Today, April 11, in Canadian History

Today in 1807, successful businessman Ezekiel Hart, who was elected to the Assembly of Lower Canada for Trois-Rivières in a by-election on January 21, was told he could not take his seat in the Assembly or vote on any issues as Jews and Roman Catholics were not allowed to be members of Parliament in Britain or the colonies.

He was subsequently elected to the Assembly two more times and each time was not allowed to sit or vote.

Today, April 7, in Canadian History

Today in 1868, MP and a Father of Confederation, D'Arcy McGee, was shot in the neck and killed by an assassin outside of Trotter's Boarding House on Sparks Street, where he stayed when in Ottawa. He was returning from Parliament Hill around 1 am after a late night session.

It is thought that McGee was killed by a Fenian for his anti-Fenian views. Within 24 hours, James Patrick Whelan, a suspected Fenian, was arrested for the murder. He later was hung for the crime.

Today, April 6, in Canadian History

Today in 1912 the Manitoba, which became a province of Canada on July 15, 1870, had it's provincial boundary increased to where it presently stands.

Today, April 5, in Canadian History

Today in 1908 Edmonton put Canada's 1st dial telephones for general use in Canada into service. Now, 110 years later, they are coming out with curved screen cell phones and land lines are not widely used.

The Bell Homestead website has a very interesting, photo filled page on the history of the telephone.

Today, April 4, in Canadian History

Today in 1881 the second Canadian census was taken. It showed Canada with a population of 4,324,810 with 2,188,854 men and 2,135,956 women.

The country grew by 17.2% in the 10 years since the first census was taken in 1871. Then Canada had a population of 3,689,257, a growth of 635,553 people.

Today, April 3, in Canadian History

Today in 1907, the Saskatchewan government passed the "Married Woman's Property Act" to grant married women in Saskatchewan the same legal capacity as men.

Agnes Macphail Becomes First Woman Elected to House of Commons, 1921

Today in 1921, in the first Canadian election in which all women were allowed to vote, Agnes Macphail became the first woman to be elected as Minister of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons in Ottawa. She represented the riding of Grey South East until she was defeated in the 1940 federal election.

As a member of the United Farmers of Ontario party, Agnes originally planned to represent the farmers of her riding but decided to take up the cause for the rights of miners, immigrants, and of course women.

In 1923, after a prison riot in Kingston, Agnes went to investigate and was astounded by the poor conditions. It became one of her greatest accomplishments that after arguing years for change, from one of punishment, to one of reform and education in the Canadian penal system which also included a reduction of corporal punishment, that in 1939 the Penitentiary Bill finally recommended 88 changes to the penal system

Agnes Macphail passed away on February 13, 1954.

Canada's First Electric Car Unveiled 1893

Today electric cars are becoming the rage in North America but in this date in 1893, William Still and his patent lawyer Frederick Fetherstonaugh (pictured below) introduced Canada to the countries very first electric car. It also is noteworthy of being just the second car produced in Canada.

Known as the "Still" electric car, named for the inventor, it could travel 15 miles (24 km) between charges. As steam powered cars were considered too dangerous with all the high pressures involved and the gasoline engine was still in it's infancy and was noisy and smelly, the electric car looked as if it were the future of the automobile industry.

The car was built in Toronto at John Dixon’s carriage works located at Bay and Temperance Streets. Due to it's success, a group of businessmen bought into the car and created the Canadian Motor Syndicate. By 1902, improvements to the gasoline engine as far as smell, noise and power put the company out of business.

Fetherstonaugh happily drove his original model for 15 years. What happened to it or any other model car the company produced is unknown.

Queen Victoria's Daughter Princess Louise and Canada

Today in 1939, Princess Louise, the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, died in England at the age of 91.

When she was 23 she married John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne who was at the time a member of Parliament in the UK. As his position as the Queen’s son-in-law limited his activities in the UK, in 1878 he was appointed the Governor General of Canada.

In a speech he said of Princess Louise being in Canada, “Although the sons of the sovereign have before this day visited these shores, this is the first occasion on which a daughter of the reigning house has seen the New World.” and went on to add “The presence of the Princess in Canada… will arrest our drifting into the Republic of the United States.”

The couple were well liked by Canadians, and the two enjoyed popular Canadian activities such as skating on the Rideau Canal and held tobogganing and curling parties at Rideau Hall, which is the official residence of the governor general.

So what is her significance to Canada besides being the wife of the Governor General? Her full name was Princess Louise Caroline Alberta and while she was alive, the newly formed Province of Alberta was named after her, as was beautiful Lake Louise in Banff National Park.

T. Eaton Company's First Santa Claus Parade, 1905

Today in 1905 the T Eaton Company held it's first Santa Claus Parade which took place in Toronto.

Santa's arrival that first year was actually not a parade but kids were invited to come to watch as Santa walked with the Eaton family from where he arrived at Union Station, to their flagship Eaton Store. Thousands showed up.

It was the following year that trumpeters and others were added to the event. By 1917 seven floats also heralded his arrival to town.

Eaton's sponsored the parade up until 1981 when it pulled it's funding. fearing the event would die, twenty firms got together to sponsor the 1982 parade and save the event, which is almost twenty years old than the famous Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

Since 1905 there has never been a year that the Santa Claus parade has not taken place.

Ho Ho Ho!

"The Canada Spelling Book"" Becomes First Canadian Copyrighted Book Published 1840

Today in 1840, Alexander Davidson published the first Canadian copyrighted book, The Canada Spelling Book. Davidson did not like the amount of use American textbooks had in Canadian schools and in 1828 he commented that nine out of every ten books came from the United States.

That same year in a note to George Hillier, the civil secretary at York, he wrote “for several years past no English Books could be procured . . . so that I am led to believe that the supply from England is precarious, and not at all equal to the growing demands of the Province.” His note continued that "unless some proper elementary books be got into general circulation, common school education will continue to be little better than a mere farce, and an useless expenditure of public money.”

He also thought that spelling-books from England were “to us necessarily defective, not being suited to our scenery and other localities.” The lessons in his speller were illustrated by references to Canadian places, and the necessary connection between religion and education was maintained by ensuring that each reading lesson would “subserve the interests of religion and morality.” It was common for spellers of the day to provide moral lessons.

Davidson passed away on 23 Feb. 1856 at the American Hotel in St Catharines at the age of 62. The St. Catharines Journal wrote in his obituary that “He was a man of superior talent, as many articles of his plainly demonstrated: could grapple with most subjects, and evinced an acute and logical mind in their treatment.”

The First Welland Canal Completed in 1829

Today in 1824 George Keefer, the president of the Welland Canal Company, made a ceremonial first turning of the sod to signal the start of the building of the first Welland Canal which would bypass Niagara Falls and provide a waterway between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

Five years to the day, November 30, 1829, the canal opened for business with two lake schooners, the Annie and Jane of York, and the R.H. Boughton of Youngston, New York made the first 2 day trip through the 40 locks to Lake Erie.

Three more Welland Canals were built as construction materials and technology improved through the years. The fourth Welland Canal was completed in 1932.

Canada's First Public Radio Broadcast

Today in 1927 CKUA radio signed on air from the University of Alberta in Edmonton with a 500 watt signal making it Canada's first public broadcaster. With a $700 grant, two engineering students used two windmill towers to broadcast the signal.

The stations first announcer and program director for the station was H.P. Brown.

The station is still in operation and has many firsts including broadcasting the play by play of a  Western football game in 1928 and in 1996, the first Canadian station to stream online.

The 1929 Newfoundland Tsunami

Today in 1929. an earthquake which measured 7.2 on the Richter Scale erupted under water 65 kilometres south of Newfoundland's Burin Peninsula. The quake created a Tsunami wave which struck the Burin Peninsula in the evening at about 40 km/hr.

27 people were killed or drowned by the wave in Newfoundland plus another person in Nova Scotia. Hundreds of people were left homeless and many left destitute as their way of life was destroyed. Schooners and other vessels were swept out to sea. The wave destroyed stages, flakes, damaged wharves and fish stores. Approximately 127,000 kilograms of salt cod that were to be used for winter food and sale to other parts of the world were washed away.

To make matters even worse, all communication lines to the outside world were lost so nobody outside of Burin knew of the disaster until the SS Portia made a scheduled stop in the harbour three days later.

The ship's captain, Westbury Kean told of the sight that greeted them when then entered the harbour: “Imagine our wonder and surprise on turning the point of the channel to be met by a large store drifting slowly along the shore seaward; then a short distance another store or a dwelling house until 9 buildings were counted, strewn along the shore before the harbour was reached. On reaching the harbour even a worse spectacle greeted the eyes.”

The loss in dollars was estimated at $1 million which converts to $13.8 million in 2017 dollars.

Canadian William Hall Becomes First Black Person to be Awarded Victoria Cross

Today in 1857, former slave William Hall was awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery for his actions during the Relief of Lucknow, India during an attempt by mutineers to overthrow British Rule. His ship, The HMS Shannon, despite the destruction on board, fired it's cannon until the only one remained, that of William Hall and Lieutenant Thomas Young.

Young was badly injured, but he and Hall continued working the gun, firing, reloading, and firing again until they finally triggered the charge that opened the walls. “I remember,” Hall is quoted as saying, “that after each round we ran our gun forward, until at last my gun’s crew were actually in danger of being hurt by splinters of brick and stone torn by the round shot from the walls we were bombarding.”

Captain Peel recommended William Hall and Thomas Young for the Victoria Cross, in recognition of their “gallant conduct at a twenty-four-pounder gun... at Lucknow on the 16th November 1857”.

Hall received his Victoria Cross aboard HMS Donegal in Queenstown Harbour, Ireland, on October 28, 1859.

His Victoria Cross was the first one ever awarded to a black man, a sailor and a Nova Scotian. He was the third Canadian to be awarded the honour.

First International Telegraph Office Opens in Halifax Ending Pony Express Service

Today in 1849, after telegraph lines are completed in Halifax which connected Europe, the US and Newfoundland, the first telegraph office there opened for service. This brought about an end to the Nova Scotia Pony Express.

The Pony Express only missed only one ride from it's first one from Halifax to Saint John on February 21, 1849 (about 27 hours) till it's last ride which left Halifax at dusk on November 8, 1849 and arrived the next Morning in Sackville

Canada Launches World's First Non-military Use Communications Satellite

Today in 1972, NASA launched Canada's Anik A1 communications satellite (Anik is the Inuit word for 'little brother') from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It was the worlds first non-military use communications ever launched.

It was designed to fly in a geostationary orbit, in which the satellite orbits the earth at the same speed as the earth rotates so it maintains the same location over land at all times. The Anik A1 was designed to relay telephone calls, data and television signals on 12 channels for a period of seven years but was not retired from operation till July 15, 1982.

Black Woman Viola Desmond Arrested for Sitting in Movie Theatre's White section

Today in 1946, black businesswoman Viola Desmond was on route to Sydney, Nova Scotia from Halifax when her car broke down in New Glasgow. Having a few hours to kill, she decided to take in a movie at the Roseland Theater.

Desmond requested a ticket for a seat on the main floor. The ticket seller handed Desmond a ticket to the balcony instead, the seating generally reserved for non-White customers. Walking into the main floor seating area, she was challenged by the ticket-taker, who told her that her ticket was for an upstairs seat, where she would have to move. 

Thinking that a mistake had been made, Desmond returned to the cashier and asked her to exchange the ticket for one downstairs. The cashier refused, saying, “I'm sorry but I'm not permitted to sell downstairs tickets to you people.”

Realizing that the cashier meant black people, and that blacks were relegated to the balcony, Viola took a seat in the 'whites only' main floor. When the manager told her she had to leave, she refused. A police officer was called in and Viola was dragged away injuring her hip and knee.

Although she ultimately lost her case before a judge and was fined $26 ($6 went to the movie theaters manager), it was the start of the civil rights movement in the Maritimes. In 2011 Canada Post issued a stamp in her honour for Black History Month and on March 8, 2016 it was announced that she would be the first Canadian woman to appear on a Canadian banknote. The new $10 bill will be issued in 2018.

The White Hurricane of 1913

Today in 1913 what came to be known as the White Hurricane began to blow on the Great Lakes. When it was over three days later, twelve ships had sunk, thirty four more were cripple and over 300 people drowned. At it's peak the storm 140 km per hour winds (85 mph) winds created 10 meter (32 feet) high waves.

Beverley McLachlin Becomes First Woman Appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada

Today in 1999, Beverley McLachlin became the first women to be appointed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. She was officially sworn in on January 7, 2000 and has announced she will retire on December 15, 2017, nine months before the mandatory retirement age of 75.