Outstanding facts in Canada
1995: October 30
The separatists of Québec (Canada) are defeated at the polls by a narrow margin. 50.6% of the citizens with the right to vote in the French-speaking province of Québec decide to continue to belong to Canada, compared to 49.4% who ask for independence. Never in its 128-year history has Canada suffered such a worrying threat to its unity. (26 years ago)
1992: December 17
The North American Free Trade Agreement (TLC its acronym in Spanish and NAFTA in English) is signed between the United States of America, Mexico and Canada. This agreement is part of the set of regional economic integration processes that have been developing in recent decades in the international economy. NAFTA has special consideration as it is the first time that a regional integration process has been carried out in which developed countries (United States and Canada) and a developing country (Mexico) participate. The Treaty consists of a preamble and 22 chapters grouped into 8 sections, with a Secretariat that administers and is in charge of executing the resolutions and mandates. The agreement is scheduled to enter into force on January 1, 1994. (28 years ago)
1987: September 16
Given the seriousness of the destruction of the ozone layer by a series of chemical compounds that are devouring this vital envelope, in Montreal the Protocol of the same name is signed that will prohibit the consumption of numerous substances that have been studied to react with it and are believes that they are responsible for the depletion of it. It will come into force on January 1, 1989 and will show its effectiveness because it will begin to regenerate little by little. (34 years ago)
1976: July 17
With the presence of 92 countries and 6,189 athletes, the XVIII Olympics of the Modern Era are inaugurated in Montreal (Canada). They will close on August 1. (45 years ago)
1949: April 4
In the midst of the Cold War, meeting in Washington (USA), twelve western states, Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Holland, Portugal, Canada and the USA, founded the Organization of the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO), a military alliance, which provides for a collective defense, through close military collaboration, against possible Soviet aggression. This alliance will help to significantly increase the influence and power of the United States in Europe. In successive years, more countries will join, Spain in 1982. In 1955, in response to NATO and as a result of the increase in international tension, several eastern countries, led by the Soviet Union, founded the Warsaw Pact. (72 years ago)
1948: March 17
As during the previous two years the USSR has established socialist regimes in central and eastern Europe, the climate of mutual distrust between the former allies against Hitler's Germany grows in the face of western fear of an extension of Soviet power. For this reason, today, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom sign the so-called "Treaty of Brussels", by which they promise each other assistance in case of aggression. This treaty lays the foundations of what will be the future NATO, which will finally see the light of day on April 4, 1949 by signing the "North Atlantic Treaty" the "Brussels Five", plus Canada, Denmark, the United States, Iceland, Italy, Norway and Portugal. (73 years ago)
1945: October 16
In the castle of Frontenac in Quebec, Canada, the process, begun two years earlier, for the creation of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) culminates, in which 34 countries sign their Constitution in which it is stipulated that "the Organization shall have a Conference, in which each Member State and Associate Member shall be represented by a delegate." Its objective will be to try to optimize production and better distribute agricultural products, in order to increase the level of food by eradicating hunger in the world. (76 years ago)
1922: January 23
In Toronto, Canada, the patient Leonard Thompson becomes the first human being to receive an insulin injection as a treatment for his diabetes. Half a year earlier, Canadians Frederick Banting and Charles Best managed to extract, from laboratory animals, the protein from the pancreas that causes the symptoms of diabetes, insulin. They experimented by injecting insulin into sick animals that recovered. These tests confirmed that the cause of diabetes was a lack of insulin, responsible for metabolizing sugars. In 1923, insulin will be a relatively easy product to buy, which will undoubtedly save many lives. In the 1980s, genetic engineering will get human insulin, a breakthrough. (99 years ago)
1901: December 12
In Newfoundland (Canada) Guglielmo Marconi, an Italian physicist, receives the first radio transmission between two continents. The signal they send him from England, the letter "M" for Marconi in Morse Code (two lines), has crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Cornwall (United Kingdom), some 3,200 km away. With this achievement, he manages to silence those who argue that the curvature of the earth will limit transmission to approximately 320 km. This fact will be prominent news in the newspapers and in 1909 he will receive the Nobel Prize in Physics. (120 years ago)
1896: August 17
George Washington Carmack discovers gold in Bonanza Creek, a tributary of the Klondike River in the Yukon Territory, Canada, starting a "gold rush" in the Klondike Valley that, under the surveillance of the RCMP, will run further. or less peaceful. (125 years ago)
1876: July 6
In Canada, after the last nail was placed in the railroad, after seven years of extremely hard work, the 4,674 km of rails linking the Atlantic and Pacific coasts by rail were inaugurated. (145 years ago)
1867: July 1
The Canadian Confederation is officially proclaimed with John A. Macdonald being the first person to hold the position of Prime Minister of Canada. (154 years ago)
1857: December 31
The city of Ottawa, a former settlement of the Algonquin Indians in the Ottawa River Valley, becomes the capital of Canada. (163 years ago)
1811: November 7
In North America, at the Battle of Tippecanoe, an experienced American expeditionary force under General William Henry Harrison defeats the Shawnee Indian tribe, led by Tecumseh, seeking a united Indian confederation. Tecumesh promised his warriors that the weapons of the American troops would do them no harm, as a result of which he will fall from grace and flee to Canada. Tecumseh will die in 1813 during the Battle of the Thames. (210 years ago)
1791: December 6
An Act establishing Upper and Lower Canada is approved in the British Parliament, thus giving the first step towards the creation of a Canadian confederation. (230 years ago)
1775: December 31
In the American Revolution, the Battle of Québec takes place, when the British garrison in the aforementioned Canadian city is attacked by American troops under the command of General Richard Montgomery and Colonel Benedict Arnold. The British commander, General Guy Carleton, cannot get help because the St. Lawrence River is frozen, and he has to rely on the French-speaking militia in the city, which flock to it. The British will defeat the Americans, whose defeat will put an end to their hopes of uprising the French-Canadian settlers as well. Despite the victory in the battle, it will not be until 6 months later when the invasion is totally repelled, with the arrival of 4,000 soldiers, which will force the Americans to leave Québec. (245 years ago)
1759: September 13
In Canada, during the war between the French and the English, at the Battle of the Plaines d'Abraham, General Montcalm's French troops are defeated, which will de facto imply British control of the country. (262 years ago)
1497: June 24
Encouraged by the success of Columbus and in the service of Henry VII of England, the Italian navigator Giovanni Caboto reached the rocky shores of present-day Newfoundland, thus giving rise to the English claims on North America. In 1498, after being appointed Admiral, Cabot left in command of an expedition of 5 ships and from 1499 there will be no further news of him or of this expedition. (524 years ago)
Outstanding births in Canada
1934: September 21
In Montreal, Canada, Leonard Cohen was born, who will be a Canadian poet, novelist and singer-songwriter and will come to be considered one of the fundamental singers and composers of American folk of the sixties and seventies, of great influence on other contemporary catautors. As a poet, in 2011 he will receive the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature. (87 years ago)
1919: October 18
In the Canadian city of Montreal, Pierre Elliott Trudeau was born, who will be the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. He will enjoy great popularity and will be responsible for the establishment of the French and English languages as official languages of his country. He will also be the architect of the creation and legislation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. (102 years ago)
1915: June 10
Born in Lachine, Canada, the writer, of Jewish-Russian origin, Saul Bellow, awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1976. "Carpe Diem" and "Herzog" will be works from his great pen. (106 years ago)
1835: March 12
Born in Wallace (Canada) Simon Newcomb, Canadian astronomer and mathematician, who will achieve a notable contribution to the studies of celestial mechanics and will be the compiler of one of the most relevant astronomical ephemeris calendars. (186 years ago)
Reported deaths in Canada
1922: August 2
Alexander Graham Bell, a British speech therapist, dies in Beinn Bhreagh (Canada). In his lifetime he presented 18 individual patents and 12 with collaborators, although he will be best known for being the inventor of the telephone in 1876. In 1880 he received the prestigious Volta Prize. (99 years ago)
