Today in History for March 16:
In AD 37, Roman emperor Tiberius died. He was succeeded by Caligula.
In 1521, the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan discovered the Philippine Islands.
In 1649, Jesuit martyrs Jean de Brebeuf and Gabriel Lalement were tortured and put to death by the Iroquois at the Huronia village of St-Ignace, in what is now Simcoe County in Ontario. Brebeuf had laboured for 15 years trying to make peace with the Iroquois, but they continued their war against the Hurons and destroyed their villages and Jesuit missions in 1648. Later, the Iroquois captured Brebeuf and Lalement and killed them. Brebeuf was canonized in 1930 and is now a patron saint of Canada.
In 1660, the British "long Parliament of the Puritans" ended after sitting for 20 years.
In 1751, James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, was born.
In 1802, U.S. President Thomas Jefferson signed a measure authorizing the establishment of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.
In 1815, William of Orange was proclaimed King of the Netherlands and became William I.
In 1830, the New York Stock Exchange had its slowest day in history -- just 31 shares were traded.
In 1850, U.S. author Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter" was published. It sold out in 10 days.
In 1898, Aubrey Beardsley, an illustrator and designer whose work epitomized the Art Nouveau style, died.
In 1900, Lord Strathcona's Horse, a unit of 537 mounted troops recruited in Manitoba, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories for the Boer War, sailed to South Africa. The commander was Strathcona (Donald Smith), Canada's wealthy high commissioner to the United Kingdom. It was the third contingent of Canadian troops sent to South Africa.
In 1917, Prince Michael Romanoff abdicated as czar of Russia after one day on the throne.
In 1926, the first liquid-fuelled rocket was launched by Dr. Robert Goddard in Auburn, Mass. It reached an altitude of 12.5 metres and travelled 56 metres.
In 1946, one of Canada's most sensational murder cases began when the torso of 40-year-old railway worker John Dick was found in Hamilton, Ont. Police later found Dick's teeth and bone fragments in the home of his estranged wife, Evelyn, along with the body of her seven-month-old son. Evelyn Dick was sentenced to death for John's murder, but the conviction was overturned on appeal. She was also convicted of her son's death and imprisoned until 1958. Her father was sentenced to five years for his part in the crimes.
In 1955, NHL president Clarence Campbell suspended Montreal Canadiens star Maurice Richard for the balance of the season and the playoffs for abusing an official. The decision sparked the "Richard Riot" the next night in Montreal.
In 1959, RCMP commissioner L.H. Nicholson resigned to protest the government's decision not to reinforce the RCMP in Newfoundland in the face of logging strike violence.
In 1959, the Dalai Lama fled Tibet as anti-Communist uprisings spread throughout the country.
In 1968, U.S. troops, the men of Charlie Company, entered the village of My Lai in Vietnam and massacred about 500 women, children and old people. The men of the village had left to work in the fields or at sea. When news of the carnage surfaced in the U.S. 18 months later, it heavily affected public opinion about a war already seen by many as fundamentally flawed. In 1971, William Calley, the U.S. lieutenant who allowed the massacre, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life.
In 1969, a Miami-bound Venezuelan airliner crashed and exploded in a residential area of Maracaibo, Venezuela, killing 155 people, including 71 on the ground.
In 1971, the Ontario government filed a $25-million lawsuit against Dow Chemical of Canada Ltd. for ecological damage to the Great Lakes.
In 1978, former Italian premier Aldo Moro was kidnapped by left-wing terrorists. Moro was seized in a hail of gunfire which claimed the lives of all five of his bodyguards. His body was discovered on May 9th.
In 1985, Terry Anderson, chief Middle East correspondent for The Associated Press, was abducted by gunmen in Beirut. He was released in December 1991.
In 1989, Kurt Browning became the fourth Canadian in 78 years to win the men's world figure skating championship. He would go on to win the title four times in five years. He ended his amateur career when he turned professional in 1994.
In 1994, Pt. Elvin Brown, 25, of the Canadian Airborne Regiment, was found guilty of manslaughter and torture in the death of 16-year-old Shidane Arone, a Somalian who was killed while in the custody of the Regiment in Somalia in 1993. Brown was later sentenced to five years in prison and dismissed with disgrace.
In 1998, Commons Speaker Gilbert Parent banned the displaying of Canadian flags on MPs' desks in Parliament following an incident on Feb. 26 when Liberal and Reform MPs waved flags and sang "O Canada" in the House to drown out a question from Bloc Quebecois MP Suzanne Tremblay, who had complained of too many Canadian flags at the Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan. The next day, the Reform Party's motion to allow MPs to display Canadian flags on their desks in Parliament was defeated by a vote of 194-51.
In 1999, Senator Eric Bernston was sentenced to one year in jail for his conviction of fraud involving public funds when he was Saskatchewan deputy premier a decade earlier.
In 1999, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 10,000 points for the first time.
In 2000, seven preschool children on a day-care excursion were killed in a minivan accident 140 kilometres northeast of Montreal. An eighth child died in hospital on March 23rd.
In 2000, Thomas Wilson Ferebee, the American bombardier who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died in Florida at age 81.
In 2005, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, of Vancouver and Kamloops, B.C., respectively, were found not guilty on all eight charges, including first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, in the deaths of 331 people in the 1985 Air India bombings.
In 2005, a California judge gave Scott Peterson the death sentence for the 2002 murder of his pregnant wife, Laci.
In 2005, actor Robert Blake was acquitted of murder in the shooting death of his wife Bonny Lee Bakley in 2001. He was later found liable in a civil court and ordered to pay her children US$30 million.
In 2007, Mississauga, Ont.-based Menu Foods issued a massive recall of pet foods after some pets became sick, and several died of kidney failure, after eating its products. The contamination was later traced to a Chinese supplier, who added the chemical melamine to bulk up wheat gluten used in the foods.
In 2008, JPMorgan Chase agreed to buy the troubled U.S. investment bank Bear Stearns for US$236.2 million in a deal that represented a stunning collapse for one of the world's largest investment banks.
In 2008, Sergeant Jason Boyes, 32, of Napanee, Ont., was killed by an explosive device while on foot patrol in southern Afghanistan's Panjwai district.
In 2010, nearly four years after the sinking of Queen of the North off Gil Island, B.C., the ferry’s navigating officer Karl Lilgert was charged with criminal negligence in the deaths of two passengers. (On May 13, 2013, he was convicted and later sentenced to four years in prison.)
In 2016, Statistics Canada announced the population topped 36 million for the first time. As of January 1, it stood at 36,048,500.
In 2020, Lt.-Gen. Mike Rouleau was named the military's second-in-command, becoming the sixth officer to hold that post in just four years after a surprise announcement by Lt.-Gen. Jean-Marc Lanthier that he would be stepping down this summer.
In 2020, with a few exceptions, Canada announced it would close its borders to all but Canadian citizens and permanent residents to slow the spread of COVID-19. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the restrictions would not apply to Americans because the two countries are so closely intertwined.
In 2020, Major League Baseball pushed back opening day until mid-May at the earliest over the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, Nunavut said schools and daycares were to be closed in the territory to limit the potential spread of COVID-19. The Northwest Territories suspended its sitting of the legislature.
In 2020, Cineplex said it would close its 165 theatres across the country until at least April 2nd over the COVID-19 pandemic. The company represents about 75 per cent of the Canadian film entertainment market. It had been reluctant to close down its operations, choosing instead to sell fewer tickets at each screening and clean surfaces more frequently.
In 2020, Federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu said the government recommended that Canadians avoid gatherings of over 50 people to slow the spread of COVID-19 -- a change from gatherings of 250 people recommended just days earlier.
In 2020, WestJet announced the suspension of all commercial operations for international flights for a 30-day period over the COVID-19 pandemic. The company said it would be operating rescue and repatriation flights in partnership with the Canadian government.
In 2021, Prince Philip was released from hospital following a month-long stay. The Queen's husband was admitted to a private London hospital on February 16th for treatment of an infection. He was later transferred to a specialized cardiac care hospital to undergo a heart procedure.
In 2021, the European Medicines Agency said there is no indication that Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines causes blood clots. The agency said it was firmly convinced the drug's benefits outweigh the risks. The National Advisory Committee on Immunization also announced a change to its guidance on who should receive the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. It initially recommended against giving the the drug to people 65 and older, but revised its thinking based on the data from places where people over 65 have received the shot.
In 2022, the 47-nation Council of Europe expelled Russia from the human rights body after 26 years of membership.
In 2023, two Edmonton police officers were shot and killed while responding to a domestic dispute. Police Chief Dale McFee says 35-year-old Const. Travis Jordan and 30-year-old Const. Brett Ryan were shot when they arrived on the scene. McFee says it appeared neither officer had a chance to draw their weapons. Police say the shooter was a 16-year-old boy who also shot and wounded his mother before shooting and killing himself.
In 2023, seven people were killed in a fire at a historic building in Old Montreal. Those killed in the fire included a long-term resident of the heritage building as well as people who had booked accommodation on short-term rental sites such as Airbnb, which are illegal to use in the part of Montreal where the building was located.
In 2024, Rebel News confirmed that Toronto police arrested one of its reporters, David Menzies, during a pro-Palestinian rally in downtown that delayed the start of a Liberal party fundraiser featuring the prime minister. The online media outlet said David Menzies had been charged with obstructing a peace officer and breaching a peace bond after trying to interview demonstrators on camera on Friday.
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The Canadian Press
