Today in History for March 9:
In 1541, Jean-Francois de la Rocque Roberval obtained authorization from France to take criminals to Canada to found a colony.
In 1796, French general Napoleon Bonaparte married Josephine de Beauharnais (nee Tascher de la Pagerie). They divorced in 1809.
The War of 1812 was triggered when the letters of British spy John Henry were read to the U.S. Congress.
In 1822, a patent for artificial teeth was granted to Charles Graham of New York City.
In 1824, Lower Canada, now Quebec, gave priests authority to provide a school for every 100 families.
In 1831, the French Foreign Legion was founded.
In 1855, the first train crossed the suspension bridge at Niagara Falls, the day after it had been declared open.
In 1858, Gustavus Dows opened the first soda fountain in Lowell, Mass.
In 1858, Albert Potts of Philadelphia patented the street mailbox.
In 1870, the British Columbia legislature passed a resolution to send a delegation to Ottawa to negotiate joining Confederation.
In 1907, a Hamilton, Ont., news dealer was fined $30 for selling American newspapers on a Sunday.
In 1918, the Russian capital was moved from Petrograd, now St. Petersburg, to Moscow.
In 1928, the first telephone call between Vancouver and London, England, was made.
In 1929, Alberta premier J. E. Brownlee refused to introduce a law for an eight-hour day, saying it was unfair to farmers.
In 1932, China's last emperor, Henry Pu Yi, was installed by Japanese occupation forces as the ruler of Manchuria.
In 1934, Yuri Gagarin, the Soviet cosmonaut who in 1961 became the first man to travel in space, was born. He died in a plane crash in 1968, seven years after his space flight.
In 1945, U.S. Air Force Superfortress bombers, 279 in number, dropped tonnes of incendiary bombs on Tokyo. The bombing caused a massive fire storm which destroyed thousands of homes and killed about 120,000 people, making it the most deadly raid of the war, including the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Osaka, Kobe and Nagoya were devastated by similar raids in the ensuing days.
In 1951, Parliament approved the incorporation of TransCanada Pipelines Ltd. The company was to build and operate a 5,000-km gas pipeline system from Alberta's oilfields to Montreal.
In 1959, Mattel's Barbie doll, created by Ruth Handler, made its public debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York.
In 1961, the Soviet Union sent the first dog into space aboard "Sputnik."
In 1970, Canada's first Arctic Winter Games were officially opened in Yellowknife by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. The Games, held every two years, are open to residents of the Canadian North, Alaska and Greenland. Events include hockey, curling, badminton, volleyball, and aboriginal activities such as dog-sledding and drum-dancing.
In 1977, Canada and the U.S. announced a ban on saccharin as a food and drug sweetener, after tests showed it caused cancer in laboratory rats.
In 1981, Dan Rather succeeded the retired Walter Cronkite as anchor of the "The CBS Evening News."
In 1987, Chrysler agreed to buy American Motors for US$1.5 billion.
In 1992, former Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin died at age 78.
In 1993, under new immigration guidelines, domestic violence was included as acceptable grounds to claim refugee status by women.
In 1995, Elvis Stojko won his second consecutive world figure skating championship, in Birmingham, England.
In 1995, a dispute between Canada and the European Union over turbot quotas escalated when Canadian patrol vessels seized a Spanish trawler. The "Estai" was accused of fishing illegally in waters just outside Canada's 200-nautical-mile limit and was brought back to port in St. John's, Nfld. The dispute was resolved in April when Canada gave up some of its 16,300-tonne quota in return for a commitment for tougher enforcement measures from the European Union.
In 1996, George Burns, the wry, cigar-chomping comic whose 90-year career spanned eras from vaudeville to television, died at the age of 100.
In 1999, Health Canada approved Pfizer's anti-impotence drug Viagra after a two-year safety review.
In 2005, Conservative MPs staged the largest abstention in Canadian parliamentary history, sitting in the House of Commons without casting a single vote as Liberals passed their budget over the objections of the BQ and the NDP.
In 2011, the Maple Leaf Tartan was named an official national symbol. The red, green and yellow plaid has been around for four decades and will be up there with the Maple Leaf and the Coat of Arms as national emblems.
In 2011, the space shuttle Discovery ended its career as the world's most flown spaceship, returning from orbit after a two-week stint at the International Space Station. In 27 years, NASA's oldest shuttle had flown 39 missions, 238.17 million kilometres, 5,830 orbits of Earth, and spent 365 days in space. Discovery is on display at the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chanitlly, Va.
In 2012, hockey trailblazer Herb Carnegie died in a Toronto hospital at age 92. Many said Carnegie should have been the Jackie Robinson on the NHL. He took up hockey and earned a reputation as a play-making centre, but no Blacks played in the NHL when he started his playing career. He and his older brother, Ossie, made it to the then Quebec Provincial League, with Herb winning multiple MVP awards with the Sherbrooke Saints.
In 2018, Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould announced the birth of her days-old son, becoming the first federal cabinet minister to give birth while in office.
In 2018, a B.C. judge rejected a challenge of Canada's polygamy laws that was launched after two men were found guilty of the offence in British Columbia. Winston Blackmore and James Oler were found guilty in B.C. Supreme Court last July of having multiple wives, but a lawyer for Blackmore argued the law infringes on the charter right to freedom of religion and expression.
In 2018, Martin Shkreli, the smirking pharmaceutical executive dubbed "Pharma Bro" who was vilified for jacking up the price of a lifesaving HIV drug, was sentenced to seven years in prison for defrauding investors in two failed hedge funds.
In 2018, cross-country skier Brian McKeever carried the Canadian Flag at the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Paralympic Games. (Canada finished third overall with a national record 28 medals (8 gold, 4 silver, 16 bronze), eclipsing the previous high of 19 from the 2010 Vancouver Games.)
In 2018, 31-year veteran Brenda Lucki was named the Mountie's new commissioner, the first woman to ever be permanently appointed to lead the RCMP.
In 2020, the actor who played the priest in the 1973 horror classic "The Exorcist'' passed away. Max von Sydow was 90.
In 2020, stock markets on Bay and Wall streets took a nosedive on jitters about the novel coronavirus and collapsing oil prices. Alarm spread through markets in Asia, then Europe, then North America, triggering the first automatic halt in trading on Wall Street in more than two decades.
In 2020, the interim report into the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max jet revealed software designed to stop an aerodynamic stall pushed the plane's nose down as the pilots struggled to control the jet. All 157 people aboard, including 18 Canadians, died March 10th 2019 when the jet slammed into the ground shortly after takeoff.
In 2020, Canada recorded its first COVID-19 death. B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry confirmed a man in his 80s with pre-existing conditions died at the Lynn Valley care centre in North Vancouver.
In 2020, the federal government introduced legislation to impose a blanket ban on causing a child to undergo therapy aimed at altering their sexual orientation or gender identity. The bill would also make it a criminal offence to cause an adult to undergo so-called "conversion therapy" against their will.
In 2021, Golf Canada cancelled the RBC Canadian Open for the second year in a row. The PGA Tour event had been slated to run from June 9th to the 13th at St. George's Golf and Country Club in Toronto. It was cancelled for what was termed "pandemic-related logistical challenges."
In 2022, the NHL signed its first Canadian sports betting partnership. It teamed up with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation in a multi-year partnership.
In 2023, a Federal Court judge approved a $2.8-billion settlement agreement for 325 First Nations whose members went to residential day schools. Justice Ann Marie McDonald said the settlement is intended to help take steps to reverse the losses of language, culture and heritage through an Indigenous-led not-for-profit body. The federal government originally reached the settlement with the plaintiffs in January, but the Federal Court also needed to approve the agreement.
In 2024, an internal RCMP review of the force's response to Freedom Convoy protests in early 2022 described efforts to mobilize officers in Ottawa as "chaotic." It also called out a lack of proper equipment, inadequate training and poor intelligence co-ordination. The report found some officers at the scene of an Alberta blockade were unaware of threats to harm police until after the episode ended. It said the federal government's demands for hourly briefings during the upheaval left no time for intelligence units to collect the most up-to-date information.
In 2024, Canada's largest First Nations police service suspended its chief over allegations of misconduct. The Nishnawbe Aski police board of directors said an independent investigation had been launched into allegations against Chief Roland Morrison. It said Morrison would be suspended with pay until the investigation wraps up.
In 2024, Sweden announced it would resume funding to the United Nations agency for Palestinians. Sweden's funding decision followed similar moves made by the European Union and Canada as the UN agency known as UNRWA warned it could collapse, leaving the people of Gaza in a more desperate situation.
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The Canadian Press
