Today in History for Dec. 6:
In 1752, a government pamphlet in Halifax became the first book published in Canada.
In 1780, Jean-Antoine Aide-Crequy, the first Canadian-born painter, died in Quebec City.
In 1803, Canadian author Susanna Moodie, whose works included "Roughing It In the Bush," was born.
In 1863, American chemist Charles Hall, who found a way to cheaply extract aluminum from its ore, was born in Thompson, Ohio. His discovery transformed aluminum from a precious metal to a material with numerous everyday uses. Hall also co-founded the industrial giant now called Alcoa.
In 1873, the first international intercollegiate football game was played in New Haven, Conn. Yale defeated Eton (England) 2-1.
In 1907, the worst mining disaster in U.S. history occurred as 362 men and boys died in a coal mine explosion in Monongah, West Va.
In 1907, Canadian painter R. York Wilson was born.
In 1907, the first recorded flight in Canada took place when Thomas Selfridge rose about 51 metres into the air in a kite designed by Alexander Graham Bell.
In 1917, much of Halifax was destroyed after the French munitions ship "Mont Blanc" exploded in Halifax harbour. More than 1,800 died and 9,000 were injured in the explosion, which occurred after the Norwegian relief ship "Imo," running relief missions to Belgium, collided with the "Mont Blanc," which was carrying a cargo of some 2,250 tonnes of explosives. Property damage was estimated at $35 million, with windows being shattered as far as 100 kilometres away in Truro, N.S.
In 1917, Finland proclaimed its independence from Russia.
In 1921, "Buzz" Beurling was born. The Canadian flying ace shot down 28 enemy planes in four months during the Second World War. He died in a 1948 plane crash in Italy.
In 1921, Agnes Macphail, a 30-year-old teacher, became Canada’s first female member of Parliament.
In 1922, the Irish Free State was proclaimed.
In 1927, Ottawa city council approved the installation of the city’s first automatic traffic light control system.
In 1957, the first American attempt at putting a satellite into orbit blew up on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Fla.
In 1965, Pope Paul VI announced plans for an extraordinary jubilee period to be celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church from Jan. 1 to May 29, 1966. The Feast of Pentecost Jubilee was a period of special grace for Catholics as they became familiar with the decisions of the Second Vatican Council. The Vatican also announced that the Pope had given permission for the publication of all documents in Vatican archives concerning the Second World War.
In 1971, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and U.S. President Richard Nixon met in Washington to discuss economic policy.
In 1982, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in a unanimous decision that Quebec never had a veto over amendments to Canada’s Constitution, thus rejecting one of the province’s historical claims to special status.
In 1982, a bomb blast at a tavern frequented by British soldiers in the village of Ballykelly, Northern Ireland, killed 16 people and injured 66 others. The Irish National Liberation Army, a Marxist offshoot of the IRA, claimed responsibility.
In 1985, Britain became the first country to formally sign up for a share in the multi-billion-dollar U.S. Star Wars research program when it signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. that would enable it to compete for Strategic Defence Initiative contracts.
In 1989, Marc Lepine, 25, went on a shooting rampage at the University of Montreal, killing 14 women and wounding nine others. He then shot himself. The "Montreal Massacre" prompted a toughening of Canada’s gun control laws.
In 1989, a huge truck bomb, consisting of 500 kilograms of dynamite, exploded and destroyed the headquarters of Colombia’s security and intelligence agency in Bogota, killing 59 people and wounding 600, in the worst attack yet by drug traffickers.
In 1989, Egon Krenz resigned as president of East Germany after only six weeks on the job, and was succeeded as interim president by Manfred Gerlach, the first non-communist to fill such a major post in 40 years.
In 1990, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld mandatory retirement in a landmark decision. Although the court found that forced retirement violates the principle of equality, it said the practice is justified under a section of the Constitution that permits limits on individual rights for the sake of a greater benefit to society at large.
In 1990, Ottawa and Tampa Bay were granted NHL expansion franchises.
In 1992, Ralph Klein was elected leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party.
In 1998, "Endeavour’s" astronauts connected the first two building blocks of the International Space Station in the shuttle cargo bay.
In 1998, five surviving Canadian veterans of the First World War, all nearly 100 years old, were bestowed with France’s highest honour, the Legion of Honour.
In 1998, former Lt. Col. Hugo Chavez, who’d staged a bloody coup attempt against the government six years earlier, was elected president of Venezuela.
In 2001, Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson changed Newfoundland to Newfoundland and Labrador by proclaiming an amendment to the Constitution.
In 2003, members of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada voted 90 per cent in favour of a union with the Canadian Alliance for a new party called the Conservative Party of Canada.
In 2005, the U.S. lowered duties on Canadian softwood lumber by half.
In 2005, the Philadelphia Flyers won the first NHL scoreless game that was decided by a shootout, beating the Calgary Flames 1-0.
In 2010, Toronto newscaster Mark Dailey, the well-known, baritone voice of Citytv, died of cancer at age 57. He worked as a police officer in Ohio, and became a crime reporter for stations in Ohio and at CKLW in Windsor, Ont., before moving to Toronto in 1974.
In 2010, Saskatchewan farmer Robert Latimer was granted full parole. In 1994, he was convicted of second-degree murder in what he said was a mercy killing of his severely disabled daughter, Tracy. But that conviction was overturned on appeal, but was again found guilty in 1997. While a judge originally set aside the mandatory sentence, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 2001 that he must serve the minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.
In 2010, a French court convicted Continental Airlines Inc. and mechanic John Taylor of manslaughter because debris from one of its planes caused the crash of an Air France Concorde jet on July 25, 2000, that killed 113 people. The Houston-based airline was fined almost $2 million and Taylor received a 15-month suspended sentence.
In 2014, Canada's new prostitution laws took effect, criminalizing the purchase of sex while providing some legal immunity for sex workers themselves.
In 2017, The Silence Breakers — those who shared their stories about sexual misconduct by numerous high-profile men in entertainment, media, business, politics and sports and helped to spawn the #MeToo movement — were collectively named Time magazine's Person of the Year.
In 2017, President Donald Trump shattered decades of unwavering U.S. neutrality on Jerusalem, declaring the sorely divided holy city as Israel's capital. In the fallout, thousands of Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli forces in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, while demonstrators in the Gaza Strip burned U.S. flags and pictures of Trump in a show of rage.
In 2019, there were promises to end violence against women and solemn reflections as ceremonies were held to honour the 14 victims of the Dec. 6, 1989 anti-feminist attack at Montreal's Ecole polytechnique. On the 30th anniversary of Canada's worst mass shooting, the House of Commons fell silent as members of Parliament remembered the victims who were targeted for death because they were women.
In 2019, three children and their grandparents were found dead in a burned out house in Alberta. Emergency crews were called about the blaze in the hamlet of Rochfort Bridge near Mayerthorpe, about 100 kilometres from Edmonton. The bodies were found after an extensive search. Police said there is nothing to indicate the deaths are criminal.
In 2020, the Vancouver Canucks fired their anthem singer, Mark Donnelly after he sang "O Canada'' at a rally to protest COVID-19 restrictions. Hundreds of people gathered for the event dubbed the ''Christmas Freedom Rally.'' Donnelly told the crowd — most not wearing masks or physically distancing — that those who dispute public health orders have been marginalized and censored.
In 2020, the annual Screen Nova Scotia Awards handed its top prize to a low-budget feature film about a lonely, alcoholic woman. In "Murmur,'' Shan MacDonald plays a convicted drunk driver ordered to perform community service at an animal shelter. "Conviction'' — about women in prison — took the best documentary award. The award for best television series went to the second season of "Pure,'' which follows a Mennonite pastor working undercover within an organized crime network.
In 2021, Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to two years in prison after being found guilty of incitement and violating novel coronavirus restrictions. The civilian leader was ousted in a de facto coup earlier in the year and her trial had been widely criticized as a further attempt by the country's military rulers to roll back the democratic gains of recent years.
In 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accepted the resignation of Dominic Barton as Canada's ambassador to China with both gratitude and respect. Barton said he would step down at the end of the month after two years in which he was praised for helping secure the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor but criticized for strongly pushing closer trade ties with Beijing.
In 2023, Norman Lear, the writer, director and producer known for hit TV shows "All in the Family" and "Maude," died at 101. Lear brought political and social turmoil into the once-insulated world of sitcoms, introducing racism, feminism and the Vietnam War into his shows, which helped define prime-time comedy starting in the 1970s.
In 2023, Time magazine named Taylor Swift its person of the year from a group of nine finalists that also include Barbie, King Charles and Open AI chief executive Sam Altman.
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The Canadian Press