Time Machine Vol. 59
10 August 1823 – By 1820, the Underground Railroad used established routes into Canada West, but some freedom seekers managed their own escapes. In August 1823, the Canadian Steamer Chief Justice Robinson picked up a Black man floating on a wooden gate in Lake Ontario. He was trying to reach Queenston.
11 August 1995 – Subway trains collided in Toronto, killing 3 passengers and injuring 36 in the worst accident in the system’s history.
12 August 1956 – Singer-songwriter Jane Siberry, who is known for her quirky and melodic folk-based pop songs, was born at Etobicoke, Ont.
13 August 1886 – Prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald, on his only visit to BC, drove the last spike on the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway at Cliffside near Shawnigan Lake.
14 August 1978 – The Indian Brotherhood of the Northwest Territories became the Dene Nation during the 8th Dene National Assembly held in Fort Norman, NT.
15 August 1925 – Jazz pianist and composer Oscar Peterson, whose numerous awards include a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement, was born at Montréal.
16 August 1933 – A fierce riot erupted at the end of a softball game in Willowvale Park (now Christie Pits) in Toronto, ON. An example of prevalent anti-Semitism in Toronto at the time, the Swastika Club, a pro-Nazi group, unfurled a large swastika banner at the close of the game, instigating Jewish spectators in the crowd. The city’s first and largest ethnically based riot lasted six hours. Though there were injuries, some serious, no lives were lost.
Image via Flickr/cc.