Today in History for Sept. 17:
On this date:
In 1665, the bubonic plague broke out in Europe and Britain, killing an estimated 70,000 people in its first year.
In 1701, King James II, the last Roman Catholic monarch in England, died at the Chateau of St-Germain-en-Laye in France. He was 67.
In 1787, the U.S. Constitution was signed.
In 1792, Upper Canada's first legislature convened at Newark -- now Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.
In 1832, Scottish poet and novelist Sir Walter Scott died of a brain disorder at age 61.
In 1844, Canada's first suspension bridge, a 74-metre span over the Ottawa River, was opened for traffic.
In 1859, the Victoria Bridge at Montreal was completed. It was the first bridge over the St. Lawrence and was opened in 1860.
In 1908, Thomas E. Selfridge, a 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, became the first person to die in the crash of a powered aircraft, the "Wright Flyer." The accident, which also seriously injured pilot Orville Wright, occurred at Fort Myer, Va., just outside Washington, D.C.
In 1915, Manfred Von Richtofen, known as Germany's "Red Baron," shot down the first of his 80 airplane "kills" in the First World War.
In 1920, the American Professional Football Association -- a precursor of the National Football League -- was formed in Canton, Ohio.
In 1935, author Ken Kesey, best known for his book "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," was born in La Junta, Colo. He died on Nov. 10, 2001, following surgery for liver cancer. He's considered by some to be a link between the beat generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s.
In 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland, more than two weeks after Nazi Germany launched its invasion that sparked the Second World War. Stalin and Hitler agreed to divide Poland in their non-aggression pact signed the previous month.
In 1940, the liner "City of Benares" was torpedoed in the Atlantic during the Second World War with 250 lives lost, including 81 children bound for Canada.
In 1949, Lester Pearson represented Canada at the first NATO meeting in Washington.
In 1949, the Canadian Steamship Lines passenger vessel "Noronic" caught fire at her dock in Toronto, killing 119 people. The fire broke out at midnight while most of the 542 passengers were sleeping. The "Noronic," which was the largest Canadian passenger vessel ever put into service on the Great Lakes, was destroyed by the blaze.
In 1951, the first general election in 49 years was held in the Northwest Territories.
In 1970, a 10-day civil war began in Jordan between King Ibn Talal Hussein's troops and Palestinian forces under Yasser Arafat.
In 1978, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed the Camp David peace accord in Washington.
In 1983, fledgling actress-singer Vanessa Williams of New York became the first black contestant to be crowned Miss America. The following July, she also became the first Miss America to resign after it was disclosed she had posed nude in "Penthouse" magazine.
In 1984, Conservative Brian Mulroney was sworn in as Canada's 18th prime minister. Mulroney's 40-member cabinet became Canada's largest in history. He was prime minister for nine years. His most significant -- and controversial -- act was negotiating a free trade deal with the United States.
In 1985, the "tainted tuna" scandal erupted as the CBC public affairs program "The Fifth Estate" revealed that a million cans of rancid and decomposed tuna had been distributed to Canadian supermarkets. The scandal rocked the Conservative government as it was learned the tuna had been approved by Fisheries Minister John Fraser after inspectors had ruled it unfit for human consumption. The government recalled the tuna two days later. Fraser later resigned.
In 1987, Newfoundland Premier Brian Peckford pulled his province out of negotiations between Canada and France over a boundary dispute because Ottawa was set to give away valuable fish stocks off the province's coast. France claimed a 200-mile boundary around the islands of St-Pierre and Miquelon while Canada recognized a 12-mile limit for the French islands.
In 1988, Canada's first native diocesan council was established in the Roman Catholic diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
In 1991, citing the end of the Cold War, Ottawa announced cuts to Canada's military commitments in Europe. Both Canadian bases in Germany were later closed.
In 1995, an armed standoff between police and natives occupying a private ranch in Gustafsen Lake, B.C. came to an end after a medicine man was allowed into the native camp. In all, 17 people were charged.
In 1996, Spiro Agnew, former U.S. vice-president who resigned in disgrace in 1973, died at age 77.
In 1997, comedian Red Skelton died at a hospital near his home in Palm Springs, Calif., after a long illness. He was 84.
In 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada acquitted Donald Marshall Jr. on three charges of illegally catching eels, saying a 1760 treaty with the British gave his Mi'kmaq band the right to catch fish and sell them for sustenance.
In 2001, stock markets in the United States reopened for the first time since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on Washington, D.C., and New York, and air traffic began to return to normal. The Dow Jones average and NASDAQ, however, both fell by more than five per cent, with airline stocks taking particularly strong hits.
In 2002, in the first official summit between the two countries, North Korea and Japan agreed to resume negotiations on establishing diplomatic relations.
In 2002, health officials said the death of a 70-year-old man in Mississauga, Ont., was caused by West Nile virus, Canada's first fatal infection of the disease.
In 2004, San Francisco's Barry Bonds hit the 700th home run of his career, joining Babe Ruth (714) and Hank Aaron (755) as the only players to reach the milestone. (Bonds went on to hit a record 762 for his career.)
In 2007, the NDP beat the Liberals in a federal byelection in Outremont, taking their first Quebec seat since 1990.
In 2009, Pte. Jonathan Couturier, 23, of the 2nd Battalion, Royal 22nd Regiment, based in Valcartier, Que., was killed in Panjwaii district in Afghanistan by an improvised explosive device.
In 2010, daytime soap opera "As the World Turns" aired its final episode, concluding a run that began in April 1956.
In 2011, about 1,500 people converged near the New York Stock Exchange and some set up camp in Zuccotti Park at the start of the Occupy Wall Street movement that would eventually spread around the world. Two weeks later, the group shut down part of the Brooklyn Bridge in one of its many marches. Police arrested dozens while trying to clear the road. The protests were against corporate greed and financial inequality but it was unclear exactly what the demonstrators wanted. (On Nov. 15, hundreds of police in riot gear raided the park, evicting and arresting hundreds.)
In 2015, General Motors agreed to pay $900 million to resolve criminal charges over its concealment of an ignition-switch defect linked to at least 169 deaths. GM also agreed to pay $575 million to settle hundreds of civil lawsuits, including the bulk of pending wrongful death and injury cases.
In 2017, author Margaret Atwood's dystopian vision of "The Handmaid's Tale," the deeply cynical Washington comedy "Veep" and the ever-topical "Saturday Night Live" won top series honours at an Emmy Awards ceremony that took almost non-stop aim at U.S. President Donald Trump in awards presentations and acceptance speeches.
In 2018, a Toronto-area MP suddenly defected from the Liberals as the House of Commons resumed following the summer break. Leona Alleslev said she switched to the Opposition Conservatives because Canada needs strong leadership on the economy and global issues.
In 2018, a public inquiry began into the much-delayed and over budget Muskrat Falls hydro megaproject in Labrador. An expert testified that hydroelectric dams like Muskrat Falls are particularly vulnerable to cost and schedule overruns.
In 2018, Amazon's "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" became the first streaming series to win an Emmy for best comedy and HBO's Game of Thrones recaptured best drama series honours at the 70th Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. Game of Thrones won a total of nine Emmys, just ahead of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and NBC's enduring sketch series Saturday Night Live, which won eight apiece.
In 2019, Cokie Roberts, journalist and longtime political reporter and analyst at ABC News and NPR, died at age 75. A family statement said she died of complications from breast cancer. Roberts was the daughter of Hale and Lindy Boggs, two members of Congress from Louisiana, and went on to chronicle the political world she grew up in. She joined ABC News in 1988 and was co-anchor with Sam Donaldson of the Sunday political show "This Week" from 1996 to 2002.
In 2019, Canadian ice dancing stars Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir announced they were stepping away from the sport after 22 years. The pair announced their retirement in a video posted on their separate Twitter accounts. The pair were expected to retire following a gold-medal performance at the Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea in 2018, but had not made an official announcement. The pair announced a farewell Canada-wide Rock the Rink Tour that began in Abbotsford, B-C and ended in St. John's, Newfoundland.
In 2019, Suzanne Whang, whose smooth voice provided the narration for HGTV's "House Hunters'' for years, died after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 57. Whang first gained fame as the on-screen host of the show, where anxious home buyers are shown trying to choose between three potential options.
In 2020, author Winston Groom, whose novel ''Forrest Gump'' was made into a six-Oscar winning 1994 movie that became a soaring pop cultural phenomenon, died at 77.
In 2020, the smash Canadian comedy series "Schitt's Creek'' won its first Emmy Award. Actor Eugene Levy, one of the stars and co-creators of the show, congratulated John Comerford and Lisa Parasyn on Twitter for winning the Emmy for Outstanding Casting For a Comedy Series.
In 2021, U.S. federal regulators approved a drug from Eli Lilly for a new use in preventing disease in people who have been recently exposed to COVID-19. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use of the drug for adults and children older than 12 who may have an infection and are at high risk for getting severe COVID-19. Previously the drug was authorized for high-risk patients with confirmed COVID-19.
In 2021, the charge of obstruction of justice filed against former defence chief Jonathan Vance would be dealt with as a summary, not an indictable offence. A military law expert said the announcement made during a brief virtual court hearing meant Vance would face a maximum of two years less a day in prison if convicted, rather than up to 10 years.
In 2021, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said a Toronto-area candidate had been asked to pause his campaign after the party learned he previously faced a sexual assault charge that was dropped. At a campaign event in Windsor, Trudeau said that he learned about the allegations against Spadina-Fort York candidate Kevin Vuong after the Toronto Star reported on the 2019 charge against him, which was later withdrawn. Vuong said in a statement that the allegations are false.
In 2023, Calgary started hosting the weeklong 24th World Petroleum Congress, one of the largest oil-and-gas conferences in the world.
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The Canadian Press
