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Published Jul 27, 2023  • Last updated 53 minutes ago  • 4 minute read
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On this date, July 27, in history:
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In 1606, the first permanent French colony in Canada was established at Port Royal, N.S.
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In 1866, the laying of the first successful transatlantic cable was completed with the landing of the 3,034-km cable at Heart’s Content, Nfld. The achievement marked the establishment of instantaneous communication between North America and Europe. The first cable, laid in 1858, failed three weeks after it was complete.
In 1890, Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh shot himself. He died two days later.
In 1891, a railway linking Edmonton and Calgary was completed.
In 1909, Orville Wright established a world duration record for airplanes when he and passenger, Lieutenant Frank Lahm, remained aloft for one hour and 12 minutes.
In 1921, insulin was discovered by Frederick Banting and Charles Best at the University of Toronto. The discovery and the demonstration of insulin’s beneficial effects on diabetes are considered one of the great medical achievements of the 20th century and earned Banting the Nobel Prize in 1923.
In 1940, Bugs Bunny made his debut as Warner Brothers released the animated short, A Wild Hare.
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In 1953, the three-year Korean War ended with the signing of an armistice in Panmunjon. During the conflict, United Nations and South Korean forces had 500,000 troops killed, wounded, or missing in action. The dead included 516 Canadians. Despite the armistice, Korea remains sharply divided along the heavily fortified 38th parallel.
In 1960, Canadian army units were formed for service in the Congo on behalf of the United Nations.
In 1964, Sir Winston Churchill, the longest-serving British MP in history, made his last appearance in the Commons. The former prime minister died at age 90 the following January.
In 1974, in televised hearings, a U.S. judiciary committee voted to impeach President Richard Nixon. Nixon resigned two weeks later after tapes proved he had covered up his involvement in the Watergate affair. He was the first president in U.S. history to resign.
In 1979, the first of 10 military flights bringing Vietnamese refugees to Canada arrived in Vancouver.
In 1980, the deposed Shah of Iran died at age 60 in a military hospital near Cairo.
In 1982, the Montreal Expos won their 1,000th game with a 4-3 win over the Chicago Cubs.
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In 1989, thousands of pro-choice supporters demonstrated in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and other cities to protest the Quebec court decision to prevent Chantal Daigle from having an abortion.
In 1996, rowers Marnie McBean and Kathleen Heddle became the first Canadians to win three Olympic gold medals. On the same day, sprinter Donovan Bailey of Oakville, Ont., won the men’s 100-metre race in a then-world record time of 9.84 seconds. (In 2009, Usain Bolt of Jamaica set the 100-metre world record at the world championships in Berlin with a 9.58, obliterating the 9.69 world mark he set at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.)
In 1996, tragedy hit the Atlanta Olympics as a homemade pipe bomb exploded at Centennial Olympic Park. One person was killed and 111 were injured and a Turkish cameraman rushing to the scene died of a heart attack. Convicted serial bomber Eric Rudolph was later convicted of that attack and two other bombings and sentenced to life in prison.
In 1999, in an overwhelming defeat for major league umpires, their threatened walkout collapsed when all of the umpires withdrew their resignations — however, about one-third of them ended up losing their jobs anyway.
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In 1999, the practice of children reciting The Lord’s Prayer in Saskatchewan’s public schools was ruled a violation of human rights.
In 2003, Bob Hope, master of the one-liner and favourite comedian of servicemen and presidents alike, died of pneumonia at his home in Toluca Lake, Calif., at the age of 100.
In 2003, Paul Tracy won the Molson Indy Vancouver, becoming the first Canadian-born driver to win Champ Car races twice in his homeland during the same year.
In 2005, Ahmed Ressam, who was caught with a trunkful of explosives as he tried to sneak into the U.S. from Canada, was sentenced to 22 years in prison on terrorist-related charges for a plot to bomb the Los Angeles airport.
In 2007, a memorial was unveiled in Stanley Park playground in Vancouver in memory of the 331 people — 82 of them children — who died in the Air India bombing in 1985.
In 2009, the EU gave the final approval to ban the imports of seal products from Canada.
In 2009, financial adviser Earl Jones, 67, turned himself in to Quebec provincial police to face charges of fraud and theft after disappearing for about three weeks. Quebec’s financial securities regulator had alleged Jones may have swindled investors out of as much as $50 million. (In 2010, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 11 years in prison.)
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In 2019, Kylie Masse helped set a Canadian record when she won the bronze medal in the women’s 200-metre backstroke at the FINA World Championships. Masse’s bronze was Canada’s seventh pool medal, the most the country had ever won at the world championships. Canada took two gold and five bronze in the pool as well as an open water bronze the previous week for Eric Hedlin. The previous pool mark was six, set in 1978.
In 2020, the world’s biggest COVID-19 vaccine study began in the U.S. The 30,000 volunteers weren’t told if they were getting a dummy drug or an experimental vaccine developed by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and drug maker Moderna.
In 2021, Canadian weightlifter Maude Charron earned Canada a second gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Charron pushed to the top spot in the women’s 64-kilogram competition. Canada also won its first-ever Olympic softball medal. Kelsey Harshman drove in the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning as the Canadians beat Mexico 3-2 for bronze at the Tokyo Games. Canada’s Kylie Masse captured silver in the women’s 100-metre backstroke. Quebec’s Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard won bronze in women’s judo in the under-63-kilogram division.
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