1 November 1914
Four recent graduates of the Royal Naval College of Canada are among those lost when Germany’s Asiatic Squadron sinks HMS Good Hope. They are Canada’s first naval casualties of the war.
2 November 1869
With a band of 120 armed men, Louis Riel occupies Fort Garry (now Winnipeg).
3 November 1997
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien destroys the last of Canada’s landmine stocks in Kanata, Ont., to increase awareness of the Canada-sponsored worldwide landmine ban.
4 November 1924
The first flight of the Canadian Vickers Vedette prototype takes place in Montreal.
5 November 1914
Britain and France declare war on the Ottoman Empire.
6 November 1917
Canada and Britain launch an assault on the village of Passchendaele, which is captured by the 27th Battalion on the same day.
7 November 1867
The first session of the new Parliament of Canada opens with a speech read by Governor General Baron Charles Monck.
8 November 1946
Viola Desmond refuses to leave her seat in a whites-only section of a theatre in New Glasgow, N.S. Her defiance sparks the modern civil rights movement in Canada.
9 November 1951
The Royal 22nd Regiment conducts a raid on Hill 166 in Korea.
10 November 1941
For his attempts to save his pilot after their Tiger Moth crashed and burst into flames, Leading Aircraftman Karl Gravell is posthumously awarded the RCAF’s first George Cross.
11 November 1918
The First World War comes to an end; 619,636 Canadian men and women served, 66,655 died and 172,950 were wounded.
12 November 1944
Attacks by RAF squadrons sink the German Bismarck-class battleship Tirpitz.
13 November 1775
Brigadier-General Richard Montgomery’s Patriot army captures Montreal.
14 November 1940
The British city of Coventry is devastated by German bombers, with 568 citizens killed.
15 November 1942
While escorting a convoy, HMCS Saguenay is accidentally struck in the stern by freighter SS Azra, which sinks. Saguenay is towed to St. John’s.
16 November 1857
For actions in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Petty Officer First Class William Hall becomes the first Canadian naval recipient of the Victoria Cross.
17 November 2007
Private Michel Lévesque and Corporal Nicholas Raymond Beauchamp are killed when their light armoured vehicle hits a roadside bomb in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
18 November 1916
The four-month Battle of the Somme ends.
19 November 1940
An Order-in-Council authorizes the creation of a Canadian air cadet corps. The Air Cadet League of Canada is established on April 9, 1941.
20 November 1943
U-536 is sunk by navy ships Snowberry, Calgary and Nene in the North Atlantic.
21 November 1916
The largest ship lost in the First World War, hospital ship and sister to RMS Titanic, HMHS Britannic strikes a naval mine near Greece, sinking within 55 minutes.
22 November 1943
Group Commander Clarence R. Dunlap assumes command of 139 Wing, the only RCAF officer to command an RAF operational wing.
23-24 November 1854
Buffalo, N.Y.-based schooner Conductor runs aground on a sandbar off Long Point, Ont. Resident Abigail Becker wades through icy water to rescue the crew of seven and is later dubbed the Angel of Long Point for her heroism.
25 November 1950
2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry sets sail for Korea.
26 November 1915
Trenches on the Western Front are destroyed by three days of icy rain.
27 November 1885
Plains Cree chief Wandering Spirit is hanged in Battleford, Sask., for his involvement in the Frog Lake Massacre.
28 November 1812
Americans succeed in crossing the Niagara River during the Battle of Frenchman’s Creek. The invasion, however, is later called off, rendering the accomplishment useless.
29 November 1944
HMCS Sussexvale is commissioned at Quebec City.
30 November 1971
Paul Rose receives a life sentence for his part in the kidnapping of Quebec Deputy Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte.
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