1 OCTOBER 1944
Battle of the Scheldt begins; the First Canadian Army has a hard slog to open the port of Antwerp.
Buffalo amphibious vehicles taking troops across the Scheldt. [Public Archives of Canada]
The U.S. anti-terrorism campaign is boosted by NATO’s affirmation that an attack on one member is an attack on all.
NATO FLAG
3 OCTOBER 1914
The first contingent of 30,000 in the Canadian Expeditionary Force sails from Quebec to join war efforts in Europe.
4 OCTOBER 2002
Queen Elizabeth II starts her Golden Jubilee tour of Canada.
Queen Elizabeth II
5 OCTOBER 1786
Prince William, later King William IV, is the first member of the royal family to visit Canada.
King William IV in dress uniform painted by Sir Martin Archer Shee, c.1800 [The National Portrait Gallery History of the Kings and Queens of England by David Williamson, ISBN 1855142287.]
The War of 1812 peace treaty returns Fort Astoria on the Columbia River to the United States.
U.S. Senate approves the Treaty of Ghent. The War of 1812 comes to an end. [LAC]
The United Nations recommends “all appropriate steps be taken to ensure conditions of stability throughout Korea.”
Escott Reid, Alternate representative of the Dept. of External Affairs and Chairman of the United Nations Commitee on Procedures and Oraganization. [LAC]
The Chinese People’s Volunteers to Aid Korea is formed under orders of Mao Zedong.
Mao Zedong.
9 OCTOBER 1874
After a harrowing three-month march, the Northwest Mounted Police reach Fort Whoop-Up (in present-day Alberta) only to find the whisky traders have fled.
10 OCTOBER 1970
The Quebec government refuses to free Front de Libération de Quebec prisoners; Labour Minister Pierre Laporte is kidnapped.
11 OCTOBER 1944
The 1st Canadian Infantry Division returns to the Gothic Line in Italy.
12 OCTOBER 1492
Christopher Columbus lands in the New World.
Portrait of a Man, said to be Christopher Columbus. [Sebastiano del Piombo – Metropolitan Museum of Art, online collection]
NATO orders air strikes to drive Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic from Kosovo.
14 OCTOBER 1940
HMCS Skeena rescues 220 survivors of HMS Cheshire, torpedoed in the North Atlantic.
15 OCTOBER 1951
Royal Canadian Air Force Ground Observer Corps is formed and attracts 50,000 civilians.
A Ground Observer Corps post in rural Canada. [PHOTO: CANADIAN FORCES MUSEUM OF AEROSPACE DEFENCE—PC455]
The new Comité National des Métis forms to discuss rights with Ottawa and elects Louis Riel as secretary.
Louis Riel (1844-1885) was the Métis spokesman, founder of Manitoba, teacher, and leader of the North-West Resistance. [LAC]
Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte is murdered by the FLQ.
Front de liberation du Quebec (FLQ) at Pierre Laporte funeral. [Credit: Frank Prazak / Library and Archives Canada / PA-206661]
Women are declared persons before the law in Canada, and can vote, own property and serve as judges.
19 OCTOBER 1864
Confederate fugitives hiding in Montreal cross the border to rob banks and torch St. Albans, Vermont. It is the northernmost stretch of the American Civil War.
19 OCTOBER- 22 NOVEMBER 1914
The First Battle of Ypres.
20 OCTOBER 1818
The U.S. and Britain agree on boundaries from Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains.
21 OCTOBER 1940
Nine days after S.S. Saint Malo is torpedoed, 16 survivors, mostly Canadian, leave their lifeboat to join that of a different downed ship. All are rescued the next day.
22 OCTOBER 1692
With little help, 14-year-old Madeleine de Verchères defends her home east of Montreal against Iroquois siege for eight days.
23 OCTOBER 1952
Eighteen Canadians are killed, 35 wounded, 14 taken prisoner as Chinese troops attack Hill 355 in Korea.
24 OCTOBER 1971
United Nations Day is declared.
25 OCTOBER 1973
A United Nations Emergency Force is established to supervise the Egypt-Israel ceasefire after the Yom Kippur War. Canada sends 1,145 peacekeepers.
26 OCTOBER 1917
Three Canadians are awarded the Victoria Cross for heroic action on the first day of the 2nd Battle of Passchendaele.
Battle of Passchendaele, men carrying a wounded soldier through the mud. [Legion Magazines Archives]
Billy Barker takes on swarms of enemy planes, bringing down several despite severe wounds, before a crash landing.
28 OCTOBER 1790
On present-day Vancouver Island, Spain signs an agreement with Britain to end its Pacific Northwest monopoly.
29 OCTOBER 1942
The Canadian Intelligence Corps is authorized.
30 OCTOBER 2009
A landmine kills Steven Marshall while on foot patrol in Panjwaii district southwest of Kandahar, Afghanistan.
31 OCTOBER 1995
Premier Jacques Parizeau resigns after a narrow loss in the Quebec sovereignty referendum.
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