Today in History for Dec. 11:
In 1792, France's King Louis XVI went before the Convention to face charges of treason. (Louis was convicted, and executed the following month.)
In 1813, Newark, Ont., (now Niagara-on-the Lake) was burned to the ground by U.S. troops during the War of 1812-1814.
In 1816, Indiana became the 19th U.S. state.
In 1838, brewer-entrepreneur John Labatt was born in Westminster Township, Upper Canada (now Ontario). He died in 1915.
In 1916, Saskatchewan voted to abolish liquor stores.
In 1918, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Russian novelist and Nobel Prize winner who was sent to a labour camp under Communist dictator Josef Stalin's regime, was born. His novel "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" is based upon his harrowing struggle for survival in the labour camp. His other books include "Cancer Ward" and "The Gulag Archipelago." He became a U.S. citizen in 1974. He died on Aug. 3, 2008.
In 1931, the Statute of Westminster was passed by the British Parliament. The statute granted full legal freedom to the former colonies of the British Empire, including Canada.
In 1936, King Edward VIII abdicated the throne to marry American divorcee and socialite Wallis Warfield Simpson. He had reigned for only 11 months, the shortest reign since that of Edward V in the 15th century. He was succeeded by his brother, the Duke of York (father of Queen Elizabeth II), who took the title King George VI.
In 1937, Italy announced it was withdrawing from the League of Nations.
In 1941, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States; the U.S. responded in kind.
In 1946, the United Nations established its international children's fund, UNICEF.
In 1948, Newfoundland signed an agreement to enter Confederation as Canada's 10th province. The agreement was to take effect March 31, 1949. After a series of debates between Newfoundland and the federal government, Newfoundlanders held two referendums before deciding to join Confederation.
In 1961, Lt.-Col. Anatoly Loginov, assistant military attache at the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa, was expelled from Canada, the government disclosed. He had been caught receiving secret Canadian documents. Loginov, his wife and child, left Montreal by air a day earlier -- on Dec. 10.
In 1962, although Ronald Turpin and Arthur Lucas had committed separate crimes, they were hanged together at Toronto's Don Jail, the last judicial hanging in Canada. Lucas had been convicted of murdering an acquaintance and Turpin of killing a police officer.
In 1968, Ernest Manning was succeeded by Harry Strom after 25 years as Alberta's Social Credit premier.
In 1975, Archbishop Edward Scott, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, was elected moderator of the World Council of Churches.
In 1977, after losing 26 consecutive games, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated New Orleans for their first NFL win.
In 1981, Peruvian lawyer and career diplomat Javier Perez de Cuellar was unanimously chosen by the Security Council to be the next United Nations secretary general.
In 1983, Pope John Paul II visited a Lutheran church in Rome, the first visit by a Roman Catholic pontiff to a Protestant church in his own diocese.
In 1986, the Washington Post reported that CIA director William Casey, in secret sworn Congressional testimony on Dec. 10, said a group of Canadian businessmen acted as middlemen in the sale of U.S. arms to Iran. The Canadian link was confirmed by Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. Congressional sources said the Canadians threatened to sue Khashoggi to recover the millions of dollars they put up.
In 1988, illegal fireworks exploded in a crowded market street in Mexico City, starting a chain reaction and fire that killed 62 people.
In 1989, 200,000 people demonstrated in Leipzig for German reunification.
In 1991, European Community leaders signed a treaty in Maastricht, Netherlands, aiming for a common foreign policy and a single currency by 1999. The euro replaced the currencies of 12 countries on Jan. 1, 2002.
In 1995, a resolution recognizing Quebec as a distinct society was adopted by the House of Commons. It wasn't passed unanimously, however. The Bloc Quebecois voted against the resolution, which came just a little more than a month after the "No" side narrowly won Quebec's second separatist referendum. The Reform party also voted against it. The resolution was not a part of the Constitution, but instead called for the government to be "guided accordingly" in its legislation.
In 1997, more than 150 countries, including Canada, reached an unprecedented agreement in Kyoto, Japan - the Kyoto Accord - to combat global warming in the 21st century.
In 1998, a Thai Airways jet crashed into a swamp after attempting to land for a third time in driving rain at Surat Thani, Thailand, killing 101 of the 146 people on board.
In 2001, the federal government issued a statement of regret over 23 volunteer Canadian soldiers who were executed for cowardice or desertion during the First World War. The apology allowed the soldiers' names to be added to the Book of Remembrance on Parliament Hill.
In 2002, after months of pressure from the Opposition and Jewish groups, the federal government banned the pro-Palestinian group Hezbollah from operating in Canada.
In 2009, the B.C. government signed a reconciliation agreement with the Haida Nation to rename the Queen Charlottes Islands off the north coast of British Columbia Haida Gwaii.
In 2010, the Hockey Night in Canada game on CBC between the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs was the first NHL game broadcast in 3-D.
In 2011, former military strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega was flown from France to Panama and sent straight to prison to face additional punishment in his home country after spending more than 20 years in U.S. and French prisons for drug trafficking and money laundering.
In 2011, Daniel Paille was elected the new leader of the Bloc Quebecois.
In 2013, Canada Post announced it was phasing out home delivery within five years and switching to community mail boxes. The federal Crown corporation also announced about 6,000 to 8,000 positions would be eliminated over the same time period, mainly through attrition. (In 2015, Canada Post put the plan on hold as the new Liberal government promised to restore the home delivery service.)
In 2017, Mario Batali surrendered oversight of daily operations at his restaurant empire following reports of sexual misconduct by the celebrity chef involving at least four women, three of whom worked for Batali, over a period of at least 20 years.
In 2017, the Liberals won three of four ridings in the federal byelections. Jean Yip retained Toronto's Scarborough-Agincourt that had been held by her late husband, Arnold Chan, while Churence Rogers held onto the safe seat of Bonavista-Burin-Trinity (in N.L.) and Gordie Hogg snatched the B.C. riding of South Surrey-White Rock from the Conservatives. Rosemarie Falk held onto the Conservative riding of Battlefords-Lloydminster (in Sask.)
In 2018, former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig, who has served as the North East Asia senior adviser for the International Crisis Group, as well as Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor were detained by China followed warnings from Beijing that Canada would face consequences for its arrest of tech giant Huawei's chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou at Vancouver's airport. Wanzhou was arrested as part of a U.S. extradition request. (Kovrig and Spavor were released in September 2021 after Wanzhou reached a plea deal with U.S. authorities.)
In 2018, the union representing Canada Post employees announced it was filing a court challenge to legislation that ended rotating strikes by its members. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers said it would file a constitutional challenge in Ontario Superior Court, arguing Bill C-89 violated the rights of workers to bargain new contracts. The legal move came a day after the government appointed a mediator to bring the labour dispute to an end.
In 2019, Ottawa said it would approve New Brunswick's proposed carbon tax. The decision by the Trudeau Liberals meant that as of April, New Brunswick consumers would stop paying the federal carbon tax and instead pay an equivalent provincial version. However, the province also cut the gas tax to minimize the cost to consumers.
In 2020, Time magazine chose U.S. president-elect Joe Biden and vice-president-elect Kamala Harris as its people of the year. Other candidates included frontline health-care workers and top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci.
In 2020, more than two decades after he retired, Wayne Gretzky set another record. A mint condition 1979 O-Pee-Chee Gretzky rookie card became hockey's first to cost more than US$1 million at auction, selling for a whopping $1,032,000.
In 2020, Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine was granted emergency use authorization by U.S. regulators.
In 2021, Mel Lastman, the long-serving, often controversial former mayor of Toronto, died at 88. Lastman served as mayor of North York for 25 years before Toronto's suburbs merged. He then became the first mayor of the amalgamated Toronto -- a role he held for six years.
In 2023, Emmy-winning actor Andre Braugher, best known for his roles on the series "Homicide: Life on The Street'' and "Brooklyn Nine-Nine,'' died of lung cancer.
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The Canadian Press
