatchewan, replacing Walter Scott. Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 1919 Ontario Election - Ernest Drury leads United Farmers of Ontario in defeat of the Conservative government under William Hearst in the provincial election; forms coalition government with labour and independent members and works toward rural electrification and better roads and education. The UFO was founded in March, 1914 as an educational and lobbying organization of rural co-operatives and grew to have over 50,000 members; branches included the United Farm Women and the United Farm Young People. Ontario
  • 1920 Prohibition - British Columbia voters say yes to government control and sale of liquor, rather than prohibition. BC
  • 1923 Communications - Royal Canadian Corps of Signals exchanges northern Canada’s First wireless messages from Dawson. Dawson, Yukon
  • 1925 Crime - John Ward and accomplice rob the Imperial Bank of Commerce in Creston, BC
  • 1940 Military - HMS Windflower commissioned into the Royal Navy with a Canadian crew; the first corvette built in Canada, she is turned over to the RCN in 1941. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1949 Taxation - Government announces $87 million budget surplus; abolishes sales tax on heating oil. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1951 Football - Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh attend an Edmonton Eskimos home game. Edmonton, Alberta (later Queen Elizabeth II)
  • 1953 Media - Canada’s First privately-owned television station goes into operation in Sudbury. Sudbury, Ontario
  • 1956 Space - Canada launches First rockets to examine weather and ionosphere. Churchill, Manitoba
  • 1956 Football - Montreal Alouettes crush Hamilton Tiger Cats 82-14 in a CFL game. Montreal, Québec
  • 1960 Education - John Diefenbaker opens Sir John A. Macdonald Hall, new law school of Queen’ s University. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1961 Transport - Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau announces that Montreal will have its own subway system, Le Métro, in 1966. Montreal, Québec
  • 1964 Montreal’s Mad Dog Vachon beats Verne Gagne, to become National Wrestling Association (NWA) champion. Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • 1965 Hockey - Detroit Red Wings’ Gordie Howe scores two goals, a short-hander and the game-winner, and assists on one other, to lead the NHL All-Stars in a 5-2 win over the Montréal Canadiens; breaks the All-Star Game record for goals with the 8th and 9th of his career; last pre-season All-Star Game played in the NHL. Montréal, Québec
  • 1965 Education - Ontario & Québec Premiers John Robarts and Jean Lesage lay two cornerstones, one in English and other in French, for Champlain College, at Trent University. Peterborough, Ontario
  • 1967 Strike - United Auto Workers end 44-day strike with Ford Motor Company of Canada. Oakville, Ontario
  • 1968 Hockey - Montreal Canadiens’ Jean Béliveau scores his 500th NHL goal. Montreal, Québec
  • 1970 October Crisis - Funeral held for Québec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte, slain by FLQ terrorists. Montréal, Québec
  • 1973 Marriage - Canadian actor William Shatner, of Star Trek fame, marries Marcy Lafferty. Montréal, Québec
  • 1976 State Visit - Pierre Trudeau starts six-day trip to Japan. Japan
  • 1986 Saskatchewan Election - Grant Devine’s PCs win a second consecutive majority in the provincil election. Saskatchewan
  • 1988 Aboriginal - RCMP ends the Lubicon Lake Indian blockade at Little Buffalo; set up to protest unresolved land claims. Little Buffalo Reserve, Alberta
  • 1992 Baseball - Toronto Blue Jays beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2 in Game 3 of the World Series, taking a 2-1 lead in games; in the pre-game ceremony at SkyDome, the Marines Corps color guard presents the Canadian flag correctly, two days after another guard held the banner upside-down before Game 2 in Atlanta; First World Series game played outside the USA. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1993 Baseball - Toronto Blue Jays beat Mitch Williams and the Phillies relief corps, scoring 6 runs in the 8th inning to overcome a 14-9 deficit; Toronto reliever Duane Ward retires all 4 batters he faces in Toronto’s 15-14 win; highest scoring game in World Series and post season history, with most runs scored by both teams (29), the most bases by both teams (85), and the most runs scored in the First 4 games of series (65); also the longest ever game, at 4 hours, 14 minutes. Some say it was the ugliest game in World Series history. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • 1995 Politics - Ontario social services minister David Tsubouchi, overseeing cuts to the province’s welfare system, publishes a welfare diet shopping list that includes pasta without sauce, bread without butter, and 69-cent-per-can tuna. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1995 Media - Nova Scotia-born journalist Robert MacNeil co-hosts his last McNeil-Lehrer Newshour on PBS; Jim Lehrer continues the show solo. New York, New York
  • 1996 Hockey - NHL Tampa Bay Lightning open their new building, the Ice Palace, with a 5-2 victory over Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and the New York Rangers. Tampa, Florida
  • 2003 Disaster - Flood waters in southwestern British Columbia left at least two people dead. BC
  • 2003 Niagara - Kirk Jones, age 40, from Canton, Michigan, charged with mischief and unlawfully performing a stunt after he survives a 150-foot plunge over the Canadian side of Niagara Falls without protection; claims he was driven by depression, not a desire to become a daredevil; since 1901, 15 daredevils have taken the plunge in barrels or other devices, including a kayak and a personal watercraft, 10 survived, including a 7-year-old boy who went over in 1960 wearing a lifejacket. Niagara Falls, Ontario
  • 2004 Canadian Dollar closes at $US.8029, its first time above $US.80 since 1993. Canada
  • 2004 Taxation - British Columbia lowers its provincial sales tax from 7.5% to 7%. Victoria, BC
  • 2004 Rocky Mountain RailTours train leaves Nelson for Golden, BC; First passenger train to depart Nelson since January, 1964. Nelson, BC
  • 2006 Broadcasting - Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approves the sale of Quebec City talk radio station CHOI-FM to RNC Media. Gatineau, Quebec
  • 2008 Politics - Stéphane Dion resigns as Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, to take effect on the selection of his successor at a convention in May, 2009. Ottawa, Ontario