Highlights of the day

Rebellion of 1837 - Over 100 Rebels killed in Slaughter at St-Eustache.

  • 1837 End of Upper Canada Rebellion nears as Dr. Duncombe and 300 rebel followers disperse.
  • 1943 Major Paul Triquet wins Victoria Cross for bravery in capturing Casa Berardi, north of Moro.
  • 1992 Ralph Klein sworn in as Premier of Alberta, replacing Don Getty.

List of Facts for December 14

  • 1708 Philippe Costebelle, French Governor of Placentia, leads company of 170 men to attack St. John’s, Newfoundland; with Joseph de Brouillan. Placentia, Newfoundland
  • 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion - Dr. Charles Duncombe and his 300 rebel followers disperse as Col. Alan MacNab’s militia moves west from Hamilton. MacNab takes 500 prisoners from the surrounding area over the next few days, but frees most of them after approval from Governor Arthur; the most active rebels are later tried, and a number sentenced to death April 14, 1838; Six Nations warriors are recorded as having killed three rebel stragglers that day. Sodom, Ontario
  • 1837 Lower Canada Rebellion - Battle of St-Eustache - John Colborne leads 2,000 soldiers to the town of St-Eustache, in the County of Deux-Montagnes 31 km northwest of Montréal, and defeats a force of 400 rebels, led by Dr. Jean-Olivier Chénier and Amury Girod. Nearly 100 rebels are killed, including Chénier, in five hours of withering British cannon and grapeshot fire. Soldiers set fire to the church, and shoot any who tried to escape by jumping out windows; eighteen are taken prisoner and the village burned to the ground. St-Eustache, Québec
  • 1841 Transport - Samuel Cunard awarded 8 year contract to operate a fast stage coach service between Halifax and Pictou, Nova Scotia through Truro, Nova Scotia; required each trip to be completed within 17 hours, one way, with four horses per coach; given annual subsidy of £1550; to connect at Pictou with the steam packet boats running between Pictou and Québec, and at Halifax with boats running to England; line a link in the British Admiralty’s new London-Québec Royal Mail service. Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • 1855 Hockey - Game of ice hockey played by 2 military teams; shinny on ice. Kingston, Ontario
  • 1875 Marie-Anne Lagimodière (née Gaboury) dies at St-Boniface; First white woman resident in the West, and Louis Riel’s grandmother. St. Boniface, Manitoba
  • 1892 Adams Archibald dies; lawyer and politician; Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba 1870-1872. Manitoba
  • 1901 Environment - Opening of Yoho National Park, with land set aside in 1885. Yoho, BC
  • 1916 Education - Law - Québec bans women from entering the legal profession. Québec, Québec
  • 1929 Constitution - Mackenzie King signs an agreement transferring control of and revenue from Crown land, water, oil and other provincial natural resources to Manitoba and Alberta; under the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement; unlike other Canadian provinces, the prairie provinces did not receive control over mineral resources or Crown lands when they became provinces; agreement made with Saskatchewan and British Columbia the following year; BC a Crown colony when it joined Confederation, with control over its resources, but transferred most to federal jurisdiction when it handed over provincial railway lands to Ottawa in the 1880s. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1929 Hockey - Pit Lépine of the Montréal Canadiens scores 5 goals against the Ottawa Senators.
  • 1930 Music - Vancouver Bach Choir gives its first concert, singing JS Bach’s Christmas Oratorio; BC’s oldest community choir. Vancouver, BC
  • 1943 Second World War - Major Paul Triquet of the 22e Régiment wins a Victoria Cross for bravery in capturing Casa Berardi, north of Moro. Casa Berardi, Italy
  • 1948 Supreme Court of Canada lifts margarine ban. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1950 Korean War - Lieutenant-Colonel J. R. Stone and the 2nd Battalion of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) arrive in Yokohama en route to Korea; begin intensive training at Miryang, near Taegu after Communist China had intervened on the side of the North Koreans. Yokohama, Japan
  • 1951 Banking - Canada lifts all foreign exchange controls. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1955 Aboriginal - Gwen O’Soup becomes the First woman to be elected Chief in Canada; of the Key Nation north of Kamsack, Saskatchewan. Key Reserve, Saskatchewan
  • 1956 Politics - John Diefenbaker chosen as Progressive Conservative Party party leader on first ballot, replacing George Drew; wins 744 votes, to Donald Fleming’s 393 and Davie Fulton’s 117. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1957 Aviation - Opening of the new Québec City airport at l’Ancienne-Lorette. Québec, Québec
  • 1960 Justice - Government sets retirement age of Supreme Court of Canada judges at 75; effective March, 1961. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1960 Education - Ottawa University starts $31,500,000 expansion; $7 million hospital included. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1961 Claire Kirkland-Casgrain sworn in as Québec’s First female MNA; another new member is Pierre Laporte, later killed by FLQ terrorists. Québec, Québec
  • 1962 Religion - Remi De Roo ordained Roman Catholic bishop of Victoria; believer in social action and liberation theology; a founding member of the World Conference of Religions for Peace, and Chairman of the Human Rights Commission of British Columbia. Victoria, BC
  • 1964 Pearson Government invokes closure over the Flag Act, which will pass 163-78 the following morning, December 15, at 2:00 am. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1966 Rail - Canadian Pacific Railway authorized to abandon the Montréal and Ottawa line from Ottawa Union Station across the Interprovincial Bridge to Hull. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1966 Banking - Parliament passes Act to incorporate the Bank of British Columbia; opens July, 1968; Canada’s 10th chartered bank. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1967 Politics - Lester Pearson announces he will resign as Liberal leader, after Party selects a successor at an April 1968 conference. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1968 Terrorism - FLQ terrorists plant three bombs in Montréal; two disarmed, one explodes. Montréal, Québec
  • 1977 Baseball - Red Sox trade Chatham, Ontario born pitcher Fergie Jenkins to the Texas Rangers for John Poloni and cash. Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1982 Hockey - Marcel Dionne of the LA Kings scores his 500th goal against Washington; ninth NHLer to reach the 500 goal plateau. Los Angeles, California
  • 1983 Football - John Dee Bright dies; after retiring from the CFL in 1965, was a schoolteacher in Edmonton, Alberta until his death. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1987 Sport - Runner Ben Johnson named Canada’s Male Athlete of the Year. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1990 Trade - Canadian Wheat Board has $1 billion loss; bigger than total of all losses since founding in 1935; selling wheat for $40-50 a tonne less than it pays farmers. Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1992 Ralph Klein sworn in as Premier of Alberta, replacing Don Getty; chosen as PC Party leader December 5. Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1992 Boxing - Boxer Lennox Lewis informed he is the world heavyweight champion when Riddick Bowe is stripped of the title; the First British-born champion, Lewis moved to Canada as a boy, and boxed for Canada at the Seoul Olympics. Toronto, Ontario
  • 1993 Politics - Daniel Johnson Jr. acclaimed as leader of the Québec Liberal Party on resignation of Robert Bourassa; serves as Premier of Québec 1993-94; son of the late Québec premier Daniel Johnson and older brother of Québec premier Pierre-Marc Johnson; educated at the universities of Montréal, London and Harvard Business School; 1973 joined Power Corp.; 1978 Vice-President; 1981 Liberal MNA; Bourassa’s Minister of Industry and Commerce ; 1988 President of the Treasury Board; will lose September 12, 1994 election to Jacques Parizeau’s PQ. Québec, Québec
  • 1993 Black Montrealer Richard Barnabé beaten by 6 Montréal police officers. Montréal, Québec
  • 1994 Hockey - Wayne Gretzky’s All Stars complete a European Tour with a 5-2 record after an 8-5 win in Freiberg. Freiberg, Germany
  • 1996 Music - Ottawa diva Alanis Morissette makes the final stop of her 1996 tour at Richardson Field; after her last song, she celebrates the end of the tour by throwing whipped cream pies at her four band members. Honolulu, Hawaii
  • 1998 Minister of Finance Paul Martin prohibits Canada’s banks from merging. Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1999 Terrorism - US customs officials arrest 32-year old Algerian-born Montréal resident Ahmed Ressam at Port Angeles entry point after finding 150 pounds of bomb-making materials that included 200 pounds of urea, timing devices and a bottle of RDX, cyclotrimethylene trinitramine in the trunk of his car; headed for Los Angeles International Airport, where he planned to blow up the terminal on New Year’s Eve. Canadian authorities later issue an arrest warrant for his colleague Abdelmajed Dahoumane for possessing or making explosives. Dahoumane will be arrested in Algeria In October, 2000. In 2001 Ressam admits that he planned to detonate a bomb at the LA Int’l. Airport. Mokhtar Haouari provided fake ID and $3,000 to Ressam. Haouari will be sentenced to 24 years in prison in 2002. In 2005 Ressam will be sentenced to 22 years in prison. Seattle, Washington
  • 2005 Crime - Montreal police officer Valerie Gignac is killed by a paroled convict during a gun battle when she responded to a routine call in Laval, Québec; the 25-year-old woman officer died during an eight-hour armed standoff that ended with the arrest of a paroled convict. Montréal, Québec
  • 2006 Ed Stelmach sworn in as Premier of Alberta. Edmonton, Alberta