Today in History for Sept. 30:
On this date:
In 1399, King Henry IV ascended the throne of England. He had usurped the crown from Richard II, beginning the Lancastrian dynasty and planting the seeds of the "Wars of the Roses."
In 1846, ether was used as an anesthetic for the first time. Dr. William Morton, a Massachusetts dentist, used the gas experimentally to make Eben Frost unconscious so he could extract an ulcerated tooth.
In 1871, British garrison troops throughout Canada were called home, to be replaced by Canadian militia.
In 1880, the first photograph was taken of a nebula, or space cloud.
In 1901, car registration in France became compulsory for vehicles driving over 28 km/h.
In 1907, Alexander Graham Bell formed the Aerial Experiment Association at Baddeck, N.S. The group built several successful gasoline-powered biplanes. McCurdy made the first manned flight in Canada on Feb. 23, 1909. The group also worked on hydrofoil boats.
In 1924, American novelist and short-story writer Truman Capote was born in New Orleans.
In 1927, Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees hit his 60th homer of the season, establishing a record that stood for 34 years.
In 1929, the first British Broadcasting Corporation television broadcast took place in London.
In 1938, the Munich agreement, which ceded a large section of Czechoslovakia to Germany, was signed by the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Italy. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain said it would guarantee "peace in our time," but it did not prevent Adolf Hitler from seizing the rest of Czechoslovakia in March, 1939.
In 1944, Canadian troops captured the port of Calais, France, during the Second World War.
In 1946, an international military tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany found 22 top Nazi leaders guilty of war crimes.
In 1947, Canada was elected to the United Nations Security Council to fill one of the elected two-year terms vacated by Australia, Poland and Brazil. In addition to the 10 elected, non-permanent members, the Council has five permanent members -- Britain, China, Russia, the United States, and France.
In 1949, the Berlin Airlift officially ended.
In 1950, the Canadian government announced its decision to free the exchange rate of the Canadian dollar. The dollar was pegged at 92.5 cents US in 1962, then allowed to float again about a decade later.
In 1953, John Galt's Canada Co. was formally liquidated at London, England. Chartered in 1826, the company played an important role in colonizing the western part of Upper Canada.
In 1953, McGill University in Montreal, announced the development of a radar defence system for North America.
In 1954, in Bonn, nine of the world's most powerful nations agreed on the arming of West Germany.
In 1954, the first nuclear-powered submarine, the "USS Nautilus," was commissioned by the U.S. Navy.
In 1963, the republic of Nigeria was proclaimed.
In 1966, the Bechuanaland Protectorate became independent and was renamed the Republic of Botswana.
In 1966, Canadian-born Lord Thomson of Fleet bought control of the "Times of London" newspaper.
In 1966, the Republic of Botswana became an independent and sovereign member of the Commonwealth.
In 1970, Telesat Canada and Hughes Aircraft Co. of California signed a $31- million contract to build Canada's first telecommunications satellite.
In 1974, RCMP officers prevented about 200 natives, members of the Native People's Caravan, from entering Parliament. The natives had attempted to break through a single line of police stationed 50 metres in front of Parliament. The Caravan, which began Sept. 15 in Vancouver, demanded settlement of territorial claims and better social conditions for native people.
In 1981, the International Olympic Committee chose Calgary as the site of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games.
In 1985, the Calgary-based Northland Bank collapsed -- the second failure of a western bank in a month. The Edmonton-based Canadian Commercial Bank closed its doors on September 1st.
In 1988, Carolyn Waldo won a gold medal in solo sychronized swimming at the Seoul Olympics. Two days later she won gold in the duet competition, becoming the first Canadian female to win two golds at a Summer Olympics.
In 1993, Canada's Supreme Court voted 5-4 to deny a Victoria woman's bid for a doctor-assisted suicide. The high court ruled Criminal Code sanctions against assisting in a suicide did not infringe on the rights of Sue Rodriguez. The following February, Rodriguez -- who had Lou Gehrig's disease -- committed suicide with the help of an unidentified doctor.
In 1993, the most deadly earthquake to strike India in half a century, hit across several villages across Maharashtra state in southwestern India, killing more than 20,000 people.
In 1994, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled a man accused of sexual assault could use the defence that he was too drunk to know what he was doing.
In 1997, France's Roman Catholic Church apologized for its silence during the systematic persecution and deportation of Jews by the pro-Nazi Vichy regime.
In 2000, at the Sydney Games, Marion Jones of the U.S. won Olympic gold in the women's 1,600-metre relay and bronze with the 400-metre squad — making her the first woman to win five track medals at one Olympics. (However, in 2007, Jones forfeited the three gold and two bronze medals after she admitted taking a designer steroid.)
In 2004, Merck & Co. Inc. pulled its arthritis drug Vioxx from pharmacies worldwide after discovering, in a new clinical trial, that the drug increased the risk of heart attack and stroke.
In 2004, the Russian government approved the Kyoto climate-change accord, which after ratification in parliament, would bring the treaty into legal force for member nations.
In 2004, Air Canada emerged from 18 months of bankruptcy protection.
In 2009, at least 1,100 people died in Indonesia after two large earthquakes hit 240 kilometres south of Padang, on Sumatra Island, in two days.
In 2009, Guy Laliberte, the creator of the famed Cirque de Soleil, became Canada's first "space tourist" aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Laliberte paid $35 million for the privilege and hoped his 12-day stay aboard the International Space Station would help raise awareness of drinking water problems around the world. He hosted the first multimedia event from the station on Oct. 9 to highlight that crisis.
In 2010, Fisher-Price recalled more than 10 million tricycles, toys and high chairs over safety concerns.
In 2011, notorious serial child killer Clifford Olson died in prison of cancer. He was 71. The self-proclaimed "Beast of British Columbia" tortured and killed 11 victims before he was caught in the summer of 1981. Olson pleaded guilty the following year after a controversial deal that saw police pay his wife $100,000 in exchange for help in finding victims' bodies. He was also reviled for continuing to taunt his victims' families from prison.
In 2011, in a precedent-setting ruling on the division of federal and provincial powers, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled against Ottawa's effort to close British Columbia's right to operate a supervised injection site for drug addicts.
In 2011, Ottawa and Quebec finally signed a $2.2 billion tax-harmonization deal in compensation for the province agreeing to combine the GST with its provincial sales tax nearly 20 years ago.
In 2012, Barbara Ann Scott, the only Canadian to win the Olympic women's figure skating gold medal, died at her Amelia Island, Fla. home at age 84. She won Olympic gold at the 1948 Winter Games at St. Moritz, Switzerland. Scott won the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's top athlete in 1945, 1947 and 1948. She was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1955 and the Canadian Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1991.
In 2013, the Kingston Penitentiary, Canada's most notorious federal prison, formally shut its doors after 178 years. It was designated a national historic site in 1990.
In 2015, the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles 15-2 to win the American League East Division title for the first time since 1993.
In 2017, a Somali national was arrested after a series of violent attacks that saw an Edmonton police officer stabbed and four pedestrians run down by a truck. A car rammed a traffic barricade at the Edmonton Eskimos game and an officer was stabbed. A few hours later, police chased a U-Haul cube van through the city and four pedestrians were injured.
In 2017, Winnipeg-born legendary TV game show host Monty Hall, best known for "Let's Make a Deal" which he co-created in 1963, died at age 96.
In 2018, Canada and the United States reached an agreement on a new North American trade pact at the 11th hour before a deadline to get the text before the existing U.S. Congress. It came after weeks of bitter, high-pressure negotiations and after the U.S. had already reached a deal with Mexico. If ratified by all three countries, the replacement for NAFTA would usher in key changes for the agriculture and automotive sectors, including granting the U.S. access to 3.6 per cent of the Canadian dairy market. It would also help Canada avoid the threat of punishing American tariffs but U.S. duties already in place on Canadian steel and aluminum imports remained in place.
In 2020, the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden was heavy on interruptions and personal attacks. Trump also refused to condemn white supremacists who have supported him.
In 2020, burning the midnight oil, parliamentarians unanimously passed Bill C-4 to usher in a new batch of COVID-19 benefits. For Canadians left jobless or underemployed because of the pandemic, the legislation supplanted the now-defunct CERB support program with a more flexible and generous employment insurance regime.
In 2020, the Toronto Blue Jays were eliminated from the playoffs after dropping an 8-2 decision to Tampa Bay. The Rays won two straight games in the best-of-three wild-card series. It was the Jays' first post-season appearance since 2016.
In 2021, Canada observed a sombre day on the inaugural National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It was a day to recognize the horrors of Canada's former residential school system and honour the lost children and survivors. The new national holiday granted a paid day off to federally regulated employees and public servants, and some provinces did the same for their workers.
In 2021, Labrador's Innu Nation ended its legal actions against Ottawa and the Newfoundland and Labrador government over a recent $5.2-billion refinancing deal for a troubled hydroelectricity project. The federal and provincial governments agreed to consult the Innu Nation about any future financial restructuring of hydroelectric projects on the Lower Churchill River in Labrador.
In 2021, the Metis National Council elected its first new leader in many years. Cassidy Caron, who previously served as youth minister with Metis Nation of B.C., is the first woman to take the role. Former president Clement Chartier had held the position since 2003, but in recent years there was internal turmoil with regional leaders calling for his resignation.
In 2021, a member of Saskatchewan's caucus resigned for misrepresenting her vaccination status. Nadine Wilson had represented the constituency of Saskatchewan Rivers since 2007, and remained as an MLA but would be considered an Independent in the legislature. Premier Scott Moe said the remaining 47 members of the Saskatchewan Party caucus were fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
In 2021, a spokesman for Justin Trudeau said the prime minister spent hours speaking with residential school survivors to hear their stories of trauma and healing, and get advice on how Canada should move forward in reconciliation efforts with First Nations. Trudeau had come under fire for spending part of Canada's first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Tofino, B.C., with his family. His office denied Trudeau used the day as a holiday.
In 2022, ceremonies, marches and other gatherings were held as Canada observed the second annual National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.
In 2022, Comedy Central host Trevor Noah announced his departure from "The Daily Show.'' The comedian said that after seven years, he would be stepping down as host. During the previous night's broadcast, Noah said he wanted to return to standup.
In 2022, Ukraine's president said his country was submitting an "accelerated'' application to join the NATO military alliance. The fast-tracked application came after Russia announced it would be formally annexing four regions of Ukraine in defiance of international law. Putin's land-grab and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's signing of the NATO membership application cranked up fears of a full-blown conflict between Russia and the West.
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The Canadian Press
