Today in History for June 11:
On this date:
In 1509, England's King Henry VIII married his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.
In 1638, the first earthquake recorded in Canada was felt in Quebec.
In 1770, Capt. James Cook discovered Australia's Great Barrier Reef by accidentally grounding his ship on it.
In 1917, the Conscription Act was introduced in the House of Commons. The election that followed passage of the bill was one of the most divisive in Canadian history. Quebec looked on conscription as an attempt to anglicize French-Canadians and throw them into an English war. Sir Robert Borden's coalition government was returned and given the mandate to put conscription into effect. But the measure was a military failure, producing very few men for the front lines.
In 1917, the Canadian Board of Grain Commissioners was formed in Regina.
In 1940, Princess Juliana of the Netherlands arrived in Canada during the Second World War.
In 1955, in the worst accident in motor racing history, 82 people died when three cars crashed and plowed into spectators in Le Mans, France.
In 1966, Dave Bailey of Toronto became the first Canadian to break the four-minute mile.
In 1978, 12 students and a teacher drowned on Lake Timiskaming on the Ontario-Quebec border. They were from St. John's school in Claremont, Ont., and were on a canoeing expedition.
In 1983, Brian Mulroney was elected leader of the federal Conservative party. It was his second attempt to lead the party he had lost to Joe Clark in 1976. Mulroney gained his first seat in the House of Commons through a byelection in the riding of Central Nova and then in 1984 led the Conservatives to the greatest majority in Canadian history, winning 211 seats in the House of Commons.
In 1985, Karen Ann Quinlan died in a New Jersey nursing home at age 31. Ten years earlier, she slipped into a coma and remained in a persistent vegetative state. Her parents requested that doctors take her off life support systems, prompting a legal battle over the right to die.
In 1987, British prime minister Margaret Thatcher won a historic victory in a general election. It was the first time in 161 years that a British leader had won a third consecutive term.
In 1990, Stan Waters, elected by Albertans as their nominee to the Senate, was named to the upper chamber by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Waters died of cancer the following year.
In 1998, Hockey Hall of Fame player Frank Mahovlich was appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Jean Chretien.
In 1998, forest company giant MacMillan Bloedel announced it would phase out clear-cut logging over five years.
In 2001, Timothy McVeigh was executed by injection in Indiana for the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City which killed 168 people.
In 2003, former leader of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations David Ahenakew was charged with promoting hatred of Jews. He was convicted, but in 2006, the ruling was overturned and a second trial was ordered. He was acquitted in February 2009.
In 2005, the world's richest countries agreed in London to write off more than $40 billion of debt owed by the poorest nations.
In 2007, Rogers Communications agreed to buy the five stations that made up the CITY-TV network from CTV globemedia Inc. for $375 million.
In 2007, Canadian soldier Darryl Caswell, 25, died and two others were wounded in a roadside bombing near Kandahar, Afghanistan.
In 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered an apology in the House of Commons to former students of native residential schools for the sexual and physical abuse that occurred at the now-defunct network of federally financed, church-run residential schools that also wiped out aboriginal languages and culture in the name of assimilation. It was the first time a Canadian prime minister had formally apologized for the abuse of about 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Metis children who were removed from their communities throughout most of the last century and forced to attend residential schools.
In 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court turned down former media executive Conrad Black's request to be released from a Florida prison.
In 2009, the World Health Organization declared the swine flu outbreak a pandemic, the first since the Hong Kong flu of 1968.
In 2010, a Finnish court sentenced Rwandan pastor Francois Bazaramba to life imprisonment for committing genocide in his home country in 1994. He was found guilty of intending to "destroy in whole or part the Rwandan Tutsis as a group." The 1994 genocide was carried out by Hutu extremists against the Tutsi minority and Hutu moderates. More than 500,000 people were killed in 100 days.
In 2012, the Los Angeles Kings, an original 1967-68 NHL expansion team, captured their first Stanley Cup, beating the New Jersey Devils 6-1 in Game 6. It also marked the first time in NHL history that an 8th seeded team won.
In 2017, the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Nashville Predators 2-0 in Game 6 to become the first team in the salary cap era to win back-to-back Stanley Cups. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby repeated as playoffs MVP.
In 2017, Rafael Nadal defeated Stan Wawrinka in straight sets to capture the French Open, becoming the first tennis player to win 10 championships at the same major in the Open era.
In 2020, Bell said its new 5G wireless network launched in five cities. The new high-speed service is available to customers in Montreal, the Greater Toronto Area, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. Rival Rogers Communications launched its 5G network earlier this year in downtown Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.
In 2021, Canada was the latest -- and the last of the G7 countries -- to pledge COVID vaccine doses for lower-income nations. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sat down with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who promised that the United Kingdom would offer at least 100 million vaccine doses to other countries within the next year. Ralph Goodale, Canada's high commissioner to the U.K., said Canada would also offer about 100 million doses.
In 2022, chiefs from two First Nations in Manitoba said their communities were looking for answers after possible graves were discovered at the sites of former residential schools. Sagkeeng First Nation found 190 anomalies in the soil and Minegoziibe Anishinabe First Nation located six. The communities said initial data from ground-penetrating radar showed the anomalies fit some of the criteria of graves but more information was needed.
In 2024, a Delaware jury found Hunter Biden guilty on all three felony charges related to the purchase of a revolver in 2018. The son of then-U.S. president Joe Biden faced up to 25 years in prison for being found guilty of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
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The Canadian Press
