Today in History for Dec. 17:
In 1538, England's King Henry VIII was excommunicated by Pope Paul III. Married and divorced several times, Henry declared himself head of the Church of England.
In 1777, France recognized American independence.
In 1778, the English inventor of the miners' safety lamp, Sir Humphry Davy, was born at Penzance, Cornwall. He was also the discoverer of the anaesthetic properties of laughing gas, and the first to produce potassium and sodium electrolytically.
In 1790, the Aztec calendar stone was uncovered by workmen in Mexico City. Nearly four metres wide and weighing 22 tonnes, the hand-carved slab accurately described the solar calendar.
In 1792, the first legislative assembly of Lower Canada met in Quebec City.
In 1796, Thomas C. Haliburton was born in Windsor, N.S. He was the first Canadian writer to gain international recognition, thanks to his 1836 book, "The Clockmaker."
In 1874, Canada's 10th prime minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King, was born in Berlin, Ont. (now Kitchener). His terms as prime minister spanned the years from 1921-48, although not continuously. He died of pneumonia July 22, 1950.
In 1876, snowblower inventor Arthur Sicard was born in Saint-Leonard-de-Port-Maurice, Que. Sicard invented the "Sicard Snow Remover Snowblower" in 1925 and made his first sale two years later to the Montreal-area town of Outremont. He died in 1946.
In 1893, the Canadian Bankers' Association was organized in Montreal.
In 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright flew their first airplane at Kitty Hawk, N.C. The brothers used their Dayton, Ohio, bicycle shop to construct their early aircraft. The "Wright Flyer," a biplane with two propellers chain-driven by a gasoline motor, flew 35 metres in 12 seconds -- enough to convince the brothers that sustained flights were possible.
In 1917, Russia's Bolshevik government announced it was confiscating the property of the Russian Orthodox Church and abolishing religious instruction in schools.
In 1917, Canada's 13th federal election was won by Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden's pro-conscription coalition.
In 1924, the legislature of British Columbia adopted a resolution opposing further immigration of Asians to Canada.
In 1933, in the inaugural NFL championship football game, the Chicago Bears defeated the New York Giants, 23-21, at Wrigley Field.
In 1939, the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled by its crew, ending the Second World War "Battle of the River Plate" off Uruguay.
In 1939, Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand signed an agreement whereby pilots from all four countries would be trained in Canada for service in the Second World War.
In 1954, NATO advised its military commanders to plan on using atomic weapons in the event of Communist aggression.
In 1957, the United States successfully test-fired the "Atlas" intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time.
In 1969, the U.S. Air Force closed its Project "Blue Book" by concluding there was no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings.
In 1971, India and Pakistan ended a two-week war that resulted in the creation of Bangladesh as a separate country.
In 1975, Charles Manson follower Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme was sentenced to life in prison for attempting to kill U.S. President Gerald Ford earlier in the year in Sacramento, Calif.
In 1976, former Social Credit leader Real Caouette died.
In 1979, stuntman Stan Barrett became the first person to break the sound barrier on land. He travelled 1,189 km/h (739 mp/h) in a 60,000 horsepower rocket vehicle.
In 1981, members of the Red Brigades kidnapped Brigadier General James L. Dozier, the highest-ranking U.S. Army official in southern Europe, from his home in Verona, Italy. Dozier was rescued 42 days later.
In 1981, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved a resolution demanding Israel rescind its annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights it captured in 1967.
In 1982, the European Economic Community banned the import of harp and hooded seal pelts to EEC members. This pledge to take action against seal-pup hunting marked the ending of the main market for the products of the Canadian seal hunt.
In 1982, Indian and Northern Affairs Minister John Munro announced the federal government had agreed to pay Yukon natives $183 million to settle one of the three largest land claims cases in Canada. In exchange for the money, the Council for Yukon Indians gave up its aboriginal claim to most of the Yukon.
In 1986, the report of Mr. Justice Albert Malouf's royal commission on sealing was tabled in the House of Commons. The report recommended that Canada officially end the hunting of seal pups but that a carefully controlled hunt of adult seals be allowed.
In 1991, Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev agreed to formally dissolve the 74-year-old Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on Jan. 1, 1992.
In 1991, Joey Smallwood, the former premier who led Newfoundland into Confederation in 1949 and served as the province's first premier until 1972, died in St. John's, Nfld. He was 90.
In 1991, Dr. Armand Frappier, microbiologist and immunologist, best known for his work in developing an anti-tuberculosis vaccine, died in Montreal at age 87.
In 1996, 51-year-old Vancouver nurse Nancy Malloy was slain, along with five other aid workers, as they slept at a hospital in Chechnya, Russia. She was the first Canadian Red Cross worker ever killed in the field.
In 1996, rebels seized hundreds of hostages at the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima, Peru. Most of hostages were freed a few days later but for 71 others, freedom did not come until April 22, 1997, when Peruvian government soldiers stormed the building. One hostage died.
In 1997, Thabo Mbeki succeeded Nelson Mandela as president of African National Congress in South Africa.
In 2002, David Ahenakew, a former chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and the Assembly of First Nations, apologized for suggesting that Nazis were justified in trying to rid the world of Jews. He resigned from all his positions with the group.
In 2003, the British government announced the first reported case of a person dying from the human form of mad cow disease after a blood transfusion from an infected donor.
In 2007, Prince Edward's wife, Sophie, gave birth to a son, Queen Elizabeth's eighth grandchild.
In 2007, David Radler, Conrad Black's one-time confidante, was sentenced to 29 months in jail and fined $250,000.
In 2008, a computer glitch shut down the Toronto Stock Exchange for the entire day.
In 2011, Kim Jong Il, North Korea's mercurial and enigmatic leader whose iron rule and nuclear ambitions for his isolated communist nation dominated world security fears during his 17 years in power, died of a heart attack. He was 69. His 20-something youngest known son, Kim Jong Un, was named as his successor.
In 2014, the Church of England named the first female bishop in its 500-year history, promoting vicar Libby Lane to bishop of Stockport. (She was consecrated on Jan. 26.)
In 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama announced the re-establishment of diplomatic relations as well as an easing in economic and travel restrictions on Cuba in a historic shift that aimed to bring an end to a half-century of Cold War enmity. (Restoration of full relations took effect on July 20, 2015.)
In 2015, a Montreal-area teen was found guilty of two terrorism-related charges, becoming the first Canadian convicted of attempting to leave the country to participate in the activities of a terrorist group abroad _ namely Islamic State. (The new charge was introduced in 2013.)
In 2017, Hunter Harrison, the plain-spoken, gruff American who rewrote the Canadian railroading book during his years heading both of this country's largest railways, died at age 73.
In 2017, Finance Minister Bill Morneau was voted Canadian Press 2017 Business Newsmaker of the Year, first by introducing a contentious tax-reform plan that enraged business owners, doctors and tax experts followed by ethical questions over how he handled his substantial personal assets after coming into office.
In 2018, the Indiana Pacers hired Kelly Krauskopf as assistant general manager, making her the first woman in NBA history to hold the position. Krauskopf has spent the last 19 seasons as the Indiana Fever's top executive and oversaw the Pacers NBA 2K League team in the last year.
In 2019, climate change was chosen as the 2019 Canadian Press News Story of the Year. The story was picked by reporters and editors across the country in a year that saw warnings about Canada warming twice as fast as the rest of the world and the imposition of a national price on pollution. Parliament also voted to declare a climate emergency and climate became one of the few real issues that impacted the October federal election. Catherine Abreu, the head of Climate Action Network Canada, said "2019 was like the year of climate awakening for Canada."
In 2020, Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau said the government had approved changes to the Boeing 737 Max jet, but had not yet cleared it to fly in Canadian skies. The planes were grounded worldwide in March of 2019 after two crashes, including one that killed 18 Canadians.
In 2020, the federal government said it would provide temporary debt relief to Newfoundland and Labrador so the province wouldn't have to come up with $844 million for its Muskrat Falls loan payments. The Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project was expected to cost $7.4 billion when it was first approved eight years ago, but is now projected to cost more than $13.1 billion.
In 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport banned Russia from using its name, flag and anthem at the next two Olympics, or at any world championships for the next two years. It also ruled that Russia can't submit bids to host major sporting events for two years. The punishments are not as severe as the four-year ban the World Anti-Doping Agency had recommended.
In 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron began self-isolating after testing positive for COVID-19. The 42-year-old cancelled a planned trip to Lebanon but pledged to continue working from home.
In 2021, Heather Stefanson learned she would stay put as Manitoba premier. A judge rejected a court challenge of the vote that made her leader of the Progressive Conservatives. Shelly Glover, who came up just short on Oct. 30, alleged there were voting problems and wanted the court to toss out the results.
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The Canadian Press
