Time Machine Vol. 58
3 August 1871 – The first post-Confederation treaty was signed at Lower Fort Garry, Man. The first of many “Numbered Treaties,” Treaty No. 1 was signed between the Crown and the Ojibwa and Swampy Cree Nations. The treaty included the provision of livestock, agricultural equipment and the establishment of schools in exchange for ceding large tracts of Aboriginal hunting grounds.
4 August 2005 – Prime Minister Paul Martin announced the appointment of Haitian-born Michaëlle Jean as Governor General of Canada. Her dual French-Canadian citizenship and allegations of separatist connections generated controversy. Jean renounced her French citizenship before taking office and refuted a connection to the separatist movement.
5 August 1940 – Camillien Houde, the mayor of Montréal, was arrested by the RCMP for sedition in having advised Québec men not to take part in the compulsory National Registration.
6 August 1995 – Oakville, Ontario’s Donovan Bailey assumed the title of “World’s Fastest Human” by winning the 100-metre sprint at the World Track Championships at Göteborg, Sweden. Taking silver in the same race was Montreal’s Bruny Surin. Bailey went on to win gold at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, setting a new world and Olympic record (9.84).
7 August 1954 – At Empire Stadium in Vancouver, Roger Bannister narrowly beat rival John Landy in what history remembers as the “Miracle Mile,” finishing in 3:58.8 against Landy’s 3:59.6.
8 August 1887 – The Vancouver Electric Illumination Society (later, BC Hydro) started up its steam-powered generating plant – and 300 streetlights went on.
9 August 1988 – Though House Leader Nelson Riis demanded the government block the trade, Wayne Gretzky was traded from Edmonton to Los Angeles. The “Great One” left the Oilers along with defenceman Marty McSorley and centre Mike Krushelnyski. Gretzky would lead the Kings to their first Stanley Cup final in 1993. The trade was the driving force behind the NHL’s expansion into such “non-traditional” hockey markets as Arizona.
Image: Statue of Bannister and Landy, Jack Harman, Vancouver. Photo: Paul Joseph [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons