List of Facts for November 24

  • 1648 Military - 1000 Mohawks and Senecas go on the warpath against the Hurons. Québec
  • 1648 Barbe Meusnier First non-aboriginal child born in Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1758 French and Indian War - Col. John Forbe captures Fort Duquesne, after French blow it up and leave the area. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • 1807 Aboriginal - Joseph Brant dies at Wellington Square; Six Nations Mohawk Chief who fought on the British side in the American Revolutionary War, and led his people to settle in the Grand River Valley after the war; gave his name to the city of Brantford, Ontario; translated some scriptures and part of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer into Iroquois. Burlington, Ontario
  • 1807 Justice - Newly arrived Governor James Craig grants a royal pardon to Pierre Bédard and the rebels in the Lower Canada Assembly. Québec, Québec
  • 1815 Theatre - Molière’s play L’Amour Medecin presented in Montréal. Québec, Québec
  • 1817 Boundary - Commission awards Britain all islands in Passamaquoddy Bay, except Moose, Dudley, and Frederick; commission established under the Treaty of Ghent. Passamaquoddy Bay, New Brunswick
  • 1830 Matthew Whitworth-Aylmer, Lord Aylmer appointed Governor-in-Chief of Lower Canada; serves from February 4, 1831 to August 24, 1835. Québec, Québec
  • 1837 Lower Canada Rebellion - George Wetherall marches from Fort Chambly toward St-Charles, Québec; with British regular troops, many battle-hardened from Waterloo. Chambly, Québec
  • 1837 Lower Canada Rebellion - Patriote leader Amury Girod wants to march on Montréal, but after a council of war, the rebels decide to go on the defensive. St-Benoît, Québec
  • 1838 Lower Canada Rebellion - Governor John Colborne declares a new martial law, and 855 people are arrested in Lower Canada. Montréal, Québec
  • 1843 Responsible Government - Co-premiers Robert Baldwin & Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine demand that Governor-General Lord Metcalfe make no government appointments without consulting them; he refuses; all the Ministry resigns except Dominick Daly. Montréal, Québec
  • 1845 Assembly appoints commission to inquire into losses sustained in the Lower Canada Rebellion and Upper Canada Rebellions of 1837-38. Québec
  • 1852 Education - Opening of Toronto Normal School (teachers college). Toronto, Ontario
  • 1859 Rail - First train crosses the new Victoria Bridge to the south shore. Montréal, Québec
  • 1869 Red River Rebellion - Louis Riel calls a meeting of the inhabitants of Red River in Fort Garry and proposes the creation of provisional government to replace the Council of Assiniboia; the English Métis ask for time to study the idea; the cession of the territory to Canada is to take place December 1, 1869. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1890 Rail - Opening of the Cape Breton Railway; part of the Intercolonial Railway. Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
  • 1892 John Abbott resigns as Prime Minister of Canada due to ill health; Canada’s 3rd Prime Minister after John A. Macdonald’s death; took the post turned down by Hector Langevin, Charles Tupper and John Thompson; served from June 16, 1891; replaced by John Thompson, Canada’s fourth Prime Minister until his sudden death on December 12, 1894, after being sworn in as a member of the Imperial Privy Council by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1897 Football - Canadian Intercollegiate Rugby Football Union organized in Kingston. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1899 finance - Donald A. Smith, Lord Strathcona founds Royal Trust, with an office in the Bank of Montréal Savings Dept; only one full time staff, Albert Holt, and a borrowed desk. Montréal, Québec
  • 1905 William Mackenzie & Donald Mann complete the Canadian Northern Railway to Edmonton, as Alberta Lieutenant Governor George Bulyea drives home a silver spike at 2:15 pm. Mackenzie & Mann’s northern transcontinental will eventually run from Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton to Vancouver, but the effort bankrupts the pair, and in 1917 the CNoR becomes a part of the Canadian National Railways. Edmonton, Alberta See: Bulyea Drives Last Spike of Canadian Northern Railway
  • 1909 Saskatchewan Grain Growers’ Association petitions the provincial government to establish a system of publicly owned grain elevators. Saskatchewan
  • 1922 Crime - Edmonton City Council approves by-law outlawing swearing in public; after complaints from golfers on public courses. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1930 Weather - Winds of up to 100 kmh wreak havoc in Edmonton. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1934 Football - Sarnia Imperials beat the Regina Roughriders 20-12 in Grey Cup game. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1937 Governor General’s Literary Awards - Bertram Brooker wins First Governor General’s Literary Award for his 1936 novel, Think of The Earth; GG’s Award established by Canadian Authors Association; given annually to best Canadian books in several categories. Ontario
  • 1940 Second World War - First Canadian graduates of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) reach Britain. Britain See: Canada Hosts British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
  • 1944 Second World War - Conscription - Anti-conscription riots in Montréal and Québec City, after Mackenzie King’s announcement that 16,000 conscripts would be sent to England. Québec
  • 1944 Second World War - Royal Canadian Navy Flower Class corvette HMCS Shawinigan torpedoed and sunk by German U-boat U-1228 while on independant anti-submarine patrol in the Cabot Strait; all hands are lost, 91 perish. Newfoundland
  • 1951 Football - Ottawa Rough Riders beat Saskatchewan Roughriders 21-14 in 39th CFL Grey Cup game. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1956 Peacekeeping - First 20 Canadian peace-keeping troops arrive in Egypt during the Suez Crisis as part of UN multinational force created by Lester Pearson; the British object saying that the Canadian infantry uniforms are too much like the British; Canada agrees to provide service and supply troops only. Egypt
  • 1956 Football - Pop Ivy’s Edmonton Eskimos beat Montréal Alouettes 50-27 in the 44th CFL Grey Cup game. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1964 Village of Nakusp incorporated, with Joseph Parent as the first mayor. Nakusp, BC
  • 1968 Terrorism - FLQ terrorists let off two bombs in the Eaton store in downtown Montréal. Montréal, Québec
  • 1972 Elections - Québec creates 13 electoral districts in northern Québec for 1,500 Inuit and 3,500 Indians; a few non-aboriginals only. Québec
  • 1974 Football - Marv Levy’s Montréal Alouettes beat the Edmonton Eskimos 20-7 in the 62nd CFL Grey Cup game. Vancouver, BC
  • 1976 Trade - Canadian Wheat Board sells Poland up to 1.2 million metric tons of wheat, barley, oats over 3 years. Poland
  • 1977 Sterling Lyon sworn in as Premier of Manitoba, replacing Ed Schreyer. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1981 Metric Conversion - Metric Commission of Canada orders scales in 35,000 food stores in 21 regions across Canada altered from Imperial units to metric by Jan. 1982; advertising allowed only in metric after December 31, 1983 Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1983 Graham Spry dies in Ottawa; Manitoba/Saskatchewan journalist, diplomat and Canadian broadcasting pioneer. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1985 Football - Don Matthews’ British Columbia Lions defeat the Hamilton Tiger Cats 37-24 in the 73rd CFL Grey Cup game. Montréal, Québec
  • 1986 Hockey - Buffalo Sabres’ centre Gilbert Perreault announces his retirement after 17 seasons in the NHL. Buffalo, New York
  • 1991 Football - Rocket Ismail leads Adam Rita’s Toronto Argonauts to a 36-21 win over the Calgary Stampeders in the 79th CFL Grey Cup game; makes record 87 yard kickoff return in 4th quarter. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1992 Immigration - Commons passes new Immigration Act; limits right of appeal to adverse rulings; overhaul of 1976 version; some must move where skills are needed. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1993 Labour - Royal Bank announces it is cutting 3,000 positions; Royal Trust says it is cutting 1,100 jobs. Montréal, Québec
  • 1995 Rail - CN runs last train over the Beachburg subdivision from Pembroke (mile 89.20) to Nipissing (mile 215.36) through Algonquin Provincial Park; will abandon line the following year. Pembroke, Ontario
  • 1996 Football - Doug Flutie passes for 302 yards and runs for 98 and a touchdown as Don Matthews’ Toronto Argonauts beat the Edmonton Eskimos 43-37 in the 84th CFL Grey Cup game. Hamilton, Ontario
  • 1997 Law - Justice John Sopinka dies at age 64; born at Broderick, Saskatchewan March 19, 1933; 1960 LLB University of Toronto; practised law at Fasken & Calvin and as Counsel to and Senior Partner of Stikeman, Elliott; 1965-69 instructor, Bar Admission Course; 1974-84 lecturer at Osgoode Hall Law School and University of Toronto Law School; 1988 appointed Judge, Supreme Court of Canada; known as champion of rights of accused. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2002 Football - Montreal Alouettes defeat the Edmonton Eskimos 25-16 to win the CFL Grey Cup Toronto, Ontario
  • 2004 State Visit - Paul Martin visits Burkina Faso; Canada is investing $20 million in a Basic Education Plan to pump $140 million into building schools across the country. Burkina Faso
  • 2004 Forestry - Mercer International acquires the Celgar Pulp Company plant at Castlegar for US$210 million. Castlegar, BC
  • 2005 Politics - Opposition leader Stephen Harper moves a motion of no confidence in the government of Paul Martin; expected to topple the government and force a parliamentary election; passes Nov. 28. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2007 Antonio Lamer dies; born 1933; lawyer, jurist and 16th Chief Justice of Canada. Ottawa, Ontario