Highlights of the day

  • 1696 Pierre d’Iberville captures St. John’s, Newfoundland
  • 1829 “Annie and Jane” of York, and “R.H. Boughton” of Youngstown, first ships through new Welland Canal.
  • 1924 RCA sends first wire photos from London to NYC using William Stephenson’s Technology.

List of Facts for November 30

  • 1629 First recorded sighting of a comet by Europeans in Canada; Jesuit Relations.
  • 1629 Claude de La Tour awarded baronetcy of Nova Scotia when he changes his allegiance to England; prisoner in England since 1628. Britain
  • 1696 King William’s War - Pierre d’Iberville and Simon de Bonaventure capture St. John’s; troops loot and burn Kirke’s settlement at Ferryland on the other side of the peninsula. St. John’s, Newfoundland
  • 1782 American Revolutionary War - US and Britain agree on preliminary peace terms to end the war; hostilities had ended in October 1781, with the surrender of British Major General Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia; the treaty will be concluded September 3, 1783, in Charleston, South Carolina. Paris, France
  • 1813 William Black arrives off mouth of Columbia in the 26-gun Royal Navy sloop Raccoon; renames the North West Company’s Fort Astoria Fort George. Astoria, Oregon
  • 1824 Transport - Welland Canal Company president George Keefer turns the first sod to start building of the first Welland Canal joining Lake Erie and Lake Ontario; to compete with the new Erie Canal in New York State; will open November 30, 1829. Thorold, Ontario
  • 1829 Transport - Two lake schooners, the Annie and Jane of York, and the R.H. Boughton of Youngston, New York are the first ships to sail from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie through the newly opened Welland Canal. Port Colborne, Ontario
  • 1831 Education - Religion - Opening of St. Andrew’s, First Roman Catholic college in Atlantic Canada. St. Andrew’s, PEI
  • 1834 Astronomy - Full solar eclipse over what is now south-western Alberta. Alberta
  • 1835 Francis Bond Head appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada; serves during the Rebellion, from January 25, 1836 to March 23, 1838. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1837 Lower Canada Rebellion - Col. George Wetherall and his troops make a triumphal return to Montréal with 30 prisoners and the Liberty Pole that had been erected at Saint-Charles. Montréal, Québec
  • 1837 Lower Canada Rebellion - Patriote leaders Dr. Jean-Olivier Chénier and Amury Girod, with 200 men try to secure weapons at Oka, Québec.
  • 1847 Religion - Modeste Demers appointed First Roman Catholic Bishop of Vancouver Island. Victoria, BC
  • 1869 Red River Rebellion - William McDougall slips into the Red River Settlement at night; the following morning he will read the proclamation that officially declares the Hudson’s Bay Company territory’s annexation to Canada; also commission John Dennis to raise a police force. He had not yet been told that John A. Macdonald was refusing to pay the HBC until peaceful possession could be guaranteed. Fort Dufferin, Manitoba
  • 1877 Military - Royal Canadian Hussars (Montreal) originates as the 5th Provisional Regiment of Cavalry. Cookshire, Quebec
  • 1893 Communications - CPR telegraph line completed into Nelson. Nelson, BC
  • 1906 Rocky Mountain Cement Company incorporated; works at Blairmore, Alberta. Alberta
  • 1909 Rail - Canadian Northern Ontario Railway opens its line from Hawkesbury, Ontario to Ottawa. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1912 Football - Hamilton Alerts beat Toronto Argonauts 11-4 in 4th Grey Cup game; before 4,337 fans. Hamilton, Ontario
  • 1915 First World War - Canadian government publishes war casualties reported so far: 539 officers and 13,017 men killed in action. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1924 Communications - RCA sends First wireless transmission of photographs by radio from London to New York City using the wirephoto technology, invented by Winnipeger William Stephenson; takes 20 to 25 minutes per photo; Stephenson first showed the process was in London December 27, 1922; his work laid laid some of the groundwork for the invention of television. London, England
  • 1929 Football - Hamilton Tigers beat Regina Roughriders 14-3 in 17th Grey Cup game. Hamilton, Ontario
  • 1933 Arthur Currie dies; soldier, educator, born at Strathroy, Ontario, December 5, 1875. Currie was appointed commander of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade on September 29, 1914, commander of the 1st Canadian Division on September 13, 1915 and commander of the Canadian Corps on June 9, 1917; led Canada’s 100 days, beginning August 8, 1918 and lasting until November, 1918, the most successful of all Allied offensives during the war culminating in the rout of the Germans eastward; served as Principal of McGill University before his death. Montréal, Québec
  • 1940 Football - Ottawa Rough Riders beat Toronto Balmy Beach 8-2 in First of two game total points Grey Cup competition; Ottawa will win the second game and the 28th Grey Cup 12-5; the only two-game series ever played. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1942 Politics - Stanley Knowles sworn in as MP for Winnipeg North Centre; CCF/NDP Member for total of 37 years, 4 months, 21 days; to March 31, 1958; then from June 18, 1962, to July 9, 1984. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1942 Football - Toronto Hurricanes beat Winnipeg Bombers, 8-5 in 30th Grey Cup game. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1946 Football - Toronto Argonauts beat Winnipeg Blue Bombers 28-6 in 34th Grey Cup game. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1956 Postal - Post Office closes branch at Sanca, BC.
  • 1957 Football - Jim Trimble’s Hamilton Tiger Cats beat Winnipeg Blue Bombers 32-7 in 45th CFL Grey Cup game. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1962 Rail - Tank car accident releases chlorine gas in Cornwall; sends 100 residents of Cornwall to hospital. Cornwall, Ontario
  • 1963 Football - Ralph Sazio’s Hamilton Tiger Cats beat BC Lions 21-10 in 51st CFL Grey Cup game. Vancouver, BC
  • 1964 John Diefenbaker launches a filibuster to try to prevent the introduction of a new Canadian flag. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1967 Religion - Mary Lucas and Beverly Shanely ordained priests in the Anglican Church of Canada; First 6 women ordained a year after Synod approval. St. Catharines, Ontario
  • 1968 Football - Frank Clair’s Ottawa Rough Riders beat Calgary Stampeders 24-21 in 56th CFL Grey Cup game. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1969 Football - Russ Jackson throws record four touchdowns as Frank Clair’s Ottawa Rough Riders beat the Saskatchewan Roughriders 29-11 in 57th CFL Grey Cup game. Montréal, Québec
  • 1972 David Kootook found dead with other plane crash victims; he starved to death rather than eat human flesh of dead passengers. Yellowknife, NWT
  • 1981 Howard Pawley sworn in as Premier of Manitoba, replacing Sterling Lyon. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1983 Close of the 1st Session of the 32nd Parliament, 1st Session; longest session on record, at 1326 days; 591 sitting days of the House of Commons, 329 sitting days of the Senate; from April 14, 1980. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1986 Football - Al Bruno’s underdog Hamilton Tiger Cats defeat Edmonton Eskimos 39-15 in 74th CFL Grey Cup game. Vancouver, BC
  • 1992 Michael Ondaatje wins Governor-General’s Award for English Fiction for novel The English Patient; won Britain’s Booker Prize earlier. Montréal, Québec
  • 1993 Maureen McTeer’s Royal Commission on Reproductive Technologies issues its final report; calls for ban on cloning and on sale of fetal tissue. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1995 Cinema - Walt Disney Studios says it will open animation studios in Toronto and Vancouver. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1998 Québec Election - Lucien Bouchard wins Québec provincial election with reduced minority for the Parti Québecois; takes 76 of the province’s 125 seats despite winning only 42.7% of the vote vs. 43.7% for Jean Charest’s Liberals, who win 48 seats. Québec
  • 1999 Water - BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Québec reject national accord to prohibit export of fresh water. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2000 Space - Marc Garneau makes his third flight into orbit on NASA’s Space Shuttle. Cape Canaveral, Florida
  • 2003 Afghan War - Abdurahman Khadr returns to Canada from Afghanistan after being imprisoned by the Americans at Guantanamo Bay Canada
  • 2004 State Visit - US President George W. Bush arrives in Ottawa for a two-day visit; his first formal visit to the country since becoming President in 2001; designed to mend international fences in the wake of the Iraq war. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 2005 Montreal judge overturns the 14 release conditions imposed on convicted killer Karla Homolka. Montréal, Québec
  • 2007 Disaster - Fire destroys much of the beachfront shopping area in Wasaga Beach resort town. Wasaga Beach, Ontario