On This Day In Canadian History.... 

1684 - Governor Joseph-Antoine de La Barre leaves Montreal with 1,200 soldiers to battle the Iroquois; disastrous campaign leads to his recall in 1685

On This Day In Canadian History.... 

1921 - Frederick Banting first isolates insulin from the pancreatic duct of a dog; assisted by colleagues J. J. R. Macleod, Charles Best , and Bertram Collip at the University of Toronto; in January 1922, they administer insulin to 14 year old Leonard Thompson, and prove it an effective lifesaving treatment for diabetes in humans; in 1923, Banting and Macleod will be the first Canadians to win a Nobel Prize (they will share the award with Best and Collip); Banting does not patent the process, but assigns the rights to the University of Toronto, who will manufacture it through Connaught Laboratories.

On This Day In Canadian History.... 

1995 - John Labatt Ltd. sold to Belgian brewer lnterbrew SA, completing a takeover valued at C$2.7 billion; deal makes lnterbrew the world's third- largest brewery. 


In 2004, Interbrew merged with Brazilian brewer AmBev to form InBev, which at the time became the largest brewer in the world by volume, with a 13% global market share. 

In 2008, InBev further merged with American brewer Anheuser-Busch to form Anheuser-Busch InBev (abbreviated AB InBev).

On This Day In Canadian History.... 

1911 - Bobby Leach survives drop over Niagara Falls in a steel barrel; spends 23 weeks in hospital recovering from injuries.

On This Day In Canadian History.... 

1775 - Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester conscripts 6,000 French Canadians to fight off the potential American invasion.

1788 - Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester divides Upper Canada into four judicial districts: Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Nassau, and Hesse; judge and sheriff appointed for each.

On This Day In Canadian History.... 

1943 - Trans-Canada Air Lines inaugurates transatlantic service; forerunner of Air Canada

On This Day In Canadian History.... 

1885 - Trial of Louis Riel for treason begins at Regina, the capital of the North-West Territories; Riel wishes to plead not guilty, but his lawyers enter an insanity plea over his objections.

On This Day In Canadian History.... 

1821 - Start of excavation of the Lachine Canal, in Montreal 

On This Day In Canadian History.... 

1814 - Eight traitors captured during the War of 1812 are hanged at Ancaster, Upper Canada; two days later, their headless bodies are put on public display to discourage disloyalty to the British Crown.

On This Day In Canadian History.... 

1771 - Samuel Hearne and his Chipewyan guide, Matonabbee, reach the partially frozen Arctic Ocean after descending the Coppermine River to its mouth; first European to reach the Arctic overland.

On This Day In Canadian History.... 

1945 - US scientists explode first atomic bomb near White Sands, New Mexico, using Canadian U-235 refined in Port Hope, Ontario.

On This Day In Canadian History.... 

1982 - Montreal Expos host first All-Star Game played outside the US; the National League defeats the American League 4-1.

On This Day In Canadian History.... 

1812 - US Brigadier General William Hull crosses the Detroit River with 2,500 troops and occupies the town of Sandwich; first American invasion in the War of 1812; worried about a new alliance between the British and the Indians led by Tecumseh, Hull will soon retreat to Detroit, and surrenders to the British a month later.

On This Day In Canadian History.... 

1990 - Corporal Marcel Lemay, a 31 year old constable, killed during gun battle as 100 members of La Sûreté du Québec attack Mohawk barricades, put up in March to block expansion of a golf course on land they claim was never signed away. Mohawks at Chateauguay (Kahnawake) set up sympathy blockade at Mercier bridge leading into Montreal, causing massive traffic jams for thousands of south shore commuters.

On This Day In Canadian History.... 

1789 - Near Inuvik, NWT, Alexander Mackenzie reaches flats and marshes of the Mackenzie Delta, struggles to within a short distance of the Arctic Ocean before turning back.

On This Day In Canadian History.... 

1749 - Edward Cornwallis founds new settlement of Halifax; founded as a naval settlement to counter Louisburg.  

On This Day In Canadian History.... 

1924 - Winnipeg-born inventor and radio pioneer William Stevenson sends first photo across Atlantic by radio, to England.

On This Day In Canadian History.... 

1937 - Temperature at Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan reaches 45C (110F), the highest ever recorded in Canada.

On This Day In Canadian History.... 

1905 - House of Commons passes bill establishing Alberta and Saskatchewan as provinces

On This Day In Canadian History.... 

1797 - Law Society of Upper Canada is established