Human Rights a Day

March 31, 1959 - Dalai Lama

Sat, 31 Mar 2018 06:01:00 GMT

Dalai Lama of Tibet escapes to India. Tibet embraced Buddhism in the 7th century under head of state and spiritual leader Dalai Lama. The present and 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was identified at the age of two as a reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama. From an early age, he tried to deal with the tensions between his country and China. But China, feeling its power threatened, invaded Tibet in 1950, asserting its sovereignty over the centuries-old region. Tibetan anger grew until an anti-Chinese uprising in 1959 prompted the Chinese military to attack. They fired hundreds of artillery shells, destroying the Dalai Lama’s summer place, killing thousands of Tibetans and leaving many more homeless. The Dalai Lama fled with 20 others, including six of his cabinet ministers. After a 15-day journey, they arrived in India on March 31, 1959 and were given asylum. Since then the Dalai Lama has set up a Tibetan government in exile in Dharamsala, India, also known as “Little Lhasa.” The government of China has been strongly criticized for its human rights abuses in Tibet, in contrast to the Dalai Lama, who received the Nobel Peace prize in 1989 for his consistent promotion of peaceful resistance.

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March 30, 1992 - Native Women's Association

Fri, 30 Mar 2018 06:01:00 GMT

Native women’s group loses discrimination case. In 1991, when the federal government was trying to change the constitution, it gave $10 million to four aboriginal groups to secure their input throughout an extensive consultative process. Unfortunately, the government overlooked the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), whose members felt they should have been at what they considered a male-dominated table. Belatedly trying to correct matters, the government gave NWAC $560,000, but it didn’t stop the women from taking the federal government to court for violating their charter rights – by denying them freedom of expression and discriminating against them based on gender. On March 30, 1992, Judge Walsh of the federal Court of Canada dismissed the case, saying that while more money would have given the NWAC more voice in the process, it is not up to the courts to ensure that every organization has money during a consultative process. The judge also found that the other four aboriginal groups represented both men and women, and therefore the court should not be interfering with the government’s choices. This decision was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, which agreed with Judge Walsh in dismissing the case.

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March 29, 1993 - Catherine Callbeck

Thu, 29 Mar 2018 06:01:00 GMT

Catherine Callbeck becomes Canada’s first woman elected premier of a province. Catherine Callbeck spent her life alternating between her love of business and her penchant for politics. Born July 25, 1939 in Central Bedeque, Prince Edward Island, she earned bachelors of commerce and education and did post-graduate work in business administration before teaching business in New Brunswick and Ontario. She then returned to PEI to join the family business until her interest in politics landed her in the provincial legislature in 1974 as a Liberal MLA and member of the cabinet. Another stint with the family business was interrupted twice by political stints: in Ottawa as a Liberal MP and then, in January 1993, a return to provincial politics. When the Liberal Party of PEI chose her as leader, she immediately assumed the position of premier, later becoming the first woman elected premier when she and her party won the general PEI election by a landslide (they captured all but one seat) on March 29, 1993. After three and a half years as premier, she returned to the family business, only to be coaxed back to politics in 1997 when appointed to the Senate of Canada. Among Callbeck’s many distinctions is an honorary doctorate of laws from New Brunswick’s Mount Allison University.

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March 28, 2002 - Arab Peace Plan

Wed, 28 Mar 2018 06:01:00 GMT

Arab countries propose peace plan to Israelis. Even before Israel became an independent country, its citizens and neighboring Arabs were prone to battle. Every peace plan put forward evaporated in the heat of violence. Arabs refused to recognize Israel, and Israelis refused to return any land won during the 1967 Six-Day War: West Bank, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. And yet, March 28, 2002 marked a day of hope, when all Arab countries managed to agree on a peace plan process, one that would end the conflict and establish normal relations with Israel. In return, Israel was to return the occupied land, allow Palestinian refugees to return to Israel, and establish a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. As with previous initiatives, there was heated disagreement and scepticism on all sides (including within the United States, long involved in Middle East politics). And sadly, the initiative ended up sharing the usual fate of previous peace proposals. New peace initiatives continue to be proposed.

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March 27, 1905 - Elsie MacGill

Tue, 27 Mar 2018 06:01:00 GMT

Elsie MacGill was a woman of unusual capability and resilience. Born in Vancouver on March 27, 1905, she was the first woman to graduate with an electrical engineering degree from the University of Toronto, then the first woman to receive her masters in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan. Although she contracted polio the same year, the determined young engineer defied the odds and taught herself to walk with two metal canes. She went on to become the first woman to design and test aircraft. Though her disability prevented her from becoming a pilot, she insisted on being a passenger on all test flights to better understand the planes’ performance. During World War II, MacGill became chief engineer of the Hawker Hurricane, a fighter plane used during the Battle of Britain. In 1943, MacGill married William Soulsby, moved to Toronto and started her own consulting firm. Beyond work, MacGill became an author and actively supported women in business. Among her numerous honours were the Order of Canada, the 1967 centennial medal and the Amelia Earhart medal from the International Association of Women Pilots. She was also inducted into Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame and the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame. She died in 1980 at the age of 75.

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March 26, 1984 - Bora Laskin

Mon, 26 Mar 2018 06:01:00 GMT

Bora Laskin dies while Chief Justice of Canada’s Supreme Court. Born in Fort William (Thunder Bay), Ontario on October 5, 1912, Bora Laskin pursued education in a big way: He earned his bachelor of arts, masters of arts, and bachelor of laws degrees from the University of Toronto and his masters of laws from Harvard Law School. Shortly after being called to the bar, Laskin taught at the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School, also publishing and editing notable legal texts and reports. His first appointment as a judge in 1965 was prestigious: the Ontario Court of Appeal. Within five years, he’d been appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada – the first Jewish person in Canada to sit on the top bench. Less than four years later, as chief justice, Laskin set about modernizing the court and allowing more parties (interveners) to have a say in cases of national importance. He also disagreed so often with court decisions, he was dubbed the “great dissenter.” Although many credit him with influencing future interpretations of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, he didn’t live to see that impact himself. On March 26, 1984, less than two weeks after becoming a Companion of the Order of Canada, and while he was still Chief Justice, Laskin died at the age of 71.

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March 25, 1994 - Simon Thwaites

Sun, 25 Mar 2018 06:01:00 GMT

Can’t fire HIV-positive naval seamen, federal Court of Canada warns. After enlisting with the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in 1980, Simon Thwaites spent six years progressing to the rank of master seaman, where he spent most of his time on naval vessels. The same year, the Canadian Red Cross informed him he was HIV positive. He voluntarily told the CAF, but when staff there learned he was homosexual, they downgraded his security clearance to a level that made it impossible to do his job. Forced to accept menial work on shore, he found himself issued an honourable discharge in November 1989. The CAF argued that any other postings lacked the ready access to medical facilities his condition required. Thwaites took his case to the federal Human Rights Tribunal, which ruled that the CAF had discriminated against him based on his disability. He was awarded $147,015 for past and future loss of wages, $5,000 for special compensation, plus interest and costs. The CAF appealed in federal court, which upheld the ruling in favour of Thwaites on March 25, 1994. The court found that HIV was not a legitimate reason to be discharged, and that Thwaites should have been given a legitimate assessment of his ability to do his job.

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March 24, 1853 - Mary Ann Shad

Sat, 24 Mar 2018 06:01:00 GMT

The Provincial Freeman first published by Mary Ann Shad. Mary Ann Shadd was born in Wilmington, Delaware, the oldest of 13 children to Harriet and Abraham Shadd. Both her parents were leaders in the Underground Railroad, which helped black slaves reach freedom in Canada. Her parents sent her to a Quaker school, and her love of learning led her to open a school for black children, then to continue teaching for years. When the U.S. Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850, forcing authorities in all states to send black slaves back to captivity in the south, Shadd and her brother Isaac moved to Canada. On March 24, 1853, Shadd and Rev. Samuel Ringgold Ward edited and published The Provincial Freeman, a weekly newspaper dedicated to the ideals of freedom and educating black people in Canada and the United States. In this process, Shadd became the first black woman publisher in North America and the first woman publisher in Canada. The paper was first published in Windsor, then Toronto and then Chatham, Ontario and continued until September 20, 1857. The newspaper was considered aggressive for its time as Shadd and others were critical of those who took advantage of freed slaves, and critical of black religious leaders in the south for not encouraging blacks to become self-reliant. The paper read, "Self-reliance Is the Fine Road to Independence." Shadd married Thomas F. Cary from Toronto in 1856 and while living in Chatham, they had two children. Cary died in 1860 and eventually Shadd moved to Washington, D.C. where she established a school for black children and studied law at Howard University, becoming a lawyer in 1870. Shadd died in Washington on June 5, 1893.

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March 23, 1933 - Adolph Hitler

Fri, 23 Mar 2018 06:01:00 GMT

Germany grants Adolph Hitler dictatorial powers.  How did Adolph Hitler rise to power? For various and strange reasons, Hitler was sworn in as chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933, and his cabinet’s few Nazis were assigned key positions, including control of the police. Weeks later, the Nazis burned down the German Parliament building (the Reichstag) and blamed it on the communists. Hitler used the event as an excuse to con President Hindenburg and the cabinet into passing emergency laws that quashed freedom of speech, a free press, the right to assemble and most other basic rights. The stage was set, and the Nazis proceeded to use brutish and murderous tactics and spend millions of marks to win the next election. When they managed to win only 44 per cent of the popular vote on March 5th, Hitler decided to employ another strategy to grasp full control. He drafted changes to the constitution that would essentially create a dictatorship. He called his proposal the Enabling Act, or “the law for removing the distress of the people and the Reich.” Two-thirds of the Reichstag had to support the act to turn it into law, and Hitler found himself 31 votes short. By the time he’d applied various methods of persuasion and pressure, the Catholic Centre Party delivered him the votes he required on March 23, 1933. Only the 84 Social Democrats voted against giving Hitler his new dictatorial powers. In the end, the elected representatives of Germany gave Hitler all the power he needed.

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March 22, 1984 - Jane Gray

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 06:01:00 GMT

Canada’s first women radio broadcaster, Jane Gray, dies. Only a few years after landing her first radio broadcasting job in London, Ontario on CJGC at the age of 28, Jane beat out 90 other applicants to host a cooking program on Toronto’s CFRB radio. Many Torontonians remember Gray’s public appearances, where she dressed in native costume and played Indian princess Mus-Kee-Kee to answer questions from the station’s listeners. A savvy broadcaster who even dabbled in buying and selling radio time slots, she moved from radio to television in its early years, the 1940s. Perhaps her best known television work was as daily host of the Jane Gray Show on CHCH TV. When asked about her career, Gray was fond of saying, “I’ve done it all.” She died on March 22, 1985. Three years later, she became the first woman radio performer to be inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame.

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March 21, 1966 - Sharpeville, South Africa

Wed, 21 Mar 2018 06:01:00 GMT

Commemoration date to eliminate racial discrimination. For decades, black South Africans had to carry identification papers known as “passbooks” anywhere they went. Passbooks formed a central part of the country’s racist apartheid system by placing severe restrictions on their holders. For blacks, needless to say, passbooks were a constant source of anger and resentment. On March 21, 1960, a large crowd gathered in Sharpeville, South Africa to peacefully protest the laws requiring passbooks. South African police opened fire on the group, killing 69 people. That date became associated with racial discrimination, and in 1966, the United Nations proclaimed it the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Twenty years later, South Africa repealed the passbook requirement and later abolished the apartheid system. The commemoration of the 1960 tragedy will continue, however, as long as racial discrimination contributes to violence and death somewhere in the world.

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March 20, 1985 - Libby Riddles

Tue, 20 Mar 2018 06:01:00 GMT

Libby Riddles makes history for women in winning Iditarod Trail dogsled race. In 1925, a diphtheria epidemic required medical supplies to be rushed to Nome, Alaska. Traditional methods of transport could get no goods further than within 674 miles of the site. Teams of dogsleds rushed the precious medicine the rest of the way. In 1973, Alaskan officials decided to memorialize this traipse by turning the 1,150-mile Iditarod Trail between Anchorage and Nome into an official race. Soon, hardy drivers (mushers) and their dog teams from around the world were flocking to the gruelling event. In 1980, a young woman who had moved from Wisconsin to Alaska at the age of 16 entered her first Iditarod race and placed 18th. After landing 20th the following year, she knew she needed a new approach, so she teamed up with Joe Garnie to breed and train her own dogs. On March 20, 1985, through a blinding blizzard, Riddles crossed the finish line after 18 days, 20 minutes and 17 seconds on the trail. She became the first woman to win the race and its $50,000 purse, and cashed in on her victory by becoming an author and public speaker besides a race-dog breeder.

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March 19, 1990 - Women's Hockey

Mon, 19 Mar 2018 06:01:00 GMT

Canadian women take gold at first Women’s Ice Hockey World Championships. Given the popularity of women’s ice hockey today, it’s hard to believe that prior to 1990, it had a very low profile. Not until March 19, 1990 did the International Ice Hockey Association open a World Championship to women. On that date, Ottawa played host for three days to nine teams from Canada, the United States, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, West Germany and Japan. Canada clinched gold, the U.S. took silver, and the Fins claimed the bronze. Canada’s women players maintained their gold winning streak in every World Championships to follow through 2004. This level of women’s hockey lead to even greater heights. In 1997 there was great excitement among female hockey players when the International Olympic Committee ruled the top five women’s teams in the sport’s World Championships would become the qualifiers for the Olympics in Nagano, Japan the following year. They’d be the first women Olympic hockey players in history. So, on February 8, 1998, six women’s teams (Japan became the additional automatic qualifier as the Olympics’ host country) battled it out for medals. Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee, was the force behind the decision; he wanted to get as many women as men into sports. At Nagano, the United States won gold, Canada clinched silver and Finland took home bronze. China came in fourth, Sweden fifth and Japan last. Canada’s women’s team did one better in the next Olympic round by capturing the gold at the Salt Lake Olympics in 2002. Perhaps more importantly, the excitement the women’s games generated served as a catalyst for Canada to create and expand girls’ teams and leagues coast to coast.

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March 18, 1992 - Apartheid Ends

Sun, 18 Mar 2018 06:01:00 GMT

White South Africans vote to end apartheid. International pressure against South Africa’s ongoing white-minority rule and apartheid system had by the 1980s brought boycotts against South African products and sports teams. The result was a deteriorating economy. Clearly, something had to change. When F.W. de Klerk became president of South Africa in 1989, he worked swiftly to shift more power to the black majority. In 1990, he lifted the four-year-old state of emergency that still existed in most provinces. He also began negotiating the end of apartheid with the once-outlawed African National Congress (ANC) and leader Nelson Mandela, who had been imprisoned for 27 years. On March 18, 1992 an overwhelming majority of whites in South Africa voted in a referendum to end their oppressive and racist system. It would be up to parliamentarians to vote themselves out of existence. The last few days of the apartheid countdown were particularly difficult, as right-wing white parliamentarians and the leader of the Zulus took exception to some of the conditions. However, on December 22, 1993, Parliament finally adopted an interim constitution that would stay in place until a new one was created. Free elections were held, electing the ANC government with President Mandela. However, this was an interim process allowing for a balance of powers between blacks, whites and mixed-race constituents. A few years later, the country adopted a new constitution that went into legislative effect on December 10, 1996. The new constitution did away with the power sharing, replacing it with a democratic-style system of government.

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March 17, 1912 - Bayard Rustin

Sat, 17 Mar 2018 06:01:00 GMT

Future behind-the-scenes civil rights activist Bayard Rustin is born. Bayard Rustin was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania on March 17, 1912 and raised by a Quaker grandmother. A bright student and accomplished athlete, he formed an early understanding about racism. His involvement in the Young Communist League between 1936 and 1941 would later be used against this great civil rights leader, but it was probably his homosexuality that robbed him of the prominence he deserved. Rustin was credited with great ideas and organizational skills as a behind-the-scenes worker in the American civil rights movement. He called on his Quaker principles of non-violent resistance when imprisoned for disobeying federal laws regarding service in World War II. On his release, he turned to teaching this method in India and Africa for a number of years. That experience served him well as the chief organizer of the 1963 “March on Washington” – the protest during which Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I have a dream” speech. During his lifetime, Rustin was denounced for many things, including his liberal views and unwavering support of Israel. Following a human rights expedition to Haiti, Rustin fell ill. He died in New York City on August 24, 1987.

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March 15, 1990 - Baltej Singh Dhillon

Fri, 16 Mar 2018 06:01:00 GMT

RCMP Sikhs allowed to wear turbans. Baltej Singh Dhillon was born in Malaysia in 1966 and immigrated to Canada at the age of 16. He trained to be an officer with the RCMP, but as a baptized Sikh, was required to wear a turban as a tenet of his religion. This precluded him from wearing the hat that formed part of the RCMP’s ceremonial uniform. In this he shared a dilemma with many Canadian Sikhs who felt under pressure to comply with regulations against their beards and turbans. Dhillon chose to challenge the regulation – an act that generated severe criticism, petitions, court challenges and even a death threat. But his perseverance paid off and on March 15, 1990, Canada’s Solicitor General Pierre Cadieux announced that Sikhs in the RCMP were welcome to wear their turbans and other religious symbols as part of their uniform. Dhillon became an RCMP officer with the city of Surrey, British Columbia, where he worked on the case of Air India flight 182 in which a bomb exploded mid-flight, killing 329 people, 280 of which were Canadian citizens.

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March 16, 1968 - My Lai

Fri, 16 Mar 2018 06:01:00 GMT

U.S. soldiers massacre 500 civilians at My Lai, Vietnam. While serving in Vietnam in late 1967, a U.S. Army regiment named Charlie Company suffered one casualty and several injuries from a Viet Cong booby trap in Quang Ngai province. Captain Ernest Medina, set on revenge, gave the men a pep talk and plotted the destruction of the village known as My Lai 4. At 7:22 a.m. on March 16, 1968, U.S. Army helicopters stormed the village of 700. Their mission was to root out the Viet Cong, and despite a lack of evidence that the village was harbouring enemy soldiers, the troop proceeded to murder men, women and children of all ages. Many who offered no resistance were shot in the back or at close range, regardless. One group was in a drainage ditch as the soldiers fired on them. When a two-year-old boy rose to run from the ditch, platoon leader William Calley threw him back in and shot him. In the end, 500 civilians were killed and a cover-up ensued that took months to bring to light. When the Pentagon’s General William Peers completed his closed-door investigation, he recommended action be taken against the enlisted men and officers for rape, murder and the cover-up. In the end, only Calley was convicted of murder, and President Nixon’s secretary of the Army released him on parole. However, the public’s outraged reaction to the massacre was instrumental in turning American public opinion against the war.

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March 14, 1868 - Emily Murphy

Wed, 14 Mar 2018 06:01:00 GMT

Future suffragist, journalist and judge Emily Murphy is born. Emily Ferguson was born into a wealthy and influential Canadian family on March 14, 1868 in Cookstown, Ontario. Years later, she and her Anglican minister husband, Arthur Murphy, moved to Alberta, where she took up the cause of women’s equality. Her constant pressure led the Alberta government to pass the Dower Act in 1911, ensuring the right of a wife to one-third of her husband’s property. When Alberta’s attorney general made Murphy an Edmonton magistrate in 1916, she was the first woman in the British Commonwealth to hold such a position. She pushed for the abolition of drugs and narcotics. Articles she wrote under the pen name Janey Canuck were full of stereotypes and prejudice against racial and ethnic minorities.On her first day as a magistrate, a lawyer challenged her authority, saying women were not “persons” under the British North America Act, and therefore ineligible for appointment to the bench or the Senate of Canada. To silence such opinion, Murphy became one of the “Famous Five” (Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby and Henrietta Muir Edwards being the other four) who challenged women’s lack of status. Although the Famous Five lost their case at Canada’s Supreme Court, the judicial committee of the Privy Council of the House of Lords in England ruled in their favour on October 18, 1929. Months later, on February 15, 1930, Cairine Wilson was appointed Canada’s first woman senator for Ontario. Murphy died on October 27, 1933.

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March 13, 1885 - Chinese Restriction Act

Tue, 13 Mar 2018 06:01:00 GMT

British Columbia passes the Chinese Restriction Act. In the late 1800s, Chinese people wishing to immigrate to Canada were welcomed into the country because they offered cheap (and in some cases, disposable) labour for building Canada’s Canadian Pacific Railroad (CPR). Once the railroad was completed, however, CPR reneged on its pledge to pay their passage back to China. Incidents of discrimination and resentment quickly escalated. On March 13, 1885, British Columbia passed the Chinese Restriction Act, preventing Chinese immigrants from entering the province. Since immigration was under federal jurisdiction, the Canadian government initially disallowed the act and similar BC legislation. But it wasn’t long before the Canadian government implemented its own restrictions – imposing a head tax on Chinese immigrants that started at $5 and rose to a peak of $500. This stopped the flow of Chinese immigration until the exclusionary parts of the Immigration Act were changed in 1947.

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March 12, 1999 - Florence Bird

Mon, 12 Mar 2018 06:01:00 GMT

Florence Bird Memorial Library opens at Status of Women Canada office. Florence Rhein was born in 1908 in Philadelphia and brought up in a privileged family that believed in gender equality. After marrying journalist John Bird, she moved with him to Montreal, then Winnipeg. While her husband worked for the Winnipeg Tribune, Bird wrote articles under the pen name Anne Francis and took up radio broadcasting. Shortly after World War II, when the couple moved to Ottawa, she became a women’s rights activist. By 1967, Bird was chair of the Canadian Royal Commission on the Status of Women, where she released a study that led to the creation of the Canadian government’s Status of Women, dedicated to the equality of women and men. In recognition of her work, Bird was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1971, and a senator in 1978. She died in Ottawa in July 1998. On March 12, 1999, the Canadian Status of Women offices in Ottawa honoured her by opening the Florence Bird Memorial Library, which boasts more than 20,000 publications and documents concerning women’s and equality issues.

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March 11, 1948 - Dr. Reginald Weir

Sun, 11 Mar 2018 07:01:00 GMT

African American Dr. Reginald Weir competes in U.S. Indoor Lawn Tennis Championship. When a New Yorker named Dr. Reginald Weir signed up to play indoor lawn tennis at a national tournament scheduled for March 11, 1948, it raised no eyebrows. The organizers failed to block him for the simple reason that it never occurred to them that a black man might have the title of a physician. Thus, red-faced officials ended up letting him play, even though blacks at the time were banned from U.S. Indoor Lawn Tennis Association events. Unfortunately for Weir, however, he lost in the second round to the fellow who won the championship, Bill Talbert. Having broken the race barrier, Weir continued to compete, and in 1952, he and a fellow black player, George Stewart, became the first black men to play in the USLTA national championship. Although both men lost in their first round, they inspired other black pioneers of tennis, perhaps including Arthur Ashe. It was Ashe who won the U.S. Open in 1968, throwing open the gates for black men and women to excel in the sport.

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March 10, 1993 - Michael Griffin

Sat, 10 Mar 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Anti-abortion extremist murders Florida doctor. Despite daily pickets, protests and death threats from anti-abortionists, Dr. David Gunn provided abortion services to women in Alabama, Georgia and Florida. He paid for his courage and defiance with his life on March 10, 1993. That’s the day anti-abortion extremist Michael Griffin responded to what he called “a sign from God” by murdering Gunn outside the Pensacola Florida Women’s Medical Services abortion clinic. The crime fuelled the debate over abortion in the U.S. John Burt, regional director of the anti-abortion organization Rescue America, said, "The use of lethal force was justifiable, provided it was carried out for the purpose of defending the lives of unborn children." Although Griffin was sentenced to life in prison in 1994 for the murder of Dr. Gunn, doctors performing abortions continued to be killed or wounded by anti-abortion fanatics for several years following Gunn’s death.

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March 9, 2002 - Robert Mugabe

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Zimbabwe’s rigged election proves a turning point. When the practice of a white minority ruling over a black majority ended in 1980 in Africa’s Rhodesia, the country was renamed Zimbabwe. Initially, the nation’s new president, Robert Mugabe, and his Zanu-PF Party pushed through reforms instrumental in achieving greater fairness across the population. But Mugabe soon turned more tyrant than democratic leader. He oppressed opposition, violated basic human rights and obliterated the freedom of the press for which the country had been renowned. He spoke of turning white-controlled land over to black farmers, but the process was marked by violence, cronyism and a complete disregard for fairness. In the end, most of the land was turned over to the president’s friends and relatives – with disastrous results. Corruption reigned. On March 9, 2002, Mugabe’s election was so heavily rigged that the Opposition Presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai and every country observing the election (except South Africa) declared it illegitimate, and even Zimbabwe’s courts ordered a third day of voting. For the Commonwealth countries, it was the last straw. After the election, they cut all ties with Zimbabwe.

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March 8, 2005 - Carl Beam

Thu, 08 Mar 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Artist Carl Beam receives Governor General’s Award for art. Carl Beam was born the eldest of nine children on the West Bay First Nations (later to be renamed M'chigeeng) reserve on Manitoulin Island, Ontario on May 24, 1943. Although his white father was killed during World War II, his Ojibway maternal grandfather took a significant interest in his upbringing. In his late 20s, Beam followed in his artist mother’s footsteps by studying at the Kootenay School of Art before further studies at the University of Victoria and then graduate studies at the University of Alberta. His art has been described as telling stories on canvas, with references to time and use of cultural markers. While his art included aboriginal and European culture and commentary, Beam never wanted to be pinned down by labels. He said, “My work is not made for Indian people, but for thinking people. In the global and evolutionary scheme, the difference between people is negligible.” Beam’s work was featured in galleries across Canada. When the National Gallery purchased The North American Iceberg, the first work by an aboriginal artist in almost six decades, Beam stood out and renewed the interest in aboriginal artistry. Years earlier, Beam and his first wife had five children. Then in 1979 Beam met his second wife Ann in Toronto and they had a daughter Anong. After time in the United States, they ended up back in Ontario and eventually back in M’Chigeeng. On March 8, 2005 the Canada Council announced that Beam was the winner of the Governor General’s Award for the Visual and Media Arts. At the ceremony he was very ill, suffering from the effects of diabetes. On July 30, 2005 Beam died at the age of 62.

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March 7, 1969 - Gold Meir

Wed, 07 Mar 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Golda Mabovitz was born in Kiev, Russia on May 3, 1898 and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She married Morris Meyerson before moving to Tel Aviv, which was part of Palestine in 1921. There she became actively involved in the labour movement and the creation of the Jewish state of Israel. Shortly after Israel became independent in 1948, she was named minister of labour, a post she held until 1956. Prime Minister Ben Gurion eventually appointed her foreign minister, a post she held until 1966. Gurion also encouraged her to adopt a more Hebrew-sounding name; she chose Meir, which means “to burn brightly.” After a stint as the Labour Party’s Secretary General on March 7, 1969, Meir was nominated by the party to become Prime Minister of Israel. As Prime Minister, Meir presided over great turmoil and conflict, including an attack by Egypt and Syria during the Yom Kippur War. On October 6, 1973, while Jews were observing their Day of Atonement, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel in an attempt to take back occupied territories they’d lost during the Six-Day War of 1967. Israel won the battle at a staggering cost of 2,700 soldiers dead. The controversy this generated influenced Meir to step down in the spring of 1974 even after her party won the general election. She died in Jerusalem on December 8, 1978 at the age of 80.

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March 6, 1857 - Dred Scott

Tue, 06 Mar 2018 07:01:00 GMT

U.S. Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision outlaws slavery. Dred Scott was a black slave who lived in the slave state of Missouri. In 1846, when Scott’s master moved briefly to Illinois and Wisconsin – both “free states” – before returning to Missouri, Scott saw an opportunity to sue for his freedom. Scott won his case in Missouri, only to have the Missouri Supreme Court overturn the ruling. When the case proceeded to the U.S. Supreme Court, seven of the nine justices decided against Scott on March 6, 1857. Scott was not free and could not have the same rights as a white man, they stated, because blacks were “beings of an inferior order.” Justice Roger B. Taney’s decision also stipulated that Negroes could not sue in federal court and had "no rights which any white man was bound to respect." Nor did the court stop there. The judges declared federal laws against slavery to be unconstitutional; the U.S. Congress and territory legislature had no right to ban slavery, they explained. And finally, they argued, because the 5th amendment of the constitution guarantees property rights and slaves are property, Congress has no right to interfere. Southerners were happy with the decision; Northerners were not. Instead of putting the issue of slavery to rest, the decision ended up so aggravating those who were opposed to slavery, that it had an impact on the country entering into civil war in 1861.

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March 5, 1956 - Black Students

Mon, 05 Mar 2018 07:01:00 GMT

U.S. Supreme Court: Black students can attend schools and universities. In the early 1950s, black and white students in many states were governed by policies of “separate but equal,” which meant they would attend separate educational institutions on the guise that they could be equal. When the University of North Carolina was ordered to admit three black students in 1954, it appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. The court’s March 5, 1956 ruling upholding the decision rankled other states. Virginia’s governor, Thomas Stanley, said, “A very large proportion of Virginians would want to continue segregation of the races because we believe we can provide a better system of education by doing that." Stanley and other governors unhappy with the Supreme Court’s stance soon devised ways to circumvent the ruling, such as subsidizing white students to attend private schools where racial segregation still thrived. Only years of court fights, protests and activism persuaded the more reluctant states to allow true integration throughout their public and private educational systems.

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March 4, 1982 - Bertha Wilson

Sun, 04 Mar 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Bertha Wilson becomes first woman appointed to Canada’s Supreme Court. Bertha Wilson was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland in 1923 and earned an MA and teaching diploma from the University of Aberdeen before emigrating to Canada with her husband in 1949. Her desire to attend Dalhousie Law School in Halifax in 1954 was not met with open arms from the dean, Horace E. Read, who told her, “Madam, we have no room here for dilettantes. Why don’t you just go home and take up crocheting?” She persevered, got in and graduated. In 1959, the young lawyer moved to Ontario, where she worked with the Toronto firm of Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt. Appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1975, she earned acclaim for decisions on sexual discrimination and human rights. On March 4, 1982 – the same year Canada’s constitution adopted the Charter of Rights and Freedoms – Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau appointed Wilson to the Supreme Court of Canada. Men in the legal profession, including Chief Justice Bora Laskin, suggested to the prime minister that there were men more deserving who should be sitting on the top bench. However, as the first woman, Wilson made her mark by writing decisions that highlighted the importance of respecting and accommodating the rights of Canadian minorities. Wilson will also be remembered as the judge who wrote the decision to strike down Canada’s abortion laws in the criminal code. While she retired from the Supreme Court in 1991 at the age of 67, eight years before legally required, her involvement in and around the law continued with work affecting aboriginal people, as well as women in the law. In 1992 she was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada. Wilson died in Ottawa on April 28, 2007 at the age of 83.

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March 3, 1952 - Court prohibits communist teachers

Sat, 03 Mar 2018 07:01:00 GMT

U.S. Supreme Court prohibits communists from teaching in New York schools. At the height of the “red scare” in the United States, a number of laws were passed to prevent anyone with communist sympathies from working in the public service. In the state of New York, the Feinberg Law prohibited people who’d called for a government overthrow to teach. Designed to catch Communist Party members, the law enabled school boards to fire a number of teachers for their political beliefs. But when a group of teachers and parents challenged the law, “Adler vs. the Board of Education of the City of New York” went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. On March 3, 1952, the court upheld the law. Six of the nine judges stressed the importance of shielding students from subversive propaganda pushed by teachers “to whom they look for guidance, authority and leadership." The three dissenting judges stated that the law "turns the school system into a spying project." It would be more than a decade before another Supreme Court decision in 1967 rendered most of the Feinberg Law (and equivalent laws in other states) unconstitutional.

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March 2, 2000 - Augusto Pinochet

Fri, 02 Mar 2018 17:15:00 GMT

Britain allows former Chilean dictator Pinochet to go home without trial for human rights abuses. In June 1973, Chilean President Salvador Allende appointed General Augusto Pinochet as the country’s commander-in-chief. It was a fateful decision. Just months later, Pinochet seized control of the democratically elected government and Allende was murdered in a military coup. In Pinochet’s subsequent bid to rid the country of left-leaning dissidents, he had thousands of Chileans tortured and murdered until his reign ended in 1990. But for years after, Pinochet carried on as commander-in-chief and created a position for himself of senator-for-life. Although many Chileans, especially those who lost loved ones to his murderous regime, wanted justice, the aging former dictator was granted immunity. His luck changed during a trip to London, England in 1998. After a request by Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon, Britain chose to place Pinochet under house arrest in London. For 16 months, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland and France all clamored to have the former dictator extradited to stand trial for human rights abuses. But on March 2, 2000 – citing medical evidence that the 84-year-old’s failing health would not allow him to stand trial – Britain’s Home Secretary Jack Straw announced that Pinochet was being released. Later that day, the aging senator flew home on a Chilean Air Force jet. Unfortunately for Pinochet, his health recovered sufficiently that on January 4, 2005, Chile’s Supreme Court ruled him able to stand trial for human rights crimes. Pinochet died on December 10, 2006, just days after he was put under house arrest with more than 300 criminal charges pending against him.

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March 1, 2005 - Ernst Zundel

Thu, 01 Mar 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Holocaust-denier Ernst Zundel deported from Canada to prison in Germany. When Ernst Zundel turned 19 in 1958, he moved to Canada to avoid Germany’s military conscription. He married in 1960 and had two sons. While professionally a graphic artist and printer, he published racist and anti-Semitic views under the pseudonym Christof Friendrich. He became involved in politics and at the federal level actually became a candidate for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada in 1967 (Pierre Trudeau was chosen). By 1977, he’d started Samisdat Publishers, creating pamphlets such as “The Hitler We Loved and Why” and “Did Six Million Really Die?” Zundel attempted to get a better foothold as a Canadian and applied for citizenship. However, in 1993 the government denied his application and after many appeals, Zundel lost that fight in 2000. During this time, the Canadian Human Rights Commission received a complaint that Zundel’s website was inciting hatred against Jews. Between 1996 and the decision in 2002, and after more appeals and motions than most thought possible, Zundel was ordered to cease and desist with his illegal website commentary. In 2001, Zundel moved to the United States saying he’d never “set foot in Canada again.” However, when the United States deported Zundel back to Canada the following year for violating his stay there, the Canadian government declared him a threat to national security and sought to deport him to Germany, where he was wanted for hate crimes. Many considered this approach a backhanded way for the government to rid itself of Zundel. However, the Supreme Court refused his appeal and on March 1, 2005, Zundel was deported to Germany. On February 15, 2007, the German government found Zundel guilty of inciting racial hatred and sentenced him to the maximum of five years.

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February 28, 2000 - Joerg Haider

Wed, 28 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

European protests prompt resignation of right-wing Austrian leader Joerg Haider from coalition government. Austria’s history is full of far-right political movements, notably the willingness of many Austrians to join Hitler’s Germany prior to World War II. Even after the war, however, the far-right commanded popular support. The country elected former United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim as president in 1986 despite his well-known involvement as First Lieutenant in the German Army during the war. In October 1999, the right-wing Freedom Party won 27 per cent of the popular vote in national elections and a few months later became part of Austria’s coalition government. Joerg Haider, the leader of the Freedom Party, had a history of statements somewhat complimentary toward Austrian and German Nazis, and most Europeans regarded the party as extreme. So Europe’s swift reaction to the Freedom Party’s ascendancy was to condemn Austria in the European Union, downgrade diplomatic ties and freeze bilateral political contacts with Vienna. Israel also cut off diplomatic relations, and the United States withdrew its ambassador for consultations. These international pressures, combined with turmoil at home, influenced Haider to step down as leader of the Freedom Party on February 28, 2000. He was replaced by Susanne Riess-Passer, vice-chancellor of the coalition government.

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February 27, 1973 - Wounded Knee

Tue, 27 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

American Natives Occupy Wounded Knee, South Dakota for 71 days. In 1968, a number of native Americans in Minneapolis, Minnesota created the American Indian Movement (AIM), whose focus was to improve the lives of urban Indians and native Americans’ relations with the federal government generally. AIM members brought attention to their grievances by occupying offices, sponsoring a high-profile road excursion called Trail of Broken Treaties and confronting authorities. At the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, some native leaders were opposed to their tribal president, Richard Wilson, whom they accused of mishandling tribal funds and misusing his authority. These leaders asked AIM for assistance when they unsuccessfully attempted to impeach Wilson in February 1973. About 200 AIM leaders and supporters on their way to Porcupine, South Dakota (on the reservation) stopped at the village of Wounded Knee on February 27, 1973, where they took over several buildings, including churches and the trading post. Wounded Knee was significant in being thought to be the last “official” massacre of Indians by U.S. forces in 1890. (Reports say 146 native Americans were killed at the time.) The federal government acted quickly, sending U.S. marshals and FBI agents to blockade the community and put an end to the occupation. For 71 days, the occupation was marked by high level negotiations, promises to address grievances, and gun fire. Two occupiers, Frank Clearwater and Lawrence Lamont, were killed and Marshall Lloyd Grimm was paralyzed. By early May the occupiers were mostly out of food and medical supplies and they were concerned that the government would intensify their actions. An end to the occupation came on May 8, 1973, with government promises to look into grievances for native Americans. There is no indication anyone followed up on these promises.

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February 26, 1942 - Japanese Canadians

Mon, 26 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Canada evacuates Japanese Canadians from the West Coast. The moment Japanese pilots bombed Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941, the Canadian government stepped up actions against Canadians of Japanese descent. At first Japanese Canadians were ordered to register with the government, but on August 12, 1941 they were required to carry photo registration cards complete with thumbprint. The paranoia and prejudice continued to escalate with Privy Council Order 1486 giving the government the right to remove all people of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast. A mere two days later, on February 26, 1942, the Canadian minister of justice ordered the removal of all people of “the Japanese race” from the “protected area” of the Pacific coastline. They were to be transported to areas at least 160 kilometres inland. Officials imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew while confiscating all property and valuables from Japanese Canadians. Property was sold and never returned, ostensibly to provide funds for the internment camps in which they were forced to live. Altogether, the activation of the War Measures Act displaced 21,000 Japanese Canadians. Less well known is that even after the Allies had won, the government sent thousands of these Canadians “home” to Japan – a country in which many had never lived. Eventually, the outrage of churches and labour groups put an end to the process. However, it would take until 1988 before the Canadian government would apologize for its actions.

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February 25, 1922 - Molly Lamb Bobak

Sun, 25 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Canada’s first woman war artist, Molly Lamb Bobak, is born. Molly Bobak was born Molly Lamb on February 25, 1922 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The daughter of a geologist and an art critic and amateur photographer, Bobak futhered her natural artistic abilities at the Vancouver School of Art between 1938 and 1941. In late 1942, she enlisted as a draughtsman in the Canadian Women Army Corps (CWAC), where her work in using art to record the CWAC’s activities soon won her a promotion to lieutenant in 1945-6. That also made her the first Canadian woman with the title of war artist. After the war, she married Bruno Bobak and settled in Fredericton, New Brunswick, where she worked as a resident artist at the University of N.B. Years later, she was awarded honorary degrees from both UNB and Mount Allison University, and given Canadian grants to work on and display her paintings. In contrast to the military start to her career, Bobak won worldwide recognition for her watercolor paintings of flowers and everyday objects.

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February 24, 2000 - Ujjal Dosanjh

Sat, 24 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Ujjal Dosanjh is Canada’s first Indo Canadian to be named premier. Ujjal Dosanjh was born in India in 1947, then moved to England before settling in Canada in 1968. In British Columbia, he earned a BA from Simon Fraser University and a law degree from the University of British Columbia before setting up his own law practice in Vancouver. He got involved with human rights work through the Civil Liberties Association, multicultural support organizations and the Farm Workers' Union. Although a moderate in the Indo Canadian community, Dosanjh learned about political extremism and brutality the hard way when he was attacked and severely beaten one day by members of his community who did not share his views. He entered British Columbia politics in 1991 as an NDP MLA, and eventually worked his way through a number of cabinet portfolios, including the honoured role of attorney general between 1995 and 2000. When his premier, Glen Clark, was involved in a scandal involving favouritism toward a neighbour, Dosanjh was not able to protect him. Premier Clark stepped down and Dosanjh won the leadership of his party. Dosanjh was sworn in as British Columbia’s premier – the first Indo Canadian to hold that title – on February 24, 2000. However, due to his predecessor’s scandal and other political blunders, the following year’s election wiped out all but two of the NDP MLAs, and Dosanjh was not one of them. He returned to practice law until Prime Minister Paul Martin asked him to change parties and run for the federal Liberals. Dosanjh agreed and won a seat in the election of June 2004. The next month, he was appointed federal minister of health in Martin’s short-lived government.

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February 23, 1944 - Agnes Macphail

Fri, 23 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Agnes Macphail becomes first woman sworn in to the Ontario legislature. Agnes Macphail was born in Proton Township, Ontario on March 24, 1890. As a teacher in rural Ontario schools, she joined the United Farm Women of Ontario, attended meetings of the United Farmers Ontario, wrote articles for the Farmers’ Sun and discovered a bent for politics. Her activism was timely in that women had just been granted the federal vote (1918) and the ability to run for federal office (1919). This undoubtedly helped inspire Macphail to aim for the House of Commons, where in 1921 at age 31, she became the first elected female parliamentarian. Despite being ridiculed by male colleagues, Macphail held onto her seat for an impressive 19 years. A strong advocate of human rights, Macphail championed peace and disarmament, old-age pensions and farmers’ co-operatives. Her tireless efforts brought about Canada’s first meaningful prison reform, including McPhail’s involvement in the Elizabeth Fry Society of Canada, which continues today with 25 chapters to help women in prison. After her 1940 defeat in federal politics, she ran provincially in 1943. Thus on February 23, 1944, she became one of the first two women (Rae Luckock was the other but was sworn in alphabetically after Macphail) elected to the Ontario provincial Parliament through the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Party. Although defeated in 1945, she returned to serve again between 1948 and 1951. Macphail died in Toronto on February 13, 1954.

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February 22, 1967 - Mohamed Suharto

Thu, 22 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

but title. When Indonesia won independence from the Dutch, Achmed Sukarno became the country’s first president in 1945. Twenty years later, when Indonesian communists tried to overthrow the president and his government, the Army’s chief of staff, General Mohamed Suharto, suppressed the coup. From then on, Suharto took ever more control of government operations until on February 22, 1967, President Sukarno relinquished all executive powers to Suharto, saving only his title. Once “elected” president in 1968, Suharto, and his version of a democratic government, stayed in power until March 1998. During Suharto’s three decades of power, anyone who was a communist (along with anyone suspected of being a communist) was either killed, tortured or detained. Suharto also suppressed freedom of the press, politics and speech. In 1975 he invaded East Timor, annihilating roughly one-third of the population there before the country regained its independence in 2000. Suharto was also intolerant of anything “Chinese,” which he associated with communist, and he enjoyed U.S. support in his campaign to suppress communist sympathies. During his presidency, Suharto’s family embezzled billions of dollars and controlled vast amounts of land and buildings, all through corrupt means. Two years after he’d left office, opponents placed Suharto under house arrest, only to have the courts rule that he was medically unfit to stand trial. Only his son “Tommy” ended up with a prison sentence: 15 years for ordering the killing a judge who had found Tommy guilty of a land scam two years earlier.

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February 21, 1965 - Malcolm X

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

American black leader Malcolm X assassinated. Malcolm Little was born on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska, one of eight children. After years of family tragedy and a troubled youth, Malcolm found himself in prison, where he proceeded to educate himself. His reading influenced him to begin following the Nation of Islam’s (NOI) leader Elijah Muhammad. By the time Malcolm left prison in 1952, he was a devoted Muslim and member of the NOI who’d discarded what he called his “slave” name for the name Malcolm X. He became a spokesman for the NOI, whose message of empowerment for black Americans increased the organization’s membership from 500 to 30,000. (The surge caught the eye of the FBI.) Malcolm X became disillusioned with Muhammad and the NOI when he learned that the leader he revered was having sex with six different women, behaviour that went against the organization’s teachings. He left the NOI to create his own organization and embark on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. Malcolm X returned from that journey with a message of harmony for all races, not just African Americans. However, leaving the NOI left him with many enemies and on February 14, 1965, attackers firebombed his house. Although his pregnant wife and their four daughters escaped unharmed, a week later, tragedy struck again. On February 21, 1965, while speaking to a crowd of supporters in Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom, Malcolm X was shot dead by three members of the NOI. He was 39 years old. A few months after his death, his wife Betty gave birth to twin daughters.

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February 20, 1808 - Ezekiel Hart

Tue, 20 Feb 2018 17:01:00 GMT

Canada’s first Jewish legislator, Ezekiel Hart, is denied his seat. Imagine gaining a seat in which you are never allowed to sit. Ezekiel Hart, Canada’s first Jewish legislator, encountered precisely that situation. Born on May 15, 1770 in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Hart studied in the United States before returning to Canada and launching numerous successful business ventures with his father and brothers. When he turned his hand to politics, he was swiftly elected to a seat in the legislative assembly of Lower Canada. There, he was to represent Trois-Rivières in a by-election in 1807. But at the beginning of his first session on January 29, 1808, Hart, as per Jewish custom, took his oath on the Old Testament with his head covered. His political opponents claimed this invalidated Hart, and passed a legislative assembly resolution on February 20, 1808 to deny the rookie Jewish legislator his seat. When Hart was re-elected on May 16, 1808 and took his oath according to Christian custom, the governor still denied him his seat in the legislature. This time, his opponents explained that England had advised them that Jews were ineligible to sit in the assembly. Hart chose not to run again, but lived to see the government pass an act 35 years later, in 1832, that gave Jewish Quebecers full rights to sit in the Assembly of Lower Canada. He died September 16, 1843.

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February 19, 1897 - Adelaide Hoodless

Mon, 19 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

First university for rural women opened by “domestic science” advocate Adelaide Hoodless. When one of her four sons died at 18 months from drinking impure milk, a young Ontario mother named Adelaide Hunter became an advocate for pasteurizing milk. For Hunter, who was born near St. George in 1857 and married John Hoodless in 1881, this grew into a campaign to educate women about child-rearing and household management. Hoodless’ passion for “domestic science” led her to other significant pursuits. As Hamilton’s first president of the YWCA, she was instrumental in the creation of YWCA chapters all across Canada. A tireless public speaker, Hoodless was inspired one night in 1897, while speaking to farmers’ wives in Stoney Creek, Ontario, to create a rural university for women. On February 19, 1897, she spoke at the founding meeting of the Women’s Institute. Ten years later, more than 500 Women’s Institutes operated across Canada. Today more than 18,000 members are found in Canada’s 10 provinces in which they address issues ranging from “agricultural awareness” to “violence against women”. Her work also led to the creation of home economics courses in universities throughout Canada. Hoodless died of a heart attack in Toronto one day before her 53rd birthday on February 26, 1910.

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February 18, 1954 - Joseph McCarthy

Sun, 18 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Joseph McCarthy’s search for “Army communists” begins his downfall. Wisconsin Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy was infamous for seeking out and destroying the lives of supposed “communist sympathizers.” While the House of Representatives’ Un-American Activities committee had inflicted damage to the reputations of many people shortly after World War II, McCarthy took it to new heights. He was quick to accuse anyone who’d supported Roosevelt’s New Deal, especially Democrats, of being communists. But when his Permanent Investigations sub-committee levelled accusations against the U.S. Army, his support began to crumble. On February 18, 1954, the day McCarthy’s committee was to investigate communism in the Army, two generals refused to obey their summons to appear. They stayed away on order of Robert T. Stevens, secretary of the Army. Undaunted, McCarthy proceeded to accuse the Army of rampant communism, but this time, when asked to back up his claims, he had very little to reveal. This “stunt” bolstered the president and fellow senators who were growing weary of McCarthy and his campaign. This turning point was strengthened when the military revealed that McCarthy had asked favoured treatment for a former aide drafted into the Army. In December 1954, the Senate finally censured McCarthy, an option exercised only three other times in the Senate’s history. McCarthy never recovered from that political storm, and died in 1957 at the age of 48 from an alcohol-related illness.

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February 17, 2002 - Kuwaiti Women

Sat, 17 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Kuwaiti women demand the right to vote. Formal attempts to grant Kuwaiti women the vote began in 1971, following a conference on women’s issues. That bill to the legislative assembly failed as did other bills introduced in 1981, 1986, 1992 and 1996. A coalition of 22 non-governmental organizations made up the Women’s Issues Network, a group that organized various campaigns to put pressure on the government. After years of failed attempts, coalition members gathered by the hundreds on Sunday, February 17, 2002 to protest outside two voter registration centres. Although they were turned away, it marked Kuwaiti women’s first attempt at taking grievances to the streets in protest. The women had the Kuwaiti constitution on their side; it gives various guarantees of equality for all persons of Kuwait. Unfortunately, it seems to be contradicted by Article 1 of Law No. 35/1962 of the Election Law, which specifically denies women the vote and the right to run for public office. Every attempt to challenge the law was dismissed by the courts and tribunals for many years. Then came a move that stunned almost everyone in the country. On May 16, 2005, while the all-male Parliament was considering giving Kuwaiti women the right to run in municipal elections, the government cabinet ministers proposed amending the election laws to allow women to vote and run in local and parliamentary elections – and it passed. However, with one month’s notice, Kuwait’s emir, Sheik Sabah al-Ahmad as-Sabah, dissolved Parliament and called the election for June 29, 2006, a full year early. This caught women off guard. With no political experience or backing, the election results saw tens of thousands of women voting for the first time, yet electing no women to Parliament.

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February 16, 1959 - Fidel Castro

Fri, 16 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Fidel Castro sworn in as Cuba’s prime minister, becomes country's youngest leader. In 1951, Cubans were denied democratic elections when right-wing dictator General Fulgencio Batista seized power. Three years later, on July 26, 1953, Fidel Castro – who had sought office in the 1951 election – led an attack on the Cuban government. Unfortunately for Castro, more than half his men were either captured or killed, and he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for conspiring to overthrow the government. When General Batista granted a general amnesty two years later, Castro and his brother Raúl went to Mexico to organize the revolutionary 26th of July movement. They were joined by Argentina’s Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Latin America’s most famous Marxist. Despite setbacks over the years, Castro and his group won the support of many impoverished Cubans. On January 1, 1959, General Batista fled Cuba for the Dominican Republic. Castro became the military’s commander-in-chief then due to other political changes, was sworn in as Cuba's prime minister on February 16, 1959, at the age of 32. American opposition to Castro grew as the Cuban government nationalized U.S. assets and began long-awaited agrarian reform. When the United States made several attempts to overthrow the Cuban government, the Soviet Union stepped in to support the country with supplies and trade. Castro went on to become president of Cuba, and his dictatorship lasted decades.

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February 15, 1930 - Cairine Wilson

Thu, 15 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Cairine Wilson is sworn in as Canada’s first woman senator. In October 1929, Canada paved the way for women to enter real politics. It came about because Canada’s “Famous Five” women (Emily Murphy, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney and Irene Parlby) won the “Persons Case” before the British Privy Council of the House of Lords. This allowed women to be considered “persons” for appointment to the bench and Senate, as per Canada’s constitution. Less than five months later, Prime Minister William Lyon McKenzie King appointed the country’s first woman senator. Cairine Wilson was sworn in as a Liberal senator for Ontario on February 15, 1930. Wilson was born Cairine Reay Mackay in February 1885, the daughter of a Liberal senator from Quebec. She married Norman Wilson, a Liberal MP, and raised eight children. By the time she had entered the Red Chamber, she'd been involved with the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Young Women's Christian Association and the Salvation Army. As senator, she showed considerable interest in Canada’s role in international humanitarian matters. In 1949, she became Canada's first woman delegate to the United Nations General Assembly. A year later, her involvement with refugee children earned her the Knight of the Legion of Honour. Wilson died on March 3, 1962 in Ottawa.

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February 14, 1989 - Salman Rushdie

Wed, 14 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Iranian Muslim leader Ayatollah Khomeini issues death threat against British author Salman Rushdie. British author Salman Rushdie published his book Satanic Verses in September 1988, to critical acclaim and sales of more than 100,000 within a few months. It didn’t take long, however, for Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, to take revenge on the Bombay-born author of the controversial satirical novel, which Khomeini felt cast the Muslim faith in a less than flattering light. On February 14, 1989, Khomeini condemned Rushdie to death. During the Tehran Radio broadcast, the holy man declared a day of mourning and said, "I inform the proud Muslim people of the world that the author of the Satanic Verses book – which is against Islam, the Prophet and the Koran – and all those involved in its publication who are aware of its content, are sentenced to death.” This “fatwa” (an Islamic religious decree) sent Rushdie into hiding as Muslims around the world protested in the streets. He spent nine years in numerous secret locations in Britain before Iranian President Mohammed Khatami declared in 1998 that the state would no longer support the fatwa. Even so, one Iranian foundation put a $2.8 million bounty on Rushdie’s head. In June 2007 Queen Elizabeth II announced that Rushdie, the author of 13 books dealing with issues of faith, religion and culture, would be knighted. This announcement was met with condemnation and outrage by various Muslim religious and political leaders throughout the world. Not recognizing the importance of freedom of speech and the ability to speak and write about religious differences, some leaders suggested the knighthood would lead to suicide bombings. Sir Rushdie resides at an unknown address in London, where he continues to publish books and occasionally make public appearances.

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February 13, 1974 - Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Tue, 13 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Dissident Nobel writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn expelled from USSR. Alexander Solzhenitsyn was born in Kislovodsk, Russia on December 11, 1918. There, he pursued a university education in physics and mathematics, even though his real passion was writing. When Soviet authorities discovered his writing criticizing Joseph Stalin, he was imprisoned, first for eight years, then for another two. He used his prison time to write, and much to the dismay of the Soviet leadership, managed to publish his works – sometimes within the USSR, but mostly in the West. His writing included The First Circle, The Cancer Ward and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. In 1970, when he won the Nobel prize in literature, he was widely condemned by his country’s leadership. On February 13, 1975, Soviet authorities expelled him from Russia, sent him to West Germany and stripped him of his Russian citizenship. A day later, he was charged with treason. He quickly moved to Norway, then Switzerland until 1976, after which he moved to Vermont in the United States. Solzhenitsyn was just as critical of the West’s capitalist system as he was of the Soviet state. When the USSR fell, Russia dropped its treason charges against Solzhenitsyn in 1991. He returned to his homeland and was eventually honoured. In 1997, Russia recognized his work by establishing the Solzhenitsyn prize for literature.

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February 12, 1994 - Victoria Matthews

Mon, 12 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Anglican Church of Canada appoints first female bishop: Reverend Victoria Matthews. The Anglican church has allowed women priests since November 30, 1976. However, 1993 was a breakthrough year when Rev. Victoria Matthews became the first woman to be elected to the post of an Anglican bishop in Canada. The following year, on February 12, 1994, Matthews was consecrated as bishop at a service at St. Paul’s church in Toronto. Matthews was a distinguished choice. She’d graduated from Trinity College at the University of Toronto in 1976. She’d also been awarded the North American theological fellowship at Yale University Divinity School in the United States, where she had graduated in 1979. In 1980 she had been ordained as an Anglican priest. Beyond serving her parishioners, she was actively involved with the Anglican Youth Movement and with groups creating dialogue between Christians and Jews. In 1992, Matthews became a member of the National Executive Council, subsequently known as the Council of General Synod. In 1997, Matthews made another step forward for women in her church when she was elected bishop of Edmonton, becoming the only female diocesan bishop in Canada. Two other women became suffagen assistant bishops: Ann Tottenham (retired in 2005) and Sue Moxley (still working in PEI and Nova Scotia). As for Matthews, in June 2007 she was nominated archbishop of the Anglican Church of Canada, to succeed the retiring Archbishop Andrew Hutchison. However, in a tight race that went to five ballots, Fred Hiltz, bishop from Nova Scotia and PEI, ended up getting the top job. There is only one woman in the history of the Anglican church to head up a national body: Katharine Jefferts Schori, who became the presiding bishop of the Episcopal church in the United States in June 2006.

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February 11, 1975 - Margaret Thatcher

Sun, 11 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

British Conservative Party chooses Margaret Thatcher as leader. The British Conservative Party was not known for being the most progressive. However, on February 11, 1975 the Tories made what was considered great strides for the equality of the sexes by choosing their first woman leader, Margaret Thatcher. In Britain, party leaders are chosen by a vote of the members of Parliament and in 1975 the Conservatives were her Majesty’s Official Opposition party. Thatcher, who was known for showing an interest in the lives of fellow MPs, won handily over her four male opponents in the party. Thatcher began her process by telling former Prime Minister and party leader at the time, Ted Heath, that she would be challenging him for the job. She had served in Heath’s cabinet as Secretary of State for Science and Education when Heath was Prime Minister between 1970 and 1974. The rest, of course, is history: In 1979, Thatcher did indeed become Britain’s first woman prime minister. But if anyone was expecting a more “sensitive” PM in a woman, they didn’t get it in Thatcher. She soon became known as the Iron Lady, and ruled Britain for more than 10 years before being forced to step down. After a decade, her party MPs had had enough of Thatcher’s unbending style, and she lost a leadership vote in November 1990, even though her party remained in power. While Thatcher had many critics, she was credited with making economic reforms that allowed certain members of the public to prosper financially.

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February 10, 1988 - U.S. Army's Homosexual Ban

Sat, 10 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

U.S. Court of Appeals overturns Army’s ban on homosexuals. The United States Army had a policy of banning gay men from its ranks. The Army took its lead from the British Articles of War of 1775 and felt no need to update it. Many Americans felt the ban was a throwback to the days of paranoia and misinformation about gay men’s abilities. When women were allowed into the combat ranks of the military, many assumed they were lesbians. It was not until February 10, 1988 that a federal appeals court in San Francisco struck down the military’s ban, saying it was unconstitutional. The argument that banning gays preserved morale and discipline did not persuade the court to deny gay men and lesbians the same rights as other Americans. In subsequent years, some courts ruled in favour of gay and lesbian military personnel, while others upheld the government’s stance. Years later, when Bill Clinton became president, he tried to allow gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military. Knowing his decision would be overturned in Congress, however, he agreed to the compromise policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell” in which theoretically, if a gay or lesbian soldier did not reveal their true sexual orientation, then they would be allowed to serve. In practice, the military continued to seek out the sexual orientation of gay men and lesbians and throw them out of service.

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February 9, 1971 - Archie Bunker

Fri, 09 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Archie Bunker’s All in the Family debuts television’s first gay-themed episode. With the exception of television comedian Ernie Kovacs poking fun at an effeminate character he played in the 1950s, it wasn’t until the 1970s that a gay character played on television. It should come as no surprise that the loveable bigot, Archie Bunker from All in the Family, was the one chosen to encounter that character. First aired on February 9, 1971, with the title “Judging Books by Covers,” the program produced by Norman Lear went like this: Archie’s son-in-law, Michael (“Meathead”), brings home his friend Roger who Archie thinks is gay. It turns out he isn’t, but Archie gets a rude awakening when he discovers that his long-time friend and former football star Steve was in fact gay. Bunker had a hard time coming to grips with the notion that his beer-drinking buddy was homosexual as this didn’t fit his stereotype of gay men. For Bunker, this created a dilemma of staying loyal to his friend or abandoning him because of pre-conceived notions. The episode was rather bold of Lear and his crew, especially as All in the Family had been on the air for only a month. Archie’s gay friend, as it turned out, was a one-time event. It would be six years before a recurring gay character showed up on television. That’s when Billy Crystal played gay character Jodie Dallas on the show Soap.

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February 8, 1949 - Cardinal Mindszenty

Thu, 08 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Hungarian Cardinal Mindszenty sentenced to life imprisonment for treason. József Pehm was born on March 29, 1892 in Mindszent, Hungary. Years later he would take the name Mindszenty, from his place of birth. He was active in the Catholic Youth Movement in school and became a priest in 1915. His first book, Motherhood, was published in 1917 and his anti-communist and ultra-conservative beliefs got him into trouble more than once. After World War I, in 1919, Mindszenty became active in the newly formed Christian Party and was arrested and served time under house arrest and in jail until 1919. His work in the church continued and in 1944, he was named diocesan bishop of Veszprém by Pope Pius XII. Shortly afterwards he was arrested by the Nazi-controlled government for denouncing the treatment of Jews. When Hungary was liberated by the Soviet’s Red Army in 1945, Mindszenty moved back to Veszprém. He was elevated to Cardinal of Hungary in 1946, just two years before religious orders were banned by the communist government. On December 26, 1948, along with others, Mindszenty was arrested once more, this time for treason and conspiracy for speaking his mind. On February 8, 1949, Mindszenty was sentenced to life imprisonment for treason. Condemnation for this from western leaders and the pope was harsh, but to no avail. During the short-lived Hungarian Revolt of 1956, Mindszenty was released from prison. But that lasted only days. As the Soviets quickly crushed the revolt, Mindszenty took sanctuary in the U.S. embassy in Budapest. He stayed in the compound for 15 years until the Vatican worked out a compromise and he was released to Vienna in 1971. He died on May 6, 1975

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February 7, 1971 - Women of Switzerland

Wed, 07 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

The women of Switzerland got the vote well behind women of most Western nations. In a referendum in 1959, male voters soundly defeated the idea of sharing the vote. However, the next decade spelled dramatic change on that front, and Swiss men finally relented. On February 7, 1971, in a two-to-one majority, Switzerland’s male voters granted women the right to vote in federal elections and to stand for office. While all political parties and most churches and businesses supported the move, women voiced concerns that those who’d voted against them would continue to try and limit women’s roles to “kinder, kirche und kuche” (children, church and kitchen). Today, Swiss women still face major hurdles in politics and government, but a growing number are being elected to public office, and the barriers continue to drop.

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February 6, 1921 - Laurier Saumur

Tue, 06 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Jehovah’s Witness crusader Laurier Saumur born in Gatineau, Quebec. In 1940, two countries had banned the Jehovah’s Witness religion: Nazi Germany and Canada. The man who relentlessly fought the oppression of his religion was Laurier Saumur, born in Gatineau, Quebec on February 6, 1921, one of 14 children. Raised Catholic, he moved to Ottawa at age 18, where his love of reading led him to information about his church he didn’t like. While in Ottawa, he discovered that one of his brothers was in prison for being a member of a banned organization, the Jehovah’s Witnesses. He began questioning his religion and on July 1, 1944 became baptized as a Witness. Witnesses believe in two worlds that exist simultaneously, with most people on earth living in Satan’s world. Witnesses also believe that one day the Earth will be destroyed at Armageddon. Part of the religion includes proselytizing on the street and at people’s doorsteps. However, in the 1940s, fearing a threat to the Catholic church, Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis declared “a war without mercy against the Witnesses of Jehovah.” Quebec City did its part with a by-law requiring the police chief’s permission to hand out pamphlets. Since permission was never forthcoming, Saumur was arrested more than 100 times between the mid 1940s and early 1950s. He challenged the arrests and twice his case went to the Supreme Court of Canada. In 1947 the Supreme Court said the case was out of its jurisdiction, yet in 1953 ruled in Saumur’s favour, saying the by-law infringed on his religious freedoms. In 1949 Saumur married Yvette Ouellette. They chose not to have children so they could devote their time to missionary work, which they did with extensive travel across Canada. Saumur died on March 22, 2007 in Grimsby, Ontario.

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February 5, 1983 - Klaus Barbie

Mon, 05 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

“Butcher of Lyon” Klaus Barbie is extradited to France for crimes against humanity. Klaus Barbie, born in Germany in 1913 and a member of the Hitler Youth, became known as the “Butcher of Lyon” for his brutality. He was responsible for the torture and murder of thousands of Jews and other prisoners in France during World War II. He headed up Gestapo Department IV in Lyon, France between 1942 and 1944, and after the war, was used by the United States for counter-intelligence work. He then made his way to Bolivia, where he became a citizen and lived for many years under the name Klaus Altmann. Between February 4 and 5, 1983, Barbie was expelled from Bolivia to France, where he was kept in detention in Lyon until his trial began on May 12, 1987. On July 4, 1987, he was found guilty of 17 crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment. Barbie died of leukemia in the prison hospital in Lyon on September 25, 1991.

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February 4, 1906 - Gladys Strum

Sun, 04 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Gladys Strum, pioneer in Saskatchewan and Canadian politics, was born. Gladys Grace Mae Lamb was born on February 4, 1906 in Gladstone, Manitoba. At 16, she became a teacher in Saskatchewan, where she met her husband Warner Strum. Early in their marriage, Warner contracted tuberculosis and Gladys got an understanding of the deficiencies in Canada’s health care system. During travels to New Zealand, Strum gained an appreciation for that country’s progressive health care practices, which prompted her to get involved in the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) party in Canada. Although defeated in her bids for the legislature in 1938 and 1944 (the latter by six votes to Premier Patterson), Strum was actively involved in Canada’s first socialist government when Tommy Douglas became premier in the June 1944 election. The Saskatchewan CCF elected Strum president, making her the first woman president of a political party in Canada. The following year, she was elected the CCF Member of Parliament for Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan, the only woman in the House of Commons during that session and the fifth woman MP elected to Ottawa. Among other achievements, Strum was successful in convincing the speaker of Parliament that women need no longer wear hats or handkerchiefs in the gallery. She was also famous for her line, “No one has ever objected to women working; the only thing they have ever objected to is paying women for working.” Strum was defeated in 1949. However, she made her way back into politics in 1960 as a member of the Saskatchewan Legislature from Saskatoon. During that session she was proud to vote for the legislation that created Canada’s first socialized medical system. Strum died in Penticton, B.C. on August 15, 2005.

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February 3, 1960 - Winds of Change in Africa

Sat, 03 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

British prime minister speaks of “winds of change” in Africa. On February 3, 1960, when British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan addressed the Houses of Parliament in South Africa, he said “winds of change” were blowing through the continent. This got a rather chilly response from the white minority rulers of South Africa at the time. After all, he seemed to be suggesting that blacks be allowed to run their own affairs, if not their own countries. Macmillan also spoke of the need to "create a society which respects the rights of individuals – a society in which individual merit, and individual merit alone, is the criterion for a man's advancement, whether political or economic." South Africa’s prime minister, Dr. Verwoerd, responded, "We are the people who brought civilisation to Africa… To do justice in Africa means not only being just to the black man of Africa, but also to the white man of Africa." Although it would be another 30 years before blacks were given the vote and the control of their own country, Macmillan was the first of his power and stature to make such comments.

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February 2, 1989 - Bill White

Fri, 02 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Bill White becomes the first black president of baseball’s National League. William DeKova White had an extraordinary baseball career both on and off the field. He spent 13 years as a major-league first baseman with the New York Giants, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Philadelphia Phillies. In 1966, White tore his Achilles tendon during a paddle-ball game. It curtailed his baseball career, prompting him to retire from the game entirely in 1969. But he didn’t stray far; he landed a job at a television station that led to work as an on-air sports announcer. When he became the New York Yankees’ play-by-play announcer, he was hailed as America’s first black announcer for a major league team. He held that position for 18 years, until February 2, 1989. That’s when he took a salary cut to become the National League’s first black baseball president, and incidentally the highest-ranking black official in American professional sports. He held the job for five years before retiring.

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February 1, 1994 - Jewish Teachers

Thu, 01 Feb 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Supreme Court hears case regarding paid time off for Jewish teachers. In 1985, three Jewish teachers by the names of Joseph Kadoch, Louise Elbraz and Jacob Lahmi took an approved, unpaid day's leave of absence to celebrate Yom Kippur. The only trouble was, the three employees of the Quebec School Board in Chambly would have preferred a paid day off. Their union agreed they were entitled to this, and filed a grievance aimed at securing pay for teachers on their holy days off work. The labour arbitration found that the school board had discriminated against the teachers and should have granted them paid leave. The case eventually made its way to the Supreme Court of Canada, where the judges heard it on February 1, 1994. Five months later, they (like the arbitrators) ruled against the school board and in favour of the teachers and their union. The Supreme Court justices noted that the school board was able to accommodate these teachers without undue hardship, and already had an established history of granting all teachers paid days off if they had a “good or valid” reason. The decision is regarded as a significant victory for Canadians outside of the traditional Protestant and Catholic religions.

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January 31, 1958 - James Gladstone

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

James Gladstone becomes Canada's first aboriginal senator. James Gladstone’s aboriginal name was Akay Namuka, which translates to “Many Guns.” Born May 21, 1887 near Mountain Hill, Northwest Territories, he was a member of the Blood Reserve in Alberta. After completing his schooling, Gladstone apprenticed as a printer, worked as an interpreter and eventually landed an RCMP position as “chief scout and interpreter.” Then he drifted for a while before taking up farming. Soon, he busied himself incorporating modern farming methods into his toil, encouraging others on his reserve to do the same, and establishing various business ventures with his sons. In 1949, he became president of the Indian Association of Alberta, where he was credited by some with bringing the federal vote to Treaty Indians in 1960. In 1957, newly elected Prime Minister John Diefenbaker made good on his pledge to appoint an Indian to Canada’s Upper Chamber by tapping Gladstone for the Senate. On January 31, 1958, Gladstone was officially sworn in. During his time in the Senate, Gladstone worked to create a better life for aboriginal people. Ironically, due to his First Nations status, he was denied the ability to vote in federal elections, until that was changed two years later. Gladstone retired from the Senate on March 3, 1971 and died six months later at the age of 84. On October, 2001 Gladstone was honoured for his years of service with the unveiling of a sculpture in the Senate on 25 October, 2001.

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January 30, 1948 - Mahatma Gandhi

Tue, 30 Jan 2018 07:01:00 GMT

India's "father of the nation," Mahatma Gandhi, assassinated. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, born on October 2, 1869, went to England to study law at the age of 19, where he was shunned by fellow students for being Indian. After completing his law degree, he returned to India for two years before moving to South Africa, where he became the first “colored” lawyer to be admitted to the bar. During his 20 years in South Africa, Gandhi initiated peaceful protests against racism, which evolved into efforts to end British rule when he headed back to India in 1914. There, he led the Indian National Congress Party, spearheaded protests and began a campaign of non-cooperation with the British. Although his activities landed him in prison for two years, they eventually led to India’s independence in 1947. Unfortunately, the victory was tempered by a split amongst Muslims that resulted in the formation of Pakistan. The violence that subsequently erupted many times between the Hindus and Muslims took a great toll on Gandhi. On January 30, 1948, he was on his way to a prayer meeting when he was assassinated by a fellow Hindu who felt betrayed. Gandhi, known as Mahatma or “great soul,” was the father of his country and remains an international symbol for peaceful protest.

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January 29, 1939 - Germaine Greer

Mon, 29 Jan 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Author of the Female Eunuch, Germaine Greer is born in Melbourne. Germaine Greer became known as one of the defining authors and speakers of the feminist movement in the 1970s due to her first book, The Female Eunuch. Greer was born on January 29, 1939 in Melbourne, Australia and was educated in a convent. Her post-secondary education earned her degrees at Melbourne and Sydney Universities before she attended Newnham College, a women’s college at the University of Cambridge in England on a scholarship. After receiving her PhD in 1967, she stayed in England to lecture in English at Warwick University until 1973. While there, Greer published the Female Eunuch in 1970 and it immediately became a best seller. Since that time it has been translated into numerous languages and continues to be sold around the world. The controversy of the book came from Greer’s frank talk and explicit language about women’s sexuality and how the traditional family repressed women, turning them into eunuchs. Greer was quoted as saying, “I have always been principally interested in men for sex. I've always thought any sane woman would be a lover of women because loving men is such a mess. I have always wished I'd fall in love with a woman. Damn.” But her language garnered more than just criticism. While speaking in New Zealand in 1972 she was fined $40 for swearing. Greer continues to write books and articles, and is a regular commentator, not only calling women to action, but encouraging men and women to challenge conventional roles. Greer, an avowed anarchist, has lived and worked in Italy, England and the United States.

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January 28, 1916 - Manitoba Women

Sun, 28 Jan 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Manitoba becomes Canada’s first province to give women the vote. The mostly upper-class women involved in the early days of Canada’s women’s movement viewed universal suffrage (the vote) as a tool to strengthen good, Protestant values in Canada. Their fight, of course, was a lengthy one, and led to a patchwork of results. Involved in the process were women of the Dominion Women’s Enfranchisement Association and the National Council of Women, where between 1890 and 1900 they introduced a number of bills for provincial suffrage that were all defeated in the legislatures of Ontario, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Quebec. The campaigns, political alliances and tactics continued into the new century, but that didn’t change much for almost another generation. Of course the vote did come to women and it started in Manitoba. After years of battles with Manitoba politicians, suffragettes like Nellie McClung – a long-time Manitoban and member of the Women’s Christian Temperance – could celebrate. On January 28, 1916, the government of Manitoba amended the Election Act, finally granting women the right to vote. Manitoba was the first province to give women the vote. It would be decades before all women throughout Canada joined them at the voting booth. Women in Saskatchewan and Alberta got the vote in 1916; followed by women in B.C. and Ontario in 1917, Nova Scotia in 1918, New Brunswick and the Yukon in 1919, P.E.I. in 1922, Newfoundland in 1925, Quebec in 1940 and finally women in the North West Territories in 1951. All aboriginals, including women, only got the right to the vote federally in 1960.

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January 27, 1959 - Maurice Duplessis

Sat, 27 Jan 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Supreme Court rules against Premier Duplessis for punishing Jehovah’s Witness. Years ago, many people regarded the Witnesses of Jehovah as a radical Christian sect, especially in Quebec, where they were very critical of the Roman Catholic church. During World War II, Quebecors banned Jehovah’s Witnesses as an organization and imprisoned Witnesses practicing their beliefs. After the war, Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis did everything in his power to put a stop to this group. In 1945, provincial authorities carried out large scale arrests of young Witness men and women as they broke local by-laws by handing out their magazines. Montreal restaurateur Frank Roncarelli gave legal assurances for each arrest and by November 12, 1946, he had posted about 380 sureties. Later that month, Premier Duplessis, who also served as Quebec’s attorney general, ordered the head of the Quebec Liquor Commission, Edouard Archambault, to revoke the liquor license at Roncarelli’s restaurant Quaff. This was despite the fact that Roncarelli and his father had held the license for 34 years. Since Roncarelli was clearly being punished for supporting the Witnesses, the message was clear that other supporters would suffer. Without a liquor license, Roncarelli lost his business, which prompted him to personally sue the premier. He not only won more than $8,000 in damages, but on January 27, 1959 the Supreme Court of Canada upheld that decision and upped the award by $25,000. Some judges used harsh words, one describing Duplessis of “gross abuse of legal power.” With legal expenses, the premier was ordered to pay $46,132 personally. Roncarelli moved to the United States to work for a highway construction company. He died on September 26, 1981 in Groton, Connecticut.

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January 26, 1990 - Donald Marshall

Fri, 26 Jan 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Racism caused 11 years of wrongful imprisonment for Donald Marshall, judge rules. When he was 17 years old, a Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq First Nations named Donald Marshall Jr. and his friend Sandy Seale tried to rob a man who pulled a knife on them, killing Seale. Marshall was convicted of the murder and spent 11 years in jail before the actual killer bragged about his actions, leading the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal to quash the conviction. Marshall became part of a process that exposed racism in the Nova Scotia police and judicial system. On January 26, 1990, the report of the Royal Commission on Donald Marshall, Jr. was released with harsh words for the entire justice system. The judges filing the report found grave injustices for non-Caucasians, especially black and Mi’kmaq Canadians. Their findings spotlighted complete incompetence, investigations designed to support their theory and discount others, police using oppressive tactics on witnesses, and Crown lawyers failing to disclose statements from witnesses supporting Marshall. Racism was at the heart of the problem, and Nova Scotia took action to repair some of the damage.

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January 25, 2007 - Quebec "Standards"

Thu, 25 Jan 2018 07:01:00 GMT

Quebec town adopts popular “standards” that challenge religious differences. Although in 2007 all residents of Hérouxville, Quebec had been born in Canada, the town council decided the community would welcome immigrants – as long as any immigrants followed the town’s clearly established and democratically elected rules. On January 25, 2007, the mayor and six councillors of this rural community of 1,300 adopted a set of “standards” that included the following: “We would like to invite, without discrimination, in the future, all people from outside…to move to this territory. ‘Without discrimination’ means to us, without regard to race or to the color of skin, mother tongue spoken, sexual orientation, religion or any other form of beliefs.” Prospective newcomers were told, “the lifestyle that they left behind in their birth country cannot be brought here with them and they would have to adapt to their new social identity.” The standards went on to state, “We consider that killing women in public beatings, or burning them alive are not part of our standards of life.” Newcomers were told to prepare for Christmas celebrations in schools and public places. On more than one occasion it was spelled out that men and women were equal and they could interact, work and even swim together. And despite a ruling from the Supreme Court of Canada a year earlier allowing Sikh boys to wear the kirpan to school, the standards stated, “Children cannot carry any weapons real or fake, symbolic or not.” While these standards were condemned by human rights groups, they were met with widespread popularity throughout Quebec. This issue of accommodating persons with religious and cultural differences became an election issue and was significant in reducing the governing Quebec Liberal party to minority status in the March 2007 election.

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January 24, 1965 - Sir Winston Churchill

Wed, 24 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

Sir Winston Churchill dies at age 90. Winston Churchill was born in Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England on November 30, 1874. Known as one of the great statesmen of the 20th century, he was also an accomplished writer and painter. Churchill was born into the British aristocracy, and his childhood entailed boarding schools, poor marks and distant parents. After a short stint in the Army, in 1900 Churchill followed in his father’s footsteps to become a Conservative member of Parliament (MP). He soon became politically disenchanted, however, and crossed the floor to sit as a Liberal. He served in cabinet, including as first lord of the admiralty, into World War I. He re-joined the Conservatives at the end of the war, and stayed there. In cabinet during World War II when Prime Minster Chamberlain resigned, Churchill took the helm and led his country to victory. Although his government was subsequently defeated in 1945, he returned to power in 1951 and stayed until he resigned in 1955. He stayed on as an MP until a year before his death. Churchill wrote many books and in 1953 won the Nobel prize in literature "for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values." In 1963, U.S. President Kennedy named Churchill the first honorary citizen of the United States. Two years later, on January 24, 1965, Churchill died.

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January 23, 1996 - Religious School Funding

Tue, 23 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

funding. Susie Adler argued what she felt was a legitimate case: If Ontario fully funds Catholic and Protestant schools, why are schools that are run by other religions in the province not entitled to the same support? Adler linked up with fellow Jewish parents and the Ontario Alliance of Christian School Societies to take the government of Ontario to court. Why? Because their charter rights had been violated, she claimed. While the group lost their cases at all levels of courts including the Ontario court of appeal, Adler and her colleagues were given a chance at the Supreme Court of Canada. They made their arguments there on January 23 and 24, 1996. Ten months later, the court weighed in, dismissing their case and ruling that the Ontario government is not obliged to give funding to these private schools. While Ontario and Quebec specifically protect their Protestant and Catholic minorities, the court stated, this is part of a compromise that need not be extended to other religions. Governments may choose to give such funding, the court continued, but they are not required to do so.

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January 22, 1979 - Edward Schreyer

Mon, 22 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

Former Manitoba Premier Edward Schreyer becomes Canada’s governor general. Edward Schreyer was Manitoba’s NDP premier between 1969 and 1977. A strong advocate of social democratic principles, he was a surprise pick for most Canadians when Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau appointed him Canada’s governor general. Schreyer was sworn in on January 22, 1979 – at the age of 43, Canada’s third youngest to take on the role. Prior to his appointment, all the queen’s representatives and heads of state had been “Canadian blue bloods” and/or individuals highly ensconced in the political sphere. The new Manitoban dignitary was anything but. Schreyer, with Ukrainian roots and a Catholic, was the first leader of the Manitoba CCF/NDP who was not of an Anglo-Saxon and Protestant background. His government was foremost in Canada regarding legislation in sustainable energy, the environment, as well as pharmaceutical care. His focus on environmental issues led to the creation of the Governor General's Conservation Awards in 1981. After his term ended in 1984, Schreyer announced that funds from the first five years of his governor general’s pension would go to the Canadian Shield Foundation to further its work with plant life in the Canadian Shield. Shortly after stepping down as governor general, Schreyer – never one to let grass grow under his feet – was appointed Canada’s high commissioner to Australia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu from 1984-88.When he returned home he and his wife Lily moved back to Manitoba where he served on various boards and foundations before unsuccessfully attempting to make a return to politics.

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January 21, 2004 - Juliet O'Neill

Sun, 21 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

RCMP raids home of journalist Juliet O’Neill, prompting widespread condemnation. Ottawa Citizen reporter Juliet O’Neill was writing about the imprisonment and torture of Canadian Maher Arar, who spent a year in a Syrian prison after being detained in the United States and sent to Syria due to information given to them by Canadian officials. The issue became more than just an embarrassment for the Canadian government as questions arose about the information Canadian officials had given the U.S. In the end, Arar was exonerated with an apology and an $11.5 million settlement from the Canadian government. On January 21, 2004, 10 RCMP officers raided O’Neill’s home, taking copies of her computer files along with notebooks, address books and other documents. They were investigating a possible breach of the Security of Information Act and implicating O’Neill in criminal activity. Worldwide condemnation by organizations devoted to freedom of the press followed immediately. PEN Canada for Freedom of Expression expressed outrage at the Canadian police actions. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, and the Vienna-based International Press Institute also had harsh words for Canada’s Prime Minister Paul Martin and the RCMP. The Ottawa Citizen went to court, demanding their documents and those of O’Neill returned. In October of 2006 an Ontario judge granted most of their demands and had harsh words for the RCMP. Judge Ratushny wrote the RCMP’s allegations of criminality by O’Neill was, “abusive conduct… that amounts to an intimidation of the press and an infringement of the constitutional right of freedom of the press.” The judge further ruled that certain actions of the RCMP “offend the public's sense of decency and fairness and does undermine the integrity of the judicial process.”

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January 20, 2005 - Norman Kwong

Sat, 20 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

Norman L. Kwong of Calgary installed as Alberta’s 16th lieutenant governor. Norman Kwong was born in Calgary, 1929 to parents who had immigrated to Canada from China years earlier. In high school, Kwong took a liking to football and at the age of 18 in 1948 joined the Calgary Stampeders Football Club as a halfback. In doing so, he became the first Chinese Canadian player on a Canadian Football League team (CFL) and the youngest on a team that won the Grey Cup. He played for Calgary for three years before being traded to the Edmonton Eskimos for another 10. His career was a spectacular one. Known as the “China Clipper,” he broke numerous records and won many awards. In 1955 and 1956, Kwong won the Schenley Award (given to the CFL’s most outstanding Canadian player). In 1955 he won Canada’s Athlete of the Year. He retired from professional football in 1960 but came back almost three decades later to become president and general manager of his first team, the Stampeders. In 1998 Kwong was awarded the Order of Canada. Seven years later, on January 20, 2005, Kwong was installed as Alberta’s lieutenant governor, the first Chinese Canadian to hold the Alberta post.

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January 19, 1966 - Indira Gandhi

Fri, 19 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

woman prime minister. Indira Gandhi was born into a political family. Her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, was India’s first prime minister, following independence from British rule in 1947. She was schooled in West Bengal and Oxford, and married Feroze Gandhi, a lawyer who rose to prominence in Indian politics before his death in 1960. Like her father, her husband and the most famous of Indians, Mohandas Ghandi (no relation), she was always actively involved in the Congress Party. When India’s prime minister died suddenly four days before the leadership contest, Gandhi put her name forward to lead the party. On January 19, 1966, she won the support of 355 of the Congress Party’s MPs, in sharp contrast to the 169 who supported former Finance Minister Morarji Desai. She became India’s first woman prime minister, leader of the largest democracy on Earth. Although she also won the general elections in 1967 and 1971, 1977 proved her first election loss. She’d just been convicted of corruption and creating a two-year state of emergency during which she imprisoned opponents and severely limited the media. In 1984, four years after returning to politics, she ordered the storming of the Sikh holy Golden Temple in order to arrest Punjab militants taking refuge inside. She paid for the decision with her life. Outraged about the damage done to their sacred temple, her two Sikh bodyguards killed her in November 1984.

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January 18, 2001 - Robert Latimer

Thu, 18 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

Supreme Court upholds Robert Latimer’s 10-year sentence for murdering daughter Tracy. When Robert Latimer killed his daughter on October 24, 1993, some called him compassionate while others called him a murderer. Tracy Latimer was 12 years old at the time of her death. Due to a lifetime of severe cerebral palsy, she weighed 40 pounds, was a quadriplegic, had the mental capacity of a four-month-old baby and was unable to walk, talk or feed herself. Her mother and father witnessed her five to six seizures a day and felt she endured excruciating pain. Doctors suggested surgery to allow for tube feeding and perhaps better management of her pain, but the Latimers refused, thinking of this as mutilation and the continuity of her suffering. Latimer, a Saskatchewan farmer, placed his daughter in their pickup truck and ran a hose from the exhaust pipe into the cab. Initially, Latimer told authorities Tracy had passed away in her sleep, but he later confessed to his actions. He was convicted of second-degree murder but the Supreme Court of Canada ordered a second trial when they discovered the prosecution had interfered in the jury selection. In late 1997, a second jury came down with the same conviction, but recommended parole after just one year in prison. Judge Ted Noble gave Latimer a “constitutional exemption” of a sentence of less than two years, one of those years to be served in the community. On January 18, 2001 the Supreme Court of Canada rejected his shortened sentence, ordering Latimer to serve the full 10-year minimum before being eligible for parole. The court said murder was not his only option. Any consideration of mercy was left up to Parliament, not the courts. Latimer will be eligible for day parole in 2007 and full parole in December 2010.

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January 17, 1974 - Pauline McGibbon

Wed, 17 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

Ontario’s Pauline McGibbon is appointed the Commonwealth’s first woman lieutenant governor. Pauline Emily Mills was born in Sarnia, Ontario on October 20, 1910. She married her high school love, Donald McGibbon, in 1933, with whom she graduated from the University of Toronto’s Victoria College. At a time when women were just starting to break through gender barriers, McGibbon achieved many firsts. She was the first woman chancellor of the University of Guelph and the first woman chancellor of the University of Toronto. When she sat on the boards of George Weston, IBM, Imasco and Mercedes-Benz, she was the first woman to do so. On January 17, 1974, when the Canadian government announced that Mills would sit as Ontario’s lieutenant governor, she made history three times over. Not only was she the province’s and Canada’s first female to take on the vice-regal’s role, but she was the first in the entire Commonwealth. She held the position from April 10, 1974 until 1980. Before, during and after her post as the queen’s representative, McGibbon was actively involved in arts and cultural activities, chalking up yet another first in 1972 as the first woman president of the Canadian Conference of the Arts. McGibbon suffered a stroke in 1995 and died in Toronto in December 2001.

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January 16, 1979 - Shah of Iran

Tue, 16 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi flees Iran as Islamic Ayatollah takes control. In 1941, Britain and the Soviet Union invaded Iran to replace the Iranian monarch, the shah of Iran, with his son, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. The new shah reigned over his country with limited powers until 1953, when his supporters – helped by the British and American governments – removed the country’s prime minister in a coup. In the 1960s, the shah brought in reforms in an effort to liberalize the country. He also chose to take strong action against the growing tide of Muslim support. In 1963, the Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini was imprisoned, then exiled for his opposition to the shah’s regime. For every act of opposition, the shah would bring in stronger measures, violating human rights in order to hold onto power. With the Ayatollah receiving considerable support in exile, the battle lines were drawn. Near the end of his regime, the shah imposed martial law, but it was not enough to dissuade the Ayatollah’s supporters from enacting massive strikes in the country’s lucrative oil fields. On January 16, 1979, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and his wife, Empress Farah, left Tehran for Egypt, never to return. The Ayatollah returned from exile in France, and he and his Islamic Council took control of Iran and imposed a strict state of Islamic law. The shah died in Egypt in 1980.

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January 15, 1973 - Richard Nixon

Mon, 15 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

U.S. President Richard Nixon orders ceasefire in Vietnam. With the deaths of more than 900,000 North Vietnamese, 180,000 South Vietnamese, 5,000 foreign Allies and 45,000 Americans, President Richard Nixon called for an end of his government’s bombing of North Vietnam and adjoining countries on January 15, 1973. That ended 18 years of American involvement in Vietnam, marked by an ever escalating military presence aimed at stopping the Viet Cong from getting a country-wide communist hold. Nixon decided to cut his losses – end a losing battle – when his National Security Affairs assistant, Dr. Henry Kissinger, returned from peace negotiations in France with a draft proposal. The proposal outlined the ceasefire, withdrawal of troops within two months of signing, the simultaneous release of prisoners, plans to ensure peace between North and South Vietnam, and a U.S. pledge to contribute to their economic restructuring. Kissinger then returned to Paris to secure the ceasefire that took effect midnight of January 27. North and South became one, with all of Vietnam coming under control of the communists on April 30, 1975. Shocking tales of human rights abuses began emerging after the war from all sides. These included reports of Vietnamese who supported the Americans being subjected to horrendous treatment and death.

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January 14, 1963 - George Wallace

Sun, 14 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

Segregationist George C. Wallace is sworn in as governor of Alabama. George Corley Wallace was born in Clio, Alabama in 1919 and graduated from the University of Alabama Law School in 1942. Following a brief military stint, he found his legal work taking him into politics. Initially elected to the Alabama legislature and bench as a judge, the long-time Democrat was defeated in his race for governor in 1958. His opponent had the support of the Ku Klux Klan, an endorsement Wallace refused. But Wallace was so devastated by his defeat, that he quickly adopted the racist views of the majority. In the next race for governor, he promoted segregation and small government – and was sworn in on January 14, 1963 after garnering more votes than any previous governor in Alabama. In his inaugural speech, Wallace pledged “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." Federal interference blocked Wallace from keeping the pledge, but he was elected four times as governor and ran the same number of times for U.S. president. Following an assassination attempt in 1972, he was paralyzed from the waist down. And yet, after many years in and out of politics – and after rescinding his segregationist stance with a public apology – Wallace was elected governor once again in 1982. He clinched the title thanks to majority support from the African American community. He died in September 1998.

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January 13, 1984 - Ann Cools

Sat, 13 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

Ann Cools becomes Canada’s first black senator. Born in Barbados in 1943, Anne Cools moved to Montreal at the age of 13. She graduated from McGill University with a bachelor of arts and worked at various academic institutions. Early on in her career, she demonstrated a passion for advocacy, taking on issues such as domestic violence and violence against women. An active member of Canada’s Liberal Party, she ran for the House of Commons in both 1979 and 1980 in Toronto. Her work inspired Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to appoint her to the Senate on January 13, 1984. It was a proud moment for blacks to hail Canada’s first black senator. But among her fellow Liberals, Cools was controversial. They regarded her stands on family issues as anything but “liberal.” She worked against expanding the definition of family, and opposed legislation that seemed to work against fathers’ rights. She was recognized by a number of organizations, including REAL Women, (Realistic, Equal, Active, for Life) for promoting family values. On June 8, 2004, Cools joined the Opposition in the Senate by sitting as a Conservative senator.

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January 12, 1959 - Helen Vanderburg Shaw

Fri, 12 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

Synchronized swimmer Helen Vanderburg Shaw is born in Calgary, Alberta. Helen Vanderburg Shaw was born in Calgary, Alberta on January 12, 1959. From an early age, she showed amazing talent as a synchronized swimmer. In 1973, Vanderburg Shaw won the Canadian Junior Championships; in 1977 she took first place at the Pan Pacific Games and earned six gold medals at the Canadian Championships. But Calgary’s phenomenal teen swimmer was just warming up. In 1978 at the World Aquatic Games in Berlin, she became the first Canadian to win the World Championships, taking gold medals in both the solo and duet events. In fact, with partner Michelle Caulkins, she was the first non-American to win both events in the same competition. She repeated her win the next year at the 1979 Pan Am Games in Puerto Rico, and at the International Swimming Federation (FINA) World Cup in Tokyo. Vanderburg Shaw was elected Canada’s Female Athlete of the Year in both 1978 and 1979. She was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 1980, and into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1983. In 1979, at the tender age of 20, Vanderburg Shaw retired from professional sport and earned a degree in physical education. She’s now a businesswoman in the physical fitness industry.

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January 11, 2001 - Jehovah's Witness

Thu, 11 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

B.C. Human Rights Tribunal rules that a Jehovah’s Witness not required to display Christmas décor at work. Ray Jones worked for a Victoria, B.C.’s Shoppers Drug Mart store for 16 years. As a Jehovah’s Witness, he was never expected to display Christmas decorations, since his religion forbade the celebration and promotion of this Christian event. So in November 1998, when his supervisor asked him to put out six poinsettias, Jones refused. The supervisor’s reaction to his refusal led Jones to quit his job. He ended up at the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, which on January 11, 2001 ruled in his favour, confirming that his employer should have accommodated his religious beliefs. The tribunal ruled that the task of putting out the poinsettias took only 10 seconds, and the refusal of Jones to do so did not constitute “undue hardship” for the store. When Jones was awarded more than $30,000, it garnered headlines across Canada. However, the court awarded more than $27,000 of that amount for lost wages, as is the norm for long-term employees who are wrongfully, or in this case, constructively dismissed.

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January 10, 2004 - Spalding Gray

Wed, 10 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

Actor, screenwriter, monologist Spalding Gray kills self during a depression. On January 10, 2004, Spalding Gray was to have flown to Aspen, Colorado from New York, but his flight was cancelled. Instead, he took his two boys, Theo and Forrest, to see the movie Big Fish, about a dying father and his relationship with his son. After the movie, he said he was going to visit friends, but never reached their home. Two months later, on March 9th, Gray’s body was pulled out of the East River. Spalding Gray was born in Barrington, Rhode Island on June 5, 1941, one of three boys to a homemaker mother and factory worker father. Gray began acting in high school and carried on in regional theatres until moving to New York where he created plays based on his childhood memories. By 1979 Gray had launched a new kind of performance art becoming known as a “monologist.” He would tell stories using minimal props, such as a desk, water and some notes. He spoke openly with darkness and humour about his life, including his infidelity and his battle with depression. His own mother, suffering from depression, had killed herself at the age of 52. Gray spoke to audiences of his deep depression as he approached the same age. He performed his craft in large theatres and on Broadway, as well as in many movies. In 2001, while on vacation in Ireland, his family and others were in a van that crashed. Gray was the only one not wearing a seatbelt. Depressed at the slow pace of his recovery, he said on a number of occasions that he would kill himself. When he finally did so on January 10, 2004, he was 62 years old. (Note: Health Canada states that approximately eight per cent of adult Canadians are affected by a major depression at some time in their life.)

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January 9, 1979 - "Fetal Viability"

Tue, 09 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

U.S. Supreme Court rules that doctors, not legislators, determine “fetal viability.” The heated debate in the United States regarding the rights of fetuses and pregnant women was fought on many fronts. In January 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the most debated case of all, Roe vs. Wade, declaring that a woman’s constitutional right to privacy is more important than a state’s right to restrict abortions. The same day, another court ruling brought an end to restrictions on abortion facilities. Despite that, various states attempted to prevent or restrict abortions in other ways. Pennsylvania passed a law requiring doctors to try to preserve the life of a fetus during an abortion, where feasible. However, on January 9, 1979 in a six to three ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the state in Colautti vs. Franklin. This upheld doctors’ unfettered discretion in determining "fetal viability," granting doctors and not the courts or legislatures the right to determine when a fetus is able to live outside a woman’s womb.

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January 8, 1998 - Newfoundland Public Schools

Mon, 08 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

Newfoundland moves into a non-denominational public school system. For many years, Newfoundland’s public school system was controlled by religious institutions. In fact, when Newfoundland joined Confederation in 1949, the schools were controlled by seven religious denominations: Catholic, Anglican, United, Moravian, Presbyterian, Salvation Army and Seventh-day Adventist. In 1987, the constitutional right to full funding under Term 17 was extended to Pentecostals as well. While there was a certain level of opposition to churches controlling the school system, and there were definite costs to having separate systems, it was sexual abuse scandals that came to light in the 1980s and 1990s that persuaded Newfoundlanders it was time for a separation of church and state when it came to education. Premier Brian Tobin called a referendum for September 2, 1997 and despite fierce opposition from some churches, 73 per cent of the public voted in favour of creating a single non-denominational public school system. While the vote was decisive, not everyone accepted it. Alice Furlong, vice chairman of St. John’s Catholic Education Association, said, "If this were done to another minority in Canada, there would be outrage." Because the new law involved a change to Canada’s constitution, any resolution needed the consent of the Newfoundland legislature, the Canadian House of Commons and the Senate. Newfoundland acted quickly, passing the resolution three days after the referendum, and the Canadian Parliament and Senate followed in December. On January 8, 1998, the governor general signed the constitutional change, bringing all public schools under the control of a non-denominational system.

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January 7, 1991 - Frank Iacobucci

Sun, 07 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

Justice Frank Iacobucci appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. Frank Iacobucci was born the son of Italian immigrants in Vancouver, British Columbia on June 29, 1937. Although he initially aspired to become a doctor, his dislike of blood led him to contemplate other options. When an elementary principal compared the talkative student to a lawyer, he never looked back. Iacobucci graduated from the University of B.C. and Cambridge University before being called to the bar in Ontario in 1970. He began teaching at the University of Toronto in 1967, gradually working his way up to dean of the law school. In 1985, Iacobucci became Canada’s deputy minister of justice and deputy attorney general. Just three years later he was appointed chief justice of the Federal Court of Canada. He achieved the apex of his career on January 7, 1991, when he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. Iacobucci held that position until his retirement from the bench in 2004. Although he was honoured with numerous awards over his lifetime, Iacobucci – always proud of his Italian heritage – cherished his honorary citizenships from the Italian towns of Mongone and Abruzzo, the hometowns of his mother and father.

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January 6, 1936 - Barbara Hanley

Sat, 06 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

Barbara Hanley becomes Canada’s first woman mayor. Barbara McCallum Smith was born in 1882 in Magnetewan, Ontario. She became a public school teacher, working in a few communities before settling in the northern Ontario town of Webbwood. There she married Joseph Hanley and they adopted a daughter. Hanley was an active member of the Webbwood community before getting into public office, first as a school trustee and then as the first woman town councillor. On January 6, 1936, she became Canada’s first woman mayor, defeating Robert E. Streich for Webbwood’s top job. Hanley served for eight terms before stepping down in 1944. However, she carried on as clerk/treasurer for Webbwood from 1946 until 1950. She died in 1959 at the age of 76.

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January 5, 1982 - Elizabeth Bagshaw

Fri, 05 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

Elizabeth Bagshaw, one of Canada’s first women doctors, dies at age 100. Elizabeth Catherine Bagshaw was born on a farm in Victoria County, Ontario in October 1881. A bright student with an excellent memory, Bagshaw decided at 16 she would be a doctor. She enrolled at the Women’s Medical College in Toronto and achieved her undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto. When her father died, she briefly returned to Victoria County and attempted to run the family farm. But she encountered so much sexism from the farm workers that she fired them all, sold the farm, moved to Toronto and graduated from medical school in 1905. Although it was tough for women to land a medical internship at the time, Bagshaw managed to intern with another woman pioneer in Canadian medicine, Dr. Emma Leila Skinner whose practice was mostly in maternity work. In 1906, Bagshaw moved to Hamilton to practice medicine, specializing in obstetrics. Between 1932 and 1966, she served as medical director of Canada’s first birth control clinic. Although birth control was illegal and faced great opposition from doctors and local churches, every Friday afternoon, Bagshaw dispensed information, jellies and condoms to women. She must have rejoiced when the clinic finally became legal in 1969. Bagshaw’s honours include the Order of Canada, Hamilton’s Citizen of the Year, an honorary doctorate of laws and many others. She closed her practice at the age of 95, and on her 99th birthday viewed a movie about her life by the National Film Board of Canada. On January 5, 1982, the esteemed doctor died at the age of 100.

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January 4, 1932 - Moses Alexander

Thu, 04 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

United States’ first Jewish governor, Moses Alexander, dies. Moses Alexander was born in 1853 in Bavaria, the youngest of eight children. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1867, settling in with two sisters before moving on to Missouri, where he got involved in the retail clothing business and politics. In 1891 he moved to Boise, Idaho to open a number of clothing stores. There, he was instrumental in opening Boise’s first synagogue and getting elected as mayor. After two mayoral terms and several attempts at the governorship, Alexander became governor of Idaho in 1914 – the first Jewish person to hold such a post in the United States. During his two terms as governor, he strongly supported giving women the vote and instituting prohibition. He chose not to run after his second term, focusing instead on his businesses and family. But he remained actively involved in the National Democratic Party, where he was a sought-after speaker until his death of a heart attack on January 4, 1932.

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January 3, 1992 - Miss Canada Pageant

Wed, 03 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

Miss Canada pageant comes to an end. The Miss Canada beauty pageant kicked off in 1946 with a swimsuit contest in Hamilton, Ontario. For years, the pageant featured only contestants from Ontario, but gradually it grew into a national event first televised in 1963. Women were rated on their looks, poise, body and “unique talents.” Winners of the Miss Canada title went on to compete in the Miss World pageant. Canada’s Karen Baldwin thrilled many by clinching the world title in 1982. Although the Canadian pageant scored high television ratings, the women’s movement took umbrage with the way it represented women. Judy Rebick of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women stated on a CBC newscast, "Beauty pageants are a symbol of the exploitation and oppression of women." Their groundswell of protests resulted in the production being terminated on January 3, 1992. That year, B.C.’s Nicole Dunsden became the last Miss Canada. In pulling the plug, event managers cited increased production costs and financial losses.

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January 2, 1938 - Norman Bethune

Tue, 02 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

Norman Bethune leaves Vancouver for China. Born in Gravenhurst, Ontario on March 3, 1890, Norman Bethune interrupted his education when he enlisted in World War I. Following his experience there as a stretcher-bearer, he returned to complete his M.D. in 1916. As a young doctor, he became disillusioned to see patients he’d saved return to their same, filthy conditions – conditions he considered a virtual death sentence. When Bethune and colleagues pushed for socialized medicine in Canada, they were labelled radicals. That didn’t stop him from setting up a free clinic in Montreal and continuing to push for reform. In time, his work and studies took him to the Soviet Union and Spain. When he returned to Canada in 1937, Bethune embarked on a cross-country tour to raise money for humanitarian work in Spain. On January 2, 1938, Bethune left Vancouver, B.C. for China, where he set up more than 20 teaching and nursing hospitals and established the world’s first mobile medical unit. He also worked with the Red Army in their battle against Japan. Tragically, however, the great humanitarian doctor contracted blood poisoning while operating on a Chinese soldier, and died on November 12, 1939. To this day, Bethune is honoured and revered in China. In March 1990, the Canadian and Chinese governments celebrated the centenary of Bethune’s birth by jointly issuing commemorative stamps. His dream of socialized medicine for Canada came true in the 1960s.

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January 1, 1919 - Canadian Women Given Vote

Mon, 01 Jan 2018 09:01:00 GMT

White Canadian women given federal vote. The right to vote in Canada evolved like a two-steps-forward, one-step-back dance. The government allowed, then rescinded the vote before deciding to grant it conditionally; it depended on one’s property holdings, race, ethnicity and gender. Before Confederation in 1867, women may have been allowed to vote, but in many regions, they dared not exercise it for fear of social stigma. However, in places where the vote was taken away or never granted, women in the movement for universal suffrage worked long and hard to win the rights that most men took for granted. Interestingly, in 1917, women of British descent who had close relatives fighting overseas in World War I, were able to vote on their relatives’ behalf in federal elections. It was on January 1, 1919 that all white women were finally given the right to vote in federal elections. By then, a few provinces (such as Manitoba since1916) were also allowing women to vote. The right to a provincial vote spread slowly but steadily after that – Quebec women finally clinching it in 1940.

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December 31, 2004 - "Tugboat Annie"

Sun, 31 Dec 2017 09:01:00 GMT

Lucille Johnstone, known as "Tugboat Annie," dies. Lucille Johnstone was born in 1924 in Vancouver, British Columbia, where she lived her whole life. She became a certified general accountant at a time when few women attained professional education, and launched into a 45-year career with RivTow, a male-dominated group of companies that towed barges and boats on the waterways of British Columbia. As she rose through the ranks to president, she gained the nickname “Tugboat Annie.” Her business career also extended to serving on the boards of Expo ’86, Grace Hospital, Vancouver International Airport and the Vancouver Board of Trade. Johnstone was also admired for her community work. She served as chair of the Kwantlen College fund drive and of the Sexual Assault Recovery Anonymous Society. At one time, she also served as executive director and CEO of St. John’s Ambulance. Her business and community work earned Johnstone an honorary doctorate from the University of B.C., the Order of B.C., the YWCA Woman of the Year and in 2003, the Order of Canada. Johnstone died on December 31, 2004.

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December 30, 1994 - Israel and the Vatican

Sat, 30 Dec 2017 09:01:00 GMT

Israel and the Vatican establish diplomatic relations

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December 29, 1977 - Sandra Lovelace

Fri, 29 Dec 2017 09:01:00 GMT

Sandra Lovelace Nicholas takes First Nations women’s injustice to the United Nations. Sandra Lovelace Nicholas was born on April 15, 1948, a Maliseet from the Tobique Nation in New Brunswick. When she married a white man, she lost her Indian status in the eyes of Canadian law, as per the Indian Act. That meant she and her children were denied housing, education and other benefits from her own band. Worse, even after she was divorced, she was not able to regain her Indian status. Two other women, Yvonne Bedard and Jeannette Lavell, had previously fought this unjust law and lost at the Supreme Court of Canada, so Lovelace Nicholas avoided that route. Instead, she took her case directly to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. There, on December 29, 1977, she declared that the Indian Act was violating women aboriginals’ rights under the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Four years later, the UN agreed, but it took several more years of debate and lobbying before the persistence of Lovelace Nicholas and other First Nations women paid off. In 1985, the federal government reinstated the rights of First Nations women and their children. For her work, Lovelace Nicholas was awarded the Order of Canada, then appointed to the Senate on September 21, 2005 by Prime Minister Paul Martin.

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December 28, 1967 - Muriel Siebert

Thu, 28 Dec 2017 09:01:00 GMT

Muriel Siebert breaks the gender barrier at the New York Stock Exchange. When Muriel Siebert opened her firm Muriel Siebert & Co. on December 28, 1967, she became the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange – and the only woman among 1,365 men. Siebert began her career in the finance world as an analyst in 1954. A few years later, while looking to work with another firm, she was told she would have to wear white gloves and a hat in the elevator, just like the secretaries did. That likely explains why she created her own firm. In 1975, Siebert’s company became the first American brokerage house to offer discount services, something that remains a staple today. Two years later, she became New York’s superintendent of banks, with responsibility for regulating $500 billion in the banking system. During her tenure, not one bank failed in New York while others went broke in different states. Siebert carried on her work by educating women (and men) of the importance of financial independence.

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December 27, 1972 - Lester Pearson Dies

Wed, 27 Dec 2017 09:01:00 GMT

Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Prime Minster Lester B. Pearson dies. When Lester B. Pearson died on December 27, 1972, he left his mark on Canada and the world. Born in Ontario in 1897 and schooled throughout the province, Pearson graduated from the University of Toronto in 1919, after enlisting for combat during World War II. He went to Oxford University on a scholarship and upon his return, joined the Department of External Affairs. Through hard work and a pleasant demeanor, Pearson worked his way up the ranks, becoming Canada’s ambassador to Washington, DC and then deputy minister. He moved into politics and sat in the cabinet of Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent at a time when Canada’s international influence was at its peak. Pearson became president of the UN in 1952 and was the architect behind the peace-keeping strategy that prevented war during the Suez crisis of 1956. For his efforts, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. After a time in Opposition, Pearson became leader of Canada’s Liberal Party and prime minister between 1963 and 1968 – all with minority governments. During his years in office, Canada acquired a new flag, the Canada Pension Plan, Medicare and many other progressive initiatives. He also opened up Canada’s immigration process to people of all nationalities. He retired from politics in 1968 at the age of 71.

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December 26, 1990 - Nancy Cruzan

Tue, 26 Dec 2017 09:01:00 GMT

Nancy Cruzan dies after a long legal battle for the right to die. On January 11, 1983, Nancy Cruzan, aged 25, was thrown from her car in a collision. When paramedics found her, she had stopped breathing for 15 minutes, yet they were able to revive her breathing but not her consciousness. After five years of watching over their unconscious daughter, Joyce and Lester Cruzan wanted Nancy’s feeding tube removed so that she could die a natural death. That meant wading into the legal and moral issue of a person’s right to die. The family’s long legal battle was with the state of Missouri, which argued that its interest in preserving life was worth more than the family’s desire to remove treatment. In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the interests of the Cruzans in a five-to-four decision, stating there was no “clear and convincing evidence” to prove that Nancy would have wanted the tube feeding stopped. Less than six months later, the Cruzans presented Judge Charles Teel Jr. the “clear and convincing” evidence he required, and he ruled that Nancy’s feeding tubes could be withdrawn. On December 26, 1990, she died. Her grave marker has three dates on it: “Born July 20, 1957. Departed January 11, 1983. At Peace December 26, 1990.”

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December 25, 1991 - Mikhail Gorbachev Resigns

Mon, 25 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Soviet Union’s leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, resigns. Mikhail Gorbachev rose through the ranks of the communist Soviet Union to become its leader in March of 1985, following the death of Konstantin Chernenko. At 54, he was the youngest person to become the general secretary of the Communist Party, which also made him the head of the superpower. However, faced with a crumbling infrastructure and corrupt state, he wanted to bring radical change to the dictatorial regime. He worked at bringing democratic reforms to the Soviet republic with policies such as perestroika, or restructuring, and glasnost, or openness; none of the Soviet countries had even the basics of these at the time. Observers expected human rights, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, free enterprise and a multi-party political system to follow. But too much upheaval ensued. After seven challenging years at the helm, Gorbachev announced his resignation on December 25, 1991. Soon after that, the Soviet Union disintegrated amid much turbulence, and most of the countries threw off Moscow’s control to become true independent states. Although Gorbachev changed the world, the former Soviet Union’s transition to a state with full freedoms and basic human rights remains elusive.

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December 24, 1900 - Joey Smallwood is Born

Sun, 24 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Canada’s last father of Confederation, “Joey” Smallwood, is born. Joseph Roberts “Joey” Smallwood was born on December 24, 1900 just outside Gambo, Newfoundland. Because his family was poor, he left school at the age of 15 to work in the newspaper business. After a number of years writing for Newfoundland newspapers and doing one stint with a socialist paper in New York City, he gained prominence through a column in Saint John’s Daily News. This, combined with his radio show on the Voice of Newfoundland, eased his entry into Liberal politics. In 1946, he was sent to Ottawa as a delegate to kick-start Newfoundland’s admission into Canada as a province. A strong supporter of uniting with Canada, he used his column and radio show to promote these aims every chance he had. In a referendum that revealed 52.3% in favour and 47.7% against, Newfoundland joined Canada as its 10th province on March 31, 1949. In 1949, as leader of the Liberal Party, Smallwood became the province’s first premier, and hence Canada’s last “father of Confederation.” The latter is a term often given to men in government who created Canada in 1867, or were involved with subsequent provinces joining the Confederation. He stayed in the job until he was defeated in 1971, then ventured back once more before retiring to write the Encyclopedia of Newfoundland. He died on December 18, 1991.

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December 23, 1983 - Jean Sauve

Sat, 23 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Jeanne Sauvé is appointed Canada’s first woman governor general. Jeanne Mathilde Benoît was born in Prud'homme, Saskatchewan in 1922, and educated in part in an Ottawa convent. She attained a degree from the University of Ottawa, then traveled throughout North America, becoming involved with many youth movements. After marrying Maurice Sauvé, she traveled with him to Europe before settling back in Canada in 1952. Sauvé worked for years as a journalist before entering politics as one of the first female members of Parliament from Quebec. She entered politics in 1972 and left it in 1984. During her time in Parliament, she served in many cabinet portfolios, at one point as the first woman speaker in the House of Commons. On December 23, 1983, Sauvé was appointed Canada’s first woman governor general. She took up the post in May of the following year and stayed as the queen’s representative until 1990. She died on January 26, 1993.

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December 22, 2006 - Thomas Shoyama

Fri, 22 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Top Saskatchewan and Canadian bureaucrat Thomas Shoyama dies. Thomas Shoyama was born in Kamloops, British Columbia on September 24, 1916. Shoyama graduated from the University of B.C. with economics and accounting degrees. However, the racist climate prevented him from working in his profession. For example, the 1935 decree of the B.C. legislature read, “Be it resolved that this house go on record as being utterly opposed to further influx of Orientals into this province.” Instead, he worked for the Japanese newspaper New Canadian. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour in 1941, Shoyama and the newspaper were relocated to the deserted town of Kaslo, B.C., one of five towns used as internment camps for Japanese Canadians. Shoyama joined the Canadian Intelligence Corps near the end of the war and left in 1946 as a sergeant. While visiting Saskatchewan, he heard CCF Premier Tommy Douglas speak. With Shoyana’s education and smarts, the Saskatchewan government was happy to hire him and by 1950 Shoyama had moved up the ranks to be one of the top bureaucrats in the province. When the province became the first to create Medicare, Shoyama and colleagues drafted the appropriate legislation. When Ross Thatcher’s Liberals took power in 1964, Shoyama was one of 70 Saskatchewan bureaucrats to take top jobs in Ottawa. Between 1974 and 1979, Shoyama rose to the top as Canada’s deputy finance minister. In 1980, he made his way back to B.C. to teach at the University of Victoria. In addition to many awards, Shoyama became an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1978 and received Japan’s Order of the Sacred Treasure for his contributions to the Japanese Canadian community in 1992. Shoyama died on December 22, 2006 in Victoria.

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December 21, 2004 - Newfoundland Same-Sex Marriage

Thu, 21 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Newfoundland court brings province in line with others on same-sex marriage. As Canadian politicians debated the merits of same-sex marriage, Canada’s judges were holding up existing laws to the equality provision in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Sexual orientation was not one of the listed protected grounds, but in 1998, the Supreme Court of Canada “read in” sexual orientation as a protected ground. While most Canadians agreed that gay and lesbians should be protected from discrimination in jobs and housing for example, a certain number felt very strongly that “marriage” was going too far. However, in the sober climate of the court room, the arguments against gay marriage, such as it being an institution for raising children, did not stand up to a charter challenge since there were many examples of gay and lesbian couples having children and many examples of heterosexual couples not. In 2003, parliamentarians voted to keep the definition of marriage between a man and a woman, but on June 10, 2003, Ontario’s Court of Appeal unanimously ruled that defining marriage exclusively between a man and a woman contravened the rights of gay men and lesbians. As other court cases were heard in other provinces, the result was the same. On December 21, 2004, the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador came to the same conclusion, one of the last provinces to do so. On July 20, 2005, the Parliament of Canada caught up to the court decisions, passing the Civil Marriages Act, legalizing same-sex marriage. That made Canada the fourth country to do so. On December 6, 2006, the new Conservative government brought forward a motion to re-open the debate; it was defeated by a wider margin than the vote to allow same-sex marriage.

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December 20, 1924 - Judy LaMarsh

Wed, 20 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Canadian lawyer, politician and broadcaster Judy LaMarsh is born in Chatham, Ontario. Judy Verlyn LaMarsh was born on December 20, 1924 in Chatham, Ontario and was brought up in Niagara Falls. Between 1943 and 1946 she joined the Canadian Women’s Army Corp and travelled from Halifax to Vancouver, obtaining the rank of sergeant. After the war LaMarsh earned her law degree from Osgoode Hall and joined her father’s law firm in Niagara Falls conducting criminal law. She won a seat in the House of Commons as a Liberal during a by-election in 1960 and when Lester Pearson became prime minister in 1963, LaMarsh became the second woman and the first Liberal woman to hold a federal cabinet post. As minister of National Health and Welfare, she began drafting Canada’s cherished Medicare system and the Canada Pension Plan came into being. Between 1965 and 1968 she became secretary of state during Canada’s centennial celebrations, and she established the Royal Commission on the Status of Women. In 1968, during the leadership convention to replace Pearson, LaMarsh made one of Canada’s most famous political faux pas. When it was clear her candidate Paul Hellyer would not win, she tried to stop Pierre Trudeau from getting the top job. Unbeknownst to her, with CBC cameras rolling and microphones on, all of Canada heard her say, "Paul, you've got to go to Winters. Don't let that bastard win it, Paul - he isn't even a Liberal.” Trudeau won the leadership and became prime minister, and LaMarsh retired from politics. She wrote her autobiography Memoirs of a Bird in a Gilded Cage and worked as a broadcaster. In 1980 she became an Officer of the Order of Canada. On October 27, 1980 LaMarsh died at age 55.

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December 19, 1984 - Britain Hands Back Hong Kong

Tue, 19 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Margaret Thatcher hands Hong Kong back to China, effective 1997. Fearing an end to their freedoms and capitalist way of life, the six million residents of Hong Kong were hoping the British would leave them some protections when their lease for controlling the region expired in 1997. However, with few options available to her, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher signed the joint Sino-British declaration with China’s Zhao Ziyang during a ceremony on December 19, 1984. China agreed that for the next 50 years, it would give Hong Kong “a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defence affairs.” The two governments established a principle of "one country, two systems" through which communist China would allow Hong Kong to continue its capitalist ways, also granting it a certain number of rights and freedoms. Already, Hong Kong residents had been flocking to other countries or securing foreign passports enabling them to leave if they later chose; that greatly increased after the declaration was signed. Even though the British had never given Hong Kong full democracy before the declaration, they introduced democratic reforms after the signing that rubbed the Chinese government the wrong way. Nevertheless, Hong Kong citizens celebrated the July 1, 1997 handover with huge fanfare as communist Chinese took control.

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December 18, 1988 - Quebec Language Law

Mon, 18 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Quebec invokes the “notwithstanding clause” to protect French language on outdoor signs. In response to Quebecers’ concerns about the erosion of the French language in Quebec, the province introduced Bill 101, designed to enhance the use of French by requiring its use on all public signs and in commercial advertising. On December 15, 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that this infringed on the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as by the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. That only prompted Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa to introduce legislation three days later – on December 18 – allowing him to override the Canadian Charter of Rights through what is commonly referred to as the notwithstanding clause. His Bill 178 nullified the Supreme Court’s ruling, required the exclusive use of French on outdoor signs, and allowed for bilingual indoor signs only as long as French predominated. In 1993, the government replaced Bill 178 with another bill that allowed bilingual signs outside, as long as French predominated. Language issues continue to be contentious in Quebec.

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December 17, 1985 - Theresa O'Malley

Sun, 17 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Seventh Day Adventist Theresa O'Malley wins the right to take Saturdays off. Theresa O’Malley worked in ladies’ wear for the Simpsons-Sears department stores in Kingston, Ontario for a number of years. In October 1978, she joined the Seventh Day Adventist church, which requires strict observance of their Sabbath from sundown Friday until sundown Saturday. In 1978, retailers made most of their money between Thursday and Saturday nights, so O’Malley was told she would lose her full-time status and most of her benefits if she insisted on not working Saturdays. She complained to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, and after years of litigation, on December 17, 1985, the Supreme Court of Canada sided with her, stating that Simpsons-Sears had discriminated against her based on her creed (belief, faith). The retailer’s policy that employees work most Friday nights and Saturdays applied equally to everyone, but even so, its effect was discriminatory on O’Malley, the court ruled. The impact or effect is more important that the intention, the justices further explained, when it comes to protecting human rights. The retailer would not have suffered “undue hardship” in giving her different shifts or finding her a different role, the court added. This decision overturned the rulings of two other Ontario courts.

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December 16, 2000 - Colin Powell

Sat, 16 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Colin Powell becomes first African American U.S. Secretary of State. Born in New York City, Colin Powell graduated from City College of New York in 1958 before receiving a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He later received his MBA from George Washington University in 1971 and served in the military. He was the White House’s national security advisor from 1987 to 1989 before becoming the first black chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. He held this top military job under Presidents Bush and Clinton before retiring in 1993. He chose not to run for president of the United States, but on December 16, 2000, President-elect George W. Bush named Powell to his cabinet’s top job of Secretary of State. That made Powell the first African American to hold the post. Considered a moderate who would exert a moderating force on Bush’s administration, he won unanimous consent in the Senate in early 2001. But Powell’s moderate approach was often rebuffed by the president and his cabinet, which likely influenced Powell’s decision to resign after Bush’s re-election in November 2004. Bush’s National Security Advisor, at the time Condoleeza Rice, stepped into the Secretary of State position in 2005 after Powell, becoming the second woman and first African American woman to do so.

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December 15, 1973 - Mental Disorders List

Fri, 15 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from mental disorders list. Only after a literature review and consultation process did the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA’s) board of trustees pass a resolution that removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders on December 15, 1973. “Homosexuality by itself does not necessarily constitute a psychiatric disorder,” the APA explained. A number of psychoanalysts petitioned for a referendum to overturn the board’s decision, but 58 per cent supported the change. While the board’s decision was unanimous (two members abstained), board members rejected a task force’s recommendation to declare homosexuality "a normal variant of human sexuality." The board also passed a resolution that called for an end to "cruel" discrimination and a repeal of "irrational" laws that discriminated against homosexuals. The APA was not the first medical or psychological body to make such a change, but it was likely the most significant body to do so at the time.

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December 14, 1995 - Yugoslavia Signs Accord

Thu, 14 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Former Yugoslavia leaders sign Dayton Peace Accord. After Yugoslavia’s communist dictator Marshal Tito died in 1980, ethnic differences generated chaos. Ethnic and religious factions pitted Albanians, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Orthodox Christians, Catholics and Muslims against each other, resulting in three and a half years of civil war marked by ethnic cleansing and 200,000 deaths. Eventually, the leaders of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia initiated a peace process named after talks that took place in Dayton, Ohio. On December 14, 1995 in Paris, the three leaders signed the Dayton Accord, which pledged thousands of United Nations Peacekeepers to the region to keep Bosnia together, yet with divided federations. The Croat federation held most of the country’s 51 per cent Muslims, while the Serb republic held the remainder of the population. The peace process was paved with conflict and mistrust and complicated by Serbia’s leader, Slobodan Milosevic, attempting to control as much of the former Yugoslavia as possible; he was later prosecuted for war crimes and died in his prison cell in March, 2006. But by 2003, the UN succeeded in transferring powers to local police and military.

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December 13, "unknown" - Gerrie Hammond

Wed, 13 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Manitoba politician and feminist Gerrie Hammond is born. Born Geraldine Rose McLean, Gerrie Hammond began her public service career as a member of the Manitoba Police Commission. She later served as a school trustee in Winnipeg before being elected to the Manitoba legislature as the MLA for Kirkfield Park in 1981. Hammond served three terms in the legislature – seven years in Opposition and two in the government of the Progressive Conservative Party. Always a champion of women’s rights, Hammond put her passion to work in 1988 as chair of the Manitoba Women’s Initiative, a task force that traveled Manitoba to make recommendations to enhance the lives of women and children. Her highly praised report propelled her into cabinet, where she served as the minister of labour and the status of women. In 1990, Hammond was awarded the province’s Women of Distinction Award for outstanding service to women. She died on November 1, 1992 of cancer, but her legacy lives on. The Gerrie Hammond Bursary is awarded each year to a single mother who attends the University of Manitoba. As well, each year the Gerrie Hammond Memorial Award of Promise is given to a promising young woman during the Women of Distinction Awards. In one of Canada’s poorest neighbourhoods, the Winnipeg North End Women’s Shelter library is dedicated to Gerrie Hammond in honour of her many contributions to improving the lives of women. Even with her feminist beliefs, Hammond said her mother taught her, “You never ask a woman her age.” Hammond’s age in life and death remains a mystery.

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December 12, 1996 - Lise Thibault

Tue, 12 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Lise Thibault becomes Quebec’s first woman lieutenant governor, and first ever in a wheelchair. In 1996, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien was faced with a dilemma when his recently appointed Quebec lieutenant governor, Jean-Louis Roux, resigned amidst protest over the fact he’d worn a swastika during a student protest at the age of 19. Roux had been a strong federalist, and the prime minister was looking for a problem-free appointment. On December 12, 1996, Chretien announced the appointment of Lise Thibault as the first woman lieutenant governor for the province of Quebec. Thibault was also the first person to take the post while in a wheelchair. A toboggan accident at the age of 13 had left her with pain and mobility problems that had led to paralysis from the waist down following the birth of her second child (against doctors’ advice) in 1964. Although Thibault had been a former Liberal campaigner, her work as an advocate for the rights of the disabled influenced Chrétien to consider her a good fit. Her appointment generated no significant opposition, as she pledged to keep away from partisan politics. However, a week after Thibault retired as lieutenant governor in June, 2007, she was met with banner headlines due to an audit of her finances which suggested she had mis-spent almost $700,000. She suggested that some of that money was used to show that persons with a disability could ski and golf.

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December 11, 1994 - Russia Invades Chechnya

Mon, 11 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Russian troops invade Chechnya, sparking years of terrorism and unrest. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, many states declared independence from Russia, including Chechnya. Only three years later, however, on December 11, 1994, Russian President Boris Yeltsin ordered troops to take control of the region. Tanks rolled into the streets of the capital, Grozny, with many Russian soldiers being killed. After a massive public outcry, Yeltsin withdrew the troops and signed a peace accord that gave Chechnya more autonomy than it had held under Soviet rule, but stopped short of granting it independence. Battles and guerrilla warfare went on for years in this Muslim-dominated, oil-rich region. When President Vladimir Putin took power in Russia, he tried to end the rebellion with force. The fighting continued until the Russian Federal forces were able to take control of Grozny and most of the regions by February 2000, installing a pro-Moscow government. Since that time, Russians have endured occasional acts of terrorism as some Chechnyans attempt to procure full independence.

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December 10, 1948 - Declaration of Human Rights

Sun, 10 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

UN adopts Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Human rights has been a vital part of the United Nations’ work from the moment its charter was signed in San Francisco in 1945. Knowing what took place under the Nazis in World War II, nation states decided to put into a document the need for human rights to be respected and upheld. The United Nations Secretary General Trygve Lie called upon Canadian lawyer John Humphrey to write this document. With the assistance of Eleanor Roosevelt, Jacques Maritain, René Cassin, Charles Malik and P.C. Chang, and after numerous re-writes and resolutions, the document made its way to the General Assembly. On December 10, 1948, the UN’s General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – 30 articles that began with the statement, “The General Assembly proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations.” Some 48 countries voted in favour of the declaration with no country opposing. However, eight members, including all Soviet Union bloc countries, South Africa and Saudi Arabia, abstained. Canada found itself in this company when it originally abstained in earlier drafts, but in the end, voted in favour. While the declaration is seen as a set of objectives, it is used as a powerful legal and political tool for countries to follow. In 1950, all nations were asked to join in the celebrations of this historic anniversary and most do, celebrating December 10th as International Human Rights Day.

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December 9, 1992 - Marg Schott Apologizes

Sat, 09 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Cincinnati Reds’ CEO apologizes for racist comments. Marg Schott was one of baseball’s most outspoken and outrageous owners when she bought the Cincinnati Reds and became president and CEO of the team in 1985. Doing so, she became the first woman to buy a baseball team as opposed to inheriting it. During legal proceedings over the firing of the team’s controller, Schott made positive comments about Adolf Hitler and many racist slurs that leaked to the public. Although she claimed some of the comments were made in jest, and none were meant to offend, she was pressured into apologizing on December 9, 1992 during meetings between major league owners in Louisville. She was also given a year’s suspension from day-to-day operations with the Reds, fined $25,000, and later slapped with a second suspension for yet another set of derogatory comments. In 1999, she sold her shares in the Reds to avoid another suspension. Schott died on March 2, 2004 in Cincinnati.

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December 8, 1941 - Japanese Canadians rights denied

Fri, 08 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Japanese Canadians rights denied in declaration of war. Immediately following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Canada declared war against Japan, having earlier declared war on Hungary, Finland and Romania due to their alliance with Nazi Germany. Fearing that Canadians of Japanese descent would assist Japan’s war efforts, the federal government seized more than 1,200 Canadian fishing boats owned by Japanese Canadians. The Canadian Pacific Railway fired all its Japanese employees, and many other companies followed their lead. After the Japanese attacked Hong Kong and killed or captured more than 2,000 Canadian troops, the pressure on Japanese Canadians intensified. In January 1942, the government created a 100-mile zone on the west coast from which Japanese Canadians were forcibly removed. Thousands were sent to internment camps and their property sold off. Not until 1949 were they allowed to return to the coast.

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December 7, 1975 - Indonesia invades East Timor.

Thu, 07 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Indonesia invades East Timor. Portugal settled East Timor in the 1500s and eventually took control of the eastern end of the island in a treaty with the Dutch in 1859. During World War II, about 60,000 East Timorese died helping Australian troops fight thousands of Japanese soldiers. After Portugal became a democracy in 1974, the East Timorese assumed they would soon attain independence, but when internal disputes arose the Indonesian government stepped in. On December 7, 1975, Indonesia invaded East Timor with unexpected brutality, declaring it their 27th province seven months later. The UN and the world (with the exception of Australia) condemned this illegal occupation, and refused to recognize Indonesia’s claim. Many years later, Indonesia finally relented and, with the UN’s help, handed East Timor its independence. The handover, sadly, sparked bloody internal struggles. In April 2002, the country held its first presidential elections and began to restore order, leading the UN to substantially reduce its peacekeeping presence.

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December 6, 1989 - 14 Women Murdered in Montreal

Wed, 06 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Fourteen women murdered at Montreal’s l’École Polytechnique in Montréal. On December 6, 1989, Marc Lépine burst into an engineering class at École Polytechnique, an engineering school affiliated with the University of Montreal. Wielding a gun, he forced all the men to leave the room. He then proceeded to kill 14 women: Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Barbara Maria Klucznik, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault and Annie Turcotte. The brutality of the cold-blooded murders captured media attention worldwide, and focused attention on violence against women more generally. Some of the families of the murdered women became involved in lobbying the Canadian government to create much stronger gun controls. The end result was a gun registry program supported by police and the majority of the public, but plagued with political and financial problems. In 1991, the Parliament of Canada established December 6th as a National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada. Every year on this day, Canadians remember the incident by holding vigils in memory of these women – and other women who have died violently.

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December 5, 2002 - U.S. Senate Leader Resigns

Tue, 05 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

U.S. Senate majority leader makes racist comments, leading to resignation. At a time when Republicans controlled the White House, Senate and House of Representatives, it seemed that Senate majority leader Trent Lott was as close to the top of his game as most people could get. However, on December 5, 2002, while celebrating the 100th birthday of his fellow-Senator Strom Thurmond, Lott made comments that would force him to resign. Thurmond had run for president in 1948 on a segregationist ticket – indicating his desire to keep blacks and whites separate and certainly not equal. At the birthday party, Lott boasted that his state, Mississippi, had voted for Lott back in ’48. “We’re proud of it, and if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over the years,” he said, clearly referring to problems that arose from integration. While it was not the first time Lott had made racist comments, this time the outrage came fast and furiously – and it stuck. For two weeks, Lott went on every television and radio show that would have him, apologizing and trying to explain. However, even President George W. Bush had harsh words for the senator, and his colleagues were not willing to back him this time. On December 20, 2002, Lott announced he was stepping down from the majority leader’s chair, although he stayed on as senator.

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December 4, 1961 - Britain Funds Birth Control Pill

Mon, 04 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Britain’s national health plan to fund birth control pill. British Health Minister Enoch Powell announced in the House of Commons on December 4, 1961 that the birth control pill would be made widely available to women and be paid for by the country’s national health care program. That was nine years before the Canadian government legalized birth control and counselling on the topic. Why was Canada so slow to promote birth control? Perhaps because in the 1960s, the birth control pill had many negative side effects, and its long-term effects were unknown. Even so, more and more women were opting for this oral form of contraception. In Canada in the 1960s, it was illegal to counsel people about birth control, even though it was available and widely used. No one had been prosecuted for giving out birth control advice since 1937, yet information was still being offered discreetly. That changed in June of 1969 when Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and his Liberal government legalized all forms of contraception. The criminal code was just catching up with the practices of many Canadians. To this day, “the pill” remains the most popular form of reversible contraceptive in the Western world. Considered one of the most significant changes in medicine, it has had a profound effect on daily life, especially for women.

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December 3, 1992 - International Day of Disabled Persons

Sun, 03 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

UN declares International Day of Disabled Persons. More than a half billion people worldwide have some form of disability, and the greatest barriers they face are typically created unintentionally by those persons without disabilities. That’s what inspired the UN’s General Assembly to declare 1981 the International Year of Disabled Persons, later expanded into a decade: from 1983 to 1992. The purpose was to promote "equality and full participation" for persons with a disability – to explore ways to help persons with disabilities to function in all aspects of society, and to promote greater understanding of the challenges they face. At the end of the decade, the UN decided to keep the momentum going by declaring December 3rd the International Day for Disabled Persons, to be recognized annually henceforth.

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December 2, 1989 - Audrey McLaughlin

Sat, 02 Dec 2017 07:55:04 GMT

Audrey McLaughlin becomes Canada’s first woman to lead a national political party. Audrey McLaughlin was born in Dutton, Ontario on November 7, 1936. The first in her family to earn a university degree, she took a varied career path from there. McLaughlin served as the executive director of the Metro Toronto Canadian Mental Health Association, taught in Ghana and, in 1979, opened up her own consulting firm in Whitehorse of the Yukon Territory. In 1987, a by-election put her into the House of Commons, making her the first New Democratic party (NDP) member to represent the Yukon. She was re-elected in 1988, and when party leader Ed Broadbent stepped down, she stepped up to the plate. On December 2, 1989, she became the leader of the federal NDP and the first woman in Canada to lead a national political party. She presided over a tumultuous time in Canadian politics, marked by the formation of the Free Trade Agreement and attempts by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to change the constitution. In 1993, when the country threw out the Progressive Conservative party, the NDP also took a hit. Although McLaughlin retained her seat, her party elected only nine MPs, three less than allowed for official party status. The following year, she stepped down as party leader and did not seek re-election in 1997.

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December 1, 1988 - World AIDS Day

Fri, 01 Dec 2017 07:01:00 GMT

World AIDS Day begins. HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. Every year, millions of people acquire HIV, and thousands die from it daily. In January of 1988, health ministers from 140 countries who were attending a world summit came up with the idea of designating a day to draw attention to HIV and AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome). They voted unanimously to do so. Later that year the UN and World Health Organization declared December 1, 1988 to be World AIDS Day. The day’s goal is to draw attention to this preventable disease, which is ravaging some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world. Initially, world leaders and organizations were slow to respond to the issue, because HIV and AIDS were thought to affect only gay men in Western countries. While some people still have their heads in the sand, most have woken up to the disease’s devastation. Now that research has shown that girls and women are at greater risk to contract HIV and AIDS, even the Girl Scouts of Canada has gotten involved, educating girls about the dangers of unprotected sex and other high risk activities.

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November 30, 1952 - Jackie Robinson

Thu, 30 Nov 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Jackie Robinson charges New York Yankees with racism. U.S. baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis opposed integration of black and white players. But after his death in 1944, Brooklyn Dodgers president Branch Rickey decided to desegregate the major leagues. He wanted to sign more than one black player, but was concerned that would be moving too fast. So he signed Jackie Robinson from the Negro League into the minor leagues in 1946. On April 15, 1947, Robinson became the first African American to play baseball in the major leagues when he was called up to play second base with the Dodgers. He stayed for 10 years, during which he scored many firsts, including the first ever National League Rookie of the Year in 1947 and the first Black National League Most Valuable Player in 1949. Although he was the first to break the race barrier, it wasn’t without opposition. He endured taunts by racist fans and fellow players, but he never took the bait. On November 30, 1952, however, Robinson spoke up on a local TV show, saying that the rival New York Yankees’ management was racist for not hiring black players from the minor leagues. The Yankees denied it, but took until the spring of 1955 to bring their first black player on board: Elston Howard. Robinson died on October 24, 1972 at the age of 53 from heart disease. In March 2004, the commissioner of major league baseball, Bud Selig, proclaimed April 15 “Jackie Robinson Day” throughout the league.

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November 29, 1977 - Palestinian Solidarity

Wed, 29 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

UN creates the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution that partitioned Palestine to create an independent Jewish and Arab state. Israel was born, however, before anyone had resolved “the Palestinian question”: Palestinian people’s hopes for an independent state of their own. So, responsibility for forging a solution amidst Jewish and Palestinian contention fell squarely on the UN’s shoulders. Finally, in 1977, the UN called for annual observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on November 29. Since then, neither conflict, war, terrorism nor years of negotiations have taken Palestinians any closer to their dream. The death of Palestinian President Yasser Arrafat in November 2004 raised hopes for the talks’ change in direction, but until the issue is resolved, the UN continues raising possibilities for a resolution on this day each year.

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November 28, 1909 - Lotta Hitschmanova

Tue, 28 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

November 28, 1909 Canadian humanitarian Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova is born. Many Canadians remember the voice of Lotta Hitschmanova on television commercials as she appealed for donations on behalf of the Canadian Unitarian Service Committee. The USC had taken on the task of feeding and supporting needy children worldwide. Hitschmanova was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia on November 28, 1909. The multilingual young woman studied political science and journalism throughout Europe. As the second world war approached, she moved a number of times, keeping just ahead of the Nazis. In 1942, she ended up in France working for an immigration service. After the war, she came to Canada and continued her humanitarian work through the USC, which was focusing on children in post-war Europe. For 40 years, she traveled around the world for USC, establishing 150 programs in 20 countries. She may or may not have been aware that the RCMP was spying on her at the time, looking for possible communist sympathies or infiltration. They did the same with many church organizations during the cold war period. Her work led to numerous awards, including Canada’s most prestigious, Companion of the Order of Canada. Dr. Lotta, as she was known to many, died of cancer in July 1990 in Ottawa.

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November 27, 1952 - Sheila Copps

Mon, 27 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Sheila Copps, Canada’s first female deputy prime minister, is born. Sheila Copps was born in Hamilton, Ontario on November 27, 1952. A year after her father completed 14 years as the city’s mayor, Copps ran for provincial office as a Liberal. She lost that election, but won on her next attempt in 1981. By 1984, she’d moved to federal politics just in time to see her Liberal Party take one of its worst beatings at the hand of Progressive Conservative Brian Mulroney. Even so, Copps made her mark as one of the tenacious “rat pack,” taking on difficult issues and Opposition portfolios. In 1990, she made a bid for the leadership of her party. Even though she lost to Jean Chrétien, her strong showing enticed Chrétien to appoint her deputy leader. In 1993, the Liberal Party handed the PC Party its worst defeat in history while Copps ended up close to the top. Besides her cabinet post as environment minister, Copps became the first woman in Canada to hold the post of deputy prime minister. Years later, she ran a second time for the leadership of her party, but this time lost to Paul Martin, who ended her many years at the cabinet table. She didn’t get to run in the 2004 federal election, as she lost her party’s nomination during a bitter battle for a newly created riding.

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November 26, 1968 - Race Relations Legislation

Sun, 26 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Britain improves race relations legislation. Up until the 1960s, Britain – like so many Western countries – was known for its practice of banning non-white people from public places. That changed in 1965 when the country passed its first race relations act. It made race discrimination in such public places as hotels and movie theatres an illegal offence. Three years later, on November 26, 1968, that ruling was superseded by the Race Relations Act, which made discrimination based on ethnicity illegal in housing, employment and public services, as well. The law soon drew fire for not applying to government services such as the police. The government had just passed tougher immigration laws with the new Immigration Act, hence it felt that between the two pieces of legislation, life was now “fair but tough” on immigrants. Still, legislators did strengthen the laws in 1976, improving protections and founding the Commission for Racial Equality. After a sensationalized death and inquiry involving racial discrimination, the act was amended in 2000 to ensure that discriminatory police action, too, was illegal.

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November 25, 1999 - Elimination of Violence Against Women

Sat, 25 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

UN declares International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. On November 25, 1960, Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Trujillo had three political activists brutally murdered. These three sisters, Patria, Maria and Antonia Mirabel, known as “The Butterflies” were part of a resistance movement to oppose the President’s rule. The outrage that followed their murder turned the spotlight on violence against women (and contributed to Trujillo’s assassination six months later). According to the World Bank, domestic violence is the most common form of violence against women, and a shocking 80 per cent of women sufferers say they know the men who attack them. Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said, “Rape, domestic assault, forced prostitution, sexual abuse of children, harassment in the workplace … these are the many forms of violence against women that cut across cultural, religious and regional boundaries. We must uphold the right of all women to lives free of violence, lives of equality, development and peace.” Hence, in 1999, the UN General Assembly designated November 25th as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Organizations and governments worldwide join together to educate people about these forms of violence.

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November 24, 1947 - Hollywood 10

Fri, 24 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

The Hollywood 10 jailed for contempt during the Red scare. As a U.S. Congress committee sought out “un-American activities” in the late 1940s and early 1950s, even Hollywood unions came under scrutiny for signs of a communist influence. A number of Hollywood screen writers and directors refused to answer questions this committee asked of them. This prompted officials to cite 10 of them (soon to be known as the “Hollywood 10”) for contempt on November 24, 1947. The next day, the Association of Motion Picture Producers fired the Hollywood 10 and voiced support for the committee. These 10 Americans invoked their 1st amendment’s right to free speech and peaceable assembly as their defence, but the courts ignored that and sentenced them for up to a year in prison. All spent time in jail in 1950, only to find themselves blacklisted as “communist sympathizers” when they had done their time. They were unable to work in their field for more than a decade.

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November 23, 1959 - "Father of Rock and Rock"

Thu, 23 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

“Father of rock and roll” fired in payola scandal while promoting black musicians. At a time when racial segregation was the norm in America, Alan Freed was promoting the music of black singers like Little Richard and Chuck Berry. Freed, born on December 15, 1921, called himself the “father of rock and roll.” After leaving one radio station in Akron, Freed moved to Cleveland, Ohio in 1949, where he worked as an afternoon TV movie host as well as started a late night radio show called “The Moondog Rock Roll House Party.” He was one of the organizers of the first rock and roll concert on March 21, 1952, a show called the Moondog Coronation Ball. Freed moved to New York City and in addition to radio, in 1956 he created and starred in rock movies such as Rock Around the Clock. And before Dick Clark created American Bandstand, Freed started the television dance show Alan Freed’s Big Beat on ABC TV. In late 1959, when artists and producers were paying radio and television stations to play their music – known as payola – Freed found himself in the middle of the controversy. On November 23, 1959, WNEW TV informed Freed that his services would no longer be required. Under this common practice, some survived; others didn’t. Some felt the firing of Freed was due to southern affiliates offended at seeing Frankie Lymon of Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers dance with a white girl. In 1962, Freed pled guilty to two counts of commercial bribery and received a fine and suspended sentence. With his reputation ruined, Freed eventually moved to Palm Springs, California, where he died on January 20, 1965 at the age of 43. His ashes rest in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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November 22, 1963 - John F. Kennedy

Wed, 22 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

President John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas. On November 22, 1963, United States President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Texas Governor John Connally, riding in the same open car, was also struck by one of the bullets, but he survived. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for killing Kennedy, but two days later, on live television, Jack Ruby shot and killed Oswald. There have been many theories, conspiracy and otherwise, about the reason for Kennedy’s assassination. Ruby’s links to organized crime and the difficulty believing Oswald could be the sole shooter added to various theories. Another premise is that certain people wanted Kennedy killed due to his support of civil rights legislation. At the time of his death, Kennedy was trying to pass the Civil Rights Act, but it took a conservative Democrat – Lyndon B. Johnson – to stickhandle its passage through Congress. Vice President Johnson, who was in the Dallas procession but riding in a different car, was sworn in as president moments after Kennedy’s death was confirmed. Shortly after Kennedy’s death, Johnson encouraged Congress to pass the act as a monument to Kennedy.

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November 21, 1988 - Svend Robinson

Tue, 21 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Canada’s first openly gay MP, Svend Robinson, re-elected in B.C. Svend Robinson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on March 4, 1952, but grew up in Burnaby, B.C. before studying science and law at the University of British Columbia. A long-time social democrat concerned about human rights and social issues, Robinson joined the New Democratic Party in 1966. In 1979, at the age of 27, he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for Burnaby, a city bordering Vancouver. The strong constituency MP never shied away from controversial issues related to human rights and dignity, so it surprised few in 1988 when Robinson became the first Canadian MP to publicly announce he was gay. Uncertain how his constituents would receive this news, Robinson feared losing the next election, but he needn’t have worried. Not only was he re-elected on November 21, 1988, but proceeded to get the nod seven times from Burnaby constituents pleased with how he was representing them in Ottawa. Robinson continued his push for social justice matters, often speaking personally about the issues affecting gay and lesbian Canadians. His popularity suffered a setback when, on April 15, 2004, he admitted to stealing an expensive ring during a time of stress, and announced that he was taking medical leave from his duties as an MP. He chose to not seek re-election in the 2004 federal election but tried to make a political comeback by running in the riding of Vancouver Centre. Robinson was easily defeated by long-time Liberal MP Hedy Fry.

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November 20, 1959 - Universal Children's Day

Mon, 20 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

UN proclaims Universal Children’s Day. In 1954, the United Nations General Assembly encouraged all countries to create a Universal Children’s Day to celebrate children and promote their welfare. On November 20, 1959, the General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, stating, “He may have a happy childhood and enjoy for his own good and for the good of society, the rights and freedoms herein set forth…” The 10 principles included protecting children from neglect, cruelty, discrimination and exploitation. Thirty years to that day, the UN proposed the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was adopted the following year. As a result, every November 20th is now Universal Children’s Day.

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November 19, 1977 - Anwar Sadat

Sun, 19 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Egyptian President Anwar Sadat visits Israel. Anwar al-Sadat rose from humble beginnings to the presidency of his country, Egypt. When Egypt was locked in battle with Israel over Suez Canal rights, President Sadat risked much by telling the Egyptian Parliament that he would go to great lengths to negotiate peace with Israel. Israeli officials responded quickly by inviting Sadat to visit their country. So it was that on November 19, 1977, with the world watching, Sadat landed in Tel Aviv. The next day, he spoke to Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset, delivering a message of peace. This eventually led to the Camp David Accord in 1978 and a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. For these efforts, Sadat and Israel’s prime minister, Menachem Begin, jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978. Sadly, Sadat was killed by a fundamentalist Muslim in Cairo in 1981 during a military review.

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November 18, 1797 - Sojourner Truth

Sat, 18 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Preacher Sojourner Truth is born. Isabella Baumfree was born into slavery on November 18, 1797 in New York state, one of 13 children. She was first sold for $100 and subsequently sold other times before getting freedom about the time slavery was abolished in New York in 1827. One of her children had been illegally sold to an owner in Alabama and with the help of a Quaker activist, she successfully sued for his return. In 1843, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth, saying, “The Spirit calls me, and I must go.” She joined abolitionist groups and began her travels, preaching for the end of slavery. In 1850 Truth’s friend Olive Gilbert secretly published the book The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave from the memoirs she had dictated to him. Truth also became a passionate advocate for the rights of women and blacks; audiences remembered the six-foot-tall woman’s strong voice, great intelligence and quick wit. On November 19, 1851, at the Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, she heard male ministers asserting men’s superiority over women. She walked to the front of the room and waited for some in the audience to stop hissing. When she spoke she commanded the attention of the whole room. She pointed out that as a black woman she couldn’t be equal if no one ever offered to lift her over ditches or help her from a carriage. “Ain’t I a woman?” she demanded – a phrase that gained instant fame. She was also quoted as saying, “If women want any rights more than they’s got, why don’t they just take them, and not be talking about it?” She continued to influence Americans until her death on November 26, 1883.

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November 17, 1994 - Somalia Public Inquiry

Fri, 17 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Defence Minister announces a public inquiry into Somalia Peacekeepers. The Canadian Airborne Regiment was modeled after the American Green Berets – an elite fighting force, ready for deployment during a time of war. In December 1992, Canada sent the Airborne Regiment and other soldiers to help the United States and United Nations keep the peace in Somalia after warlords ousted former President Mohamed Siad Barre from his East African country in 1991. However, in March of 1993, a 16-year-old Somali was beaten to death while attempting to steal supplies from the military. News of this death led to information about other killings, and exposed questionable military leadership and racism within the ranks. On November 17, 1994, Defense Minister David Collenette announced a public inquiry into Somalia incidents, aimed at determining whether there was a cover-up. The inquiry revealed a profound failure of leadership with “scandalously deficient” accountability. Investigators found that the chain of command had “failed utterly,” and discipline had been “alarmingly substandard.” The government completely disbanded the Airborne Regiment, believing the force was so tainted that it couldn’t be salvaged.

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November 16, 1916 - Margaret Sanger

Thu, 16 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Authorities shut down Margaret Sanger’s birth control clinic permanently. As a midwife, Margaret Sanger witnessed too much mutilation and death amongst poor New York women trying to administer their own abortions. So in 1913, she became an activist set on promoting birth control for women. Birth control, she felt, would keep many from sinking into poverty, and keep them out of harm’s way. After several arrests and much media attention, Sanger and others opened a birth control clinic in New York. Church and state opposition to the facility led to all the members of the clinic being arrested a number of times. Yet after each set of arrests, they just bravely re-opened the clinic. That ended on November 16, 1916, when police forced the clinic’s landlord to evict Sanger and the clinic for good. Undiscouraged, Sanger continued her decades-long fight for birth control rights, eventually founding the American Birth Control League and the Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau, which later became Planned Parenthood. In 1965, one year before Sanger died, the American Supreme Court ruled that the constitution protected one’s right to use birth control.

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November 15, 1955 - Religious Freedom

Wed, 15 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Supreme Court of Canada upholds religious freedom. One Sunday afternoon in 1949, approximately 30 Jehovah’s Witnesses took part in a religious service at the house of Esymier Chaput in Chapeau, Quebec. Suddenly, three provincial police officers entered the house, broke up the service and confiscated a Bible, hymn books, a number of religious pamphlets and the collection box. The officers then dispersed the group and escorted the minister out of town. Chaput took the police to court, only to lose at both the trial division and the Quebec Court of Appeal. However, on November 15, 1955, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the police had acted illegally and criminally – and awarded Chaput $2,000. Justice Taschereau wrote, “In our country, there does not exist a state religion. No one is required to follow someone else’s belief. All religions are on the same footing, and all Catholics, as well as others such as Protestants, Jews or other adherents of different religious faiths, have complete freedom to believe as they wish. The conscience of everyone is a personal affair and not that of anyone else. It would be terrible to think that a majority could impose their religious views on a minority.”

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November 14, 1935 - New Nuremberg Laws

Tue, 14 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

New Nuremberg laws set forth severe restrictions of the rights of Jews. At a Nazi Party convention in Nuremberg, Germany on September 15, 1935, participants adopted The Nuremberg Laws of Citizenship and Race. “A citizen of the Reich may be only one who is of German or kindred blood, and who, through his behaviour, shows that he is both desirous and personally fit to serve loyally the German people and the Reich.” The purpose was to set out who did not fit “citizenship.” On November 14, 1935, the First Supplementary Decree stated, “A Jew cannot be a Reich citizen.” The laws required a social separation of Jews and non-Jews, and the immediate firing of all Jews who held civil service jobs. Next came “the law for the protection of German blood and German honour.” This forbade Jews from marrying outside their religion, and spelled out elaborate classifications for “Jewishness” – such as “full Jew” or “considered Jewish” – to help government officials determine who got what privileges and punishments. German authorities declared that “German blood” must be protected and not tainted by mixed races or religions. Jews were also prohibited from acquiring, possessing or carrying firearms, ammunition or weapons capable of cutting or stabbing. On November 23, 1939 it was announced that as of December 1st, all Jews 10 years and older would have to wear a Star of David at least 10 centimetres wide on their right sleeve. Later, authorities forced German and Polish Jews to have the word Jude inscribed on yellow versions of these badges. It was an ominous step leading up to the Nazis carrying out their “final solution,” in which they would attempt to exterminate all Jews across Europe.

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November 13, 1956 - Rosa Parks

Mon, 13 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

U.S. Supreme Court declares segregation on buses unconstitutional. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a bus run by the Montgomery Bus Company in Alabama. Asked later how she had the nerve to take such a stand, she replied, “The only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” A few days later, a court found her guilty of disobeying the segregation laws. This so outraged blacks that on December 5th, the Montgomery Improvement Association urged blacks to boycott the bus system. Authorities expected the protest to last a few days, but it ran for more than a year. Meanwhile, Parks’s case wound its way through the court system until on November 13, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation on public buses was unconstitutional in nine states. Even then, despite their tired feet, blacks maintained their resolve and refused to end the boycott until December 21st, when the Supreme Court’s paperwork on the case was complete. Thus, a single act of defiance by one woman led to a legal victory that in turn was a catalyst for the civil rights movement and the hard fought gains that would follow.

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November 12, 1974 - UN Suspends South Africa

Sun, 12 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

UN suspends South Africa from General Assembly. After years of resolutions, restrictions and embargoes against South Africa and its state-sanctioned racist system of apartheid, the United Nations went one step further by suspending the country from the UN General Assembly on November 12, 1974. South Africa retaliated by retaining its overall membership without paying its dues. But this only racked up a $100 million US debt for the eventual post-apartheid government. Meanwhile, black South Africans spent years in their struggle for basic human rights. They requested and accepted the short-term pain of international boycotts and embargoes levied against the country for the potential long-term gains that freedom would bring. When South Africa finally granted its black majority the right to vote, the UN lifted the last of its sanctions against the country on May 25, 1994. In 1995 $95 million of South Africa’s arrears was paid when a surplus from other member countries came into the U.N. coffers. Nearly $30 million of that surplus came from the United States alone.

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November 11, 1919 - Remembrance Day

Sat, 11 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Remembrance Day established the year after first world war’s end. On Monday, November 11, 1918 at 11:00 a.m., the fist world war came to an official end. The following year, the Commonwealth established Armistice Day, later to be known as Remembrance Day – a day for remembering the men and women who died during battles. During the first world war, of the 619,636 Canadian men and women who served, 66,655 died and another 172,950 were wounded. The second world war - with 1,081,865 Canadians in service - took the lives of 46,777 Canadian men and women with another 53,145 wounded. Some 516 Canadian soldiers also died during the Korean War. The poppy, a symbol of remembrance in many countries, has special significance for Canadians. In 1915, Canadian Lt.-Col. John McCrae wrote the poem, In Flanders Fields, when he saw poppies growing beside a grave of a close friend who had died in battle.

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November 10, 1995 - Ken Saro-Wiwa

Fri, 10 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Nigeria hangs human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. Kenule “Ken” Saro-Wiwa was born on October 10, 1941 in Bori, Nigeria, a member of the Ogoni ethnic minority. The homelands of the Ogoni are in the Niger Delta, where oil extraction has negatively impacted the environment. As an adult, Saro-Wiwa became a successful businessman who in time turned his attention to writing novels and producing television programs – both to high acclaim. However, his political and environmental involvement caught the attention of Nigeria’s military government. In 1990, Saro-Wiwa founded MOSOP, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, through which he and other supporters pressed the government to address the environmental damage from oil companies Shell and British Petroleum. In May 1994, the government arrested Saro-Wiwa, later sentencing him to death for the alleged murders of four Ogoni elders. Leaders from around the globe urged Nigeria’s government to grant clemency for what everyone knew to be trumped-up convictions. Despite world attention, however, Saro-Wiwa and eight other dissidents were executed on November 10, 1995. International response was swift; the Commonwealth suspended Nigeria and the European Union imposed sanctions. Despite UN resolutions to revisit the trial, the Nigerian government has not budged and Saro-Wiwa is still a convicted murderer. On the tenth anniversary of his hanging, at least 28 countries took place in commemorating Saro-Wiwa and the other eight victims. A year later a Living Memorial was unveiled by Saro-Wiwa’s son in London, England. Nigerian artist Sokari Douglas Camp sculpted an enormous silver steel bus which toured England in 2006. Douglas Camp said she was “trying to convey a bit of Nigerian spirit which laughs at itself all the time.”

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November 9, 1989 - Berlin Wall Comes Down

Thu, 09 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

When Mikhail Gorbachev took control of the Soviet Union in 1985, he brought about change well beyond his own borders. In East Germany, the Berlin Wall symbolized the divide between East and West, freedom and oppression. The East German government had put up barriers in 1961 to prevent the flow of millions of East Germans to the West. Once completed, the wall stood 12 feet high and 96 miles long. Thousands tried to make it across. Many made it, but 246 were killed trying. Even when the cold war officially ended and countries like Hungary and Czechoslovakia eased up travel restrictions, the flow continued. Finally, a change of leadership in East Germany led to liberalization. The East German government announced that as of November 9, 1989, travel restrictions would be lifted and the gates of the Berlin Wall would open. Thousands of people took to the streets with picks and axes to tear down the wall and East and West Germany were soon unified as they had been before the second world war.

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November 8, 1990 - Mary Robinson

Wed, 08 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Ireland elects first woman president. Mary Robinson served as an Irish senator for 20 years, simultaneously working as a civil and human rights lawyer. She ran unsuccessfully for Parliament under the Labour Party twice, then made a run for president as an Independent a few years after leaving the Labour Party. On November 8, 1990, Robinson became Ireland’s first woman president. By Irish standards, she was considered a radical for her campaigns to liberalize divorce and abortion laws in the heavily Catholic country. Before she took the helm, the presidential role was largely ceremonial. She raised its status through her dedicated work on humanity issues at both the national and international level. Robinson left her presidential post one year early in 1997 to become the United Nations commissioner for human rights.

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November 7, 1967 - Everett Klippert

Tue, 07 Nov 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Supreme Court of Canada upholds decision to imprison a homosexual as a "dangerous sex offender." Everett George Klippert unwittingly woke Canadians up to injustices against homosexuals, and inspired Pierre Trudeau’s famous quote, “The state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation.” On the morning of August 16, 1965, when RCMP officers in Pine Point, Northwest Territories happened to speak to Klippert, he openly revealed his homosexuality, and mentioned he’d been sexually involved with a number of men during his adult life. They arrested him and the next day, in Hay River, he was charged with four counts of gross indecency under section 149 of the criminal code. Days later, he was sentenced to three years in prison, and on a subsequent charge, was declared a dangerous sexual offender to be held in prison indefinitely. Even on a final appeal, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against Klippert on November 7, 1967. Despite the court’s majority opinion, many Canadians were shocked. Klippert’s case alerted them to injustices against homosexuals. Pierre Trudeau, who was justice minister at the time, responded to the case with his famous quote. He added, “I think that what's done in private between adults doesn't concern the criminal code.” The Liberal government passed Bill C-150, which decriminalized “gross indecency” and “buggery” if sexual relations were committed in private between two consenting adults over the age of 21. Ironically, even as the laws changed, Klippert remained imprisoned. Not until July 20, 1971 was Klippert released on parole. Over time, many other Canadian laws concerning gay men and lesbians were liberalized, especially after the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms came into effect. By the summer of 2005, Canada was the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, after the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain.

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November 6, 1979 - Action Travail des Femmes

Mon, 06 Nov 2017 08:01:00 GMT

Women’s group files discrimination complaint against CNR. On November 6, 1979, the Quebec group Action Travail des Femmes filed the first of 155 complaints against the Canadian National Railway (CNR), alleging systemic discrimination against women in its hiring and promotional practices. The case took years to wind its way through the human rights and court system, but eventually, the Supreme Court of Canada agreed with an earlier Canadian Human Rights Tribunal decision, and ordered CNR to hire one woman for every four non-traditional jobs filled, until the firm attained the Canadian national average in its ratio of male to female employees. Chief Justice Brian Dixon noted that CNR had indeed “prevented and discouraged women from working on blue collar jobs.”

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November 5, 1996 - Resignation for Wearing Swastika

Sun, 05 Nov 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Quebec’s new lieutenant governor resigns for wearing swastika during student protest. On September 12, 1996, Prime Minister Jean Chretien appointed Jean-Louis Roux as lieutenant governor for Quebec. A strong federalist who had campaigned vigorously against separation during the 1995 referendum, Roux had a long and prominent career as a stage and television actor in the province. However, in an interview with L’Actualité magazine, Roux admitted that in 1942, when he was 19 years old, he’d worn a swastika during a student protest against conscription. This prompted numerous requests for his resignation from many fronts, including the Jewish community. Roux argued that his actions had been a lark and in no way related to the anti-Semitism common at that time. But when the media revealed that Jewish shops had been vandalized in the heat of that protest, pressure mounted against Roux. He finally resigned as Quebec’s vice-regal on November 5, 1996. Two months later, the prime minister appointed Lise Thibault to the post.

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November 4, 1990 - Italian Canadian WW2 Internment

Sat, 04 Nov 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Prime Minister Brian Mulroney apologizes to Italian Canadians for World War II internment. While Canada’s mistreatment of Japanese Canadians before, during and after World War II became well known, its mistreatment of Italian Canadians was less publicized. Of course, being at war with fascist Italy prompted suspicions about some Canadians of Italian descent as well. Although Canada detained hundreds of Italian Canadians in internment camps, few had their property seized as did Japanese Canadians. Even so, years of discussions ensued before Canada agreed to acknowledge its injustices to this community. On November 4, 1990 in Concord, Ontario, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney apologized to the Italian community in a speech addressed to the National Congress of Italian Canadians and the Canadian Italian Business Professionals Association. The speech was not accompanied by monetary compensation, because Italian Canadians had agreed that, given the lack of property seizures, it was not necessary. However, 15 years later, in November 2005 the federal government agreed to a redress package of $2.5 million initially, to be paid to Italian Canadian organizations to support educational and commemorative exhibits. The amount was expected to rise to $12 million in total, however, none to be given to individuals who were detained during the war.

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November 3, 1989 - Visitation Rights

Fri, 03 Nov 2017 17:47:00 GMT

Canadian court allows gay inmates family-visitation rights. Timothy Veysey, an inmate at the Warkworth Institution in Ontario, wanted his partner, Leslie Beau, to participate in the facility’s private family visiting program. The only drawback was, the program’s aim was to prepare inmates for a successful return to their community by supporting their family relationships – and Veysey’s and Beau’s gay relationship was not regarded as “family.” So Veysey went to court claiming that his rights had been violated. Although protections under the Charter of Rights did not explicitly include sexual orientation (as it did gender, race, religion and others), he argued that he should receive the same protections. On November 3, 1989, Justice Dube of the Federal Court of Canada agreed with Veysey and ordered the Correctional Service of Canada to revisit its decision. The judge rejected the argument that harm would come to Veysey if inmates found out about the visits. Less than seven months later, the Federal Court of Appeal concurred.

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November 2, 1957 - Martha Black

Thu, 02 Nov 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Former Yukon MP Martha Black dies. Martha Munger, born in Chicago in 1866, left a life of privilege, as well as a husband, to join the Klondike gold rush in 1898. Her journey involved a rugged 92-kilometre hike through Chilkoot Pass in the Rocky Mountains, but her wealth made it easier than for most; she paid others to haul her mass of gear. In 1904 she married her second husband, George Black, who later became commissioner of the Yukon Territory and a member of Parliament. Martha’s career included partnering in gold mine businesses and running a sawmill. When her husband was too ill to run as MP in 1935, Black ran for Parliament herself. She became Canada’s second female MP at the age of 69. Five years later, when her husband recovered, she gave up the seat she had been “holding” for him. Black died on November 2, 1957 at age 91, but her name (and that of her husband) lives on through streets and mountain peaks named after the couple.

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November 1, 1987 - René Lévesque

Wed, 01 Nov 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Separatist and former Quebec Premier René Lévesque dies. For years, French-speaking Quebecers were treated like minorities in their own province. Then the “quiet revolution” of the 1960s fuelled the flames of separation, convincing Francophones that Canada would never give them the respect they deserved, and instilling in them a desire for their own country. In 1976, René Lévesque, a former reporter and popular television show host, became the first premier of any province to pledge separation from Canada. A former Liberal Quebec cabinet minister, Lévesque had joined forces with other separatists to create the Parti Québécois. He lost the 1980 referendum on separation but continued winning elections until his retirement in 1985. Quebec changed significantly under his leadership; Francophones finally became maitre chez nous (masters in their own house). On November 1, 1987, Levesque died in Montreal.

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October 31, 1997 - Treatment pf Pregnant Women

Tue, 31 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

The Supreme Court of Canada refuses to force treatment on glue-sniffing pregnant woman. “Ms. G” was so addicted to glue sniffing that she was deemed unable to care for her children. All three of them were taken into custody by Winnipeg Child and Family Services and two were permanently disabled due to her addiction. In August 1996, while five months pregnant with her fourth child, a Manitoba judge ordered Ms. G placed in the custody of the director of the Manitoba Child and Family Services, where she was put into a hospital. Two days later the judge’s order was overturned, yet the mother stayed in the hospital until discharged and stayed clean until the birth of her child, which she was allowed to raise. While previously the Supreme Court of Canada said an unborn child does not have legal rights, could they consider placing the mother into custody in order to protect the health of the child? In a seven-to-two decision, the Supreme Court of Canada decided they could not. Numerous organizations were granted leave to have their say in this controversial case, from religious associations to abortion rights organizations, other family services agencies and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, among others. On October 31, 1997, the top court upheld the right of a woman to refuse treatment, and reaffirmed earlier decisions not to grant an unborn child legal protection. Until a child is born, the government has no one to protect. The justices said it was up to Parliament to make such moral decisions. The two dissenting justices stated that the “born alive” rule in previous cases must be set aside in this case and where it makes sense in future cases.

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October 30, 1957 - Women Allowed into British House of Lords

Mon, 30 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Women allowed into the House of Lords through hereditary titles. The British system of peerage for the aristocracy meant that titles and other privileges always passed from father to son. This tradition persisted even after the House of Commons outlawed gender discrimination years earlier. For 40 years, the government simply refused to apply that stipulation to the House of Lords membership. The practice finally ended on October 30, 1957 when the British government announced that women would be allowed into the House of Lords through the peerage system. That meant that for the first time in history, hereditary titles could pass from father to daughter, allowing women life peerage.

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October 29, 1969 - Immediate End to School Segregation

Sun, 29 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

U.S. Supreme Court orders an immediate end to school segregation. In 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States made it clear that schools segregating blacks from whites were in the wrong. In the famous case of Brown v. Board of Education, Chief Justice Earl Warren said, “We conclude that in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” But the American South dragged its heels over integrating its schools, which eventually brought Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education before the court. On October 29, 1969, Supreme Court justices ruled that 33 Mississippi school districts had to act promptly on integration plans. Where earlier, the federal government and an appeals court had allowed delays, the Supreme Court stated emphatically that schools must complete the desegregation process immediately. President Richard Nixon followed up the court’s declaration by promising that he and his government would support and enforce the decision.

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October 28, 1998 - Glen Murray

Sat, 28 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Winnipeg’s Glen Murray becomes Canada’s first openly gay mayor. Glen Murray was born in Montreal on October 27, 1957. After graduating from Concordia University in Quebec, he worked for Canada Post, which transferred him to Winnipeg in 1985. In 1990, Murray ran for city council with a left-of-centre civic party; he was popular enough to win and get re-elected. That made him decide to run for mayor in 1998, despite some supporters’ concerns about how his homosexuality would affect his chances. Murray was not only openly gay, but he was featured in a 1992 documentary, “A Kind of Family,” in which he narrated his struggles of adopting a teenaged boy and trying to bring some stability to his life after a childhood marked by years of being bounced from one foster home to another. On October 28, 1998, after a campaign in which some of his opponents made an issue of his sexual orientation, Glen Murray was elected mayor of Winnipeg with 50.5 per cent of the vote. That made him Canada’s first openly gay mayor of a major city. He was re-elected in 2002, but cut his term short to run for the federal Liberal Party the spring of 2004. Although Murray was one of Prime Minister Paul Martin’s “star” candidates, he was defeated on June 28, 2004, losing to Conservative MP Steven Fletcher.

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October 27, 1992 - Canadian Military to Protect Lesbians and Gay

Fri, 27 Oct 2017 09:01:00 GMT

Court ruling forces Canadian Army to protect gay and lesbian members of the military. When air-force lieutenant Michelle Douglas was forced out of the Canadian military for being a lesbian, the Federal Court of Canada ruled that the armed forces had infringed on her rights. Canada’s military head, General John de Chastelain, responded to that ruling by issuing a statement on October 27, 1992. Canada’s military service, he emphasized, was open to gay men and lesbians. The court’s decision put Canada ahead of most NATO countries in allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in their military. The military paid Douglas $100,000 as part of the settlement, which led to other human rights action that finally put sexual orientation protections into the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

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October 26, 1952 - Hattie McDaniel

Thu, 26 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Hollywood’s first black Oscar-winner, Hattie McDaniel, dies. Very few African American actresses have been nominated for Academy Awards, even today. The second black woman to win an Oscar was Whoopi Goldberg in 1990 for her supporting role in the movie Ghost. The first was Hattie McDaniel, who was born June 10, 1895 in Wichita, Kansas. She began her career by working beside other blacks in the limited roles that tent shows and vaudeville allowed. After a stint as a radio singer, she moved to Hollywood to build an impressive movie career. Even though movie producers withheld prime roles from blacks at the time, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People saw fit to criticize McDaniel for playing characters that perpetuated black stereotypes. Ironically, it was her role as Mammy in the legendary 1939 movie Gone with the Wind that made her the first African American woman to win an Academy Award. Despite her prominent place in history, McDaniel faced discrimination for the color of her skin. During the Academy Awards ceremony at the Coconut Grove night club in the famous Ambassador Hotel, officials made McDaniel sit at the back alone. Before her death from breast cancer on October 26, 1952, she’d racked up 100 movie credits to her name. Her desire to be buried in the Hollywood Cemetery with other movie stars was denied by the owner Jules Roth, because she was black. In 1999, the new owner of the cemetery, Tyler Cassidy, offered to move her remains, but her family declined. Instead Tyler honoured McDaniel with a large cenotaph which overlooks the lake.

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October 25, 1983 - Mary Eugenia Charles

Wed, 25 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Prime Minister Eugenia Charles stands with Ronald Reagan announcing Grenada invasion. Mary Eugenia Charles was born on May 15, 1919 in the village of Pointe Michel, Dominica, an island nation of 290 square kilometres in the Caribbean Sea. Eugenia went to school in Canada, graduating from the University of Toronto, then attended the London School of Economics before heading back home to become a lawyer in 1949. Charles practiced law for years until the Labour government passed laws restricting criticism of the government, prompting her to enter politics. She was elected to Parliament in 1970 under the new Dominica Freedom Party and became and leader of the Opposition in 1975. In 1979 Dominica became fully independent from Britain and in July 1980 Charles was elected prime minister, a post she held until June 1995. When elected prime minister, she became the first woman prime minister in the Caribbean and the first black woman to lead a country. She soon became known as the “Iron Lady of the Caribbean” for her political leanings. She was a staunch anti-communist and her notoriety came when on October 25, 1983, she stood on the steps of the White House in Washington with President Ronald Reagan as he announced the American invasion of Grenada. The power struggle within the communist regime in Grenada gave the American government the opportunity to take action against a country with strong ties to Cuba and the Soviet Union. Although Reagan said American students in Grenada were at risk, others strongly disputed that analysis. Charles survived her own coup attempts while in office, and she hanged one of the men involved. On September 6, 2005, some ten years after her retirement from politics, Charles died in Martinique.

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October 24, 1945 - United Nations Founded

Tue, 24 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

United Nations founded. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill used the term “United Nations” in reference to the Allies fighting Germany, Italy and Japan. After the term’s first formal use in 1942, the Allies referred to themselves as the “United Nations Fighting Forces.” Hence the United Nations was founded in the wake of the second world war’s destruction in the hope that a world body assigned to deal with conflict might lower the chance of future world wars. In late 1943 and through the summer of 1944, representatives of the Soviet Union, United States, Britain and China met to discuss creating the United Nations. On March 5, 1945, the governments of these four countries sent invitations to 42 other countries to join in a conference in San Francisco that would begin the legwork of the United Nations charter. Two criteria determined who could attend this influential meeting: First, the countries had to have signed the Declaration by United Nations on January 1, 1942. Second, they had to have declared war on Germany or Japan no later than March 1, 1945. Countries like Paraguay, Peru, Turkey, Lebanon and Egypt declared war in February 1945, and Iran and Finland backdated their declarations to meet the deadline. By the time Argentina, Denmark, Belarus and Ukraine had also qualified, a total of 50 countries actively partook in the conference. The UN Charter was signed on June 26th and came into existence October 24, 1945. The UN’s goal was to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war – to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights – to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedoms.” Today more than 190 nations make up the United Nations.

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October 23, 1981 - Pearl McGonigal

Mon, 23 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Pearl McGonigal named Manitoba’s first female lieutenant governor. The Honourable Pearl McGonigal was a part of the Winnipeg political scene for many years. She was the first woman elected to the St. James-Assiniboia city council, a position to which she was re-elected when Winnipeg amalgamated with its suburb cities. She went on to become Winnipeg’s deputy mayor. Then, on October 23, 1981, McGonigal became the first woman to be appointed lieutenant governor of Manitoba, and only the second Canadian woman to hold such a post. She held this vice regal post until December 1986. In 1994, McGonigal was appointed to the Order of Canada, and in 2000 to the Order of Manitoba.

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October 22, 1958 - Margaret Meagher

Sun, 22 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Canada appoints world’s first woman ambassador, Margaret Meagher. Margaret Meagher was a Nova Scotia teacher who entered Canada’s foreign service before women were formally allowed to do so. In fact, she managed to achieve a diplomatic position in Mexico before women were allowed to take a foreign service officer’s entry exam, so she wrote hers in 1947 from Mexico. When she was appointed Canada’s ambassador to Israel on October 22, 1958, she became the first woman in the world to hold such a job. Her career entailed many postings, including a stint as ambassador to Sweden in 1969, where as she opened relations with China as Canada’s negotiator. After 32 years of service, she retired in 1974, and was awarded the Order of Canada that same year. Meagher died on February 25, 1999.

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October 21, 1959 - Human Rights Violations in Tibet

Sat, 21 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

UN speaks out against human rights violations in Tibet. Ever since China invaded the country of Tibet in 1949, the world has been calling for Tibet’s independence. When the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s political and spiritual leader, appealed to the United Nations on the question of Tibet, the UN adopted three resolutions in 1959, 1961 and 1965 that called on China to respect the human rights of Tibetans and their desire for self-determination. The UN General Assembly’s resolution on October 21, 1959 condemned China’s actions and declared its suppression of human rights in Tibet deplorable. Despite these and subsequent resolutions, China continues to prevent Tibet from celebrating its culture or spiritual independence. The Dalai Lama has traveled the world in his unending efforts to garner sufficient international pressure to force China to reintroduce freedoms in his country. For decades, he has set up institutions dedicated to Tibetan education, culture and religion in order to preserve its heritage and identity. The Dalai Lama has received numerous awards including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, recognizing his message of peace and non-violence. Despite his message, whenever any government leaders agree to meet with him, China sends messages of strong condemnation about this man, who describes himself as “a simple Buddhist monk.”

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October 20, 1904 - "Father of Medicare"

Fri, 20 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Tommy Douglas, Canada’s “Father of Medicare,” is born. Tommy Douglas was born in Scotland on October 20, 1904. When he was seven, his family moved to Manitoba. As an adult, he settled in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, where he served as a Calvary Baptist minister. Once he entered politics, he tapped his speaking skills to help create the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), a left-leaning political party he represented as a member of Parliament. After returning to Saskatchewan, he became premier of North America’s first socialist government in 1944. Over his lifetime, Douglas created and fought for many social causes. Among them was Medicare, for which be became known as “the father of Medicare.” Under Douglas’ leadership, Saskatchewan became the first jurisdiction in North America to legislate human rights protections. He managed to get the Saskatchewan Bill of Rights Act passed in 1947, one year before the UN passed its Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Years later, the CCF became the NDP, which Douglas led for many years in Ottawa. He died on February 24, 1986.

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October 19, 1995 - Mandatory Retirement

Thu, 19 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Supreme Court Upholds mandatory retirement for police. There was no question that Stratford Ontario police officer Albert Large had to retire at the age of 60; both the police board and his union had agreed on that. But Large regarded it as age discrimination, and took his case to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, which agreed. The city appealed, only to lose at two separate Ontario court levels. However, on October 19, 1995, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against Large, saying the policy was valid under human rights legislation. According to the top court, most police work is strenuous, requiring young, fit candidates. If the force is peopled by too many older officers – who are typically at risk for cardiovascular disease and declining aerobic capacity – it puts strain on the department, which must scramble to create less strenuous positions.

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October 18, 1929 - Women are "Persons"

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Canadian constitution finally deems women “persons” able to hold public office. Until 1929, the Canadian constitution did not regard women as “persons” under our constitution for appointment to the Senate and to sit as judges. Five Alberta women decided to challenge that in 1927: Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Irene Parlby, Louise McKinney and Henrietta Muir. Undeterred when defeated at the Supreme Court of Canada, these “famous five” women took their case to the judicial committee of the Privy Council of the House of Lords in England. After four days of deliberations, the council stated that Canadian women were eligible for appointment to the Senate. When he announced the decision, Lord Sankey, lord chancellor of the Privy Council, felt it appropriate to comment, “The exclusion of women from all public offices is a relic of days more barbarous than ours. And to those who would ask why the word ‘person’ should include females, the obvious answer is, why should it not?’” Henceforth, October 18th became known as “Persons Day” in Canada.

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October 17, 2002 - Hitting Children

Tue, 17 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Supreme Court of Canada agrees to hear appeal of criminal exemption for hitting children. Canadian adults have protections from assault. The criminal code of Canada makes an offence of using force against anyone without their consent. However, an exception is made for children. Section 43 of the code states, “Every schoolteacher, parent or person standing in the place of a parent is justified in using force by way of correction toward a pupil or child, as the case may be, who is under his care, if the force does not exceed what is reasonable under the circumstances.” The Canadian Foundation for Children, Youth and the Law disagreed, and went to court in Ontario asking for that section to be struck from the code because it violated several protections under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In July, 2000, Judge McCombs of the Ontario Superior Court denied the application. A year and a half later, Ontario’s top court dismissed the appeal, but the foundation was undeterred. On October 17, 2002 the Supreme Court of Canada agreed to the foundation’s request to hear an appeal. On January 30, 2004, with six judges dismissing the appeal and three judges dissenting, the court ruled that section 43 does not adversely affect children’s security of the person and does not offend principles of fundamental justice. They also found that it did not allow for cruel and unusual punishment, as only reasonable force is permitted. The Canadian government, certain family organizations on Canada’s right wing, as well as the Canadian Teachers’ Federation and children’s aid societies were pleased, as they opposed the application. However, other organizations, such as the Repeal 43 Committee, continue to lobby Canadian politicians to repeal the section they say allows Canadian children to be harmed.

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October 16, 2000 - Claude Pattemore

Mon, 16 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Claude Pattemore was born in Athens, Ontario in 1927. In 1948, a construction explosion at work blinded and nearly killed the 21-year-old. He underwent rehabilitation in Toronto and Hamilton before working first for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, then running cafeterias for a number of local Hamilton plants. Three years after his injury, Pattemore took up golf and immediately excelled at the game. He won tournaments for blind golfers in Ontario and Canada before clinching the title of International Blind Golfers champion in 1963. That same year, his personal best was 78 – a score rarely achieved even by sighted golfers. On October 16, 2000, Pattemore was inducted into the Ontario Golf Association’s Hall of Fame. He died in April, 2004.

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October 15, 1993 - Mandela & de Klerk

Sun, 15 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. On October 15, 1993, two very different men shared the Nobel Peace Prize: former prisoner Nelson Mandela, and South African President Frederik Willem de Klerk. De Klerk was the last president to reign over the apartheid system, which denied South Africa’s black majority of basic rights. From the day he was elected, de Klerk worked to end apartheid. First, he legalized the African National Congress (ANC). Then, in 1990, he freed Mandela from 28 years in prison. (He’d been jailed for working against apartheid with the then-outlawed ANC.) Together, Mandela and de Klerk took on the challenging task of conducting negotiations to create a new country and constitution. After years of segregation, all South Africans were given the vote in April of 1994. Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first president under the new system and an ANC government. Two years later South Africans created a new and permanent constitution, based on equality for all persons.

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October 14, 1964 - King Awarded Peace prize

Sat, 14 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Dr. Martin Luther King awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. A dedicated activist who worked to end discrimination against African Americans, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King became the symbolic leader of the American civil rights movement. Between 1957 and his assassination in 1968, King traveled millions of miles to speak thousands of times to hundreds of thousands of people. His quest was for equality among all men and women. In 1963, 250,000 predominantly African Americans marched on Washington, D.C., then paused to hear King deliver his “I have a dream” speech. Besides his public speaking, King wrote five books and met several times with Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. He was selected as one of the ten most outstanding personalities of the year by Time magazine, which named him Man of the Year in 1963. But a highlight of his career occurred on October 14, 1964, when King, who’d been jailed numerous times for his convictions, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. At age 35, he was the youngest man, second American and third black man to be awarded this honour. King turned the $54,123 in prize money over to the civil rights movement. Only four years later, on April 4, 1968, King was assassinated while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

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October 13, 1984 - Kathy Sullivan

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Challenger brings home the first American woman to walk in outer space. Kathy Sullivan was born October 3, 1951, in Paterson, New Jersey, but spent most of her life in California. After receiving a degree in earth sciences in California, she pursued a doctorate in geology from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, graduating in 1978. As an astronaut with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1979, she took part in three space missions. On October 13, 1984, the spaceship Challenger brought home its five-man, two-woman crew from an eight-day mission during which Sullivan had become the first American woman to walk in space. The voyage also held Canadian experiments and an IMAX camera that recorded the historic flight. Among other achievements, Sullivan was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2004.

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October 12, 1998 - Matthew Shephard

Thu, 12 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Victim of violent gay-bashing, Matthew Shepard dies in Laramie, Wyoming. Two male thugs with a hatred for gay men lured Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay freshman at the University of Wyoming, from Laramie, Wyoming’s Fireside Bar & Lounge. They tortured and beat him, then left him tied to a wooden fence in the October cold. A cyclist who spotted the 105 - pound, five-foot-two student 18 hours later, initially thought he was seeing a scarecrow. Rushed to a hospital, Shepard caught the attention of the American media, and soon vigils were in force around the world, especially in the U.S. Sadly, he died on October 12, 1998. Many well-wishers attended his funeral, but so did members of extremist religious groups, who held up signs with messages like “God hates fags.” Shepard’s parents established the Matthew Shepard Foundation, and his mother, Judy, still travels the world promoting hate-crimes legislation and tolerance.

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October 11, 1983 - James Keegstra

Wed, 11 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Alberta teacher James Keegstra’s license revoked for racist teachings. James Keegstra taught students at Eckville Junior-Senior High School in Alberta starting in 1968. In 1982, a parent objected to his teaching students that when Protestants ruled England, all was good, while Catholic rule was marked by drunkenness and atrocities. In fact, Keegstra went beyond that, teaching students that Jews were inherently evil and that the Holocaust was a hoax. On December 7, 1982, the school board voted to terminate his contract, prompting some students to launch a petition to reinstate Keegstra. The grade 12 student who started the petition said, “He teaches things like moral values. He’s against abortion. He’s a Christian. He believes the things that are in the Bible.” On October 11, 1983, Alberta’s education minister, David King, announced that he was revoking Keegstra’s teaching certificate, following the recommendation of the Alberta Teachers Association. In 1985, Justice McKenzie of Alberta’s Court of Queen’s Bench found Keegstra guilty of wilfully promoting hatred against Jews. The court imposed a fine against the former teacher of $5,000. Because the case pitted freedom of speech against promoting hatred, Keegstra’s case went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada twice. Twice over a 12-year period, juries convicted him as a criminal. His eventual sentence entailed one year’s probation and 200 hours of community service, with severe restrictions on his ability to promote hatred towards Jews. Shortly after Keegstra was stripped of his job and teaching certificate, a number of residents of Eckville demanded he step down as mayor, a post he held since 1979. He refused. However, in the election on October 17, 1983, with 92 per cent of the voters turning out, Keegstra was defeated by a vote of 278 to 123.

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October 10, 1995 - Christine Silverberg

Tue, 10 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Christine Silverberg becomes the first female police chief of a major Canadian city. Christine Silverberg became the first woman police chief of a major Canadian city when she was sworn in as Calgary’s chief of police on October 10, 1995. Born Christine Bertram in 1949 and raised on a dairy farm close to Brampton, Ontario, Bertram met her husband, Ben Silverberg, while studying at York University in Toronto. At the age of 21, Silverberg became one of the first women recruits at the Mississauga police department, where she soon rose through the ranks to deputy chief of the Hamilton-Wentworth, Ontario police department. When Silverberg left Ontario to take the top police job in Calgary, her appointment stirred controversy, not just because she was a woman, but because she had negotiated a salary that Calgary city councillors thought was too high. However, after five years on the job, Silverberg left the department with a much higher budget and hundreds more police officers than when she had started. As a woman and a Jew, Silverberg strongly advocated an inclusive police workforce. In fact, her efforts so impressed members of the Peigan Nation, that they fondly nicknamed her “Bluebird Lady” in 1998. After retiring from police work, Silverberg graduated from the University of Calgary law school in 2004, and launched her new career as a lawyer.

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October 9, 2002 - Maher Arar

Mon, 09 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Maher Arar begins ten months of detention, beatings and torture in Syrian jail. Maher Arar was born in Syria in 1970 before his family moved to Canada in 1987. He obtained bachelors and masters degrees in computer engineering, became a Canadian citizen in 1991 and worked as a wireless technology consultant in Ottawa. On September 26, 2002, while changing planes in New York, Arar was detained by American officials. Believing he was linked to the terrorist group Al Qaeda, officials interrogated Arar for days, and his requests for a lawyer and a phone call were refused until October 5th, when he met with a lawyer for 30 minutes. Three days later he was deported to Syria and on October 9, 2002 arrived in Syria to an immediate interrogation. The next day he was taken to a cell he called the “grave”; it had no light and was three-by-six-by-seven feet. He would spend the next 10 months and 10 days there. During the first week, he was beaten with a shredded electrical cable and threatened with worse torture. Over time, he confessed to whatever they asked of him, even though none of it was true. For the next 10 months, he saw Canadian officials seven times until October 5, 2003, when he was driven to the Canadian embassy in Syria and flown home. In January 2004 the Canadian government called a public enquiry and on September 18, 2006 Justice Dennis O’Connor released his findings with harsh criticisms of the RCMP for giving the Americans inaccurate information about Arar. On January 26, 2007, Prime Minister Stephen Harper officially apologized to Arar and announced that he would receive $12.5 million as compensation for pain and suffering and for his legal fees.

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October 8, 1984 - Anne Murray

Sun, 08 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Anne Murray becomes the first woman and first Canadian to win a country music award. Anne Murray was one of Canada’s first country singers to gain international notoriety. Born June 20, 1945 in Springhill, Nova Scotia, Murray grew up intending to become a phys-ed teacher. She graduated from the University of New Brunswick with a degree in physical education and began teaching – while singing on television as a side job. But when she recorded the single “Snowbird” in 1970, it sold more than a million copies, rocketing her to stardom. Murray moved to Los Angeles for a short while before returning to Canada. During the early 1970s, she straddled the country and pop music worlds until a string of country hits solidified her country music success from 1979 until 1986. It was during this period that Murray was recognized by her peers in the country music business for her successes and contributions to the industry. On October 8, 1984 at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry House, the Country Music Association announced that Murray had won Album of the Year with her record, “A Little Good News.” That made Murray the first woman and first Canadian to win the award. The title song also won Single of the Year.

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October 7, 1991 - Anita Hill

Sat, 07 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Anita Hill offers to testify against U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. On October 7, 1991, a U.S. Senate judiciary committee was scheduled to meet in Washington, DC to decide on whether to appoint Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court. When a law professor by the name of Anita Hill offered to show up to speak that day, she was given the go-ahead. Once in front of the Senate committee, she dropped a bombshell: She accused Thomas of sexual harassment years before, when both had worked at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Although her comments and Thomas’s reactions were widely reported in the media, thus raising the profile of sexual harassment issues, in the end, Thomas was appointed to the Supreme Court. His decisions there have been among the most conservative of the court. Meanwhile, Hill returned to teaching law at Brandeis University, while also continuing to speak out about sexual harassment across the United States.

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October 6, 1917 - Fannie Lou Hamer

Fri, 06 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Mississippi’s black civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer is born. Fannie Lou Hamer – born in Montgomery County, Mississippi on October 6, 1917 – became known as the woman who was “sick and tired of being sick and tired.” The youngest of 19, she was the granddaughter of slaves who had yet to gain basic human rights In 1962, a civil rights group came to her town and Hamer was the first to volunteer to register to vote. Hamer and other volunteers were jailed and beaten by police and Hamer was thrown off the plantation where her family worked. Undeterred, Hamer took on the job of field secretary for the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee which sent her around the U.S., registering people to vote. In 1964, Hamer co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) and attended the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey. There, on live television, she challenged the all-white Mississippi delegation to give African Americans standing at the convention. She also informed the Democratic Party’s credentials committee of the violent tactics being used in many states to prevent African Americans from voting. Her statements prompted the committee to grant two MFDP delegates speaking rights, which in turn broke the cycle of whites-only delegations for the Democratic Party. Hamer died on March 14, 1977.

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October 5, 2000 - Robin Blencoe

Thu, 05 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Supreme Court allows B.C. cabinet minister to be fired for sexual harassment. The British Columbia government received two complaints of sexual harassment against cabinet minister Robin Blencoe: one from an employee working in the minister’s office and the other from a representative of a sports organization receiving funding from the minister’s office. In March 1995 Premier Michael Harcourt released Blencoe from his cabinet portfolio. But were those allegations proper grounds for firing? Blencoe felt not, and took the case to court. After winding its way through procedural delays and tribunal processes, the Blencoe case made it to the Supreme Court of Canada as Blencoe tried to say his rights were violated. On October 5, 2000 the Supreme Court ruled that Blencoe’s rights had not been violated. However judges were unimpressed by a 30 month delay in the middle of this drawn-out process and forced the B.C. Human Rights Commission to pay the case’s costs. The court referred the case back to the tribunal level and in the end, the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal found Robin Blencoe liable for sexual harassment.

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October 4, 1988 - CIA Settles out of court

Wed, 04 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

The U.S. CIA settled out of court with “brain-washed” Canadians. Did the U.S.’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) finance “brain-washing” experiments during the 1950s and 1960s? When nine Canadians accused the CIA of that, observers were surprised by the agency’s unprecedented willingness to settle out of court. The nine plaintiffs were among 50 patients subjected to experiments involving drugs such as LSD, electro-shocks, sensory deprivation and isolation. They were all under the care of Dr. Ewan Cameron of the Allen Memorial Institute in Montreal. And none knew they were part of CIA experiments involving mind-control programs that might benefit agents’ understanding of interrogation. On October 4, 1988, just days before the CIA was to go to trial, the agency agreed to pay $750,000 US to its accusers, while accepting no liability in the settlement.

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October 3, 1990 - East & West Germany Reunite

Tue, 03 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

East and West Germany reunite. After World War II, Germany was divided into four zones controlled by the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union. In 1949, however, the Western countries combined their zones to create the Federal Republic of Germany, while the Soviet Union made its zone the communist-controlled German Democratic Republic. Germany’s divide was not only physical; it was also a symbol of the cold war that existed between Western nations and the Soviet Union. In 1955, West Germany became part of the NATO alliance, while East Germany joined the Warsaw Pact. Finally, the Soviet Union’s collapse led to the literal collapse of the Berlin wall in November, 1989. It didn’t take long after that for the two Germanys to discuss becoming one again. When East Germans elected a pro-reunification government, the process quickened until, on October 3, 1990, formal political reunification converted a divided country into one Germany.

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October 2, 1958 - Guinea Declares Independence

Mon, 02 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Guinea declares total independence from France. When the French colony of Guinea declared independence from France on October 2, 1958, both the U.S. and the Soviet Union eyed it as a place to exert influence in their cold war power struggle. And while the leader of this African country wanted nothing to do with either, he learned to play the two superpowers off one another in an effort to secure financial aid for his country. As Guinea’s first and long-standing ruler, Sékou Touré was both strongly anti-imperialistic and outraged at the number of ties between Western and African governments. This, he surmised correctly, kept intact too many white minority governments exploiting the black majority. Touré, once an advocate of cross-ethnic nationalism, soon turned the country into a one party dictatorship with the usual trappings of no respect for human rights, free expression or political opposition. He became paranoid, with any potential “enemies” being imprisoned where hundreds died. Touré not only drove away more than a million Guinea residents, but his actions isolated him from other African governments. Touré stayed in power until his death in April, 1984. Since then the country has been in a state of military rule and a shallow attempt at democracy which most political observers see as rigged.

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October 1, 1951 - Charlotte Whitton

Sun, 01 Oct 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Dr. Charlotte Whitton becomes Canada’s first full-time woman mayor. Dr. Charlotte Whitton joined politics after a distinguished career as an academic at Queen’s University. An expert on child welfare, Whitton served as director of the Canadian Council on Child Welfare during the 1920s and 1930s. Although a champion of women’s rights, she held staunch social conservative views unpopular with more progressive Canadians. Whitton had harsh words for mothers who worked outside the home and she was against liberalizing Canada’s divorce laws. Elected to Ottawa’s municipal council in 1950, she was made acting mayor when the mayor died while in office the summer of 1951. Her handling of that role must have impressed citizens because on October 1, 1951, Ottawa councillors voted unanimously to keep her as mayor. That made Whitton Canada’s first full-time woman mayor. She was re-elected as mayor four more times before her defeat in 1964. Even then, she carried on as an Ottawa city councillor until retiring from politics in 1972. Many people remember Whitton for her famous quote, “Whatever women do, they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.” Whitton died in 1975.

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September 30, 1993 - Sue Rodriguez

Sat, 30 Sep 2017 15:01:00 GMT

Sue Rodriguez loses bid for legally sanctioned assisted suicide. In August 1991, a Vancouver a doctor told Sue Rodriguez that she had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. It meant she would experience a long, slow deterioration of her body, losing her ability to swallow, speak, walk or move without assistance before the disease killed her. She petitioned the Supreme Court of Canada for permission to commit suicide with assistance when she deemed it appropriate. Though she knew that section 241(b) of the criminal code prohibits anyone form assisting someone wishing to commit suicide, she felt this should be declared invalid on the grounds that it violated her rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. On September 30, 1993, in a five-to-four decision, the Supreme Court held that the code was constitutional, pointing to Parliament’s desire to protect the “sanctity of life.” On February 12, 1994, Rodriguez defied the court by dying with the assistance of a doctor and in the company of her friend and advocate, New Democratic Party Member of Parliament, Svend Robinson. The coroner’s report uncovered that Rodriguez drank a liquid laced with morphine and a sedative through a straw. No charges were laid against either Robinson or the unnamed doctor.

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September 29, 1988 - UN Peacekeepers

Fri, 29 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

UN Peacekeepers awarded Nobel Peace Prize. The United Nations attempts to settle, or support those who are trying to settle, conflicts as they arise in various parts of the world. Part of that process includes their peacekeeping operations, which acts as an impartial third body. There are two types of peacekeeping operations, one with unarmed observers and the other with armed military forces. When armed, the forces are only to use their weapons in self-defence. The peacekeepers, first employed in 1948 to monitor the truce between Israel and Arab states, must have the agreement of all parties involved and take direction from the United Nations. On September 29, 1988, the Nobel Peace Prize went to the United Nations’ worldwide peacekeeping forces. UN forces, the Nobel committee noted, had been key to reducing tensions and giving people hope for peace. The 1,400 Canadian Peacekeepers stationed in Syria, Jerusalem, Afghanistan, Cyprus, Korea, Iraq and Iran at the time of the award, shared in its honour. It was the UN’s fifth prize from the committee established by Alfred Nobel, a scientist who invented dynamite.

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September 28, 1996 - Taliban Takes Control

Thu, 28 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Taliban take control of Kabul and most of Afghanistan. In the early 1980s, America’s Central Intelligence Agency and Pakistan’s Interservices Intelligence Agency supported any group fighting the Soviets who had invaded Afghanistan. A group of ethnic Pashtuns from various regions of Afghanistan, known as the Talib (pluralized as Taliban, meaning “student” or “seekers of knowledge”), received tens of thousands of tons of American weapons and ammunitions. In 1994, the Taliban were able to take control of towns and cities with relative ease as Afghans supported them over the corrupt and brutal warlords. That year they captured Kandahar City and the surrounding provinces with very few casualties. Within two years they had control of two-thirds of the country. On September 28, 1996 the Taliban captured Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, and executed former president Mohammad Najibullah, hanging his body from a tower. Only Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would recognize them as the legitimate government, but they were completely in charge. During their reign, the Taliban enforced the strictest interpretation of Islamic Sharia law. Women, who received the worst of their ideology, were forced to dress head to toe in a burqa while in public, were not allowed to work outside the home, were not allowed to be educated after the age of eight and had to be accompanied by a male relative while outdoors. Men and women who violated any of these rules often faced amputation or execution. In 2001, members of the American and British military attacked Afghanistan for its role in supporting Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. The Taliban were either captured, killed or fled, but have been fighting to regain control ever since. Meanwhile, an international force that includes Canadian troops has been attempting to stabilize the country.

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September 27, 1991 - Ukrainian Canadians

Wed, 27 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Ottawa acknowledges its unjust treatment of Ukrainian Canadians during World War I. When World War I started, the Canadian government worried about the allegiance of Canadian citizens who had come from regions around the Austro-Hungarian empire. So the government interned 8,579 “enemy aliens” in 26 camps across Canada under the War Measures Act. More than 5,000 of these were Ukrainians. Another 80,000 – mostly Ukrainians – had to register as enemy aliens and report regularly to local authorities. Inmates of these internment camps were forced to work on infrastructure in mining and logging camps, and on government terrain such as Banff National Park. Even when the war ended, the government maintained the camps for another two years, until 1920. They justified this by referring to their free labour source as “Bolsheviks” rather than “enemy aliens,” and indicating concern about these Canadians’ allegiance to the new Soviet Union. Meanwhile, Ukrainian Canadians who were not interned faced discrimination and public ridicule. It took more than 70 years for the Canadian government to admit the unfairness of its policy. But finally, on September 27, 1991, the Canadian House of Commons unanimously approved a private member’s bill submitted by Member of Parliament Peter Milliken. The bill acknowledged the unjust treatment of Ukrainian Canadians between 1914 and 1920, instructed the government to erect markers in all 26 internment locations and initiated negotiations between the government and Ukrainian Canadians to redress the injustices. On August 24, 2005 Prime Minister Paul Martin met with Ukrainian Canadians at a ceremony in Regina signing an agreement to spend $2.5 million on markers, plaques and educational materials. On July 14, 2007, Mary Manko Haskett, died. She and her family had been imprisoned in one of the camps in rural Quebec. Haskett was believed to be the last survivor of Canada’s camps.

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September 26, 2002 - Spouse's Status

Tue, 26 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Can’t fire an employee based on spouse’s status, Saskatchewan’s top court rules. Heather Ennis was hired to manage the Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Elks Club – then she was fired two weeks later when her employer learned her husband was a convicted murderer serving time in the Saskatchewan Penitentiary. Was that discrimination? Two courts said no, because although Saskatchewan’s human rights code outlawed discrimination based on marital status, the code stated that “discrimination on the basis of a relationship with a particular person is not discrimination on the basis of marital status.” But on September 26, 2002, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal overturned the two lower decisions. Ennis’s rights were clearly violated due to marital status, the court declared, and to rule otherwise would allow any employer near Prince Albert’s federal penitentiary to fire employees with spouses there. Ennis was awarded $6,818.

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September 25, 1957 - 1000 Soldiers

Mon, 25 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

One thousand soldiers escort nine black students into Little Rock Central High. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregating schools based on race was unconstitutional. Just days later the Little Rock, Arkansas school board agreed to abide by the decision and drew up plans a year later to begin gradually integrating schools staring in 1957. After some court challenges to speed up the process were denied, the process was to begin with black students attending classes at Little Rock Central High School on September 3, 1957. A defiant Governor Orval Faubus tried to block this by ordering his National Guard to prevent black students from entering white schools. After a court injunction and a first attempt that attracted thousands of protesters, President Dwight D. Eisenhower decided to intervene. He sent in 1,000 members of the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army, and federalized the entire Arkansas National Guard, to ensure that the state’s first nine black students could enter Little Rock Central High to begin classes on September 25, 1957. Ernest Green, the first to graduate from Central High in 1980, became the assistant secretary of housing and urban affairs in the administration of President Jimmy Carter. He later went on to become a managing partner and vice president of the global finance company, Lehman Brothers in Washington, D.C. In the fall of 1999, 42 years after that historic day, President Bill Clinton awarded all nine students with the Congressional Gold Medal for their “selfless heroism” in standing up to discrimination.

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September 24, 1993 - Please Lift Sanctions

Sun, 24 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Nelson Mandela asks the UN to lift sanctions against South Africa. When Nelson Mandela addressed the United Nations General Assembly on September 24, 1993, he boldly asked the world to lift sanctions against his country, South Africa. A political prisoner for 27 years under apartheid, Mandela had become a symbol of the oppressive white minority rule in a country populated mostly by blacks. Mandela, president of the once outlawed African National Congress, told the assembly, “The countdown to democracy has begun. On April 27, 1994, all the people of South Africa, without discrimination on grounds of gender, race, color or belief, will join in the historic act of electing a government of their choice.” Cities and countries around the world immediately lifted sanctions that had been in place for a generation or more.

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September 23, 1992 - Manon Rheaume

Sat, 23 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Manon Rheaume becomes the first woman to play for the NHL. Manon Rheaume was born in Lac Beauport, Quebec on February 24, 1972. She began skating at the age of three and joined hockey games as a goaltender by age five. So it may not have seemed a big deal to her when, on September 23, 1992, she goal-tended for the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning team in a pre-season game against the St. Louis Blues. She became the NHL’s first female player that day, but Rheaume was used to firsts. She was the first woman to play in an international pee wee hockey tournament and the first woman to play in a major junior game. Rheaume’s career in various minor league teams and in the NHL carried on until 1997. Her experience as the goaltender for the gold medal-winning Women’s Canadian National Team at the 1992 and 1994 Women’s World Championships gave her the experience to play on the Canadian women’s Olympic hockey team. There, of course, she helped the team bring home a silver medal in 1998. In 1997 Rheaume wrote her book, Manon: Alone In Front Of The Net.

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September 22, 1988 - Prime Minister Apologizes

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Prime Minister Brian Mulroney apologizes to Japanese Canadians. During World War II, the Canadian government moved Japanese Canadians away from the west coast, confiscated their land without compensation and held thousands as prisoners in internment camps. Even before the war ended, Japanese Canadians urged their government to right this horrible wrong. After years of negotiations and compromise, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney issued a “formal and sincere apology” on September 22, 1988. On behalf of the Canadian government, he told Japanese Canadians he was sorry for their treatment during the second world war. The apology was issued along with a settlement of a $291 million compensation fund designed to pay each of the estimated 12,000 survivors of the internment camps $21,000, tax-free. Included in the entire compensation package was money to rebuild the infrastructure of destroyed communities and $24 million to fund a Canadian Race Relations Foundation. As well, pardons were offered to persons convicted under the War Measures Act for disobeying orders. As for Canadians deported to Japan in 1946, they were offered Canadian citizenship.

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September 21, 1918 - Kay Rex

Thu, 21 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Early Canadian female reporter Kay Rex born in Woodstock. Kathleen Amelia Rex was born on September 21, 1918 in Woodstock, Ontario. “Kay,” as she was called, had an interest in writing from a young age, inspired by her aunt Frances Kay Montgomery, who taught French at the University of Western Ontario. Right after university, Rex began work with the local daily newspaper, the Woodstock Sentinel. After a year she began work with Canadian Press in its Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto bureaus from 1942 until 1953. She then worked at the CBC before moving to Mexico City, where she worked as a freelance journalist. When she joined The Globe and Mail in 1959, she had experience working on women’s issues and that is where she spent much of her time. Rex was able to bring attention to issues that today are commonplace, but back then, were not. She wrote about daycare, poverty, health and peace and the emerging women’s movement. As a woman in a man’s world of journalism, she had to work hard to get her stories on or near the front pages. Rex stayed at the Globe until 1983, then began work on a book that chronicled women journalists. Back when she’d first applied for a job at the London Free Press, the managing editor had said, “I’d never let a daughter of mine become a reporter.” More than four decades later, Rex published her book, No Daughter of Mine: The Women and History of the Canadian Women’s Press Club, 1904-1971. Her book tells wonderful stories about the early years of women in journalism. Kay Rex died in Toronto on July 10, 2006 at the age of 87.

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September 20, 1973 - Billie Jean KIng

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Billie Jean King wins “battle of the sexes” in tennis. No woman player was a match for him, declared 55 year-old tennis star Bobby Riggs. His overtly chauvinist claim drew an estimated 50 million viewers to his September 20, 1973 match with 20-times Wimbledon champion Billie Jean King, aged 29. In Houston, Texas’s packed Astrodome, King beat Riggs in three straight sets – 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 – and clinched the $100,000 winner-take-all prize. Despite the public jabs between them that led to this “battle of the sexes,” Riggs and King became friends until his death from prostate cancer in 1995. Although King is the recipient of numerous tennis awards, including 39 Grand Slams, she always had to push for equality within the world of sports because for many years, women earned less prize money than men for the same sport. One of the final hold-outs was Wimbledon. However, in February 2007 the managers of the world’s most prestigious tournament - the All England Tennis and Croquet Club and the Lawn Tennis Association - announced that men and women would be awarded equal prize money.

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September 19, 1893 - Kate Sheppard

Tue, 19 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

New Zealand becomes first country to grant women the vote. Although women in Wyoming and Utah were allowed to vote starting in 1869 and 1870 respectively, New Zealand was the first country to grant women universal suffrage. Initially, it allowed them to vote in a parliamentary election on September 19, 1893. The victory stemmed from the efforts of Christian Temperance Union leader Kate Sheppard, who led the women’s movement in New Zealand, and the support she received from politician John Hall. In Canada, the right to vote for women was taken away when Canada became a country in 1867. In 1917, women of British descent were allowed to vote if they had a close relative fighting in the war. Then all white women were given the right to vote federally in 1919. The vote at the provincial level started with Manitoba in 1916 and finished with Quebec in 1940. Elsewhere in the world, western democratic countries got on the equality band wagon at different times. Women of Germany and Russia got the vote in 1918 while those in the United Kingdom had to wait another decade. Swiss women had to wait until 1971. There are still many countries where women are not allowed to vote even though men are, such as Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Brunei. Iranian women got the vote in 1980 and Kuwaiti women got the vote in 2007.

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September 18, 2003 - Collective Workplace Agreements

Tue, 19 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Workplace collective agreements must be based on human rights legislation, Canadian Supreme Court rules. When Joanne O’Brien went on maternity leave before she’d completed her probationary work period at Parry Sound, Ontario’s social services administration board, she returned to find herself fired. That was 1998. She complained to a labour board, which ruled that her employer had violated her rights under Ontario’s human rights code. After further appeals, on September 18, 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that under Ontario law, a labour board is responsible for spelling out human rights and other employment-related laws in their collective agreement. This established human rights legislation as the basis on which employers must build employer/employee agreements, whether or not the rights they promise are written into their collective agreements.

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September 17, 1987 - Japanese Compensation

Sun, 17 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

during World War II. After the Japanese bombed the American naval fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941, the American government and military became concerned about the loyalties of its Japanese citizens and residents. By early 1942 approximately 120,000 persons of Japanese descent were moved from the states of California, Oregon, Washington and Arizona to internment camps away from the coast. By early 1945 Japanese Americans were allowed to go back to their lives, and most did. However, the calls for reparation were loud, even before the war’s end. On September 17, 1987, after years of debate, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Civil Liberties Act, which recognized injustices acted upon Japanese Americans during the second world war. The government established a fund of $1.37 billion to partially compensate Japanese Americans interned during the war. Each of the estimated 66,000 survivors received $20,000, while another $50 million funded education programs that explained to the American public what took place during the war.

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September 16, 1974 - Women RCMP Officers

Sun, 17 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

RCMP swears in 32 women police officers. One of Canada’s most notable icons is the Mountie – and people expect to see a man. Traditionally, of course, Mounties were male. But the RCMP, like all workplaces, changed in the 1970s. On September 16, 1974, the venerable police force swore in 32 women cadets from across Canada, and sent them to their Regina, Saskatchewan training facility. Six months later, 30 emerged as officers. Dispersed across the country, they met with mixed experiences. .They faced colleagues who didn’t want them there, wives who objected to them working alongside their husbands, and a public that wanted to talk to “real Mounties.” The rookie officers felt forced to prove themselves to each new detachment they joined. As one pioneer constable, Barb Alexander, recalls, "You're not one of the guys. You're not one of the secretaries. You're not one of the wives. You're something different. You couldn't go out with just anyone. You were such an oddity." Women like Alexander, however, made things a bit easier for the women who followed. Today, women are integral to Canada’s Mounted Police and make up about 17% of the police force.

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September 15, 1999 - Louise Arbour

Fri, 15 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Louise Arbour appointed to Supreme Court before heading world human rights. Louise Arbour was born on February 10, 1947 in Montreal, Quebec. Her distinguished career started at the University of Montreal, where she earned her law degree before clerking for a Supreme Court of Canada judge and earning her masters in law at the University of Ottawa. She taught criminal law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto’s York University, first as a lecturer and finally as associate dean in 1987. Arbour was appointed to Ontario’s High Court of Justice before a quick elevation to Ontario’s top court in 1990. She gained national attention with her enquiry into the Prison for Women in Kingston, Ontario, after violence erupted more than once. She moved to the international stage in 1996 when she was appointed the chief prosecutor of war crimes in the Hague for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, where among other accomplishments, she indictment former Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milošević for crimes against humanity. Arbour left her post early, and on September 15, 1999, she was sworn in as a justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. Thinking the position would be her last before some kind of retirement, Arbour made the tough decision to leave one of the most important jobs in Canada. She was called back to the international stage when on July 1, 2004 United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, with the approval of the General Assembly, appointed her high commissioner for human rights. When on March 15, 2006 the assembly created the new United Nations Human Rights, Arbour transferred to the helm of that post. Arbour’s commitment to human rights has made her the recipient of dozens of honorary doctorates from universities, and numerous awards.

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September 14, 1936 - Dorothy Palmer

Thu, 14 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Dorothea Palmer arrested for distributing information on birth control. In the early 1900s, Canadian women had no access to information about birth control. Most religious and medical leaders even opposed making information about it available. Dorothea Palmer, born in England in 1908 before immigrating to Canada, was instrumental in gaining reproductive rights for women. Palmer worked for the Parents’ Information Bureau in Kitchener, Ontario, where her job involved visiting the homes of poor women. She took on the initiative of informing these women about birth control, even though she knew that doing so was illegal. Palmer was arrested on September 14, 1936 in Eastview, an Ottawa suburb, as she left the home of a family with many children. She was criminally charged with disseminating information about birth control. Her trial, which dragged on from October to March of 1937, entailed 19 days of testimony, four days of arguments and 40 witnesses. In the end, the judge acquitted Palmer, saying she was providing information for the “public good.” The Crown appealed the judgment, but a few months later, Ontario’s chief justice and two associate judges dismissed the appeal. Although the case was an important step towards giving women information about their reproductive rights, real change took decades. It was 1969 when dissemination and advertising about birth control was taken out of the criminal code.

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September 13, 1990 - Religious protections

Wed, 13 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Canada’s Supreme Court expands religious protections. Easter Monday is an important religious day for members of the Worldwide Church of God. So one of those members, Jim Christie, felt it was reasonable to ask his employer, Central Alberta Dairy Pool at their milk processing plant in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, for an unpaid leave of absence to observe that day. In fact, his religion recognizes a Saturday Sabbath, a five-day Fall Feast of the Tabernacle and five other holy days during the year – one of them being Easter Monday. His supervisor had previously agreed to an early shift on Fridays to avoid the start of the Sabbath at sunset. In 1983, he asked for a leave of absence on Tuesday, March 29th and Easter Monday, April 4th. His employer granted him the Tuesday, but not the Easter Monday, even when he said he would work an alternate day instead. As a milk processing plant, the company receives milk seven days a week, and to avoid spoilage, it must can any milk from the weekend on Monday. As well, the firm pointed out, Easter Monday is a busy shipping day. Christie was told that if he didn’t show up for work, he would be fired, which is exactly what happened. Christie filed a complaint, and his case went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. On September 13, 1990, the court ruled in Christie’s favour, overturning one of its own earlier decisions in the process. Thanks to Christie, the court required employers to expand protections available to religious employees. Employers, the court specified, must accommodate religious beliefs to the point of “undue hardship” which may include, but is not limited to cost, disruption of a collective agreement, problems with morale of other employees, and the size of the operation.

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September 12, 1920 - Alice Stebbins Wells

Tue, 12 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Alice Stebbins Wells becomes first American police woman with the power to arrest. In 1909, Alice Stebbins Wells petitioned Los Angeles Mayor George Alexandra and the city council to allow women to become police officers. Her determination paid off when, on September 12, 1910, she became the first American policewoman given the power to make arrests. On her first day of work, Wells climbed onto a city trolley in uniform, only to be accused by a conductor of falsely using her husband’s identity. (Police officers were allowed to ride free.) The police department remedied that by issuing her a badge that read, “Policewoman’s Badge No. 1.” The nation-wide publicity of Wells’ appointment prompted other American jurisdictions to hire women. Wells went on to promote women in police work. She retired in 1940 after 30 years in policing.

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September 11, 1975 - Nicole Juteau

Mon, 11 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Nicole Juteau becomes Quebec’s first woman provincial constable. Nicole Juneau was born in Laval in 1954 to a father who was a fire fighter. Her desire to do police work was not easy to fulfill, as no women had yet entered a police college in Quebec. However, on September 11, 1975, Juteau broke the barrier when she was sworn in as the first woman police officer in the Quebec provincial police force. She encountered numerous obstacles, from being unable to find a uniform that fit her to being assigned administrative duties. She also found only one male constable willing to work with her. Even so, Juteau worked in organized crime and became an expert on biker gangs in Quebec before she retired in 2001.

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September 10, 1939 - Canada Declares War

Sun, 10 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Canada declares war on Germany. Soon after Hitler secured a non-aggression pact with Russia, he invaded Poland. The British and French governments reacted by issuing an ultimatum to Germany to withdraw from Poland, but Hitler refused, citing other countries as provocateurs. So, on September 3, 1939, Britain, France, India, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany. Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon MacKenzie King, wanting to assert some independence, waited another week and declared war on Germany September 10, 1939. By the time Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945, more than one million Canadian men and almost 50,000 Canadian women had served in the military during the war. Of those, more than 42,000 Canadians died.

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September 9, 1953 - "Operation Snatch"

Sat, 09 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

“Operation Snatch” takes Doukhobor children from their families. In 1899, Russia decided to rid itself of the Doukhobors, a pacifist religious sect that refused to serve in the Russian Army. Many Doukhobors fled to Canada, where they set up a communal life in rural areas. Even there, however, their non-conformist ways and their refusal to abide by any laws except what thy defined as God’s laws, worried the Canadian government and police. Half a century later, B.C.’s new Social Credit government and Premier W.A.C. Bennett initiated “Operation Snatch” to punish Doukhobors for refusing to send their children to public schools. Starting September 9, 1953, RCMP officers went into Doukhobor communities and took hundreds of children away from their families. For almost six years, until 1959, these children were kept in former Japanese internment camps, taught “normal” Christian ways and beaten if they spoke Russian – or if they cried from loneliness. Once the children returned to their families, the government reasoned, they would moderate their parents’ lifestyle. Of course, it didn’t work. A 1999 B.C. Ombudsman’s report urged the government to start the process of reconciliation for the children who were by then in their 50s and 60s. While the government of British Columbia issued a statement of “regret” in the legislature in October 2004, it has not apologized. Some of the adult children who were apprehended years earlier have been looking for legal compensation for their wrong, but thus far have been unsuccessful. Their children have attended public schools for years and they have established heritage-language courses within the public system. Today there are between 30,000 and 40,000 Doukhobors in Canada.

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September 8, 1965 - International Literacy Day

Fri, 08 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

International Literacy Day is established. Literacy does more than boost citizens’ working credentials; it benefits their personal growth and financial well-being. Hoping to persuade countries to emphasize literacy, the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) decided in 1965 to set aside a day for businesses, governments and organizations to help promote literacy and life-long learning through a variety of programs. International Literacy Day would be observed every September 8th. Twenty-five years later, the UN’s General Assembly decided to assign an entire year to the effort, and proclaimed 1990 as International Literacy Year. Canada has put a lot of effort and resources into literacy, and Canadian governments like to think it is a world leader in the area. However, Canada’s record is still left with much to be desired. Today almost one in four Canadians have difficulty understanding every day print found in newspapers, job application forms and pesticide applications. Another one in five are confused about directions for taking medications.

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September 7, 1943 - Beverly McLachlin

Thu, 07 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Madam Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin is born. Beverly McLachlin was born in Pincher Creek, Alberta on September 7, 1943. Before becoming a law professor at the University of British Columbia in 1974, she practiced law in Edmonton, Alberta, and in two B.C. cities, Fort St. John and Vancouver. Her first appointment to the bench came in 1981, when she sat as a judge in Vancouver’s county court. Only a few months later, she was appointed to the Supreme Court of B.C.; by 1985, she was making decisions at the B.C. Court of Appeal. She became chief justice of B.C.’s supreme court in 1988, on her forty-fifth birthday. Just one year later, when Justice William McIntyre retired from the top bench in 1989, McLachlin became B.C.’s representative at the Supreme Court of Canada – the first woman from B.C. to do so. But her trailblazing for women in law had just begun. When Prime Minister Jean Chrétien appointed McLachlin chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada on January 7, 2000, she was the first woman to hold this position – and one of very few women anywhere in the world to represent their country on the top bench. Inspired by her, of course, others would soon follow. By 2004, four of the nine judges sitting on Canada’s top bench were women.

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September 6, 1870 - Louisa Ann Swain

Wed, 06 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Louisa Ann Swain becomes first U.S. woman to vote in nearly a century. Except for a brief period of New Jersey’s history around 1807 – a constitutional loophole quickly closed, rather than a progressive decision – women could not cast a vote in the U.S. until 1870. Change came nearly a year after the governor of Wyoming Territory, John A. Campbell, signed a bill on December 13, 1869 to give women the vote. When Wyoming joined the Union the following year, it meant Wyoming women could vote. Thus, by casting her vote in a state election on September 6, 1870, Swain became the first American woman to do so in almost a century. However, it would take decades before many American women would be granted the vote with the ratification of the 19th amendment to the constitution in 1920.

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September 5, 1972 - Terrorists Raid Olympics

Tue, 05 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Palestinian terrorists raid Munich Olympics and kill 11 Israeli athletes. On September 5, 1972, 11 days into the 1972 summer Olympic Games in Munich, eight Palestinians raided the Israeli team headquarters at the Olympic village. These members of the militant group Black September immediately killed two Israeli athletes, then took nine others hostage. Olympic officials suspended the games and the world watched, horrified, as intense media coverage ensued. The terrorists demanded the release of 234 Arab prisoners in Israel, and two German terrorists in Germany. When they also demanded a plane, officials arranged for three helicopters to transport the terrorists and hostages to a military airfield outside Munich, where those officials secretly planned to rescue the athletes. In the bungled operation, all the Israeli hostages, five of the terrorists and one policeman were killed. But authorities had captured three of the terrorists. Thirty-four hours after a memorial service was held in the main stadium, the International Olympic Committee ordered the competitions to resume. But the violence was not yet over. On October 29, 1972, Palestinian terrorists hijacked a Lufthansa plane, demanding the release of the three captured terrorists. In a move that shocked some, the German government freed them. This prompted an angry Gold Meir, president of Israel, to launch a counter terrorist operation called “wrath of God.” Under Meir’s direction, Israeli operatives hunted down and killed eight people involved in the Olympic attack.

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September 4, 1986 - Jacques Marchand

Mon, 04 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

School board required to pay costs for French language dispute. The two daughters of Jacques Marchand attended French language schools in Penetanguishene, Ontario. Four primary schools served the town, but only one secondary school: L'ecole Secondaire Le Caron. Even that had been built only when the Ontario government required the Simcoe County School Board to do so in 1980. Marchand took issue with the secondary’s school absence of industrial arts and shop courses. His eldest daughter could take these subjects only if she bussed to an English school. English-speaking children, he pointed out to a court, did not have to do the same. On behalf of other French-speaking parents, Marchand felt he was asserting his rights under Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In July 1986, a judge agreed; the province and school board lost to Marchand in court. The judge said French-speaking children were entitled to “a full and complete education – not a limited, partial or truncated one, which necessarily would be an inferior education, a second class one.” Flush with victory, Marchand returned to court to ask that his legal costs for the case be paid. On September 4, 1986, Judge Sirois awarded Marchand “solicitor and client” costs – higher than normal because the governments “continued to deny his constitutional rights.” According to the judge, the school board and Ontario had dragged their feet over acting on the initial decision, giving Marchand no choice but to go back to court.

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September 3, 2002 - Mukhtar Mai

Sun, 03 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Mukhtar Mai uses compensation money after vicious attack to establish schools. On June 22, 2002, a 13-year-old boy named Abdul Shakoor was abducted from his home in Pakistan due to allegations from members of the Mastoi tribe that he had had sex with one of their girls. As punishment, three of the men sodomized Shakoor. When his family came to his rescue, they agreed to settle the matter by having Shakoor marry the girl and by his sister Mukhtar Mai apologizing to the family of the girls. But that night, Abdul Khaliq and three other men raped Shakoor’s sister Mai as a form of justice. A week later, her local Muslim imam, Abdul Razzaq, condemned the rape and urged the family to file charges, which they did on June 30. Not only did her story get headlines in Pakistan, but BBC and Time magazine covered it as well. Pakistan’s chief justice called the rape heinous and in early July, the Pakistan government awarded Mai 500,000 rupees. On September 2, the four rapists and two council members of the tribe were convicted and sentenced to death by an anti-terrorist court. Satisfied with the judgment, on September 3, 2002, Mai decided to use her compensation money to establish schools for girls. In a matter of years, the Mukhtar Mai Women's Welfare Organization has created not only several schools, but also an ambulance service and a women’s aid group. Mai has since spoken throughout the world and published extensively. She has received awards from her own government and from other organizations. In 2005, Glamour magazine named Mai “Woman of the Year.” Although the Pakistan government was initially supportive of Mai’s efforts, it has since harassed her and her family due to discomfort over the international attention. Meanwhile, violence against women and “honour justice” continues in many parts of the country, and the legal appeals of her rapists continue.

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September 2, 1998 - Rwandan mayor

Sun, 03 Sep 2017 02:13:00 GMT

Rwandan mayor takes brunt of international tribunal’s first genocide conviction. Although the United Nations Genocide Convention was established in 1948, not until 1998 did an international tribunal identify a criminal genocide. That finding stemmed from an April 1994 massacre of 800,000 mostly Tutsi Rwandans. Seven months after that atrocity, the UN Security Council responded by establishing the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, whose purpose was to prosecute people responsible. The first round of prosecutions, held between 1995 and 1999, put seven people on trial and handed down the first conviction on September 2, 1998 – against the former bourgmestre (mayor) of Taba, Jean-Paul Akayesu. Akayesu claimed he was powerless to stop the massacre, but Judge Laity Kama ruled that he was "individually and criminally responsible for the deaths” of the 2,000 Tutsis killed in his town. His conviction of nine counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes marked the tribunal’s first genocide finding, as well as the first time rape was defined as a form of genocide. Akayesu was sentenced to life in prison, a conviction shortly followed by many more involving former mayors, businessmen, politicians and even Rwanda’s former prime minister, Jean Kambanda.

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September 1, 1951 - Nellie McClung

Fri, 01 Sep 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Pioneer Canadian suffragist Nellie McClung dies. One of Canada’s most famous champions of women’s rights, Nellie McClung died in Victoria, B.C. on September 1, 1951. McClung was born Nellie Letitia Mooney in 1873 near Owen Sound, Ontario, before her family moved to rural Manitoba. After a career that spanned teaching and writing (she was a well-respected novelist and essayist), McClung got involved in the women’s movement. Her efforts on behalf of the Manitoba Liberal Party in 1914 and 1915 led Manitoba to become the first Canadian province to grant women the vote in 1916. A strong Methodist and an active member of the Woman’s Christian Temperance, McClung not only campaigned tirelessly for women to get the vote, but she fought hard for better working conditions, government-supported family allowance and better pensions. After moving to Alberta with her husband, Wesley McClung, she became a Liberal MLA in Edmonton. There, she also became one of the “famous five” activists who fought a successful battle all the way to the Privy Council in England to have women declared “persons” in the Canadian constitution.

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August 31, 1977 - End White Rule

Thu, 31 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Pledge to end white rule wins Rhodesia Prime Minister Ian Smith a landslide victory. White rule of Rhodesia started in 1889 with British colonization by businessman Cecil John Rhodes. Eventually, internal struggles and international pressure caught up with the country’s racist system. White citizens finally became open to change, and when Prime Minister Ian Smith pledged to end white rule in what is now called Zimbabwe, he won a landslide victory on August 31, 1977. The 85,000 white voters elected 50 members of parliament and Smith’s Rhodesian Front party took all 50. The six million black voters were only given eight MPs to represent them. Smith agreed to end white rule and in 1979 he honoured his pledge. In 1980 Robert Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union Party (ZANU) won a large majority of the seats in parliament, making him their first black Prime Minister. Years later he took on the role of Executive President, abolishing the role of Prime Minister and concentrating more powers into his hands.

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August 30, 1967 - Thurgood Marshall

Wed, 30 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Thurgood Marshall becomes first African American Supreme Court justice. Thurgood Marshall wanted to be a dentist but ended up a U.S. Supreme Court judge. Born in Baltimore, Maryland on July 2, 1908, Thurgood attended public schools before studying law. After a short time in private practice, he joined the legal team of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), soon winning some of the most important anti-discrimination decisions at the high court. Appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals by President Kennedy, and given the post of solicitor general under President Johnson, Marshall was eventually elevated to Supreme Court justice. When President Johnson nominated Marshall, he said it was "the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man and the right place." On August 30, 1967, the Senate approved Marshall’s appointment 69 to 11, making him the first African American to sit on the top bench. Of the 11 senators who opposed his appointment, 10 were from the South. Marshall retired from the court in 1991 and died in 1993 at the age of 84.

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August 29, 1991 - Aboriginal Justice System

Tue, 29 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Aboriginals need separate justice system, says Manitoba inquiry. Questionable circumstances surrounding the 1971 murder of Betty Osborne, a First Nations woman in The Pas, Manitoba, prompted concern among Manitobans about whether racism lurked within the justice system where it was applied to aboriginals. When aboriginal leader J.J. Harper died while in police custody in 1988, that concern grew. In response, the Manitoba government created an inquiry into aboriginal justice in 1988. On August 29, 1991 the inquiry tabled its report, which encouraged the government to come up with a judicial and corrections system more responsive to the needs of its growing aboriginal population. In fact, the inquiry suggested that aboriginal people have their own justice system, a proposal that aboriginal leaders instantly supported, but non-aboriginal political leaders criticized. In 1999, the government set up a commission assigned to find ways to implement some of the recommendations from the 1991 report. In 2001 the term of the commission ended with the government given the task of finding ways to improve the lives of Manitoba aboriginals.

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August 28, 1963 - "I Have a Dream"

Mon, 28 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “I have a dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. When U.S. President John F. Kennedy proposed the Civil Rights Bill to Congress, Southern representatives blocked it. To build political pressure for the bill, civil rights leaders staged a march on Washington on August 28, 1963 that drew over 250,000 people. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the key speakers on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Although it is hard to discern from the film, one account states that after delivering his prepared speech, King was about to sit down when gospel singer Mahalia Jackson called out, “Tell them about your dream, Martin!” What is certain is that King then delivered his “I have a dream” speech, which became so famous that many say it still defines the civil rights movement. “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character,” King said. He ended with his wish to let “freedom ring” throughout the United States. And when it does, he said, Americans “…will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’” Although President Kennedy was assassinated less than three months later – before the bill was passed – President Johnson ushered the bill into being on July 2, 1964, thus fulfilling a dream nurtured by both Kennedy and King.

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August 27, 1973 - Jeannette Lavell & Yvonne Bedard

Sun, 27 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

When Indian women marry non-Indians, they lose band rights, Supreme Court rules. Jeannette Lavell and Yvonne Bedard were both deprived of their Indian status when they married non-Indian men. The Indian Act of Canada allowed their bands to remove them from band registries and block their rights to land or property on their own reserves where they lived. Both women took separate legal action, but on August 27, 1973, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the decision, five to four. The Canadian Bill of Rights, the court ruled, did not protect the women in these circumstances. In 1977, knowing Canadian courts would not restore the status to Indian women Sandra Lovelace Nicholas took her case to the United Nations Human Rights Commission which ruled in her favour in 1981. After the Charter of Rights and Freedoms became part of Canada’s constitution a year later, and after further years of lobbying and negotiations, the parliament of Canada repealed section 12 of the Indian Act in 1985 and reinstated the rights of First Nations women and their children.

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August 26, 1920 - 19th Amendment to U.S. Constitution

Sat, 26 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

The 19th amendment gives American women the vote. In July 1848, approximately 260 women and 40 men met in Seneca Falls, New York “to discuss the social, civil and religious condition and rights of woman.” Prior to this convention, a few women had been drafting declarations and resolutions. When Elizabeth Cady Stanton proposed the right to vote, fellow rights supporter Lucretia Mott said, “Why Lizzie, thee will make us ridiculous.” Stanton later explained, “I persisted, for I saw clearly that the power to make the laws was the right through which all other rights could be secured.” After the convention, the women were ridiculed, but so began decades of struggle to secure American women the vote. Wyoming became the first state to give women the vote in 1890 and progress continued state by state, but slowly. On the national front, the vote for women was first introduced to the U.S. Congress in 1878, but it would be another 42 years before it came to pass through the 19th amendment to the U.S. constitution. When President Woodrow Wilson finally decided he was in favour of the amendment, he put the political pressure in motion that eventually achieved the required two-thirds Senate and House of Representatives, and three-quarters states vote. The amendment’s ratification took place August 26, 1920. In 1971, Congresswoman Bella Abzug convinced her colleagues to designate every August 26th as Women’s Equality Day.

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August 25, 1944 - Allies Liberate Paris

Fri, 25 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Allies liberate Paris from Nazis. On June 6, 1944 – later known as D-Day – British, American and Canadian soldiers stormed five beaches along Normandy, France. Initially, Canadian soldiers encountered little resistance at Juno Beach, but their losses rapidly escalated to 18,444 Canadian casualties including 5,021 deaths before the offensive ended in August. The Nazis, on the other hand, lost over 300,000 soldiers during this French invasion. Meanwhile, Allied troops worked with the French resistance to liberate France, one battle at a time, until they reached Paris. Finally, on August 23, 1944, U.S. General George Patton and the French 2nd Armored Division reached the city, officially freeing it from the Nazis on August 25, 1944.

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August 24, 1954 - Communist Control Act

Thu, 24 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

McCarthyism era. The United States’ short-lived alliance with the Soviet Union to defeat the Nazis chilled once World War II ended. And that chill turned into fears of communism throughout the world as the “Cold War” began and the Soviets asserted their control over Eastern European countries. Many Americans were concerned not only about communism abroad, but also about communism within their own borders. This post-war period, starting in the 1940s and continuing until the late 1950s, was also characterized as McCarthyism, for the communist witch-hunting carried out by Senator Joseph McCarthy and the Un-American Activities committee. People became familiar with the line, “Are you, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist Party?” For a country that prided itself on freedoms, and for a government that only years before had been an ally of the communist regime, many people were caught off-guard. In order to deal with communism at home more forcefully, Republican Senator John Marshal Butler and Democratic Senator Hubert Humphrey jointly drafted the Communist Control Act to serve as an extension of the Internal Security Act. In addition to criminalizing membership, it stated that "Communist-infiltrated organizations" were "not entitled to any of the rights, privileges and immunities attendant upon legal bodies." The act commanded substantial support from both political parties. On August 24, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the act into law. For all the concerns, the act was used effectively only twice: in 1954 to prevent the Communist Party from getting on the New Jersey ballot, and then in 1960 to prevent the party from being considered an employer for purposes of employment insurance.

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August 23, 1939 - Soviet & Nazi Non-Agression Pact

Wed, 23 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Soviets and Nazis sign a non-aggression pact that leads to World War II. World War I came to a close with Germany signing the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919. Many a historian has written about the severity of the treaty and the negative impact it had on Germany’s ability to grow into a strong country. Germany was to repay the Allies for their costs of the war, lose significant parts of its territory, and all branches of the military were to be severely limited in personnel and armaments. In addition to the harsh realities of the Depression, Adolf Hitler exploited the German people’s outrage and feelings of humiliation from the treaty. He took his band of thugs from political obscurity to complete power in 1933 through the National Socialist German Workers’ Party – the Nazis. While Hitler was carrying out his plans for creating the perfect aryan nation internally, he was flouting Versailles left and right. He brought back conscription while increasing the size and might of his military. He reoccupied the demilitarized zone in 1936 and annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939 respectively. World leaders were at a loss to stop Hitler and he looked for ways to ensure certain countries would not interfere with his desire for world domination. On August 23, 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union pledged not to attack each other or help countries with plans to attack for ten years. Signed in Moscow by the two countries’ foreign affairs ministers, this infamous non-aggression pact also included an economic treaty and plans to carve up Poland between them. A week later, Germany took advantage of the pact by invading Poland. The rest is history: The invasion gave rise to World War II.

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August 22, 1965 - David "Brenda" Reimer

Tue, 22 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

David Reimer, raised as “Brenda,” is born. Twins Bruce and Brian were born to Ron and Janet Reimer on August 22, 1965 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Six months later, when a failed circumcision severely damaged Bruce’s penis, a psychologist persuaded his parents to raise him as a girl. So, after much angst, they allowed doctors to physically alter their infant, and renamed him Brenda. They did so on the advice of renowned psychologist and sex researcher Dr. John Money of John Hopkins Hospital in the U.S. Money believed “gender identity” could be shaped at an early age, and for many years, he cited Brenda as a shining example. Meanwhile, Brenda Reimer – though in the dark as to her gender history – grew up feeling awkward, hated dresses and insisted on standing while urinating. When she was told the truth at age 14, she took the name David and regarded herself as a boy henceforth. In his 30s, Reimer shared his story with author John Colapinto, who in 2000 published the book, As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised a Girl. Reimer appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show, explaining how this experiment had impacted him. Then, in trying to forge a normal life, he underwent surgery to reverse some of the damage. He married a woman with children of her own, and his life seemed to be turning around. However, when he lost his job and separated from his wife, he became suicidal. On May 4, 2004, at the age of 38, Reimer killed himself, leaving his grieving mother to tell the media that had she not been persuaded to put her son through a gender experiment, he would be alive today.

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August 21, 1990 - Gay & Lesbian Ordination

Mon, 21 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

United Church of Canada reaffirms the ordination of gay & lesbian ministers. In 1972, the United church’s general council commissioned a study on human sexuality that went toward helping its members accept gays and lesbians more than other mainstream religious groups in Canada. Eight years later, the church established a task force to determine what role gays and lesbians might play in the church. By 1988, defying substantial opposition from across the country, church leaders passed a motion that allowed homosexuals to become full and active members of the church – even to serve as ordained ministers. Two years later, on August 21, 1990, delegates to the United church’s highest court reaffirmed the ordination of gay and lesbian ministers in a London, Ontario gathering. Delegates approved the controversial policy by a vote of 302 to 74. The policy split the church in many communities and prompted some to leave. The United Church is Canada’s largest Protestant denomination.

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August 20, 1869 - Real Klondike Kate

Sun, 20 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Katherine Ryan, “the real Klondike Kate,” is born in New Brunswick. When people think of Klondike Kate, they conjure up images of a dance-hall entertainer or gold mine prostitute. The real Klondike Kate was Katherine Ryan, born August 20, 1869 in Johnville, New Brunswick. Ryan became a nurse in Seattle, Washington before journeying in 1898 to the Klondike, where she staked three gold claims. When she reached Whitehorse, she used her nursing skills to tend to the sick, but had many other occupations. A sign on her tent read, “Kate’s Café, open for business.” There she served food for two years before moving into more permanent quarters. At six feet tall, she was capable at handling unruly characters that led the northwest Mounted Police to make her a special constable so she could help with female prisoners. This job made Ryan the first woman to join the Mounted Police. Later, she became a guard at the Whitehorse jail. There she met a prostitute and dancer named Kitty Rockwell, who took on the name Klondike Kate, confusing anyone who didn’t know that Ryan was the real Klondike Kate. Ryan moved to British Columbia in 1919 and died in Vancouver in 1932.

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August 19, 1965 - Auschwitz Officials Guilty

Sat, 19 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Trials find 17 former Auschwitz SS officials and guards guilty. During World War II, Nazi Germany had dozens of prisons, often referred to as “camps” in various countries. They were used to hold prisoners of war, and any undesirable people. They were also used for exterminations, supplying forced labour and to transfer prisoners. The most infamous of these facilities were the extermination camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belżec, Kulmhof, Jasenovac, Lwów, Majdenek, Maly Trostenets, Sobibór, Treblinka and Warsaw. Two decades after the Allies had liberated Germany’s camps, the world watched court proceedings that would determine the fate of former Secret Service (SS) officials and guards. This was the first time persons responsible for the atrocities were brought before a German court, and it was seen by many as a shift in which Germans were finally dealing with the horrors instead of hoping the memories would fade. On August 19, 1965, following a year and a half of proceedings, an official read out the sentences in a courtroom in Frankfurt, Germany. This second of the Auschwitz trials found 17 men guilty of having participated in murder and torture at the former extermination camp in Poland while acquitting three others for lack of evidence. Six of the guilty men received sentences of life imprisonment of hard labour, the toughest penalty under German law (the death penalty having been outlawed in 1949). The other 11 received sentences of between 39 months and 14 years of hard labour. The court rejected the defence that these men were just small cogs in the process. Judge Hans Hofmeyer said, “Human life is too short to expiate the crimes committed at Auschwitz.”

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August 18, 1963 - James Meredith

Fri, 18 Aug 2017 10:01:00 GMT

James Meredith becomes first African American student to graduate from the University of Mississippi. After many years in the military and two years at the all-black Jackson State College, James Meredith applied to the University of Mississippi in 1961, only to be denied admission on the basis of his race. He took the university to court and won his case at the U.S. Supreme Court, but it wasn’t enough. Mississippi’s governor, Ross Barnett, still refused him admission, and the State Congress passed laws to keep him out. After U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy intervened, Meredith was escorted onto campus in 1962 – amid thousands rioting against him. Gunfire crackled, Molotov cocktails exploded and bricks whizzed through the air. By the time the crowd had dispelled, two people were dead, 28 marshals had been shot and many others had been wounded. But Meredith had passed through the doors. On August 18, 1963, he became the first African American student to graduate from “Ole Miss.”

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August 17, 1962 - Berlin Wall

Thu, 17 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Berlin Wall casualty rate reaches 50 as another German tries to jump it. In 1961, the Soviet Union-controlled government of East Germany built the Berlin Wall as a “barrier to Western imperialism.” Many people tried crossing the well-guarded wall that stood between the communist-controlled eastern portion of the city and the “free” west. Some were successful, but 246 died on the wall during its 28 years. On August 17, 1962, Peter Fechter was shot as he tried to jump the barbed-wire section near the border crossing of Checkpoint Charlie. The 18-year-old bled to death as East German soldiers refused to let anyone help. He became the wall’s 50th casualty. Of the estimated 10,000 who tried to escape the East (not just over the wall), 5,000 were successful. The Berlin Wall was torn down in 1989.

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August 16, 1980 - Lois Wilson

Wed, 16 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

The United Church of Canada appoints its first woman moderator, Lois Wilson. Born April 8, 1927, Lois Wilson attained her bachelor of arts and bachelor of divinity degrees from United College in Winnipeg. Wilson was ordained as a United church minister in 1965 and engaged in team ministry with her husband, Dr. Roy Wilson, for 17 years. During this time she became first woman president of the Canadian Council of Churches.from 1976 until 1979. Years later, she became the first Canadian president of the World Council of Churches. On August 16, 1980, Wilson chalked up yet another first when she secured the role of Moderator of the United Church of Canada – the church’s top post - a position she held for two years. Her work for international human rights and peace won her the Pearson Peace Prize by the UN Association in Canada, and the World Federalists Peace Award. Wilson is also author of five books and holds 11 honorary doctorates from universities and colleges in Canada and the United States. In 1984, she became an Officer of the Order of Canada and was one of the few Canadians promoted to the top rank of Companion. In June 1998, she sat as an Independent in the Canadian Senate.

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August 15, 1947 - India Gains Independence

Tue, 15 Aug 2017 07:01:00 GMT

India gains independence. India came under direct British rule in 1858, following a failed uprising. From that point forward, citizens’ resentment grew towards the rulers; the Indian people wanted to control their own destiny. The next few decades were marked by protests, arrests, killings and internal fighting. But the creation of the Indian National Congress in 1885 and the civil disobedience of leader Mohandas Ghandi starting in 1920, were two factors that led to a turn of events. At the stroke of midnight between August 14 and 15, 1947, Britain relinquished its control. India broke into two countries: India (predominantly Hindu) and Pakistan (predominantly Muslim). Though the process would be marred by violence, on that day, India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, said, “We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again.” His speech became world famous.

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August 14, 1980 - Polish Workers Strike

Mon, 14 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Polish workers stage a massive strike for rights. In the 1970s, Poland was part of the Soviet Bloc, but its citizens had a knack for flexing their political muscle in a way that distressed Russians. In 1980, things came to a head when Polish workers stepped up union activities in hopes of improving their working conditions and political freedoms. Shipyard workers in Gdansk, Poland staged a strike to protest the dismissal of trade union activist Anna Walentinowicz. Some 16,000 workers joined in the August 14, 1980 strike, which kicked off the Solidarity movement. Not only did the workers get Walentinowicz reinstated; they eventually won many other important rights and political freedoms. Unfortunately, the success influenced Russia to outlaw Solidarity a year later.

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August 13, 1992 - No Forced Prayers

Sun, 13 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Children can’t be forced to pray in school, Manitoba court rules. In 1986, Chris Tait was given a week’s suspension at Macgregor High School in Manitoba for refusing to stand during the Lord’s Prayer. That prompted a court case that eventually led to an August 13, 1992 ruling by the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench that it is unconstitutional to make prayers mandatory in public schools. At the time, only Manitoba and British Columbia still required prayers in public schools, and an Ontario Court of Appeal decision had recently produced similar results. As part of the Manitoba ruling, Justice Monnin struck down the section of Manitoba’s Public Schools Act that contravened section 2 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms relating to freedom of conscience and religion.

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August 12, 1930 - Gwen O'Soup Crane

Sat, 12 Aug 2017 07:01:00 GMT

Canada’s first woman aboriginal chief, Gwen O’Soup Crane, was born. Gwendolyn Lucy O’Soup was born on August 12, 1930 in the Key First Nation, Saskatchewan, a small community 220 kms northeast of Regina by the Manitoba border. Due to a government-mandated restriction on the education of First Nations people, Gwen was allowed to complete no more than grade eight. To combat this, she took a job babysitting the teacher’s children to have more access to education. At the same time, she worked diligently on her father’s farm. She married Clifford Crane and they raised nine children. At the age of 24, Crane was nominated for the position of chief and won by three votes in December 1954. Thus, she became Canada’s first woman First Nations chief. The Indian Act and racial segregation had a direct and heart-wrenching effect on Crane and her family. In 1956, while working at a mink farm in Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan, she took her infant son Norman to a local hospital when he suffered a seizure. The hospital turned her away because she was entitled to treatment only at the “Indian hospital” 40 kilometres away. Norman’s health worsened on his way to the Indian hospital, and he died two days after his second birthday. Crane, eventually separated from her husband, worked in various towns and cities as a seamstress, hospital porter and house and bus cleaner. She returned to Key to retire, and continued her involvement in her community and Anglican church. Crane instilled the importance of education in her children, six of whom earned university degrees. Crane died on August 10, 2005 in Regina.

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August 11, 1931 - Tim Buck

Fri, 11 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Canadian Communist Party leader Tim Buck arrested for left-wing beliefs. Not many politicians hold a post for 35 years, but Timothy Buck did exactly that. Born on January 6, 1891 in England, the machinist and labour leader immigrated to Canada in 1910. There he rose to the rank of general secretary of the Communist Party of Canada in 1929, a post he held until 1964. He ran for Parliament several times, gaining 25 per cent of the votes at least twice, but never made it to MP. Of course, the existence of the Communist Party worried many Canadians, among them Prime Minister R.B. Bennett. Fearful of a left-wing uprising during the Great Depression, he ordered police to take action against party leaders. On August 11, 1931, they arrested Buck and other Communist Party members across Canada for sedition: incitement to rebellion. Buck was convicted and spent two years in Kingston Penitentiary for his political beliefs. He died in 1973.

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August 10, 1960 - Canadian Bill of Rights

Thu, 10 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Queen approves Canadian Bill of Rights. The Canadian Bill of Rights became law under Progressive Conservative Prime Minister John Diefenbaker on August 10, 1960. It protected human rights based on freedom of religion, speech, assembly, association and the press. It also set out protections in criminal matters, such as the right to seek legal counsel and against arbitrary detention. While these kinds of freedoms had never before been put into Canadian law, the new bill was criticized for being a statute rather than part of the constitution. This meant it applied only to federal, not provincial, legislation. Over the years, however, each province expanded protections by creating human rights commissions and eventually the federal and provincial governments decided to enshrine protections in the constitution. In 1982, the Constitution Act was passed to include the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a document that made human rights protections part of the constitution, and applied to all forms of Canadian governments.

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August 9, 1994 - Indigenous People

Wed, 09 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

UN urges world to recognize issues of indigenous people. Every August 9th, the United Nations celebrates indigenous people’s rights. The designation grew from the formation of a UN working committee on August 9, 1982, assigned to study human rights issues pertaining to indigenous people. Twelve years later in 1994, the UN decided to draw more attention to these issues by establishing the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People. The UN’s goal is to strengthen international cooperation on human rights, the environment, development, education and health where they apply to indigenous peoples. However, the UN has more than just a ceremonial day in mind. After almost a quarter century of discussions, on June 29, 2006 the UN Human Rights Council adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). This declaration, which accepts the notion of “self determination” and various forms of sovereignty for indigenous people, has been accepted by most governments around the world. However, countries that feel they have the most to lose because of large indigenous populations, have not given their approval and therefore it has not been approved by the General Assembly. The United States, Australia and New Zealand strongly oppose the declaration and other African countries began voicing some concerns. While Canada helped frame the agreement years ago, the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2007 began to move away from previous governments’ support.

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August 8, 1988 - 1000 Students Killed

Tue, 08 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

More than 1,000 protesting students in Rangoon killed by Burma’s military. Burma, today called Myanmar, is a country with a long history of political turmoil. The last outsiders to rule the country were the British, who began their conquest in 1824 and stayed until 1948. With their departure came significant internal turmoil that left the government weak. In 1962, General Ne Win abolished Burma’s constitution and created a military dictatorship. Decades later, after years of unrest from a deteriorating economy and horrible human rights abuses, students began peaceful demonstrations calling for an end to the dictatorship. The demonstrations grew until August 8, 1988, when government troops killed over 1,000 students in the city of Rangoon. Since then, the government of Myanmar has shown no tolerance for internal dissent, which has in turn made the country a target for international boycotts.

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August 7, 1946 - Booker T. Washington

Mon, 07 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Commemorative coin honours black activist Booker T. Washington. Booker T. Washington was born into slavery on April 5, 1856 in Hales Ford, Virginia. When his family was freed in April 1865 by the Emancipation Proclamation, they moved to Malden, West Virginia. There, Washington worked early morning mine shifts before attending school. He eventually enrolled at the Hampton Institute of Virginia, a new school for blacks that he later served as an instructor. Washington went on to create the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in 1881, and build a nation-wide reputation as an activist for education. Blacks would achieve full equality only when they had educational opportunities equal to whites, he preached. Washington died in Tuskegee, Alabama in 1915, but his legacy lives on. On August 7, 1946, the U.S. Congress made him the first African American to be commemorated on an American coin.

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August 6, 1945 - Hiroshima

Sun, 06 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Americans drop atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Although the war in Europe ended in May 1945, it continued to rage in Asia. The Allies expected to win, but knew it would take a long time and involve many casualties. For years, under the code name “Manhattan Project,” Americans had been working secretly on a nuclear bomb; now they were ready to use it. On the morning of August 6, 1945, U.S. Colonel Paul Tibbets dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan from his plane, the “Enola Gay.” An estimated 129,558 people were killed, wounded or went missing. Three days later, the U.S. dropped another bomb on the city of Nagasaki. Shortly thereafter, the Japanese surrendered, ending the second world war. The Canadian government, proud of its part, announced that Canadian scientists had worked with the Americans, and the uranium the bombs required had been mined from Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories. Prime Minister Mackenzie King wrote in his diary, “It is fortunate that use of the bomb should have been upon the Japanese rather than upon the white races of Europe.”

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August 5, 1940 - Camilien Houde

Sat, 05 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Montreal Mayor Camilien Houde arrested for sedition. While most Canadians take pride in the role their country played during both world wars, many Quebecers saw the wars as unnecessary British colonial battles. That made World War II conscription contentious to men like Montreal Mayor Camilien Houde. He had a political career at the provincial, federal and municipal levels. From 1929 until 1932, Houde was leader of the Quebec Conservative Party. In 1949 he became an independent Member of Parliament after unsuccessfully running as a federal Conservative. But Houde was also mayor of Montreal, elected in 1928, 1934 and 1938. A long time opponent to conscription, Houde was quoted urging his constituents to ignore the National Registration Act. Three days later, on August 5, 1940, Houde was arrested under the War Measures Act for sedition. He was held at internment camps in Petawawa, Ontario and Gagetown, New Brunswick. On his release on August 18, 1944, Houde was met by thousands of cheering Montrealers. He won the 1944 mayor’s election and kept that job until 1954. Houde died in 1958.

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August 4, 2005 - Michaëlle Jean Becomes Governor General

Fri, 04 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Michaëlle Jean becomes Canada’s first black governor general. Michaëlle Jean was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 1957. When Jean was 10 years old, her father was arrested and tortured for his opposition to dictator François “Papa Doc” Duvalier. In 1968, shortly after his release, the family moved to Thetford Mines, Quebec, where Michaëlle was amazed to find snow. She was a brilliant student with an ability for languages. Her education at the University of Montreal, University of Perouse, University of Florence and the Catholic University of Milan gave her an upper hand in literature and languages. She is fluent in French, English, Italian, Spanish and Creole. During her studies, between 1979 and 1987, Jean worked with Quebec shelters for battered women. Wanting to get into journalism, she arrived back in Haiti in February 1986 just as Duvalier’s son, Baby Doc, and his corrupt regime were coming to an end. Her work on that story led her to join Radio-Canada in 1988 with a career in reporting and hosting many programs. In 1999 she moved over to the English network of CBC Newsworld to host the Passionate Eye and Rough Cuts. She returned to the French station with a higher profile, her own show and a trail of awards for her work. On August 4, 2005, the country discovered that yet another well-known broadcaster would become the next governor general of Canada (replacing former broadcaster Adrienne Clarkson and Roméo LeBlanc). In taking on the job of the queen’s representative, Jean became the first black woman to hold the post. To help with the transition to the official residence at Rideau Hall on September 27, 2005, Jean and her husband Jean-Daniel Lafond agreed to their daughter’s one request: Marie-Eden would get a dog.

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August 3, 1966 - South Africa Bans the Beatles

Thu, 03 Aug 2017 19:18:00 GMT

John Lennon’s comments get Beatle records banned in South Africa. Sometimes artists joined governments and human rights organizations in pressuring the South African government to end its apartheid system which legally denied basic rights to blacks. But on August 3, 1966, South Africa decided the Beatles had gone too far. First, the popular British rock and roll band had revealed that it would not tour South Africa until the country lifted apartheid. Then, referring to his band, singer John Lennon told the British Evening Standard, “We’re more popular than Jesus.” Offended government officials banned Beatles records in South Africa for five years. Apartheid, on the other hand, survived another three decades.

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August 2, 1988 - Rekindle the Light Festival

Wed, 02 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Commonwealth foreign ministers join festival seeking to end apartheid. Canada was actively involved in proposing sanctions against South Africa for its apartheid system, which legally denied basic rights to blacks. As a member of the British Commonwealth, Canada also sought to lead a unified front that would persuade South Africa to change its laws. Canada supported changes that would allow the black majority to vote and enjoy the same freedoms as South Africa’s white population. On August 2, 1988, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Joe Clark and six other Commonwealth foreign ministers joined 3,000 people at the Rekindle the Light Festival on Toronto’s harbourfront. There, they lit candles to symbolize “lighting the way out of apartheid.” Six years later, their aims became reality as black South Africans were granted equal rights, including the ability to vote.

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August 1, 1885 - Louis Riel

Tue, 01 Aug 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Métis leader Louis Riel found guilty of treason. Louis Riel was born in the Red River settlement of St. Boniface on October 22, 1844. The young Métis returned there in 1868 after studies in Montreal. Due to his education and determination, Riel soon found himself in a leadership position for Métis people. He headed up a provisional government in 1869 which lead to the creation of the Manitoba Act and the territory as a Canadian province. However, after his involvement with the Red River Uprising, and with a $5,000 bounty on his head, Riel went into exile in the United States in 1870. He returned to Manitoba and was elected to the Parliament of Canada in 1873 and 1874, only to be expelled from the House of Commons by his fellow MPs. He was banished from Canada in 1875 for five years. Nine years later a group of Metis from Saskatchewan asked Riel to come back to Canada to help them with their grievances with Ottawa. Riel and the Metis were mostly ignored, so Riel created a provisional government in Saskatchewan in 1885, where he and others carried out open rebellion against the government of Canada and its troops. Riel surrendered on May 15, 1885, and on August 1, 1885, a jury of six English Protestants found him guilty of treason. Although they recommended mercy, he was hanged in Regina on November 16, 1885.

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July 31, 1941 - Final Solution

Mon, 31 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Hermann Goering initiates “final solution” plan for Europe’s “Jewish question.” Under Nazi control, the Jews of Europe suffered increasing hardship. Many were enslaved and killed, but Hitler’s ultimate plan was to eliminate them altogether. On July 31, 1941, Hitler’s No. 2 man, Herman Goering, instructed Reinhard Heydrich, second in importance to Heinrich Himmler in the Nazi SS and known as "The Blond Beast" or "Hangman Heydrich”, to create and carry out a plan to do so. He called it the “final solution” of the “Jewish question” in the German sphere of influence in Europe. German ministries cooperated fully, uprooting and deporting Jews to extermination camps in the east. Before the war ended, the Germans had exterminated at least 13 million people. Of those, approximately six million were Jews, which was approximately 65% of Europe’s Jewish population at the time. Of those six million Jews, about 1.5 million were children.

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July 30, 1992 - Preferential Treatment of Married Men

Sun, 30 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Preferential treatment of married men violates human rights, says Ontario court. It’s not easy persuading senior employees with families to work in remote job locations, but three engineering and consulting companies referred to as “London Monenco” engaged in a joint venture at the Ontario Hydro Generating Station Project at Atikokan, Ontario thought they had a solution. Married employees, the company announced in the early 1980s, would be allowed paid flights home every three weeks. The decision didn’t wash with single employees, of course. So Thomas Geiger, an engineer, and Bob Barboutsis, an architectural planner, filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission in 1984, saying they were discriminated against based on their marital status. They lost at the commission and the Ontario Divisional Court, but on July 30, 1992, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that the policy violated the human rights code, and sent the case back to the Human Rights Commission to assess damages. Unmarried employees no doubt cheered when London Monenco found its appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada denied.

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July 29, 2004 - Ugandan Atrocities

Sat, 29 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

International criminal court investigates Ugandan atrocities. The Republic of Uganda in east Africa has been affected by the violence of military dictatorships of one kind or another since its independence from Britain in 1962. The most infamous of all is Idi Amin Dada who came to power during a military coup in 1971. His reign of terror involved wide-spread murder, horrible abuses of human rights and the expulsion of tens of thousands of Asian residents. During a period of three months, Canada took in more than 4,400 who held British passports. After Amin fled in 1979, leading to further coups and leadership changes, President Yoweri Museveni came to power in Uganda in 1986. Although Museveni introduced democratic reforms and improved the country's human rights record, he has been unable to stop the war in northern Uganda, run by the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels. The LRA’s leader, Joseph Kony, believes himself to be semi-divine. During LRA’s reign of terror, soldiers have slaughtered tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 1.6 million to refugee camps. Kony has also abducted more than 30,000 children, forcing the boys to fight and the girls to serve as sex slaves. Anyone the LRA suspects of disloyalty has their lips and noses sliced off. Under mounting pressure to end the violence, Museveni asked the International Criminal Court to intervene – the first ICC member to make such a request since the organization’s inception in 2002. On July 29, 2004, the ICC launched an investigation into the slaughter of more than 200 people that year. Unfortunately, many fear that in the short term, the action will spark more LRA brutality against northern Ugandan peasants.

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July 28, 1755 - Acadians Deported

Fri, 28 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Nova Scotia governor orders French-speaking Acadians deported. French people first landed in Acadia – later to become Nova Scotia – in 1604. In 1713, the English took control of the territory under the Treaty of Utrecht. Many French citizens left rather than pledge allegiance to the British Crown. Those who stayed suffered many forms of discrimination under the English, who disliked their religious and cultural practices. The new leaders denied French-speaking Acadians title to their land and access to any further land. Then, fearing they might join with the Mi'kmaq Indians and take up arms against the British, Nova Scotia Governor Charles Lawrence decided to rid the region of Acadians altogether. On July 28, 1755, Lawrence and his council ordered their removal. Over a period of eight years, officials packed some 11,000 of the estimated 15,000 Acadian population into ship holds and sent them to unknown locations. Many families were split apart, never to see one another again. Today, most of Atlantic Canada’s Acadian people live in New Brunswick and they number in the hundreds of thousands.

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July 27, 1962 - Martin Luther King Jr. Arrested

Thu, 27 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Anti-segregation protests get Martin Luther King Jr. arrested in Georgia. Future Nobel prize winner Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. His work as a Baptist preacher and civil rights activist forced the United States to change many of its racist laws and practices. His strategy of peaceful, non-violent direct action gave hope to many blacks and poor people. He urged citizens to stand up against injustice and prejudice, even when it meant a personal sacrifice. But he asked nothing of others that he didn’t ask of himself. He was arrested 30 times during anti-segregation marches and demonstrations. For example, on July 27, 1962, King was arrested and jailed in Albany, Georgia for failing to obey a police officer, obstructing the sidewalk and disorderly conduct. He had numerous offers for bail but he wanted to serve his sentence which helped keep the public’s attention on the cause through protest marches and publicity. He was released with a suspended sentence on August 10. After many years of protest and sacrifice, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on October 14, 1964. He was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.

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July 26, 1940 - Alexander Denny

Wed, 26 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Mi’kmaq leader Alexander Denny is born. Alexander Denny was born July 26, 1940 on the Eskasoni reserve of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, where he became an elder, activist and teacher of his people. At the age of 28, he was kji-keptin (grand captain) of the Mi'kmaq, and at 34, and again at 53, he served two-year terms as president of the Union of Nova Scotia Indians. Denny helped enshrine treaty rights for his people through a court challenge that, following many defeats, ended up in the Supreme Court of Canada. In 1985, the court found that the Treaty of 1752 between the governor of Nova Scotia and the chief of the Mi'kmaq Indians was still in effect, which meant the Mi'kmaqs’ hunting and fishing rights (among others) took precedence over provincial laws. Denny, perhaps reflecting on the stubborn persistence that helped push the case to the top court, joked, "I'm a pain in the ass for everyone who has a look at me." During his life, Denny traveled the world, educating others about the rights of the Mi'kmaq people. He died on December 25, 2004 in Sydney, Nova Scotia.

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July 25, 1943 - Benito Mussolini

Tue, 25 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Italian king arrests Benito Mussolini. On October 31, 1922, Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini became Italy’s youngest prime minister. King Victor Emmanuel III appointed him to prevent civil war between right-wing fascists and left-wing communists. But Mussolini’s fascist government ruled by fear and propaganda. After making a pact of friendship with Germany’s Adolph Hitler, Mussolini began annexing countries in the same manner as Hitler. Early into World War II, he decided the Nazis were likely to win, so in 1940, Mussolini declared war on England. He later expanded this to the Soviet Union and United States, only to be defeated at the hands of the Allies. On July 25, 1943, Mussolini was deposed. The fascist high council turned on him and the king stripped Mussolini of his powers. He was arrested and sent to prison. Although released by German soldiers, he was captured and shot to death in 1944 as he tried to flee to Switzerland.

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July 24, 1967 - "Vivre Le Quebec Libre!"

Mon, 24 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

French President Charles de Gaulle shouts “Vivre le Quebec libre!” in Montreal. In 1967, Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson invited French President Charles de Gaulle to Canada on a journey that would include many stops and the usual diplomatic fanfare. On July 24, 1967, as de Gaulle was delivering a speech at Expo 67 in Montreal, he shouted “Vivre le Quebec libre!” The message, meaning “long live free Quebec,” prompted roars of approval from the crowd, but condemnation throughout the country. Given the growing concerns about Canadian French separatism at the time, Prime Minister Pearson decided to issue a response on television and radio. Canadians, he said, do not need to be liberated. In retaliation, de Gaulle pulled out of the trip, refusing even to show up for a state dinner with the prime minister the next day.

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July 23, 1914 - Komagata Maru

Sun, 23 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Ship defying discriminatory Canadian immigration law turned back. The first East Indians to enter Canada suffered hardship and racism sharpened by a concerted effort to keep them out. In 1910, the Canadian Parliament enacted the “continuous journey provision” of the Immigration Act, specifying that only immigrants who had traveled from their place of origin to Canada on one non-stop boat trip, could enter the country as new immigrants. Clearly, this was possible from Europe but not India; the legislation was designed specifically to exclude immigrants from India. In 1914, Gurdit Singh chartered a boat, the Komagata Maru, to challenge the discriminatory laws. Among the 376 passengers were 340 Sikhs, 12 Hindus and 24 Muslims from India. The ship departed from Hong Kong and stopped in Japan before entering Vancouver’s harbour on May 23, 1914. Authorities detained the ship for two months as legal wranglings took place. In the end, they allowed only 24 aboard to stay. A military escort forced the ship and the rest of its occupants to return home on July 23, 1914.

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July 22, 1965 - Ernest and Cornelia Bergsma

Sat, 22 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Ontario Court of Appeal grants citizenship to Dutch atheists Ernest and Cornelia Bergsma. Dutch immigrants Ernest and Cornelia Bergsma had been living in Canada for nine years when they applied to become Canadian citizens. At their hearing, the judge told them that Canada was a Christian country and asked them if they believed in God. When Ernest answered “I don’t,” the judge refused them citizenship. He felt that the oath of allegiance to Canada and its queen – an oath that ends with “so help me God” – was meaningless if citizens did not follow a religion. The judge said, “The things that we believe in in this country stand for Christianity – being honest and being kind – believing in Christ's teachings.” The Bergsmas challenged the judge’s decision successfully. On July 22, 1965, the Ontario Court of Appeal ordered the citizenship court to grant the Bergsmas certificates of citizenship, as they had been denied them solely for their lack of religious beliefs. The court ruled that honest citizens unwilling to swear the oath due to "conscientious scruples" could instead provide an affirmation and that the oath should be given a liberal interpretation.

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July 21, 1960 - Sirima Bandaranaike

Fri, 21 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Ceylon introduces world’s first woman prime minister, Sirima Bandaranaike. When Ceylon’s prime minister was assassinated in 1959, his wife Sirima Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike took the helm of her husband’s political party. That made the 42-year-old widow the world’s first woman prime minister, a duty she accepted officially on July 21, 1960. Bandaranaike overhauled the country’s constitution and changed her nation’s name to Sri Lanka. Her leadership caused much turmoil, especially policies leading to the improper treatment of the country’s minority Hindu Tamils. Through voter manipulation and the scapegoating of the Tamils, Bandaranaike stayed in power for decades. She died of a heart attack on October 10, 2000.

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July 20, 1991 - Rita Johnston

Thu, 20 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Rita Johnson becomes Canada's first woman premier. Rita Johnston was born in Melville, Saskatchewan on April 22, 1935. After moving to Surrey, British Columbia, she and her husband operated a mobile home park and became actively involved in the Chamber of Commerce. From there, Johnston got involved in municipal politics, where she sat as a city councillor from 1969 until 1983, with one failed attempt at the mayorship in 1975. In 1983, Bill Vander Zalm, who would eventually become B.C.’s premier, resigned from provincial politics. Johnston was elected into Vander Zalm’s former riding of Surrey-Newton, where she served as the Social Credit MLA for eight years before becoming a parliamentary secretary. When Vander Zalm returned to politics as premier in 1986, Johnston was sworn into cabinet. She served in a number of portfolios, eventually becoming deputy premier in 1990. When Vander Zalm resigned over a political scandal in 1991, Johnston was ensconced as interim leader of her party, and therefore premier of the province. Later winning the party leadership on July 20, 1991, she became Canada’s first woman premier. Unfortunately, fallout over the Vander Zalm scandal contributed to her and her party’s defeat in the October 17, 1991 election. After Johnston resigned as leader of the Social Credit Party in early 1992, the party moved into political oblivion as the Liberal Party of B.C. filled its role on the right wing.

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July 19, 1994 - Rwanda Government

Wed, 19 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Rwanda forms new, multi-ethnic government in wake of slaughter. When the Dutch colonized Rwanda in 1916, they favoured the minority Tutsis over the majority Hutus, giving the Tutsis better jobs and educational opportunities. This created such resentment among the Hutus that when the Dutch granted Rwanda independence in 1962, they seized control of the government and blamed all the country’s problems on the Tutsis. On April 6, 1994, Rwanda’s Hutu president, Juvenal Habyarimana, was killed along with Burundi’s president when their plane was shot down. The presidential guard blamed the Tutsis and called for Hutus to take revenge. Insurgents killed Opposition politicians, including moderate Hutus. The UN withdrew its troops after 10 of its soldiers were killed. Within 100 days, 800,000 Rwandans, mostly Tutsis, had been slaughtered; another two million had fled the country. When aid workers and UN soldiers returned, the country formed a multi-ethnic transitional government on July 19, 1994. The new Hutu president, Pasteur Bizimungu, and Tutsi vice president, Major-General Paul Kagame, called for calm. It was years before the UN acknowledged that its untimely withdrawal had played a role in allowing the massacre.

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July 18, 1979 - Vietnamese "Boat People"

Tue, 18 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Canada accepts immigration of 50,000 Vietnamese “boat people.” Two years after the Vietnam war ended, the country’s communist government began stripping the rights of its ethnic Chinese citizens. Hundreds of thousands of them fled any way they could. Those who traveled by boat often landed on the shores of China and other Southeast Asian countries. International pressure mounted for Western countries to admit more of these “boat people,” prompting Canadians to apply pressure on their own leaders. On July 18, 1979, Prime Minister Joe Clark’s Progressive Conservative government announced that Canada would accept 50,000 of these refugees by the end of 1980. In the end, more than 60,000 were allowed to make Canada their new home.

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July 17, 1991 - "Cruel and Unusual" Conditions

Mon, 17 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Jailed youths in Toronto subjected to “cruel and unusual” conditions, court rules. On April 19, 1990, an incident took place at a holding cell in Toronto, Ontario that resulted in three youths being charged with mischief. As was normal procedure, they were transferred from the York Detention Centre to smaller cells in the Jarvis facility to await the completion of their court process. But when they came before Judge King of the Ontario Provincial Court, he stayed (dismissed) the charges for an unusual reason at the time. He referred to the Jarvis cells as “hot and dirty, with no fresh air or air flow and permeated by a putrid smell,” and ruled that the three had been “degraded, humiliated and treated indecently” during their stay. Thus, his ruling on July 17, 1991 declared that their rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms had been violated. As per section 12 of the charter, they’d been subjected to cruel and unusual treatment that was “grossly disproportionate” to what was required. The case set an example followed by judges across Canada where similar mistreatment was involved.

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July 16, 1880 - Emily Howard Stowe

Sun, 16 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Emily Howard Stowe becomes Canada’s first licensed woman doctor. Emily Stowe was born in Norwich, Ontario in 1831 to parents of the Quaker faith who believed strongly in the equality of men and women. So, even though it was unusual for a woman at the time, Stowe set her sights on studying medicine after she had married and had three children. Since the University of Toronto would not admit women, she went to New York and graduated in 1867. When she was denied a license to practice medicine in Canada on the basis of not having graduated from a Canadian school, she established a respectable practice in Toronto anyway, catering mostly to women and children. Finally, on July 16, 1880, Toronto’s Council of the College of Physicians and Surgeons granted Stowe her medical license. Three years later, Stowe helped found the Ontario Medical College for Women, which later became Women's College Hospital. In 1981, she was honoured with a postage stamp for her tireless work to promote equality for men and women. She died in 1903.

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July 15, 1960 - Harry Jerome

Sat, 15 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Harry Jerome sets world record for 100 metre race in Saskatoon. Henry “Harry” Winston Jerome was born on September 30, 1940 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. When he was 12, his family moved to North Vancouver where, as a black family, they were met with a petition aiming to remove them from the neighbourhood. After moving to a more hospitable neighbourhood, Jerome excelled as a sprinter in school, soon being coached at the University of Oregon by famed coach and Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman. At the age of 19 on July 15, 1960, while in Saskatoon for the Olympic trials, Jerome ran the 100 metres in 10.0 seconds, becoming Canada’s first to hold a world track record. He competed for Canada in the 1960 Olympics, but suffered an injury. That same year, Jerome ran the 100 yards in 9.2 seconds, becoming the first man to share the world 100-yard and 100-metre records. When he suffered a severe muscle injury at the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia, he didn’t know if he’d be able to run again. Yet at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, Jerome made a stunning comeback to win a bronze medal for the 100-metre. In addition to competing for Canada in the 1968 Olympics, Jerome won gold at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica and the 1967 Winnipeg PanAm Games. Jerome retired in 1969 and became an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1970. Jerome is honoured with events and buildings named after him and a statue in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. Each year the Harry Jerome Awards are given to black Canadians in business, athletics, academics, the arts and the community. Jerome died on December 7, 1982 at the age of 42 in North Vancouver.

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July 14, 1976 - Canada Abolishes Capital Punishment

Fri, 14 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Canadian Parliament abolishes capital punishment. Between 1867 and 1962, Canada executed 710 criminals, while commuting the death sentences of another 400 to life in prison. As early as 1914, parliamentarians began objecting to the death penalty on the grounds that it was cruel and unusual punishment, and there always existed the possibility of a condemned person being proven innocent later. Still, not until December 11, 1962 did Canadians see the end of the practice. That was the date Ronald Turpin and Arthur Lucas were hanged for killing police officers. All subsequent capital murders were commuted to prison terms. In 1967, the nation passed a five-year moratorium on such executions, except for murderers who had killed on-duty police officers and prison guards. Parliament renewed it in 1972. Then, on July 14, 1976, Parliament voted 132 to 124 to abolish capital punishment and replace capital murders with a mandatory 25-year prison sentence. Although MPs objected to it, the death penalty enjoyed widespread support amongst the electorate. In 1987, the issue arose again, but this time, parliamentarians defeated a motion to re-instate it, with a wider margin. For another year, capital punishment was still allowed for certain military crimes, such as treason and mutiny, but by 1998, even that possibility was repealed. Following the death penalty’s banishment, a number of men jailed for capital murders were proven innocent, reinforcing one of the arguments against it.

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July 13, 1960 - JFK Nominated President

Thu, 13 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

John F. Kennedy is nominated first Catholic U.S. president. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born to Rose and Joseph Kennedy in Brookline, Massachusetts on May 29, 1917, one of nine children. After graduating from Harvard in 1940, he became a second world war hero in 1943 before making a fast rise to the top of American politics. With the support of his powerful father, Kennedy was elected a Democratic congressman, and by 1953 he was already a senator. In 1956 he almost won the vice-presidential ticket for his party, but bigger things were to come. On July 13, 1960 the U.S. Democratic Party nominated Kennedy as their presidential candidate. Although his charm, good looks and family connections worked in his favour, his youth and religion worked against him. Even so, he won the close and controversial election over Richard Nixon to become the first Catholic and youngest president of the United States. Sadly, he was assassinated on November 22, 1963 while riding in his motorcade on the streets of Dallas, Texas.

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July 12, 1960 - Louis Joseph Robichaud

Wed, 12 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Louis Joseph Robichaud becomes first Elected Acadian premier of New Brunswick. Louis Robichaud was born into a large Acadian family on October 21, 1925 in the village of Saint-Antoine, New Brunswick. He started school in a one-room schoolhouse, and ended up becoming a lawyer. Robichaud took on the challenge of improving the life of Acadians, who were often forgotten in the Canadian cultural landscape. First elected to the New Brunswick legislature in 1952, Robichaud became leader of the Liberal Party in 1958. On July 12, 1960, he was sworn in as the premier of New Brunswick. Although the second Acadian to hold the position (following Peter John Veniot in 1923), he was the first to be voted in at a general election. Quickly, Robichaud established a reputation as a reformer, substantially improving health care, education and equality of opportunities. In 1969, his government established Canada’s first officially bilingual province. Robichaud delivered three electoral victories to his Liberal Party before Richard Hatfield’s Progressive Conservatives defeated him in 1970. After receiving the Order of Canada, Robichaud became a Liberal senator in Ottawa from 1973 until his retirement in 2000. He died of cancer on June 6, 2005.

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July 11, 1906 - Lord's Day Act

Tue, 11 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

No business on Sundays as Canada’s Senate Passes Lord’s Day Act. Canada’s early immigrants were mostly Christians whose biblical beliefs led them to shun work on Sundays, the religion’s Sabbath. Even so, Catholic and Protestant worshippers wanted this freedom protected with legislation. Proposed legislation known as the Lord’s Day Act forbid business to be conducted on the Christian Sabbath. Following hot debates throughout the country, and after passage in the House of Commons, the Canadian Senate bowed to the wishes of the majority and passed the act on July 11, 1906. Canadian citizens of other faiths took issue with the law, but were forced to live with it for decades. Finally, in 1985, shortly after the passage of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the law, saying it violated people’s freedom of religion and conscience.

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July 10, 1920 - Sister Sally Liota

Mon, 10 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Sister Sally Liota, supporter of Canadian immigrants to Halifax, is born. Salvatrice (Sally) Liota was born on July 10, 1920 in Hamilton, Ontario. Her parents had left Italy years before, coming through Ellis Island in New York before settling in Canada. After high school, Liota took business education and supervised workers in a radio factory. Her life took a turn in 1944 when she joined the Catholic religious order the Sisters of Service and had her first posting at the port of Montreal, where she greeted newly arriving immigrants until 1955. Liota moved to Halifax and became a fixture, along with other sisters of the order, helping Italian immigrants at their first place of call in their new country. At Pier 21, passengers would step off a boat into a large hall with immigration officials waiting and very little or no English to help them understand the process. Sister Liota would act as an interpreter for Italians, help parents with sick children after a difficult voyage, and alert churches across the countries of the newly arriving members to their community. In 1966, Pope Paul VI honoured Liota with special recognition for her work. In 1971, when most immigrants were coming to Canada by plane, Pier 21 closed. Liota moved to Toronto, where she worked to provide support for the residences of the order. On February 13, 2007, Liota died in Toronto at the age of 86. At the memorial service, many people spoke of their first image of Canada including a glimpse of a tiny nun with a warm smile to welcome them to their new life. Today, Pier 21 is a national historic site.

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July 9, 1969 - Officially Bilingual

Sun, 09 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Royal Assent means Canada goes officially bilingual. For generations, the power struggle between Canada’s Anglophones and Francophones proved a divisive force. Canada was founded, of course, by people of two distinct cultures and languages – resulting in a predominance of French in Quebec and of English in the rest of Canada. Although the constitution offered protections for both languages, the country had only one official language: English. After rancorous debate in the House of Commons and the Senate, parliament received royal assent on July 9, 1969 for the Official Languages Act, which gave importance to both languages at the federal level. Together with constitutional changes in 1982 and further legislative changes in 1988, this finally ensured French-speaking Canadians easier access to services in French throughout the country.

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July 8, 1974 - Andy Hogan

Sat, 08 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Roman Catholic priest Andy Hogan becomes Canadian MP. An economist and Roman Catholic priest before entering politics, Andrew Hogan was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia on October 28, 1923. The New Democratic Party (NDP) member observed the federal NDP’s rise and fall in the 1970s. It went from holding the balance of power in Ottawa in the 1972 election, to doing poorly in 1974 against Pierre Trudeau’s federal Liberals. However, once the votes had been counted on July 8, 1974, some new Opposition Members of Parliament prevailed. Father Hogan was one of them, an MP for Cape Breton-East Richmond in Nova Scotia. As such, he was also the first Roman Catholic priest to be elected to the Canadian House of Commons. He was re-elected in 1979 when Joe Clark’s short-lived Progressive Conservatives held power. In 1980, however, when Trudeau was swept back into power, Hogan was defeated by the up-and-coming Liberal David Dingwall. Hogan died on April 10, 2002.

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July 7, 1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor

Fri, 07 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Sandra Day O’Connor becomes first woman appointed to U.S. Supreme Court. The daughter of Arizona ranch owners, Sandra Day was born on March 26, 1930 in El Paso, Texas and educated by a mother and grandmother who let her know they had great expectations of her. She graduated from Stanford University in economics, and by 1952 was a newlywed with a Stanford law degree; she had married fellow law student John Jay O’Connor III. Her initial job search met with considerable resistance from private firms, but Day finally landed work as a deputy county attorney in California. Her career soon expanded from law to politics as a Republican and then a judge. In 1979 she was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals. Then on July 7, 1981, U.S. President Ronald Reagan nominated her for the Supreme Court. When Day O’Conner took the oath of office on September 26, 1981, she became the first woman judge at the top court. A moderate Republican, she often served as the swing judge on a politically divided bench. She announced her intention to retire from the top court in July 2005 once a new judge was confirmed. On January 31, 2006 Justice Samuel Alito received the confirmation and O’Connor officially retired. After her announcement to retire but before her actual retirement, O’Connor accepted the role of chancellor of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. She took over the mostly ceremonial post from Henry Kissinger, and is part of a long line of distinguished chancellors, including former President George Washington, former Chief Justice Warren Burger and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

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July 6, 1942 - Anne Frank

Thu, 06 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family hide from Nazis in Amsterdam. Anne Frank was born on June 12, 1929 to parents Otto and Edith Frank. After Anne and her older sister Margot were born in Germany, the family moved to the Netherlands in 1933 to escape Nazi prosecution. Unfortunately, the Nazis invaded the Netherlands in 1940 and caught up with the Franks two years later. When served notice that they would be deported to a labour camp, Margot and Otto gathered the family together and went into hiding on July 6, 1942. There, in an annex of Otto’s business at 263 Prinsengracht in Amsterdam, they huddled with another Jewish family, the van Pels, for 25 months. In August 1944, someone betrayed the group, and they were arrested. The two families were sent by sealed cattle car to Auschwitz on September 3, 1944. Hermann van Pels was gassed at Auschwitz three days later. Anne and Margot died within days of one another a few months after that at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Otto was the only one to survive. Anne received a diary for her 13th birthday, just days before the family went into hiding. In it she kept a journal of their daily life. When Anne’s broken-hearted father found her diary, he had it published. Little did he imagine how widely it would be read and what an influence it would have on the world. The Diary of Anne Frank has been published in more than 55 languages around the world with exhibits and even Broadway plays telling her story.

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July 5, 1997 - Sarah McLachlan

Wed, 05 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

First all-women’s Lilith Fair concert opened by Canadian singer Sarah McLachlan. God created Eve only after Adam’s first wife, Lilith, stomped out of the Garden of Eden to protest Adam’s order that she submit to him. At least, that’s the story according to the Rabinic Talmud. Many centuries later, when promoters told Canadian singer Sarah McLachlan that a women’s concert would never sell, she stomped off to create one anyway. She called it the Lilith Fair, tested the event in 1996, and it opened full-tilt on July 5, 1997. Lilith Fair featured some of the word’s biggest-name female vocalists such as Sheryl Crow, Nellie Furtado, Holly Cole, Bonnie Rate, Sinéad O’Connor, Queen Latifah, the Dixie Chicks and the Indigo Girls. It was such an enormous success that it toured numerous American cities for three years. Since then, women performers and all female bands, sometimes know as “girl bands” have prospered throughout the world of entertainment.

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July 4, 1939 - Lou Gehrig Day

Tue, 04 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Yankee Stadium holds Lou Gehrig Day to honour baseball star affected by ALS. Lou Gehrig went to Columbia University on a football scholarship, but it was his baseball talents that inspired the New York Yankees to sign him on in 1923. Born in New York City on June 19, 1903, Gehrig was the only one of his parents’ four children to survive. By age 20, only months into his Yankees career, he was already playing for the majors. Two years later he was assigned first base, a position he held for 13 years as his extraordinary playing turned him into a baseball legend. When his game started to slip in 1938, doctors spent a year misdiagnosing his ailments until he became incapacitated in 1939 by the effects of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). By then, he’d played a record 2,130 consecutive games. On July 4, 1939, during a speech in his beloved Yankee Stadium, Gehrig called himself “the luckiest man on the face of the earth” for his remarkable career. By the time he died on June 2, 1941, he’d also put a public face on his rare ailment, which became known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, or ALS.

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July 3, 1964 - Civil Rights Act

Mon, 03 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the U.S. Civil Rights Act. President John F. Kennedy’s 1960 campaign for a new American civil rights act met with such heavy opposition from Southern Democrats, it was stymied for several years. Still, in a national speech on June 11, 1963, President Kennedy outlined the need for African Americans to receive legal protection. When Kennedy was assassinated five months later, it was up to Lyndon B. Johnson to decide if he wanted to push forward with the new proposed law. Johnson, a Texas Democrat, had helped with the Civil Rights Act of 1957, but Kennedy’s law went much further. However, in the end Johnson became a champion of the cause. Passage of the Act was a breeze in the House of Representatives in comparison to the Senate, where Southerners were infamous for using procedures to kill most civil rights legislation. Johnson’s long-time friend and mentor, Senator Richard B. Russell, filibustered the bill along with 18 other Democratic Southerners. But Johnson was highly skilled at parliamentary procedure and he used every tactic in the book. In the end, 73 senators voted in favour of the bill while 27 opposed it. Thus, on July 3, 1964, President Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964, giving African Americans the protections they required to vote and access public facilities such as restaurants and hotels.

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July 2, 1974 - Ralph Steinhauer

Sun, 02 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Ralph Steinhauer becomes Alberta’s first aboriginal lieutenant governor. Ralph Garvin Steinhauer was born June 8, 1905 in Morley, Alberta, which at that time was part of the Northwest Territories. Steinhauer, a full-treaty Cree, was educated at the Brandon Indian Residential School in Manitoba. At 18, he joined the United Farmers of Alberta, where he would later hold prominent positions in the agricultural, business and First Nations communities – including a stint as president of the Indian Association of Alberta. He married Isabel Davidson of Buffalo, New York in 1928 and they and their five children began farming after he cleared 40 acres of land on the Saddle Lake Indian Reserve in Alberta. There, he also sat on the band’s council for 34 years and led the community as its chief for three years. As a federal Liberal candidate in 1963, he failed to win a seat in the House of Commons, but years later caught the eye of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who appointed him provincial vice-regal. Just over ten years later, on July 2, 1974, the Honourable Ralph G. Steinhauer became Alberta’s first aboriginal lieutenant governor. Steinhauer served in this position until 1979, when he returned to his farm in Saddle Lake. Steinhauer’s many honours include the Order of Canada and three honorary doctorates of law. He died September 19, 1987 and was buried in Saddle Lake.

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July 1, 1983 - Canada Day

Sat, 01 Jul 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Dominion Day becomes Canada Day. Almost a year after Canada became a federal country, Governor General Lord Monck called for a celebratory day. Years later, July 1st became known as Dominion Day. It was almost 100 years before Canadians marked the day with organized celebrations. By then, the world’s second largest country boasted five time zones and very lively cultural and linguistic differences; it was intact and thriving. From the original four provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec, the country grew into ten provinces and two territories (later becoming three) with the final province Newfoundland and Labrador joining in 1949. With a new constitution in April 1982, and real independence, Canada renamed Dominion Day “Canada Day” in 1983. Today’s nation-wide celebrations include picnics, parades and fireworks. With the celebration coming so soon after the start of summer on June 21st, many people think of Canada Day as the unofficial start of summer.

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June 30, 1923 - Chinese Immigration Act

Fri, 30 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Chinese Immigration Act aimed at excluding Chinese immigrants gets royal nod. Since Chinese immigrants were seen as cheap labour, some politicians feared that if B.C. had too many of them, it could lower the living standards of non-Chinese Canadians. This is the logic by which the British Columbia legislature passed a number of anti-Chinese laws. Although it was not their jurisdiction, they also persuaded federal lawmakers to do the same. On June 30, 1923, the Chinese Immigration Act obtained royal assent, allowing the government to bar immigrants of Chinese descent from entering Canada. There were exemptions for merchants, diplomats, students and “special circumstances.” The latter allowed the parents of Adrienne Clarkson, Canada’s governor general from 1999 to 2005, to enter the country. Chinese Canadians referred to the legislation as the Chinese Exclusion Act, and to its day of implementation – July 1st – not as Canada’s birthday, but as Humiliation Day. While the racist “head tax” on Chinese immigrants had been lifted, the new legislation made it just as difficult to enter Canada. In 1947, after seeing the contribution Chinese Canadians made during World War II, the Canadian government repealed the Chinese Immigration Act. However, it was another two decades before skin colour no longer served as the government’s most important criteria for who could immigrate to Canada.

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June 29, 1969 - Stonewall Riots

Thu, 29 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

End to New York’s Stonewall Riots heralds start of modern gay rights. Before the 1970s, the sexual activities of American gays and lesbians were either illegal or socially shunned. Few legal protections applied to them, and discrimination and harassment abounded. Police frequently raided gay bars, after which newspapers would publish the names and photos of arrestees, with tragic results for these individuals’ lives. June 27, 1969 made history, however, when some patrons of the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Manhattan, fought back rather than cooperate with New York City police during a raid. As word spread, more gay men were drawn to the scene, which became a full-blown riot. Leaders of New York City’s gay community initially hoped the disturbance would end quickly, because the Stonewall Inn had less than a stellar reputation, and they feared the riots would set back the progress they’d made on gay rights. But the city’s drag queens and others would hear none of it. When it was all over on June 29, 1969, a new era of gay and lesbian rights emerged. Today, Stonewall festivals are held around the world to commemorate those who stood up for their rights.

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June 28, 2004 - Steven Fletcher

Wed, 28 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Steven Fletcher becomes Canada’s first quadriplegic elected to House of Commons. Steven Fletcher was born on June 17, 1972 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where his father was working as an engineer. Fletcher followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming an engineer, but at the age of 23, while working as a mining engineer in Manitoba, he suffered paralysis from his neck down when his car hit a moose while he was driving. A year later, while still coming to terms with his disability, Fletcher returned to the University of Manitoba to attain his MBA. There he discovered an interest in politics when he was elected president of the student union two years in a row. After graduating in 2001, Fletcher became president of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba and was re-elected for another term two years later – the first quadriplegic and the youngest person to hold this post. In 2003, a Winnipeg riding nominated him for the federal Canadian Alliance Party, and after it became the Conservative Party, he was elected as the party’s candidate in March 2004. On June 28, 2004, Fletcher found himself running against Winnipeg’s popular former mayor, Glen Murray, for the Liberal Party’s Charleswood-St. James seat. Though Murray was tagged the party’s “star candidate,” Fletcher managed to win the seat, becoming the first quadriplegic elected to Canada’s House of Commons.

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June 27, 2002 - Multiculturalism Day

Tue, 27 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Canada proclaims Multiculturalism Day. While the United States prides itself on being a “melting pot,” Canadians prefer the term “mosaic” when boasting of the country’s multicultural nature. Canada formally enshrined multiculturalism into its Charter of Rights and Freedoms through section 27, which reads, “This Charter shall be interpreted in a manner consistent with the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canada.” Thus, in November 2002, the Canadian government proclaimed that an annual celebration, Canadian Multiculturalism Day, would be held annually on June 27th. It joins a string of other Canadian celebrations, including National Aboriginal Day on June 21, Saint John Baptiste Day on June 24 and Canada Day on July 1.

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June 26, 1893 - Clara Brett Martin

Mon, 26 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Clara Brett Martin becomes “student-at-law” with Toronto law firm. Clara Brett Martin was born in Toronto in 1874, the youngest of 12 children. Along with her siblings, Martin was schooled at home before graduating with high honours from Trinity College with a major in mathematics at the age of 16. After a year of teaching, Martin petitioned the Law Society of Upper Canada to become a law student, only to be rejected. But after her issue went to the Ontario legislature and then back to the Law Society, Martin became a student-at-law on June 26, 1893. She began her articles with the Toronto law firm of Mulock, Miller, Crowther and Montgomery and then switched to Blake, Lash, Cassels. She experienced all the difficulties one could imagine, including hissing, verbal threats and having to sit separately from other students. However, amidst a drop-out rate of close to 70 per cent, Martin not only completed her studies, but came in first place. She met further legal hurdles in her quest to become a barrister until former Premier Oliver Mowat and others intervened. When Martin was called to the bar as a barrister on February 2, 1897, she became the first woman lawyer in the British Empire. Years later she opened her own firm, hiring women law students along the way. Knowing the importance of educating women, she also served on the Toronto Board of Education for 10 years,. In 1989, a new office of the attorney general of Ontario was named the Clara Brett Martin Building. However, research revealed a letter from 1915 in which Martin made an anti-Semitic reference, and shortly thereafter, her name was removed from the building. Martin died in 1923 at the age of 49.

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June 25, 1993 - Kim Campbell

Sun, 25 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Kim Campbell named Canada’s first woman prime minister. Avril Phaedra Douglas Campbell was born in Port Alberni, British Columbia on March 10, 1947. She changed her name to Kim when she was just 12 years old. After high school, Campbell studied politics and government at the University of B.C. and the London School of Economics, then lectured at UBC She graduated from UBC’s law school while serving as a Vancouver school board trustee. She ran unsuccessfully on a provincial level with the governing Social Credit Party in 1984, then for the party’s leadership. Success came in 1986, when she was elected to the provincial legislature, but early on, she differed with Premier Bill Vander Zalm over the issue of abortion. When the Progressive Conservatives approached Campbell to run federally, few could have predicted her meteoric rise. She went from backbench MP in 1988 to serving as the country’s first woman justice minister in 1990. When Prime Minister Brian Mulroney stepped down, Campbell won the leadership of the party and was sworn in as Canada’s first woman prime minister on June 25, 1993. Unfortunately for Campbell, her reign lasted only a few months. Her party suffered its greatest defeat, electing only two MPs (and Campbell was not one of them) on November 4. Campbell went on to lecture at Harvard University before serving as Canada’s consul general in Los Angeles for several years.

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June 24, 1834 - St. Jean Baptiste Day

Sat, 24 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Quebec’s Saint Jean Baptiste Day gets its origins. The pagan celebrations of the summer solstice turned into a religious celebration during the reign of King Clovis of France in the 5th century. He decided to mark the birth of John the Baptist, the man who baptized Jesus Christ, on June 24. Given the date’s proximity to the summer solstice, it’s celebrated with bonfires symbolizing lighting up the world. European Catholics, especially in France, celebrate it with vigor, as do Quebecers, who call it the Fête Nationale (National Holiday). In Canada the holiday began on June 24, 1834 when 60 prominent Francophones and Anglophones gathered for a banquet. Two days later Ludger Duvenay, founder of the newspaper La Minerve, wrote in his paper that this day must be celebrated annually. Although it was not always celebrated, Duvenay established the Association Saint-Jean Baptiste in 1843 and became its first president. On June 24, 1880, at an association gathering in Quebec City, those present were the first to hear Calixa Lavallée’s song “Ö Canada,” based on a poem by Quebec judge Adolphe-Basile Routhier. It was translated into English for a royal tour in 1901 and became the official national anthem in 1980. Over the years the Quebec holiday has grown into the premier day for the celebration of Quebec’s language, culture and identity. Yet to others it is still a day of religious celebration.

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June 23, 1990 - Elijah Harper

Fri, 23 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Aboriginal Manitoba MLA Elijah Harper stops controversial Meech Lake Accord. In 1981, the Canadian federal and provincial governments agreed to take control of their own constitution, find a way to amend it, and put into place the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Quebec, however, refused to sign. When Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney came to office in 1984, he promised to include Quebec by amending the constitution. In early June 1987, at Meech Lake, Quebec, the prime minister and all the provincial premiers agreed on a set of amendments that would satisfy Quebec. The Meech Lake Accord would take effect if ratified by all governments by June 23, 1990. Quebec was the first to ratify the accord, but debate raged elsewhere about the provision giving Quebec a “distinct society” status within Canada. Canada’s aboriginal population worried that this would interfere with their own rights. As the deadline loomed, political parties came to agreements and public hearings proliferated in an attempt to win unanimous consent of the legislature. All that was scuttled when on June 23, 1990, aboriginal NDP MLA Elijah Harper refused to consent to extending the hours of the legislature, effectively killing the accord and reminding Canadians of the aboriginal voice, so often ignored. Today, Harper is well regarded by foes of the Meech Lake Accord, while many aboriginal Canadians consider him a hero.

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June 22, 1906 - Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Thu, 22 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Aviator and writer Anne Morrow Lindbergh is born. Anne Morrow – born on June 22, 1906, in Englewood, New Jersey – met the famous aviator Charles Lindbergh while her father was ambassador to Mexico. They married in 1929, just two years after he’d flown his “Spirit of St. Louis” plane from New York to Paris, and one year after she’d graduated from college with two literary awards. Over the next two years, Lindbergh learned to fly, became the first American woman to get her glider’s license and earned her private pilot’s license. The couple spent their early years of marriage flying and charting routes all over the world. In 1934, Lindbergh became the first woman awarded the Hubbard Gold Medal from the National Geographic Society, for logging 40,000 miles over five continents with her husband. In her first book, North to the Orient, Lindbergh told of her single-engine flight from Canada to Japan and China, over uncharted routes. She went on to publish 12 books and five volumes of diaries and letters. Tragedy struck when one of the Lindberghs’ six children, a 20-month-old son, was kidnapped for ransom in 1932. Two months later, his body was found just two miles from the family home. Among Lindbergh’s many awards was being named into the National Aviation Hall of Fame and the National Women’s Hall of Fame. She died on February 7, 2001.

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June 21, 1996 - National Aboriginal Day

Wed, 21 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Canada’s governor general proclaims National Aboriginal Day. Canada’s aboriginal population has experienced many hardships, and typically found its own celebrations ignored by most non-aboriginals. Thus, a day that celebrated aboriginal culture and history was in the works for years. First suggested by the National Indian Brotherhood (now the Assembly of First Nations) in 1982, then recognized by the Quebec legislature in 1990, it finally became reality when Canada’s governor general proclaimed June 21, 1996 as National Aboriginal Day. The event celebrates the cultures of Canada’s First Nations, Inuit and Metis people. Aboriginals, representing Canada’s fastest-growing population segment, now celebrate their heritage on this official day, which is also the summer solstice.

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June 20, 2006 - Mayann Francis

Tue, 20 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Mayann Francis becomes Nova Scotia’s first black Lieutenant-Governor. Mayann Francis was born in the Whitney Pier district near Sydney on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. As an adult, she received her bachelor of arts from Saint Mary’s University and a masters of public administration from New York University. The daughter of a Cuban archpriest father, in 2003 Francis earned a certificate in theological studies from the Atlantic School of Theology. She worked for the Nova Scotia human rights commission in the 1970s and later moved to Ontario to work for the government in municipal affairs and housing before becoming the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Ontario Women’s Directorate. Back in Nova Scotia, Francis became the first woman to hold the post of ombudsman. She then moved into the top job at her former employer, becoming the chief executive officer of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission for eight years. On June 20, 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Francis’s appointment as Nova Scotia’s lieutenant governor. When she was sworn in at a ceremony in Halifax on September 7, 2006, Francis became the first black woman to hold the vice-regal post for the province and the second black lieutenant governor in Canada, the first being Ontario’s Lincoln Alexander. During her speech, Francis spoke of her desire to help others who may feel disadvantaged because they are considered a minority. “I am a black woman. And so therefore I crossed over many barriers to get to where I am today, and I want people to see they can do that with perseverance, a vision and great self-esteem.”

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June 19, 2003 - Ukrainian Genocide

Mon, 19 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Canada urged to recognize Ukrainian famine of 1932-33 as genocide. In 1932, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin starved millions of Ukrainians to death in his quest to force his farm collectives scheme on peasants, halt Ukraine’s growing independence movement and crush the nationalist spirit of the region’s people. That year, the Soviets increased its quota of grain from the Ukraine by 44 per cent by posting Soviet soldiers and the dreaded NKVD secret police to protect silos from theft by people literally dying of starvation. Stalin’s brutal dictatorship also clamped severe travel restrictions on Ukrainian peasants to prevent them from searching elsewhere for food. Experts believe between 5 and 8 million Ukrainians died as a result. Ukrainians spent years clamoring for international recognition of the genocide. Finally, on June 19, 2003, the Senate of Canada unanimously endorsed Senator Raynell Andreychuk’s motion “to recognize the Ukrainian Famine/Genocide of 1932-33 and to condemn any attempt to deny or distort this historical truth as being anything less than genocide.” The motion also called on the government to designate the fourth Saturday of November as a day of remembrance.

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June 18, 1983 - Sally Ride

Sun, 18 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Sally Ride becomes first woman on a space shuttle mission. Sally Ride was born in Los Angeles, California on May 26, 1951. After attaining her bachelor of science, bachelor of arts, masters of science and doctorate of physics from Stanford University, she was chosen by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as a candidate for astronaut. A year and a half later, in August 1979, Ride completed her training and evaluation process to become eligible for her first assignment. She worked with space shuttle crews on the ground before getting her first flight in space. On June 18, 1983, Ride and the rest of the crew launched from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. In her role as mission specialist, Ride became the first woman to be part of a space shuttle crew. Women excited about this “first” cheered, “Ride Sally Ride!” Later, Ride served on a larger space shuttle crew that included Dr. Kathryn Sullivan and Canadian Dr. Marc Garneau. After her missions into space, Ride worked for NASA Headquarters before joining the faculty of the University of California, San Diego, as a physics professor.

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June 17, 1963 - Mandatory Bible Readings

Sat, 17 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

U.S. Supreme Court outlaws mandatory Bible reading and prayer in public schools. For years, many American public schools held Bible readings and prayer sessions, some of which were mandatory, and some of which allowed students to excuse themselves. By the late 1950s, a growing number of students and parents took exception to these Christian ceremonies. In Pennsylvania, state law required schools to read 10 passages from the Bible each morning, followed by the Lord’s Prayer. Even though the Abington Senior High School allowed for students to be exempted from the religious process, the Schemp family objected to the school having any kind of prayer and Bible reading. Their case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. On June 17, 1963, eight of nine judges ruled that compulsory prayer and Bible reading in public schools violated the 1st and 14th amendments of the constitution. Two cases from other states were part of the Schemp case decision. According to the court, even if Christianity is the dominate religion among Americans, allowing any one religion in public schools imposes beliefs not accepted by all students.

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June 16, 1976 - 152 Children - Soweto

Fri, 16 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

152 children killed during peaceful demonstration in Soweto, South Africa. During South Africa’s years of white minority rule under its apartheid system, many people protested the inhumane and discriminatory treatment of the country’s black majority. But when the government forced Afrikaans – the language of the blacks’ oppressors – on black school children, it went a step too far. On June 16, 1976, 10,000 children in the township of Soweto gathered to protest the use of Afrikaans in their schools. When police released tear gas on their peaceful demonstration, students began throwing rocks. Police responded by shooting into the crowd. When the smoke had cleared, 152 children had been killed, and others wounded. The event sent shock waves through the world, and emboldened Soweto’s blacks to fight the government and police not just for the Afrikaans issue, but for atrocities committed. In this second round, more than 700 young people died. It took a year, but the government finally backed down on its language policy; Afrikaans was no longer taught in black schools.

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June 15, 1988 - Pregnancy Discrimination

Thu, 15 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Supreme Court hears case to decide if pregnancy discrimination is sex discrimination. Stella Bliss went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada when she was denied benefits under the Unemployment Insurance Act because she was experiencing pregnancy-related health problems. In 1979, the Supreme Court ruled that although only women could get pregnant, any inequality Bliss experienced stemmed from “nature,” not from sex discrimination. In other words, discrimination based on pregnancy was not discrimination based on sex. Years later, Susan Brooks, Patricia Allen and Patricia Dixon were working as part-time cashiers for Safeway Ltd. in Brandon, Manitoba, when they became pregnant. Under the company insurance plan, employees were eligible to receive a portion of their wages in the event of sickness or accident. However, pregnant women were not eligible for this coverage if their disability occurred during the 17 weeks surrounding the expected delivery of their baby. All three women applied for pregnancy-related disability benefits during their 17-week period, but were refused. Instead, they received Unemployment Insurance coverage that turned out to be less than the company’s plan specified. They complained to the Manitoba Human Rights Commission, and on June 15, 1988, found their case before the Supreme Court of Canada. It took a year, but the court ended up siding with the women, stating that Safeway had discriminated against them due to their pregnancies. At the same time, the court overturned the 10-year-old Bliss case ruling, saying that discrimination based on pregnancy would henceforth be considered discrimination based on sex in Canada.

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June 14, 2007 - Chinese Slaves

Wed, 14 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Chinese police announce recovery of hundreds of slaves. In the communist regime of China, where dissent is given short shrift and freedom of the press is anything but, the internet has proven to be very effective in getting government authorities to take some action. For years there had been reports of Chinese children, youths and adults working as literal slaves in brick kiln camps that fuel the enormous construction growth in China’s economy. Most of those reports fell on deaf ears as the authorities denied any wrongdoing. However, when 400 fathers took their pleas onto the internet, pleading with the public and the police to find their boys, the police realized they had better respond. On June 14, 2007, police in central China announced they had rescued hundreds of slaves (numbers varied from 217 to 450) from some 7,500 brick producing kilns hidden away in the Shanxi and Henan provinces. Some 35,000 police were part of the days-long raid. The kilns were not just about bad working conditions – these workers were literally slaves, working 14 to 20 hours a day, with very little food, no sanitary conditions of any kind, and certainly no pay. They were beaten if they didn’t work hard enough. Some of the slaves were duped into thinking that they were finding paid work, while children and young boys – 29 freed in the raids – were snatched at train stations or as they were walking to school. They were sold for very little money to the operators of the kilns. Police announced that more than 120 suspects were in custody.

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June 13, 1986 - Henry Vlug

Tue, 13 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Henry Vlug called to the bar, becoming Canada’s first deaf lawyer. Henry Vlug was born in 1944 in Nieuwer Amstel, Netherlands. He moved to Powell River, B.C. in 1952. He became deaf just before grade two, and after public and private schools, graduated from the Jericho Hill School for the Deaf in Vancouver. His post-secondary education led him to a teaching career for ten years before he pursued law school at the University of British Columbia in 1982. After articling, on June 13, 1986, Vlug was called to the bar in British Columbia, becoming Canada’s first deaf lawyer. He opened his own practice. In October 1995, he found himself watching the fifth in a series of baseball games on television. The program had no captioning, even though captioning had been offered for the previous four games. Vlug began noticing other gaps in captioning by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), so he complained to the Canadian Human Rights Commission. In November 2000, this resulted in the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ordering the CBC to pay Vlug $10,000 and to caption all its television programming. On another front, when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 1997 the B.C. government had to provide sign language interpreters for deaf persons in many medical procedures, Vlug was involved in the planning and strategy. On July 15, 2000, Vlug was awarded both the Arthur Hazlitt Citizenship Award and the Canadian Association of the Deaf (CAD) Hall of Fame in recognition of his outstanding contributions to deaf people and the CAD. In 2004 Vlug became the first deaf lawyer in the world to be made a Q.C., being appointed the prestigious Queen’s Counsel designation by the Canadian Bar Association.

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June 12, 1984 - Catholic Schools

Mon, 12 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Ontario Premier William Davis announces full funding for Catholic schools. While Canada’s constitution has long allowed for some public schools to serve Quebec’s Protestant and Ontario’s Catholic children, Ontario’s public funding for its Catholic schools extended only to grade 10. In 1968, the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) made it a priority to change that. For 16 years, the OECTA helped organize teachers, administrators, parents and students to address the imbalance of public funding. They did so through letter writing, workshops, meetings with members of the provincial Parliament, and even an annual booth at the Toronto National Exhibition. Politicians were divided over extending the funding. During the 1971 provincial election campaign, Progressive Conservative Premier William Davis spoke forcefully against any such funding. But unexpectedly, Davis publicly reversed his stance on June 12, 1984 with an announcement that his government would extend public funding of Catholic schools through to grade 13. With both the NDP and Liberal Parties also supporting this proposal, opponents of the idea could only criticize Davis and wait for another leader. Davis retired from politics and Frank Miller took over as the Progressive Conservative Premier. However, the following year Miller’s government was defeated, bringing down the 42-year Conservative dynasty with it. The non-Catholic electorate got used to the idea of full funding for public Catholic and Protestant schools in Ontario.

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June 11, 1969 - Special Olympics

Sun, 11 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Canada holds first Special Olympics to inspire fitness and competition amongst mentally disabled. Research in the early 1960s showed that mentally disabled children were only half as fit as non-disabled children. Dr. Frank Hayden of London, Ontario challenged the idea that this stemmed from their mental disability. With his research pointing a finger at their sedentary lifestyle rather than an inability to exercise, Hayden sought to create Canada-wide sports programs for the mentally challenged. When Eunice Kennedy Shriver and the Kennedy Foundation in Washington, D.C. heard about Hayden’s goals, they organized the first Special Olympics in Soldiers’ Field, Chicago in 1968. Over 1,000 athletes from 26 states and Canada competed in track and field, floor hockey and aquatic events. A year later, on June 11, 1969, Canada’s first Special Olympics took place in Toronto. Today, the Special Olympics allows thousands of mentally disabled Canadians of all ages to take part in sporting events, including skiing, skating, floor hockey, soccer, bowling, softball, track and field and swimming. Special Olympics programs now exist in 120 countries, promoting physical fitness and competition for millions of persons with mental disabilities.

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June 10, 1957 - Douglas Jung

Sat, 10 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Douglas Jung becomes Canada’s first Chinese Canadian member of Parliament. Douglas Jung was born in Victoria, British Columbia on February 24, 1924. Following World War II service in the Pacific Command Security Intelligence, Jung returned to Canada to pursue his education at the University of British Columbia. The first Chinese Canadian veteran to receive a university education through Veteran’s Affairs, he graduated with both arts and law degrees before being called to the bar in 1954. As a young lawyer, Jung was the first Chinese Canadian to appear before the B.C. Court of Appeal. Soon, his interests turned to politics and the Progressive Conservative Party. He was elected national president of the Young Conservatives of Canada before moving on to elected office. On June 10, 1957, Jung broke barriers again when, as a member of Parliament for Vancouver Centre, he became Canada’s first Chinese Canadian to sit in the House of Commons. He was re-elected the following year in the Diefenbaker sweep, but defeated on his next three attempts. During his time in office, Jung was credited with influencing many laws and policies Canadians now take for granted, such as tax deductions for tuition fees and the establishment of the Canadian Coast Guard. With his influence, Canada also created an amnesty program for Chinese people living in Canada without proper status. Jung received many awards and honours, including the Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada. He died on January 4, 2002.

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June 9, 1793 - Canada Partially Abolishes Slavery

Fri, 09 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Upper Canada partially abolishes slavery. Canada, like other Western countries in the 18th century, allowed its citizens to own slaves. In fact, for many Canadians, slave ownership was fashionable, and the Imperial Statute of 1790 required nothing of slave owners but feeding and clothing their slaves. One man who disapproved of slavery, however – Upper Canada’s new Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe – began efforts in 1791 to have it abolished. He was joined by the attorney general for Upper Canada (Ontario), John White, who proposed legislation to outlaw slavery outright, a measure that received insufficient support. As the movement gained momentum, the Parliament of Upper Canada passed the “Anti-Slave Law of Upper Canada” on June 9, 1793. This put limitations on slavery, but did not eliminate it. It allowed those who owned slaves at the time the law was passed to keep them, while stipulating that no new slaves could be brought into Upper Canada for purchase. Also, children born to slaves after 1793 were freed after the age of 25. By 1819, Attorney General John Beverley Robinson outlawed slavery entirely, freeing remaining slaves and extending them protection within Upper Canada. Lower Canada (Quebec) and the Maritimes, however, which lacked laws on slavery, left it to the courts to abolish the practice.

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June 8, 2006 - David Ahenakew

Thu, 08 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Ruling overturned for disgraced aboriginal leader David Ahenakew. David Ahenakew was a distinguished member of the Saskatchewan First Nations community. He’d given years of service at the helm of the Assembly of First Nations and had been recognized for other accomplishments with the prestigious Order of Canada. So onlookers were shocked when on December 13, 2002, at an aboriginal health-care conference, he went into a racist tirade with slurs against Jews, Indo Canadians and other immigrants to Canada. After his speech, Saskatoon Star Phoenix reporter James Parker asked Ahenakew for more comments and clarifications and he continued on his tirade, saying more horrible things about Jews. Media coverage of his comments led to national headlines and condemnation from coast to coast. Ahenakew resigned from all aboriginal leadership positions, as he began the long process of trying to defend himself. On July 8, 2005, Saskatchewan provincial court judge Irwin found Ahenakew guilty of inciting and wilfully promoting hatred against Jewish people as per Canada’s criminal code. The judge said the comments in his speech did not violate the Code; however, his comments to the reporter did. Three days later the Council of the Order of Canada revoked his membership and demanded the return of his medal. Ahenakew appealed his criminal conviction and on June 8, 2006, Court of Queens bench Justice Robert Laing set aside the conviction and ordered a new trial. Judge Irwin made the mistake of not taking into consideration certain evidence before making certain inferences and the final decision. Shortly after the conference and the outrage in 2002, Jewish and aboriginal leaders throughout Canada came together to enhance better understanding in their respective communities.

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June 7, 1939 - Captain Gustav Schroeder

Wed, 07 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Captain of St. Louis informs Jewish passengers they must return to Europe. In Germany on November 9 and 10, 1938, Nazi troops went on a rampage, killing 91 Jews, arresting 30,000, sending many to concentration camps and destroying thousands of Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues. Following this event, known as Kristallnacht, Jews tried desperately to flee Germany. However, very few countries were willing to take more than their allotted quotas. On May 13, 1939, 937 men, women and children – 900 of them Jewish – set sail on the S.S. St. Louis for Cuba. The United States was their ultimate destination, but having obtained only Cuban visas, they were willing to wait until the Americans would let them in. Unfortunately for them, the Cuban administration changed while the boat was still at sea. Fearful of Jews taking precious jobs, and with Nazi propaganda saying the ship was loaded with criminals, 40,000 Cubans demonstrated against Jewish immigrants. When the ship arrived on May 27, the government claimed that only 28 passengers held valid passports, six of them Jewish. Captain Gustav Schroeder tried in vain to have other countries take the passengers. But U.S. President Roosevelt would not respond to their cables and the Coast Guard fired a warning shot in the ship’s direction off the coast of Florida. Canada was their last hope, but Prime Minister Mackenzie King said this was not a "Canadian problem." When asked how many Jewish people fleeing the Nazis could enter Canada, one Canadian official responded, “None is too many.” On June 7, 1939, Captain Schroeder informed the passengers they would be sailing back to Europe. Jewish groups were able to persuade Belgium, Holland, France and England to take the passengers. Of course, only those in England survived, as the Nazis occupied the other countries.

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June 6, 1829 - Shanawdithit

Tue, 06 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Shanawdithit, Newfoundland’s last surviving Beothuk aboriginal, dies. Hundreds of years before European settlers arrived, groups of aboriginals crossed the Strait of Belle Isle to live in what became Newfoundland. Known as Beothuk, they were the first indigenous people to meet European settlers in the 1500s, and archaeologists estimate they numbered between 500 and 1,000. The Beothuk tradition of painting their bodies with red ochre prompted settlers to call all aboriginals “reds.” As European settlers arrived in greater numbers and claimed land that the Beothuks used for hunting and fishing, conflict and white diseases – including tuberculosis and influenza – killed many Beothuks. In the 1800s, their survival was further threatened by conflict and intermarriage with the Mi’kmaqs, who traveled to Newfoundland from the mainland. In 1769, having noted the population’s devastation, Newfoundland authorities made killing a Beothuk a capital crime. But as Beothuk numbers continued to decline, authorities tried to capture them in hopes of saving them. One of the last captured was a woman named Shanawdithit. In 1823, her father had died from falling through ice while escaping a group of hunters. Shanawdithit, her sister and mother tried to escape capture, but the prospect of starvation eventually led them to surrender. Shanawdithit’s mother and sister died soon after their capture. Shanawdithit lived long enough to be moved to a home in St. John’s in 1828, and then into the home of Newfoundland’s Attorney General James Simms. But within a year, she contracted tuberculosis and died on June 6, 1829 in a hospital. Although other Beothuks may have survived, Shanawdithit’s death likely marked the extinction of her people. She was buried in St. John’s Church of England Cemetery.

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June 5, 1972 - World Environment Day

Mon, 05 Jun 2017 06:01:00 GMT

United Nations creates World Environment Day. In response to growing concern about the planet’s sustainability, the United Nations held the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment from June 5 to 16, 1972. The conference concluded with a declaration that urged all nations to work for a better environment. The UN General Assembly also created the United Nations Environment Program, whose mission was “to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.” To commemorate that first conference, the United Nations created World Environment Day on June 5, 1972. Since then, numerous UN conferences on the environment have been held. However, each conference notes with increasing concern that not only has little progress been made, but environmental deterioration is accelerating rapidly. Many scientists believe climate change is the most serious threat facing the planet.

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June 4, 1919 - Susan B. Anthony & Lucretia Mott

Sun, 04 Jun 2017 08:01:00 GMT

U.S. Senate gives women the vote. It was in 1848 that American suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott first proposed that women be able to vote. Little did they know it would take seven decades of lobbying, protests and arm-twisting to make the dream come true. Amending the American constitution (like amending any country’s constitution) is a difficult process; it requires agreement from two-thirds of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and then three-quarters of the states. In January of 1919, the House of Representatives passed the Women’s Suffrage Bill, also known as the Susan Anthony amendment. Five months later, on June 4, 1919, the Senate gave its approval. Then began the state-by-state campaign, which succeeded the day Tennessee passed the amendment by just one vote. The secretary of state certified the ratification on August 26, 1920, finally granting most American women the vote. Two years later, the Supreme Court protected the new amendment by ruling against a legal challenge to it. The 19th amendment now reads: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

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June 3, 1989 - Tiananmen Square

Sat, 03 Jun 2017 08:01:00 GMT

Chinese government deploys troops that massacre citizens in Tiananmen Square. In 1981, Hu Yaobang became China’s leader when he was appointed the Communist Party’s general secretary. Hu was deposed in 1987 when the party accused him of being soft on college students who had been demonstrating in favour of political reforms and against system-wide corruption. When Hu died in April of 1989, people gathered in Tiananmen Square, located in the centre of Beijing, to honour his legacy and voice dissatisfaction with the pace of reforms. When Premier Li Peng refused to meet with student representatives, and the Community Party newspaper’s editorial accused them of trying to overthrow the government and socialism, students from 40 campuses boycotted classes and marched on Tiananmen Square. On May 20, the government declared martial law on Beijing, only to find tanks and troops kept at bay by defiant students and citizens. At its peak, the protest involved one million people occupying the square. As the government made plans to crush the gathering, protesters unveiled a 10-metre-high structure named the “Goddess of Democracy” on May 30. On the night of June 3, 1989, and into the early hours of June 4th, the government tanks and troops moved into the square and killed 2,600 citizens, according to a Chinese Red Cross estimate. Many more were imprisoned.

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June 2, 1924 - Native American Citizenship

Fri, 02 Jun 2017 08:01:00 GMT

U.S. Congress grants Native Americans citizenship. Native Americans were deprived of most of the rights that non-native Americans took for granted. Worse, they were resettled on unproductive land. In 1887, the Dawes Act was created to protect Indian property rights before settlers could claim the land. But numerous fraudulent bureaucrats who were sent to protect natives profited from them instead. Even when the government repealed the Dawes Act, the land was not returned. On June 2, 1924, U.S. Congress granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the United States. This did not give them the vote, since state law governed that right, but by 1948, all states had legislated Native Americans’ right to vote. Of course, the law was only as good as the politicians and officials who administered elections. Over the years, the government of the United States, like all Western countries with indigenous peoples, initiated strategies to assimilate natives into the American way of life. As history shows, this only ended up devastating them and their culture. Although much has been done since then to restore property rights, and many bands have gained control over their own resources and well-being, there remains a long way to go.

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June 1, 2001 - Stephen Lewis

Thu, 01 Jun 2017 08:01:00 GMT

Canada's Stephen Lewis appointed UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. Stephen Lewis was born into a politically active family on November 11, 1937. His father, David Lewis, led the federal New Democratic Party (NDP) in the early 1970s; the younger Lewis followed in his footsteps at the provincial level. At 26 and still a student at the University of Toronto, Lewis was elected to the Ontario legislature, where he became its leader only seven years later. Under his leadership, the NDP became the official Opposition. Six years after he stepped down, Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney boldly appointed Lewis as Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations. Lewis occupied the post from 1984 until 1988, but his work at the international level continued, including work as the Deputy Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the African Unity panel to investigate the genocide in Rwanda. On June 1, 2001, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed Lewis his special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. As AIDS continued to ravage Africa, Lewis travelled the globe working to get relief and funding that would help stop the disease’s spread. Lewis held that job until the end of 2006. He holds 20 honorary degrees from Canadian universities and is the recipient of Canada’s highest honour, Companion of the Order of Canada. In April 2005, TIME magazine listed him as one of the ‘100 most influential people in the world.’

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May 31, 1988 - Tobacco Control Act

Wed, 31 May 2017 08:01:00 GMT

Tobacco advertising and smoking in federal buildings slapped with severe restrictions. Canadians’ addiction to cigarettes has been well documented for generations. However, tobacco companies’ money, influence and smarts always enabled them to entice minors to smoke, and thwart government officials who supported non-smoking workplaces. As more and more people began calling the situation a human rights issue, Brian Mulroney’s Progressive Conservative government made a move. With Health Minister Jake Epp, it passed the Tobacco Products Control Act, which specified a future date – January 1, 1989 – by which no tobacco advertising could appear in or on television, radio, magazines and newspapers. The act also paved the way to phase out billboard ads and severely restrict tobacco sponsorships of cultural and sporting events. The same day, the House of Commons passed the Nonsmoker’s Health Act. This Bill, introduced by the New Democratic Party’s MP Lynn McDonald, severely restricted smoking in workplaces under federal jurisdiction, and created smoke-free locations for passengers on planes, trains, buses and ships. Although the government succeeded in eliminating smoking in workplaces, in 1995 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled five to four that advertising restrictions violated the constitution’s freedom of expression provisions. It would be many years before the government managed to bring in the advertising and sponsorship restrictions first envisioned in 1988.

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May 30, 1926 - Christine Jorgensen

Tue, 30 May 2017 08:01:00 GMT

Transsexual American celebrity is born. George William Jorgensen was born to Danish American parents on May 30, 1926, in the Bronx, New York. After graduating from Christopher Columbus High School in 1945, he was drafted into the Army, where he served for two years. According to Jorgensen, he always felt like someone born in the wrong body. In 1950, at the age of 49, he addressed this by flying to Copenhagen, Denmark to undergo surgery that castrated him and removed his penis. (He did not, however, have a vagina constructed.) The series of medical procedures – not available in the U.S. at the time – transformed him from a man into a woman. Two years later, the newly renamed Christine Jorgenson wrote her parents, “Nature made a mistake, which I have corrected, and I am now your daughter.” She was an attractive woman, and returned to New York to great media attention, helping change the country’s view of transsexuals. Jorgensen was the most written about person in the U.S. in 1953; even she was surprised by the attention. From her profession as a photographer, she pursued new roles as an entertainer and singer. She also traveled extensively, becoming highly popular on the public-speaking circuit for her lectures on transsexuality and gender dysphoria. Her book, Christine Jorgensen: A Personal Autobiography, became the 1970 movie, The Christine Jorgensen Movie. Jorgensen retired to southern California and died in 1988 at the age of 62 of bladder cancer.

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May 29, 1948 - First UN Peacekeeping

Mon, 29 May 2017 08:01:00 GMT

First United Nations peacekeeping operation leads to annual day of recognition. The United Nations officially came into existence on October 24, 1945. Its Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ratified in 1948, is one of its most important documents. In order to protect human rights, the UN marked peacekeeping as an early priority. The first peacekeeping operation was established for the Middle East in 1948, along with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization. On May 29, 1948, operations began with unarmed military observers in Palestine, an assignment that continues today. Since then, dozens of peacekeeping operations have involved thousands of troops in monitoring ceasefires and buffer zones, and serving as military observers, disarmament experts, civilian police, human rights workers, humanitarian workers and civil administrators. At its peak in 1993, the UN had 70,000 troops deployed around the world. Although peacekeeping is not mentioned in the UN Charter, the Security Council provides the mandate and defines the tasks. Nine of the Security Council’s 15 members must vote on a peacekeeping mission and none of the five permanent members against it, for it to go ahead. In 2002, the General Assembly voted to establish May 29th as the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, an annual commemoration kicked off in 2003.

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May 28, 1961 - Amnesty International

Sun, 28 May 2017 08:01:00 GMT

Amnesty International begins with simple letter-writing campaign. British lawyer Peter Benenson was horrified when he read a story about two Portuguese students sentenced to seven years in jail for raising a toast to freedom. He contacted the British newspaper The Observer, asking it to bring attention to the “forgotten prisoners” of the world. On May 28, 1961, The Observer launched its year-long campaign, “Appeal for Amnesty 1961.” Response was overwhelming. In less than a month, more than 1,000 people had offered to help the prisoners of conscience, and within a year, the campaign had turned into a viable organization in seven countries. Delegates went around the world to raise the profile of 210 cases. Over the years, Amnesty International grew to focus not just on prisoners of conscience, but also on victims of human rights abuses such as torture, “disappearances” and the death penalty. While their international and many national headquarters deal with issues at a governmental and business level, the day-to-day operations of thousands of worldwide volunteers still entails the simple task of writing letters to authorities, telling them to release prisoners or change their human rights processes. Amnesty International was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1977 and the United Nations Human Rights Award in 1978.

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May 27, 1990 - Suu Kyi

Sat, 27 May 2017 08:01:00 GMT

Burma’s military dictatorship refuses to recognize landslide election results. Aung San Suu Kyi was born on June 19, 1945 to Ma Khin Kyi and General Aung San, a commander in the Burmese Independence Army. After his assassination and Burma’s independence from England, his wife took ambassadorial posts abroad. Suu Kyi only returned to Burma in 1988 to look after her mother. It was a time of political strife marked by massive demonstrations and violent retaliation from the military regime. In August of that year, Suu Kyi suggested the government prepare for multi-party elections. Instead, the government outlawed political gatherings and placed harsh restrictions on civil rights. Suu Kyi responded by joining in the political rallies and civil disobedience. When the National League for Democracy (NLD) formed, she emerged as its general secretary. After her mother’s death in December 1988, Suu Kyi pledged to serve her country, like her parents. She endured a life of harassment and imprisonment by house arrest. When the military government called an election in hopes of legitimizing its power, the tides turned. On May 27, 1990, the government was shocked to find that the NLD had garnered 82 per cent of the parliamentary seats, even with Suu Kyi under house arrest. Though they refused to recognize the results, the world voiced its opinion by celebrating when Suu Kyi received the 1991 Nobel Peace prize. She has never again left her country, knowing the government will refuse her re-entry. Her husband Michael Aris, who died of prostate cancer in England in 1999, was refused permission to visit his wife who he had not seen since 1995. Suu Kyi continues her campaign of non-violent protests against one of the world’s most oppressive regimes.

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May 26, 1989 - Gay Marriage Rights

Fri, 26 May 2017 08:01:00 GMT

Denmark becomes first country to legalize gay and lesbian relationships. Gay men, lesbians and bisexuals have been breaking down barriers for decades, especially in Western nations. Many countries have passed laws to protect people from losing their jobs, housing and basic rights on the basis of sexual orientation. But those protections seldom extend to gay men and lesbians wanting to be treated as a couple. On May 26, 1989, Denmark became the first country to grant gay and lesbian couples rights and responsibilities similar to heterosexual married couples. While it did not require churches to marry them, it did allow them to register with the government in civil ceremonies. Norway, Sweden and Iceland followed suit in 1996, and Finland a few years later. In 2001, the Netherlands became the first country to grant gay and lesbian couples full marriage rights, followed by Belgium in 2003, Spain and Canada in 2005 and South Africa in 2006. While the U.S. doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage, the state of Massachusetts became the only state to offer this legal recognition. Other countries have followed by granting domestic partnership rights that give gay and lesbian couples certain protections, even if not complete “marriage.” While it is unlikely Israel will allow same-sex marriage any time soon, their supreme court in November 2006, ordered the government to recognize marriages performed in other countries.

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May 25, 1995 - James Egan & John Nesbit

Thu, 25 May 2017 08:01:00 GMT

Gay couple denied spousal benefits, but sexual orientation added to charter protections. James Egan and John Nesbit were a gay couple that had lived together since 1948. In 1986, when Egan reached 65, he became eligible for Old Age Security and a guaranteed income supplement. When Nesbit reached age 60, he applied for the spousal allowance available to the spouse of a pensioner between the ages of 60 and 65 in cases where the couple’s combined income falls below a certain level. The government denied Nesbit the income supplement, explaining that “spouse” is defined as a member of the opposite sex. Both men took the federal government to court, and their case ended up at the Supreme Court of Canada. On May 25, 1995, in a five to four split, the majority of judges ruled against Egan and Nesbit. They said that Parliament’s decision to support couples had been based on heterosexual couples’ ability to procreate. Most children, they stated, are the result of heterosexual relationships. However, the court also ruled unanimously that sexual orientation is protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms equality provisions, even if not written in as such. The case inspired Toronto filmmaker David Adkin’s 1996 documentary, Jim Loves Jack: The James Egan Story. James Egan died on March 9, 2000; Jack Nesbit less than four months later, on June 23.

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May 24, 1924 - Chief Peguis

Wed, 24 May 2017 06:01:14 GMT

Chief Peguis honoured with monument erected in Winnipeg’s Kildonan Park. Chief Peguis was born in 1774 near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. At age 16, the young leader resettled his Saulteaux tribe where the Red River flows into Lake Winnipeg. (Today, it’s called Netley Creek, Manitoba.) When a man named Lord Selkirk and his group of Scottish settlers showed up there in 1812, Peguis helped them settle and offered them protection. He also sided with the Hudson’s Bay Company against its rival, the North West Company, due to concerns about the latter’s intentions for his people. Lord Selkirk rewarded Peguis for his support by signing a treaty that gave his people priority over other bands that had lived in the area longer. After Peguis and his band moved to St. Peters, north of Winnipeg, Peguis often visited Kildonan to celebrate Scottish festivities. He became friends with Anglican missionary Reverend William Cochrane, but when he asked to join Cochrane’s church, the minister refused on the basis that Peguis had four wives and drank liquor. In 1838, after Peguis had left three of his wives and abstained from liquor for two years, Cochrane accepted Peguis into the church. The chief died on September 28, 1864, at the age of 90. He was buried in St. Peter's graveyard near Selkirk, Manitoba. In memory of his time in Kildonan, on May 24, 1924, a sculpture of the chief was erected at Kildonan, now a prominent park in the city of Winnipeg. Descendants of Peguis’s Saulteaux tribe comprise Manitoba’s largest First Nations community.

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May 23, 1997 - Liam Donnelly

Tue, 23 May 2017 06:01:04 GMT

University swim coach wrongfully loses his job for sexual harassment.On May 23, 1997, Simon Fraser University (SFU) fired swim coach Liam Donnelly for “severe sexual harassment” against student Rachel Marsden. Right from the start, the case was a disaster, thanks to university officials not following proper procedures, and the university trying to back peddle numerous times. As a result, Donnelly ended up being rehired and Marsden awarded $12,000 for counselling and other expenses. Meantime, SFU President John Stubbs ended up leaving the university along with almost $300,000 in severance pay. The university, after footing Donnelly’s $60,000 legal bills and watching its name dragged across provincial and national papers, wisely decided to conduct a formal review of its harassment and discrimination cases. Eventually, the institution underwent an extensive and expensive process to change its harassment policy, to ensure such mistakes and headlines would not occur again.

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May 22, 1987 - Rick Hansen

Mon, 22 May 2017 06:01:32 GMT

Rick Hansen completes his Man in Motion world tour.Rick Hansen was 15 years old the summer of 1973 when an automobile accident left him a paraplegic. Despite the setback, Hansen went on to become a top wheelchair athlete, winning numerous international wheelchair marathons and three world championships. He even competed for Canada in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Hansen’s greatest achievements, of course, were yet to come. On March 21, 1985, Hansen and a crew left the Oakridge Mall in Vancouver, B.C. to start his Man in Motion world tour, designed to raise funds for spinal cord injury research, rehabilitation and wheelchair sport. For two years, two months and two days, Hansen wheeled his way around the world, covering 40,072 kilometres. During his trek through 34 countries on four continents, Hansen covered between 50 and 70 kilometres per day, repaired 126 flat tires, wore out 94 gloves and was robbed four times. Crowds greeted him everywhere he went – including 800,000 cheering people in Tianjin, China. In August 1986, Hansen made it to Cape Spear, Newfoundland, ready for the cross-Canada segment that would bring him home... It is fitting that the 13,861 kilometres wheeled in Canada represented the longest distance he traveled in any country on his tour. On May 22, 1987, Hansen and his crew completed their tour in Vancouver, having raised more than $26 million for their causes. The tour’s end marked the launch of the Rick Hansen Man in Motion Foundation, with Hansen as the CEO.

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May 21, 1961 - Freedom Riders

Sun, 21 May 2017 06:01:07 GMT

Marshall law imposed in Alabama after “freedom riders” attacks.When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a White man in 1955, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation on public transit was unconstitutional. When the same court stated that segregation within interstate travel was also illegal in 1960, the “freedom riders” took over. On May 4, 1961, 13 young activists boarded two buses from Washington, D.C., on their way to Virginia. They quickly encountered resistance and violence, but it was in Anniston, Alabama, where more than one hundred angry and violent white people met them. The bus was firebombed, forcing people out of the bus and since the Ku Klux Klan was given assurances that the local police would not interfere, the freedom riders were attacked. Organizers quickly called off the ride, but others wanted to continue. On May 17, 11 activists took a bus from Nashville to Birmingham, Alabama, but before they could get there, the local police arrested them. While federal Attorney General Robert Kennedy got the bus a police escort, when they reached Montgomery there was no police and the activists were severely beaten. Martin Luther King Jr., who was opposed to the ride because of violence, turned up at a rally in a local church and while speaking inside, a mob gathered outside. Kennedy sent troops to disperse the mob and riots broke out. On May 21, 1961, Alabama Governor John Patterson, who had not been sympathetic to the freedom riders, invoked marshal law on his state. Days later, the Kennedy government directed the Interstate Commerce Commission to put an end to segregation at all facilities under federal jurisdiction.

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May 20, 1932 - Amelia Earhart

Sat, 20 May 2017 06:01:06 GMT

Amelia Earhart begins solo flight across the Atlantic.Amelia Earhart was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas, later moving to California. Six months after her first flying lesson she bought her first plane. Just seven years later, on June 17, 1928, Earhart, Bill Stultz and Slim Gordon became the first to fly across the Atlantic, leaving Newfoundland and arriving in Wales 21 hours later. Earhart married one of the flight’s supporters, publisher George Putnam. Together, the couple secretly planned for Earhart’s solo crossing of the Atlantic. So it was on May 20, 1932, Earhart launched from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, aimed for Paris, France. Due to bad weather and mechanical problems she landed in a farmer’s field near Londonderry, Ireland, and her effort won her international admiration and awards. Earhart secured many other flying firsts and just prior to her 40th birthday, she made plans for a 29,000-mile trip around the world with navigator Fred Noonan. On June 1, 1937, they left Miami heading east, and by June 29th, had made Lae, New Guinea, en route to California. Their next scheduled stop was Howland Island, 2,556 miles away and only 1.5 miles long, situated between Australia and Hawaii. Although U.S. Coast Guard officials stationed on the island were in radio contact with Earhart and Noonan, the two never made it. The American Navy searched 250,000 miles of ocean at a cost of $4 million, but found no trace of the plane. Her grieving husband opened a letter she’d written in the event of her death. It read in part, “I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.”

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May 19, 1993 - Janice Berg

Fri, 19 May 2017 06:01:07 GMT

Supreme Court of Canada says mentally challenged deserve same services.In 1979, Janice Berg was accepted into the master’s program in the School of Family and Nutritional Sciences at the University of British Columbia. Despite a history of controllable, recurrent depression, she studied hard enough to keep her grades above average. But one day in 1981, she wrote “I am dead” on a school’s washroom mirror, then attempted to jump through a plate-glass window when RCMP officers appeared in the hallway. Two years later, an instructor refused Berg a “rating sheet,” one of the criteria she needed to apply for a hospital internship. About the same time, Berg found herself refused a key to the school’s new facilities for after-hours work, without a doctor’s note. She complained to the B.C. Human Rights Council, which found the university liable for discrimination against Berg due to her mental disability. The B.C. Supreme Court and the B.C. Court of Appeal both overturned that decision. But on May 19, 1993, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favour of Berg. The court said that denying Berg a “service customarily available to the public” amounted to discrimination under B.C.’s Human Rights Act. The court added that it did not want to unduly restrict what “public” meant under human rights protection. They said it was not the purpose of legislation to admit people into a program and then deny them access that makes their admission meaningful.

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May 18, 2000 - Southern Baptist Convention

Thu, 18 May 2017 06:01:33 GMT

No women pastors for us, say U.S. Southern Baptists.The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) was founded in Augusta, Georgia in 1845. One hundred and fifty years later, with 16 million members in more than 40,000 churches, the SBC represented the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. Although known for its conservative values, women had been allowed as pastors in small numbers. That changed when more conservative elements in the church decided to spell out a clear policy on women’s roles. In 1998, the church issued a statement at its annual meeting ruling that a wife should “submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband.” Two years later, on May 18, 2000, it followed that up with a document that declared, “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.” SBC leaders accepted the resolution at their annual meeting on June 14, 2000, while specifying that the approximately 1,600 women pastors already in SBC would be allowed to stay in their positions. The change was welcomed by most of the churches and by organizations affiliated with the SBC. However, one high-profile couple, former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Roslyn, disagreed. On October 21, 2000, the couple severed their ties with the church in which they had both grown up.

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May 17, 2001 - Trinity Western University

Wed, 17 May 2017 06:01:14 GMT

Supreme Court upholds Christian university’s right to train teachers with an anti-homosexual bias.Trinity Western University is a private institution in Langley, B.C. associated with the Evangelical Free Church of Canada and promoting Christian views. It’s also an accredited member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. In the mid-1990s, Trinity offered an education degree, but the institution’s limited resources had led administrators to make an arrangement with nearby Simon Fraser University for education students in their fifth and final year to complete the degree there. Since administrators also wanted the program to reflect Christian views, they applied in 1995 to the British Columbia College of Teachers to assume full responsibility for the final year’s accreditation. The College of Teachers turned down their request on the basis that before entering Trinity, students are required to sign a “community standards” document that forbids biblically condemned practices such as swearing, drunkenness, premarital sex, adultery and homosexual behaviour. The latter stipulation, the College of Teachers stated, promoted discrimination against gay and lesbian students. Trinity took the case to the Supreme Court of Canada, where eight of the nine judges ruled in its favour, saying that when equality rights are at stake (religion vs. sexual orientation), “the freedom to hold beliefs is broader than the freedom to act on them.” The judges also observed that there was no evidence of Trinity graduates discriminating against pupils, and any who did so would be subject to disciplinary measures from the College of Teachers.

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May 16, 1987 - Douglas Parisian

Tue, 16 May 2017 06:01:15 GMT

Restaurants not required to allow guide dogs in, case rules. Douglas Parisian, accompanied by his guide dog Iggy, attempted to have lunch in Winnipeg’s Hermes restaurant on June 19, 1985. Located near the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), Hermes attracted a number of customers who were blind, and even provided its menu in Braille. Parisian was scheduled to meet a CNIB employee. But to Parisian’s surprise, owner Christ Voulgaris confronted him at the front door, saying the dog wasn’t allowed. Opinion varies as to what occurred next, but it is certain that Parisian and his colleague opted for a different restaurant that day and that Parisian later complained to the Manitoba Human Rights Commission. When the case went to a tribunal, adjudicator Frank Allen ruled on May 16, 1987 that the restaurant had not violated any rights. According to Allen, restaurant staff cannot be expected to always identify a blind person (even though Parisian’s blindness was obvious to anyone concerned). He also observed that legislation allowed guide dogs to enter restaurants, but did not specify a blind person’s rights. He urged the Human Rights Commission to do a better job of educating businesses about their legal obligations. Finally, he concluded that Parisian had suffered no real “damage,” nor was his embarrassment “terribly great.” Although an appeal only confirmed the ruling, the incident did persuade the Manitoba government to improve provisions for guide dogs in their Human Rights legislation.

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May 15, 1919 - Winnipeg General Strike

Mon, 15 May 2017 06:01:49 GMT

Winnipeg general strike begins 40 days of social unrest.Canadian soldiers returned from World War I to find war factories shutting down and bankruptcies triggering massive unemployment and rapid inflation. Knowing that many had profiteered from the war industry, the veterans resented their futile search for decent jobs, pay and working conditions. On May 1, 1919, the Building and Metal Workers Union of Winnipeg went on strike for better wages, prompting the Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council to expand matters into a general strike. On May 15, 1919, the city’s telephone operators, known as the “hello girls,” became the first of 30,000 union and non-union workers to take to the streets. It had been only two years since similar worker frustration had led to the Russian Revolution – a fact that so scared the Canadian government, officials quickly amended the Immigration Act and the criminal code to threaten strikers with deportation and imprisonment.Winnipeg’s mayor went even further, firing most of the city’s police officers for sympathizing with the workers. He then hired 1,800 special constables equipped with horses and baseball bats. Early June was marked with riots, the arrest of union leaders, protests and violence. Two strikers were killed and 34 wounded before union leaders wanting to prevent full-scale violence called off the general strike on June 25. Seven strike leaders were given jail terms of up to two years for trying to overthrow the government.

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May 14, 2004 - Fahima Osman

Sun, 14 May 2017 06:01:39 GMT

Fahima Osman becomes first Somali doctor trained in Canada.Fahima Osman was born in 1978, one of nine children born to Somalians Adam and Zahra Osman. She was 11 when her family, like thousands of other Somalis who fled their country at the time, claimed refugee status in Canada. Even before she’d arrived, Osman had decided she wanted to become a doctor. She shrugged off the fact that there were no Somali doctors in Toronto, and that the city offered no support to, and had very low expectations of, African students. Osman studied tirelessly, her motivation increasing after she spent a summer volunteering for aid agencies in Somalia, where she witnessed the impoverishment she’d escaped. In 2000, her hard work paid off; she was accepted to McMaster’s medical school in Hamilton. She graduated on May 15, 2004, becoming the first Somalia doctor trained in Canada as she took her Hippocratic Oath. Osman then turned her attention to Toronto’s Somali community, which by then numbered in the tens of thousands. Her understanding of her people’s language, religion and experience went far in her efforts to serve them.

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May 13, 1959 - Barclay's Motel

Sat, 13 May 2017 06:01:10 GMT

“Coloured” Albertan is refused hotel room.On May 13, 1959, a young man trying to reach a friend phoned Barclay’s Motel in Calgary, only to be told, “We don’t allow coloured people here.” What the hotel didn’t know was that this Mr. King was president and chairman of the grievance committee of the Alberta Association for the Advancement of Coloured People in Calgary. When King and a friend dropped into the motel an hour later, he was refused a room for the same reason. Later, the hotel owner would claim it was because staff had noted King’s Calgary license plate and concluded he wasn’t really a traveler. King went to court for being “deprived of his lawful right to accommodation.” He claimed damages of $500 for “humiliation, indignity and insult.” But on May 4, 1960, the judge found that Barclay’s Motel was not an inn because it did not sell food – and therefore didn’t fall under rules dictated by the Innkeepers Act of Alberta. He also ruled that because King was not a traveler – he was there merely to investigate – the facility had no legal obligation to give him a room. On February 14, 1961, the Alberta Court of Appeal came to the same conclusion.

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May 12, 1820 - Florence Nightingale

Fri, 12 May 2017 15:01:38 GMT

Florence Nightingale, nurse and mathematician, is born in Florence, Italy.Her British parents were touring Europe when Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy on May 12, 1820. Early on, the girl showed her father’s bent for mathematics, to the dismay of her mother, who considered it unladylike. Fortunately, Mrs. Nightingale relented enough to allow her daughter a math tutor. As a young woman, Nightingale also took an interest in social issues and believed she had a calling from God. Against the family’s strong objections, she took up nursing, a career regarded then as drawing uneducated, course, promiscuous and even drunken women. After studying nursing in hospitals around Europe, she arrived in1854 in what is now Istanbul during the Crimean war. There, she took on the task of improving conditions so horrible that more soldiers were dying in the hospitals than on the battlefield. As a woman, she had to fight for her goals, and did so with her math skills, charting statistics that proved better sanitary conditions would lead to saving lives. Indeed, her improvements to medical facilities dropped soldiers’ hospital mortality rate from 50 to 2.2%. When the war finished, she took her quest for improving hospital conditions to London, where her efforts caught the attention of Queen Victoria and the British prime minister. Nightingale became the first woman elected a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society. Bedridden in later years due to an illness she’d contracted in Crimea, Nightingale turned her energy to writing. She published 200 books, reports and pamphlets before her death at the age of 90 on August 13, 1910.

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May 11, 1958 - Ellen Fairclough

Thu, 11 May 2017 06:01:07 GMT

Canada’s first woman federal cabinet minister completes her first portfolio.Ellen Fairclough was born in Hamilton, Ontario on January 28, 1905. As an adult she ran her own accountancy business for 22 years, held prominent positions on charitable boards and sat as a city councillor. In 1950, she ventured into federal politics by winning a by-election for the federal seat of Hamilton West. As a Progressive Conservative, she sat on the Opposition benches until John Diefenbaker became prime minister in 1957. Diefenbaker had pledged to put a woman into cabinet, but he considered Fairclough an “enemy” as she had supported another candidate for the leadership of the party years earlier. Still, in keeping with his promise, he offered Fairclough the junior cabinet post of secretary of state. She almost turned him down. However, at the insistence of a friend, she took the post on June 21, 1957, becoming the first woman in federal politics to sit at the cabinet table. Being the hard worker with political smarts she was, it didn’t take her long to get promoted to a full cabinet position. After completing her term as secretary of state on May 11, 1958, she became minister of citizenship and immigration. During her four years in that ministry, Fairclough introduced changes to Canada’s immigration policy that stopped favouring white people – although it would be five years before the government stopped favouring immigrants coming from Europe and the Americas. During her last term in Diefenbaker’s government, Fairclough served as the postmaster general. She was defeated in the general election of 1963. Fairclough received many honours for her career, including the title Companion of the Order of Canada in 1995. She died on November 13, 2004, just shy of her 100th birthday.

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May 10, 1995 - Andre Cyr and Todd Armstrong

Wed, 10 May 2017 06:01:46 GMT

Ontario Court allows gay couple to adopt non-biological child.André Cyr and his same-sex partner Todd Armstrong wanted to be legal parents of children, but Ontario’s Child and Family Services Act (like its equivalents in most provinces) prevented them from doing so. As single individuals, gay men and lesbians could adopt, but not as a couple. The result was that some gay and lesbian parents were being denied legal protections for co-raising the biological child of a partner. This meant they could not give medical instructions or even register the child in school. On May 10, 1995, an Ontario court ruled that the act infringed on these non-biological parents’ equality rights as per Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Ontario was the first province to allow such adoptions; other provinces soon followed. The case highlighted the contrast between Canadian courts’ willingness to protect gays and lesbians at the time, and politicians’ continuing reluctance to legislate in favour of equality for all Canadians.

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May 9, 2003 - Barbara Turnbull

Tue, 09 May 2017 06:01:31 GMT

Toronto cinemas ordered to become wheelchair accessible.When Toronto’s major cinema chain, Famous Players, decided not to make all its facilities wheelchair accessible, it excluded Barbara Turnbull and four other individuals, who decided to complain. In response, on September 10, 2001, the Ontario Human Rights Board of Inquiry ordered Famous Players to make three of their cinemas accessible within two years, pay the complainants tens of thousands of dollars in damages, and review its training program for providing services to persons with disabilities. The board also stated, “Any film being shown exclusively at those three inaccessible theatres shall be made available to a patron using a wheelchair, upon that person’s request of Famous Players, at an accessible theatre to be agreed to by that person and Famous Players.” In the end, Famous Players decided to close the cinemas in question, but the firm made the mistake of leaving one of them open four months past the deadline – which landed it back in front of the Human Rights Board. On May 9, 2003, the tribunal required Famous Players to follow specific procedures during the months before the theatre closed.

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May 8, 1945 - VE Day

Mon, 08 May 2017 06:01:13 GMT

Victory in Europe Day (VE-Day) commemorates World War II’s end in Europe.Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933, and with his band of Nazi thugs and murderers, gradually turned the country into a dictatorship of hatred and bloodshed. After his invasion of Poland in September 1939, the United Kingdom and other countries declared war on Germany to stop Hitler’s quest for world domination. While the war raged in Europe, Hitler and his collaborators carried out acts of murder, torture and human experimentation to eliminate individuals they felt did not fit into the “master race.” Jews were singled out for extermination, and other “enemies of the German State” were targeted for execution, including Gypsies, homosexuals, criminals, the insane, Jehovah’s Witnesses, communists and socialists. The war in Europe lasted almost six years. Western and Soviet Allies anxiously awaited its end as they began to score victories. On April 30, 1945, as the Allies were closing in, Hitler and his key players committed suicide in a bunker under Berlin. Although the war continued to rage against Japan, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared May 8, 1945 “Victory in Europe Day,” which became known as VE-Day. Citizens around the world took to the streets to celebrate the end of Hitler’s murderous regime, and reflect on the war’s terrible cost: an estimated 50 million soldiers and civilians dead.

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May 7, 2004 - Todd Ducharme

Sun, 07 May 2017 06:01:54 GMT

Todd Ducharme becomes Canada’s first Métis judge.Todd Ducharme was a lawyer with an impressive record when he was appointed to the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario. Educationally, he held a BA from McGill University, an MA and master of laws from Yale University and a law degree from the University of Toronto. As a practicing lawyer, he gained notoriety for his work in criminal and aboriginal law. He was popular with his peers, elected as a bencher with the Law Society of Upper Canada (Ontario’s law society), then re-elected in 2003 with the most votes of any Toronto candidate, and the second most of any in Ontario. On May 7, 2004, when Canada’s minister of justice appointed Ducharme a judge, Ducharme also made history as the first Métis to hold such a post. Many Canadians applauded his appointment and expressed surprise that it had taken so long for a Métis to fill the position.

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May 6, 1993 - French-Only Signs

Sat, 06 May 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Quebec government introduces bill that would ease up on French-language-only stance.The use of English in Quebec has been a contentious issue for decades. Governments of all stripes have worked to preserve the French language, to make French Quebec a sustainable island in a North American sea of English. To this end, they’d legislated French as the province’s official language, and restricted the use of English on everything from packages to outdoor business signs. They’d also restricted access to English public schools to ensure that French continued to be most children’s language of learning. In 1988, when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that restricting commercial signs exclusively to French infringed on equality rights, Quebec used the Canadian Charter of Rights override provision to continue its long-time restrictions. Over time, however, businesses, English-language politicians and even the UN Human Rights Commission applied increasing pressure on the Quebec government to relax its rules. In response, on May 6, 1993, Liberal Premier Robert Bourassa introduced Bill 86, which allowed for bilingual signs as long as French was “markedly predominant.” The Bill would also give the government the right to restrict languages to French only when it was deemed important. Immigrant children, however, would be required to attend French schools. While the Bill passed court cases and heated debates over the politics of language continued.

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May 5, 1992 - Olive Patricia Dickason

Fri, 05 May 2017 06:01:42 GMT

Mandatory retirement reasonable, says Supreme Court of Canada.As a professor at the University of Alberta, Dr. Olive Patricia Dickason had signed a contract agreeing to the university’s employment terms. One of those terms dictated mandatory retirement at the age of 65. When she was showed the door at 65, however, Dickason didn’t want to go, so she took her case to the province’s human rights body. She won both there and on the case’s first appeal, but the Alberta Court of Appeal sided with the university. The Supreme Court of Canada heard Dickason’s case on May 5, 1992; five months later the majority of judges stated that while her equality rights had been violated, the mandatory retirement policy had been a reasonable limitation of those rights under the circumstances. Although professors are forced to retire, the court noted, they have tenure to ensure academic freedom, and to prevent them being fired for anything but just cause; that makes for a fair trade-off. Further, the court pointed out, universities need to be able to hire a steady stream of young new faculty to keep teaching and research fresh. Although some regarded the court’s decision as a slap in the face for older workers, the majority of Canadians were not clamouring to work past the age 65 regardless of the equality issues. Years after this decision, most provinces did away with mandatory retirement.

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May 4, 1989 - Dianna Janzen and Tracy Govereau

Thu, 04 May 2017 06:01:09 GMT

Supreme Court of Canada declares sexual harassment a form of sex discrimination.When Dianna Janzen and Tracy Govereau worked at Pharos restaurant in Winnipeg the fall of 1982, they endured outrageous physical and verbal sexual harassment from the cook, Tommy Grammas. Each of the women spoke at different times to the owner operator, Phillip Anastasiadis, about Tommy’s behaviour, but to no avail. Janzen left the restaurant after only two months; Govereau was fired. When both women complained to the Manitoba Human Rights Commission, an adjudicator found the women had been sexually harassed, and awarded them money for lost wages and exemplary damages. The case’s first appeal reduced the financial award. At its next appearance at the Manitoba Court of Appeal, the judges threw it out altogether, saying sexual harassment is not sexual discrimination. However, on May 4, 1989, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the adjudicator’s initial decision in favour of Janzen and Govereau, ruling in strong language that sexual harassment is clearly a form of sex discrimination. The court also delivered a very liberal definition of sexual harassment for Canadian employers and employees; it is used as the benchmark to this day.

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May 3, 1990 - Angelique Lyn Lavallee

Wed, 03 May 2017 17:43:29 GMT

Supreme Court of Canada allows battered-woman syndrome as a murder defence.In the early hours of August 31, 1986, Winnipeg citizen Angelique Lyn Lavallee shot and killed her common-law partner, Kevin Rust, in the back of the head. Lavallee, age 22, had been in an abusive relationship with Rust for years. During fights that lasted for days, he would beat her severely, necessitating numerous visits to the hospital for treatment. A jury acquitted her of murder, but the Manitoba Court of Appeal requested a new trial, saying that the defence’s “battered woman syndrome” testimony should not have been allowed. The phrase refers to a condition of “learned helplessness,” in which a woman has lost control of her environment and is unable to defend herself. On May 3, 1990, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld Lavallee’s acquittal, formally allowing the controversial syndrome as a defence for the first time. Although Lavallee shot Rust as he was leaving the room, the court and jury accepted the argument that she thought he would kill her later, and therefore felt that doing so was her only defence against him. Women’s organizations hailed the decision as a step forward in supporting women’s right to be free of violence, but others worried it might be misused, allowing some women to get away with killing their spouses.

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May 2, 1993 - Steve Juba

Tue, 02 May 2017 06:01:32 GMT

Former Winnipeg Mayor Stephen Juba dies.Stephen Juba was born in Winnipeg on July 1, 1914 to immigrants from the Ukraine. When his father’s business fell on hard times in 1929, Juba was forced to quit school at age 15. He started a number of business ventures, growing wealthy around 1945. Always a great self-promoter, Juba decided to try his hand in politics. Early attempts at getting into office were unsuccessful, but gained him some name recognition. Finally, in 1953, he was elected to Manitoba’s legislature as an Independent. His success in reforming the province’s outdated liquor laws eventually took him to Winnipeg’s city hall. On October 24, 1956, he became the first Canadian of Eastern European ancestry to be elected mayor of a large Canadian city. There, he continued sitting in the legislature and was re-elected MLA one more time before he decided to work full time as mayor. As skilled at promoting his city as he was at promoting himself, Juba arranged for Winnipeg to host the Pan-American Games in 1970; he himself oversaw the event. The same year, he became an Officer of the Order of Canada. When Winnipeg grew enormously by amalgamating all the suburbs into one city in 1971, he became the first mayor of the newly unified city. Juba’s last day as mayor was October 31, 1977. Juba died On May 2, 1993.

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May 1, 1996 - Betty-Lu Clara Gibbs

Mon, 01 May 2017 16:01:10 GMT

Supreme Court of Canada weighs case to support employees with mental disabilities.Betty-Lu Clara Gibbs was working for Battlefords and District Co-operative Ltd in Saskatchewan in 1987, when she became disabled due to a mental disorder. After her three months of sick leave ran out, a long-term disability plan kicked in. Two years later, however, the benefits portion of that coverage was cut off, thanks to an insurance policy clause that dictated it had to end then if she had no physical disability and was not confined to a mental institution.Gibbs went to the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission, which ruled that her rights had been violated and ordered her employer to remedy the situation. The company appealed to the courts and lost at both the Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench and Saskatchewan Court of Appeal. On May 1, 1996, the Supreme Court of Canada heard her appeal. Six months later, judges there agreed with the previous rulings that persons with mental disabilities must be given the same rights as those with physical disabilities. The court reiterated the view that human rights legislation in Canada is “fundamental” or “quasi-constitutional,” and therefore must be interpreted in a broad and liberal manner. Hence, the insurance company was ordered to continue covering Gibbs for her long term disability.

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April 30, 1905 - John Humphrey

Sun, 30 Apr 2017 06:01:33 GMT

Future Canadian human rights champion John Humphrey is born.John Humphrey was born in Hampton, New Brunswick on April 30, 1905. He became a lawyer and taught law at McGill University before being tapped for the United Nations’ first human rights division directorship. After meeting with the president’s wife, Eleanor Roosevelt (who served as chair of the Human Rights Commission) in 1947, Humphrey and two colleagues took on the task of writing the first draft of a bill of rights. It would eventually become the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Humphrey wrote 48 articles and after 1,400 resolutions during the course of 187 meetings, most of his ideas were accepted in the form of 30 articles on December 10, 1948. His greatest achievement may have been enshrining economic and social rights, until then regarded as practically socialism. During his 20 years with the UN, Humphrey implemented conventions that gave the declaration binding legal status. After leaving the UN to teach in Montreal, Humphrey helped launch Amnesty International Canada and the Canadian Human Rights Foundation. In 1974, he became an Officer of the Order of Canada, and on the 40th anniversary of the declaration in 1988, he became the first person awarded the UN’s Human Rights Award. Until then, the writing of the first draft had been erroneously credited to Nobel Peace prize winner Rene Cassin of France. Humphrey died in 1995.

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April 29, 1992 - Rodney King

Sat, 29 Apr 2017 06:01:23 GMT

Acquittal of L.A. police in Rodney King beating case prompts murderous riots.When Los Angeles police tried to stop Rodney King for speeding on March 3, 1991, he kept driving. When they finally caught up with him, enraged police officers Laurence Powell, Stacey Koon, Timothy Wind and Theodore Briseno beat, kicked and clubbed him for 81 seconds as other officers stood by, all unaware they were being taped. International broadcasts of the live footage was followed by a sensational two-month televised trial. When the all-white jury acquitted the officers of assault on April 29, 1992 – accepting their argument of self-defense – riots broke out in the black neighbourhoods of south-central L.A. Businesses and cars were broken into, burned and looted, and white people dragged from their cars and beaten. During the four days that some African Americans took out their aggression, 55 people were killed, 2,000 injured and 8,000 arrested. Property damage ran $1 billion.In the end, federal court found Officers Koon and Powell guilty of violating King's civil rights. They served 30 months in a federal prison. Rodney King won $3.8 million in a civil suit against the Los Angeles police department in 1994. At the time of the police beating, King was on probation for a robbery conviction. After his civil suit, King continued to have problems with the law, including being convicted of drunken driving and of spousal abuse. King was on probation until 2003.

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April 28, 2002 - Heinrich Gross

Fri, 28 Apr 2017 06:01:02 GMT

Vienna apologizes for World War II deaths of disabled children.Between 1940 and 1945, children with mental and physical disabilities were sent to the Am Spiegelgrund children's clinic in Vienna, Austria. There, the Nazi program known as "Lebensunwertes Leben," or life unworthy of life, experimented on them before killing them with overdoses of barbiturates. More horrifying, the clinic kept the brains of at least 789 of the children to continue research on them until 1998. The director of the clinic, Dr. Ernst Illing, was hanged as a war criminal in 1946, but Dr. Heinrich Gross managed to return to the clinic in 1948 after being merely detained by the Russians. He built up his practice and reputation as a renowned neurologist and received the state medal for services to Austria. In 1979, a doctor named Werner Vogt accused Gross of involvement in the hideous experiments, but instead of believing Vogt, officials convicted Vogt of slander. Gross’ complicity was eventually revealed and Vogt was freed, but it took until 1998 for the government to gather the evidence it needed to lay charges against Gross, who was by then in his mid-80s and found unfit to stand trial. Vienna officials held a ceremony to bury the final remains of the children and apologize to the families of those killed on April 28, 2002. Although Austria continues to suffer criticism for an unwillingness to admit wrongs during the Nazi regime, the government did take back Gross’s state medal that same year. Gross died in Vienna on December 15, 2005 at the age of 90.

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April 27, 2007 - World War Two Sex Slaves

Thu, 27 Apr 2017 06:01:31 GMT

Sex Slaves denied compensation by Japan’s Supreme Court.During World War II, the Japanese Imperial Army held approximately 200,000 women as sex slaves to service Japanese soldiers. Most of the women, aged 12 to 21, were Chinese and Korean, although many women came from Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan. The military set up “comfort stations” throughout Japanese war territories and researchers estimate there were 160 in Shanghai alone. These girls and women were forced into sex with up to 50 men per day and those that survived were badly beaten and unable to have children. They lived silently with the horrible shame until in the early 1990s, the South Korean government urged them to come forward. In 1993, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary acknowledged that the military had been involved in forcing some women into prostitution. The government considered this an apology, but the victims and their families did not. Some of the women became more strident in wanting an official apology from Japan’s Parliament – holding vigils, protests and telling their gruelling stories. At various times government officials and even prime ministers offered personal apologies and compensation to individuals, but the tide turned back when Prime Minister Shinzo denied the military’s involvement and only backtracked somewhat to stem the controversy during his first official visit to the United States in April 2007. At the same time, on April 27, 2007, the Japanese Supreme Court rejected claims for compensation of sex slaves while acknowledging the military’s direct involvement in one particular case. In June 2007, 44 Japanese members of Parliament bought a full-page ad in the Washington Post alleging the women were well paid prostitutes. The surviving women continue to press for action.

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April 26, 1986 - Chernobyl

Wed, 26 Apr 2017 06:01:47 GMT

Chernobyl nuclear power plant explodes.The Chernobyl nuclear power plant, located 80 miles north of Kiev in the Ukraine, was the site of the world’s worst nuclear power disaster. On April 26, 1986 at 1:21 a.m., workers at the power plant were conducting a routine test of reactor No. 4 when suddenly a chain reaction caused explosions and a huge fireball blew the steel and concrete lid right off. The radioactive particles released were equivalent to 30 or 40 times the radioactivity of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While 400,000 people had to be evacuated and resettled, the known fatalities are 59 – 50 of which were rescue workers from exposure to radiation and nine children who developed thyroid cancer. Meanwhile, the radioactive particles drifted over many parts of the world, badly contaminating parts of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. Despite the magnitude of the catastrophe, the Soviet Union released no information about the explosion for three days.Early reports from the United Nations stated that more than 8.4 million people in the three affected countries had been exposed. However, many years later a panel of more than 100 experts gathered at a United Nations forum to study the effects. They estimated that approximately 4,000 of the 600,000 people exposed in the worst affected regions could eventually die from cancer and leukemia. Critics of the forum’s report expect the numbers will be much higher. Although the true number of casualties will never be known, the fear of nuclear radiation in these areas, and for others close to other nuclear power plants, remains high. And as the world searches for alternatives to global-warming energy sources, nuclear power is coming back into fashion, however with heightened vigilance for human safety.

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April 25, 1979 - Georges Forest

Tue, 25 Apr 2017 06:01:20 GMT

Manitoba top court rules that English-only laws are unconstitutional.In 1976, Georges Forest was issued a parking ticket in Winnipeg, Manitoba and fined $5. Instead of paying this, he challenged the ticket with documentation in French, and thus began one of Canada’s most contentious debates on the rights of French language outside of Quebec. On April 25, 1979, the Manitoba Court of Appeal agreed with Forest that Manitoba’s English-only aspect of the 1890 Official Languages Act was unconstitutional, as it conflicted with Manitoba’s constitutional guarantees of allowing both French and English in the courts and legislature. The Manitoba Act also stated that all statutes must be printed in both French and English. While the court was unwilling to invalidate all of Manitoba’s laws, which would throw the province into chaos, it did ask the Manitoba government to fix the problem. Years later the NDP government began negotiations with the province’s Francophone community to make Manitoba Canada’s second officially bilingual province. Many Manitobans reacted with outrage and protests. The official Opposition, Progressive Conservatives, walked out of the legislature, grinding all legislative activity to a halt. The government eventually backed down, and in 1985, when Canada’s Supreme Court agreed with the Manitoba Court of Appeal decision, the province began the long process of translating all laws into French. Today all laws in Manitoba are published in both official languages and the province has greatly expanded its services in French.

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April 24, 1915 - Armenian Genocide

Mon, 24 Apr 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Genocide strikes Armenian people.During World War I, the Ottoman Empire (most of that area is now Turkey) worried about a Russian invasion. Ottoman Turks felt threatened by Russia’s support for Ottoman Armenians’ desire for an independent state. They decided to round up, then execute or deport, all of the estimated two million Armenians within their borders. The slaughter began on April 24, 1915. Many Armenians died during forced marches into the deserts of what are now Iraq and Syria. Most of the killings and deportations took place between 1915 and 1917, but reports indicate they continued until 1923. How many were actually killed, and whether the events constituted “genocide,” remain topics of debate. Turkey acknowledges 300,000 dead, but refuses to call it systematic killing or genocide, arguing that not just Armenians were targeted. Armenians themselves say they lost 1.5 million people, and remain horrified that the debate over whether it was genocide continues. After years of debate in Canada, Members of Parliament passed a resolution on April 21, 2004 which states, "That this House acknowledges the Armenian genocide of 1915 and condemns this act as a crime against humanity.” Every April 24th, Armenians around the world press for acknowledgement of what took place, and for justice.

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April 23, 1975 - Vietnam Wars Ends

Sun, 23 Apr 2017 06:01:19 GMT

U.S. President Gerald Ford declares Vietnam War over.The Vietnamese War, a war that defined a generation, was coming to an end in the early 1970s. As casualties mounted, so did pressure on Nixon’s Republican administration. Following Nixon’s resignation, President Gerald Ford and U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger brokered deals with North Vietnamese Foreign Secretary Le Duc Tho in 1972 and 1973, for the return of American prisoners and to allow the South Vietnamese government to stay in some kind of power. As American troops withdrew, however, the NorthVietnamese ignored their promises and sent troops to fill their places. On April 23, 1975, President Gerald Ford gave a speech at Tulane University, New Orleans, in which he said that from an American perspective, the Vietnam War was finished. "Today, Americans can regain the sense of pride that existed before Vietnam. But it cannot be achieved by re-fighting a war." Within days, the North Vietnamese Army took control of most of the South. On April 30th, the last 10 Marines were evacuated from the American embassy in Saigon, soon renamed Ho Chi Minh City. More than 50,000 American soldiers had been killed and six times that many wounded, while Vietnam itself lost an estimated one million soldiers and civilians.

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April 22, 1970 - Gaylord Nelson

Sat, 22 Apr 2017 06:01:42 GMT

U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson starts first Earth Day.Troubled by the state of the environment, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin convinced U.S. President Kennedy to initiate a five-day, 11-state conservation tour in September 1963. The tour didn’t put the environment on the national agenda, but Nelson didn’t give up. Years later he was so impressed with the impact of teach-ins during the Vietnam War that he decided to copy the idea for the environment. While at a conference in Seattle in September 1969, Nelson announced that a nation-wide grassroots demonstration would take place in the spring of 1970. From that point forward, his senatorial staff couldn’t keep up. The former two-term state governor and three-term U.S. senator knew there was support, but was surprised politicians never took the issue seriously. When the New York Times did a lengthy article about the upcoming event, he knew it would be a success. And what a success it was. This first attempt on April 22, 1970 drew 20 million participants. American Heritage magazine called it, “one of the most remarkable happenings in the history of democracy.” As the degradation of the planet moved beyond a passing interest, more people wanted to save the earth from global warming and rampant consumerism at all cost. Earth Day is now observed in 175 countries. Earth Day Network, a non-profit organization coordinating the event, says it is "the largest secular holiday in the world, celebrated by more than a half billion people every year.” In 1995 President Bill Clinton awarded retired Senator Gaylord Nelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honour given to civilians in the United States. Nelson died on July 3, 2005.

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April 21, 1995 - David Lam

Fri, 21 Apr 2017 06:01:47 GMT

David Lam, Canada’s first Chinese Canadian lieutenant governor, retires.David See-Chai Lam was born in Hong Kong in 1923 where, as the grandson of a Baptist minister, he was brought up Christian. Lam received an economics degree from Lingnan University in China and an MBA from Temple University in Philadelphia. While working in banking in Hong Kong, he married his wife Dorothy, with whom they had three daughters. The family immigrated to Canada in 1967 and became Canadian citizens shortly thereafter. After a very successful career in development and investing, Lam turned to philanthropic interests; he and Dorothy bestowed many gifts on educational and community institutions. In 1987, Lam received an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of British Columbia. It was the first of many such university honours. When, on September 8, 1988, Lam was sworn in as British Columbia's 25th lieutenant governor, he became Canada’s first Chinese Canadian to hold the vice-regal post. During his term, Lam urged immigrants to contribute to Canada, not just stay within their community. On April 21, 1995, Lam retired from his vice-regal post and carried on with his philanthropic pursuits.

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April 20, 1887 - Margaret Newton

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 06:01:21 GMT

Future research scientist Margaret Newton is born.Margaret Newton was born on April 20, 1887 in Montreal, Quebec. Four of the five Newton children, including Margaret, earned a Ph.D in agriculture. Margaret, after attaining her education degree, also took an interest in agriculture and was admitted to Macdonald College, the agricultural faculty for McGill University. There, she successfully petitioned the dean of the college to allow women to use the laboratories at night, even though women students were supposed to be in their residences by 10 p.m. At Macdonald, Newton studied rust diseases suffered by wheat, which were devastating farmers at the time. In 1918, she became the first woman to obtain a degree in agriculture from Macdonald College, and she did so with awards and peer recognition. She spent six months in Saskatoon and six in Minnesota while working on her Ph.D, becoming the first Canadian woman with a doctorate in agricultural science. She worked at the Dominion Rust Research Laboratory in Winnipeg for many years before retiring in 1945. Her work saved Canadian farmers millions of bushels of wheat and millions of dollars. Newton received numerous awards for her work, as well as an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of Saskatchewan. The University of Victoria honoured her by naming a student residence “Margaret Newton Hall.” Newton died in Victoria, B.C. on April 6, 1971.

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April 19, 1907 - Tom Longboat

Wed, 19 Apr 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Tom Longboat wins Boston Marathon and breaks record by five minutes.In 1999 MacLean’s magazine named Tom Longboat the top Canadian sports figure of the 20th century. Born on the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford, Ontario on June 4, 1887, Thomas “Tom” Longboat was spotted at a young age for his running abilities. In 1906 Longboat broke the Canadian record by two and a half minutes for a ten-mile race in Toronto. He would end up breaking every Canadian record for distances of a mile or longer. On April 19, 1907, not yet 20, Longboat ran the Boston Marathon. In reporting the race, the New York Times referred to “unfavourable conditions” which were in fact rain, sleet and cold winds. For the first five miles Longboat stayed behind the leaders. Then, one by one, he overtook them. He finished with a time of two hours, 24 minutes and 20 seconds, almost five minutes faster than the previous record and more than two and a half minutes ahead of anyone else. Longboat wasn’t able to compete the following year, as he had been deemed professional, but he continued to race, attracting many fans and much media attention. In 1916 Longboat enlisted in the Army and became a messenger in France. He returned home to find that his wife Lauretta had remarried due to an incorrect report she’d received that he was dead.Eventually, he married Martha Sliversmith and they had four children. Longboat worked at various jobs during the Depression, eventually working almost 20 years for the City of Toronto. Longboat died on January 9, 1949. At the 100th anniversary of the Boston Marathon, Longboat’s 87-year-old daughter, Phyllis Winnie and other aboriginal Canadians turned up to honour his legacy.

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April 18, 1906 - Bertha von Suttner

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 06:01:36 GMT

Baroness Bertha von Suttner becomes first woman to win Nobel Peace prize.Baroness Bertha Felicie Sophie von Suttner was born into aristocracy and a military family as the Countess Kinsky on June 9, 1843 in Prague. In adulthood, the Baroness moved to Paris to work as Alfred Nobel’s secretary, then to Vienna to marry Baron Arthur Gundaccar von Suttner. To escape her disapproving in-laws, the couple moved again and lived a meagre life, teaching language and music, and writing. Bertha, who became a successful writer, gravitated toward the topic of peace. When she learned of the Arbitration and Peace Association in London, she wrote her second serious book The Machine Age, criticizing the world and the destructive nature of nationalism and armaments. In 1889, she wrote the compelling novel, Lay Down Your Arms, describing the effects of war. This made her a leader of the peace movement, about which she corresponded frequently with her former employer, Nobel. Only when Nobel died did she discover through his will that he had established a peace prize – a prize she herself would win on April 18, 1906, the first woman to do so. Throughout her life, von Suttner (with her husband until he died in 1902) spoke all over the world, organized and attended conferences and wrote – all toward the goal of promoting peace. Her death on June 21, 1914 spared her from witnessing the start of World War I just two months later.

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April 17, 1982 - Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Mon, 17 Apr 2017 06:01:52 GMT

Canada’s new constitution puts Charter of Rights and Freedoms into effect.For decades, Canadian politicians who wanted to cut constitutional ties with England made unsuccessful attempts to amend the country’s constitution. After nine short months on the opposition benches of parliament, Pierre Trudeau and his Liberals came back into power in 1980. From that point forward, Trudeau put much of his energy into patriating the constitution once and for all. After much debate and wrangling, the federal government and all provinces except Quebec agreed to a new constitutional amending formula and to a new Charter of Rights and Freedoms which stirred great controversy. Where in the past, Parliament had always had the final say on legislation, the Charter gave Canadian courts the ability to strike down or alter legislation that conflicted with the substance of the constitution. On April 17, 1982, the queen ushered in the new constitution by signing it into law in an historic ceremony on the steps of Ottawa’s House of Commons. Today, while still controversial to some, the equality provisions of the charter are one of the most revered pieces of Canada’s Constitution.

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April 16, 1992 - David Milgaard

Sun, 16 Apr 2017 06:01:29 GMT

David Milgaard, wrongfully convicted for murder, released after 22 years in prison.When 20-year-old Gail Miller was raped and stabbed to death in January 1969 in Saskatoon, a 16-year-old who’d been passing through town at the time, David Milgaard, became a suspect despite his protests of innocence. A year later, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Neither the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal nor the Supreme Court of Canada were willing to reverse the decision, but Joyce Milgaard’s relentless efforts to get her son freed continued. In 1991, under mounting pressure, Justice Minister Kim Campbell directed the Supreme Court of Canada to review Milgaard’s case. The court ordered a new trial that ended up ordering his release. After more than 22 years in prison, Milgaard finally walked away from the Stony Mountain federal penitentiary on April 16, 1992. The Saskatchewan government chose not to re-try Milgaard. Five years later, DNA evidence proved he was not Miller’s killer. Finally, in 1999, Larry Fisher – who lived a block from the scene of Miller’s death – was convicted of the rape and murder. The Saskatchewan government apologized to Milgaard on July 18, 1997 which was the same day sophisticated DNA tests proved he did not commit the murder. The federal government paid him and his family $10 million in May of 1999 and established an inquiry in 2005.

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April 15, 1998 - Pol Pot

Sat, 15 Apr 2017 06:01:00 GMT

Former Cambodian dictator Pol Pot dies.Pol Pot was born Saloth Sar on May 19, 1925 in Cambodia. Though he did not graduate from high school, he studied in Paris, where he developed a strong interest in the teachings of Marx and Lenin and linked up with other Cambodians pursuing communism.After returning to Cambodia in 1953, he took a leadership role in the country’s communist parties and by 1963, headed up the Workers’ Party of Kampuchea, later known as the Khmer Rouge. At first, the American government supported the Khmer Rouge, but then worked against it. Between 1969 and 1973, the U.S. secretly carpet-bombed Cambodia, unintentionally enhancing the Khmer Rouge’s appeal among Cambodians. Pot and his party controlled most of the country by 1975, when they began “purifying” the country of capitalism, foreign influence and religion. Millions of people were forceably moved from the cities to live agrarian lives. During Pot’s less than four years in power, between 1.5 and 3 million people died from hard labour, starvation, disease – or execution in what was known as the “killing fields.” When Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1978, Pot and his party fled to the far reaches of the country, where they led a guerilla war for more than 20 years. In 1997, the Khmer Rouge convicted Pot of the murder of a family. He died on April 15, 1998 – officially of a heart attack, although the real cause is unknown.

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April 14, 1865 - Abraham Lincoln

Fri, 14 Apr 2017 06:01:43 GMT

U.S. President Abraham Lincoln shot.Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in a one-room log cabin on Nolin Creek, Kentucky. Between supporting his family and himself, he found little time for study. But after venturing into business with limited success, he finally found a way to study and then practice law.He delivered his first speech at the age of 21, then poured himself into politics, eventually joining the newly formed Republican Party. On November 6, 1860, Lincoln became the first Republican president of the United States. It wasn’t to be an easy ride; shortly after the election, a number of Southern states seceded from the Union over the issue of slavery, which Lincoln strongly opposed. Just five weeks after Lincoln was sworn in, the American Civil War began on April 12, 1861, causing numerous casualties on both the Union and Confederate sides. The war finally ended April 9, 1865, as General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant. Five days later, on April 14, 1865, while the president and First Lady were watching a play, John Wilkes Booth shot the president in the head. Lincoln died shortly after 7 a.m. the next morning. The 13th amendment to the U.S. constitution, which abolished slavery, was proclaimed in December of that same year, with enough states ratifying the amendment. This fulfilled Lincoln’s wish, but not all states signed on right away. While the abolition of slavery was the law, three states waited until the next century to “sign on.” Mississippi was the last state to ratify the 13th amendment on March 16, 1995.

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April 13, 1964 - Sidney Poitier

Thu, 13 Apr 2017 06:01:14 GMT

Sidney Poitier becomes first black male actor to win an Oscar.When Sidney Poitier became the first black man to win an Academy Award for best actor, it was not without controversy. Just for pecking him on the cheek as she presented him with the Oscar on April 13, 1964, actress Ann Bancroft was called scandalous in the U.S. Poitier won the award for his role in the movie Lilies of the Field. In the film, he played construction worker Homer Smith, a man who built a church for a group of nuns. After growing up in poverty in the Bahamas, Poitier moved to New York, only to have difficulty landing acting jobs due to his Bahaman accent. He finally played a doctor alongside Richard Widmark in the 1950 movie, No Way Out. His big break came five years later in The Blackboard Jungle, after which he built a career known for challenging American stereotypes of blacks. His first on-screen inter-racial kiss with actress Katharine Hepburn in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and his portrayal of a police detective in In the Heat of the Night, both in 1967, went against American conventions. So did recognizing blacks at the Oscars. It had been a long 25 years since Hattie McDaniel (the first African American to win an Oscar) had clinched best supporting actress in 1939 for her role in Gone with the Wind. Even after Poitier finally won an Oscar title without the word “supporting,” blacks had to wait 35 years to see Denzel Washington and Halle Berry win Oscars for best actor and best actress, respectively. That was 2002, the same year Poitier was given a lifetime achievement award at the Academy Awards.

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April 12, 1980 - Terry Fox

Wed, 12 Apr 2017 06:01:02 GMT

Terry Fox begins his cross-Canada run for cancer research.Terry Fox was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on July 28, 1958, and raised in Port Coquitlam, B.C. His last year of high school, he shared the Athlete of the Year award with a friend. While studying physical education at Simon Fraser University, he was diagnosed with bone cancer and suffered his right leg being amputated six inches above the knee. Suddenly keenly aware of cancer research’s lack of funds, he made it his mission to raise $1 for every person living in Canada – 24 million at the time. Fox began his “Marathon of Hope” when he dipped his artificial leg into the Atlantic Ocean in Saint John’s, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980.He ran 143 days through six provinces and 5,373 kilometres, only to be forced to end his journey outside Thunder Bay, Ontario, when his cancer spread to his lungs. Shortly after Fox arrived home in B.C. for treatment, Governor General Edward Schreyer flew there to name him the youngest person to become a Companion of the Order of Canada – the country’s highest honour. On June 28, 1981, Terry Fox died at the Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, B.C. In commemoration, thousands of Canadians participate in the Terry Fox Run every year in September. Together, they’ve raised hundreds of millions of dollars for cancer research.

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April 11, 1940 - Joseph Adelard Godbout

Tue, 11 Apr 2017 06:01:34 GMT

Quebec Premier Godbout grants women the vote.The man who granted Quebec women the right to vote was a former agronomist: Joseph Adélard Godbout, born in Saint-Éloi, Quebec in 1892 and elected to the legislative assembly of Quebec in 1929. After various cabinet portfolios, he became leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec and premier in 1936. A progressive leader, he established Hydro Quebec and brought in free, compulsory education for children aged six to 14. Despite clergy opposition, he fought to break through years of failed attempts to give Quebec women the vote – even threatening to resign if the church did not stop its aggressive campaign against universal suffrage. His Bill 18 finally passed on April 11, 1940. A year later, women were given the chance to vote and run for municipal office. 1944 would be the first year women were actually able to cast their vote in a provincial election.

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April 10, 1950 - Nancy Hodges

Mon, 10 Apr 2017 06:01:51 GMT

Nancy Hodges, B.C. MLA, becomes British Empire’s first legislative woman Speaker.Nancy Hodges was born in London, England in 1888, the ninth of 10 children. After university and work as a journalist, she and her husband Harry Hodges moved to Kamloops, B.C. in 1912, where they edited the Inland Sentinel. A few years later they moved to Victoria to work for the Victoria Times. Here, Nancy Hodge’s writing championed women’s causes and she actively involved herself with the Liberal Party. In 1941 she was elected to the B.C. legislature, one of only five women. Hodges was known as a great debater and passionate about women’s issues. She came out against taking away jobs from single women to make way for WW II vets and called for women to be included in workers’ compensation benefits. When she was appointed Speaker of the legislature on April 10, 1950, she made history as the first woman in the British Commonwealth to hold such a position. Her prominent role came with its drawbacks as Hodges noted she would no longer be able to take part in debates. She said, “I’ll doubtless find it hard to restrain myself at times.” However her strong speaking skills and commanding voice came in handy by keeping the sometimes unruly MLAs in check. Hodges continued to write newspaper columns while in the legislature and she became a welcomed speaker with women throughout North America. Although defeated in the 1953 election, she was soon appointed to the Canadian Senate – the first British Columbia MLA to take a seat in the Red Chamber. Hodges retired from the Senate in 1965 and returned home to Victoria in poor health. She died in 1969.

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April 9, 1017, Vimy Ridge

Sun, 09 Apr 2017 06:01:42 GMT

Canadian troops begin battle to reclaim Vimy Ridge in France.On a ridge 12 kilometres northeast of Arras, France, in September 1914, the German Army constructed and fortified a site with bunkers, caves and artillery-proof trenches. Vimy Ridge’s height gave them such good observation powers that attacking forces failed to penetrate it for years. While the Germans destroyed Arras with heavy artillery, French attempts to seize control of the ridge cost them some 150,000 casualties. In early April 1917, British troops commenced heavy artillery fire on the Germans in hopes of wearing them down and influencing them to concentrate defences in the wrong location. Then Canadian troops, which had been practicing to attack the ridge under the command of British General Julian Byng, struck. At dawn on April 9, 1917, four Canadian divisions consisting of 20,000 men attacked Vimy Ridge, recapturing much of it within hours and completing the task within three days. Although the victory came at a cost of 10,602 wounded and 3,598 killed, it has long been regarded as a defining moment for Canada as a nation. In 1922, the French government gave Vimy Ridge to Canada in perpetuity, and in 1936, Canada unveiled a large sculpture, the largest of Canada’s war monuments, near Vimy honouring the 66,655 Canadians who lost their lives during World War I. Another 172,950 Canadians were wounded.

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April 8, 1953 - Jomo Kenyatta

Sat, 08 Apr 2017 06:01:21 GMT

Kenya’s future president, Jomo Kenyatta, sentenced to seven years’ hard labour.White Europeans controlled Kenya, like much of Africa, from the early 1900’s onward. (Kenya officially became a British colony in 1920) Tribal resentment of this grew until the country’s Kikuyu tribe launched a secret society and the Mau Mau movement in 1947. Eager to rid their country of the thousands of white settlers who had seized African land after World War II, the Mau Maus utilized such violent tactics that by 1952, the government found it necessary to declare a state of emergency. White authorities arrested hundreds of Mau Mau members, as well as Jomo Kenyatta, an individual whom many historians contend was not involved with the group. But during his trial, Kenyatta refused to denounce the Mau Mau’s actions. On April 8, 1953, he was found guilty and sentenced to seven years’ hard labour. He not only survived this, but two years after his release, became president of the Kenya African Union – and then, in June 1963, the country’s first prime minister. By 1964, Kenya had severed ties with the British monarchy and become a republic with Kenyatta as its president. The government of Kenya finally lifted the ban on the Mau Mau in 2003.

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April 7, 1837 - Anderson Ruffin Abbott

Fri, 07 Apr 2017 06:01:14 GMT

Canada’s first black doctor, Anderson Ruffin Abbott, is born.Wilson Ruffin Abbott and Ellen Toyer lived in Alabama before moving to Toronto, Ontario, where they acquired property and Wilson became active in politics. On April 7, 1837, their son Anderson Ruffin Abbott was born. After excelling at school, the young Abbott graduated from the Toronto School of Medicine in 1857 and continued with studies at the University of Toronto. After studying under a foreign-born black doctor, Alexander Thomas Augusta, Abbott obtained his license from the Medical Board of Upper Canada and became Canada’s first Canadian-born black doctor in 1861.In 1863 he signed on as a medical cadet in a “colored” regiment for the Union Army during the American Civil War, and eventually became a civilian surgeon for the military. He worked at hospitals in Washington, D.C., receiving high praise for his work. In April 1865, when President Abraham Lincoln was shot, Abbott was on duty, and tended to him as he died. In gratitude, Mary Todd Lincoln presented Abbott with a shawl Lincoln wore during his first presidential inauguration. A year later, Abbott returned to Toronto, and in 1871 was admitted to the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons. That same year he married Mary Ann Casey and moved to Chatham, Ontario. There they had three daughters and two sons. Abbott became a prominent member of the Chatham community: promoting the education of students in a non-segregated environment, becoming a coroner, writing for various journals and taking leadership roles in literary and medical organizations. Abbott continued to write and advocate for education and the integration of blacks and whites until he died in December 1913.

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April 6, 1895 - Oscar Wilde

Thu, 06 Apr 2017 06:01:08 GMT

Oscar Wilde arrested for sodomy and gross indecency.Renowned poet Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born on October 16, 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. An avid and award-winning scholar, he excelled especially in classics and poetry. After graduating from Oxford, Wilde moved to London, where he published his first collection of poetry. Throughout 1882, he toured the United States, delivering lectures on aesthetics and meeting with such famous writers as Longfellow, Holmes and Whitman. After touring Britain and Ireland, Wilde married Constance Lloyd in 1884; they had two sons over the next two years. Shortly thereafter, Wilde created some of his most noted works, including children’s stories and his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Although the novel’s homoerotic nature garnered Wilde negative attention, he went on to establish himself as a playwright with highly acclaimed and financially successful plays such as An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest. When Wilde met Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas, they became lovers for almost four years, until Wilde was arrested for sodomy and gross indecency on April 6, 1895. Convicted and sentenced to two years of hard labour in a London prison, he suffered ill health effects. After his release, he secluded himself in Europe until he died on November 30, 1900, in a Paris hotel under the name of Sebastion Melmoth.

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April 5, 1917 - British Columbia Women Vote

Wed, 05 Apr 2017 06:01:51 GMT

British Columbia women granted the right to vote.Canadian women were never formally and legally denied the right to vote until the 1867 British North America Act spelled out the exclusion. It was now up to the provinces to overturn that, and they did, one by one, initially for white women. Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta led the way in 1916. In British Columbia, the Political Equality League presented Conservative Premier Sir Richard McBride with a petition of 10,000 signatures in 1912. When he refused to grant their request, suffragists shifted their support to the Liberals. The 1916 general election ran a referendum question on the ballot asking men if they wanted to extend the vote to women. The “yeahs” outnumbered the “nays” more than two to one. On April 5, 1917, Liberal Premier Harlan Brewster delivered on his promise and the referendum results to give B.C. women the vote.

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April 4, 1968 - Martin Luther King

Tue, 04 Apr 2017 06:01:54 GMT

Civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated.Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. A bright student, he skipped grades nine and 12 and entered college at age 15. He graduated with a bachelor of arts, a bachelor of divinity, and a Ph.D. in theology by 1955, not to mention many awards and recognition from fellow students. During his studies, at the age of only 19, King was ordained as a Baptist minister at the Ebenezer Baptist church in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1953, he married Coretta Scott and they raised four children while he became increasingly involved in promoting rights for black Americans. While not the only black activist at the time, King was often seen as the face and voice of liberation for blacks. He was president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, the group responsible for the Montgomery bus boycott in the mid-1950s. His involvement with the civil rights movement got him arrested 30 times, never deterring him from his writing, speeches and protests, which garnered him the Nobel Peace prize in 1964.Four years later, on April 3, 1968, King delivered a speech that mentioned threats on his life. “But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop and I don’t mind… I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”The next morning, on April 4, 1968, King was killed by an assassin while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

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April 3, 1992 - Congregation of Christian Brothers

Mon, 03 Apr 2017 06:01:02 GMT

A 25-year wait for apology ends for orphanage’s abuse victims.The Roman Catholic lay order of the Congregation of Christian Brothers began running an orphanage in St. John’s, Newfoundland in 1892. The first formal complaints of sexual, physical and psychological abuse were levelled in 1970. Newfoundland police investigated the first serious allegations in 1975. After 12 years of stalls and cover-ups, former Catholic priest James Hickey went to jail for five years; others followed. When more victims came forward, the orphanage was forced to close in 1990. On April 3, 1992, the Congregation of the Christian Brothers formally apologized to the abused victims and announced that the orphanage would be torn down and the land sold to pay for programs for the former residents. Although legal battles continued for years, little compensation went to the victims. Eventually, victims’ lawyers tried a new tactic and searched for other Christian Brothers property. Finally, on the other side of the country, Vancouver College and St. Thomas More Collegiate, run by the Christian Brothers of Canada, agreed to pay the victims $19 million in a settlement that nearly lost them their schools. The legal battle for compensation continued for years to come.

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April 2, 1998 - Delwin Vriend

Sun, 02 Apr 2017 18:55:06 GMT

Sexual orientation is “read in” to Alberta’s human rights legislation.Delwin Vriend worked as a laboratory coordinator for King’s College in Edmonton, Alberta, until fired when the institution discovered he was gay. When Vriend filed a complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission, he was told that sexual orientation was not a protected ground in Alberta. Vriend and others took their case to court, where the judge agreed there should be protection for gay men and lesbians. The court “read in” sexual orientation as a protected ground (that is, included it in their human rights legislation), but found that move overturned by a majority in the Alberta Court of Appeal.On April 2, 1998, the Supreme Court of Canada agreed with the original trial judge and read in sexual orientation, saying that denying gays and lesbians protection from discrimination is contrary to the equality provisions of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The court stated that although adding protections the legislature had not might be somewhat intrusive, it was much better than striking down the entire act and therefore depriving all Albertans of human rights protections. Premier Ralph Klein considered overriding the court’s decision, as allowed in the Charter, but hurtful public opinion swayed him to conclude that gays and lesbians really were in need of legal protections. While Albertans now receive sexual orientation protection from the Supreme Court, overt wording of this has yet to be passed by the province’s legislature.

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April 1, 1990 - Yukon Aboriginals

Sat, 01 Apr 2017 06:01:02 GMT

Yukon aboriginals sign massive land claim deal with Ottawa.Fourteen aboriginal bands, through the Council for Yukon Indians, negotiated with the federal government to settle land claims in the Yukon Territory for 17 years. Although the council had hoped to win the entire territory, it finally signed a deal on April 1, 1990. The bands would receive $232 million and 41,440 square kilometres of land, representing 8.6 per cent of all the Yukon Territory. The parties had reached an agreement in principle a year earlier, but took until their self-imposed deadline to work out the details. The council and the federal and territorial cabinets ratified the final agreement in 1993. Although at the time, the parties still had to work out individual settlement issues for each of the bands, as well as negotiations on self-government, the agreement represented one of the biggest steps in recent Canadian history to rectify land claims amongst the aboriginal population.

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