Today in History for Feb. 25:
In 616 (traditional date): Ethelbert, first Christian English king and instigator of the first written code of British law, died.
In 1570, Pope Pius V excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I of England, declaring her a usurper because she embraced Protestantism.
In 1723, British astronomer and architect Sir Christopher Wren died. He's best known for designing St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
In 1752, John Graves Simcoe, the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada, was born at Cotterstock, England.
In 1832, a charter was granted for the construction of Canada's first railway, the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railway.
In 1836, inventor Samuel Colt patented his revolver -- the first revolving barrel multi-shot firearm.
In 1841, French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born.
In 1873, Enrico Caruso, universally regarded as the world's greatest operatic tenor, was born in Naples, Italy.
In 1880, the New Brunswick legislature in Fredericton was destroyed by fire.
In 1884, a company that would later become Inco began mining operations at Sudbury, Ont. Today, Inco is part of Vale, a huge global mining company with operations on five continents.
In 1908, St. Boniface, Man., was incorporated as a city.
In 1918, McGill University received a $1-million grant from the Carnegie Foundation.
In 1924, Douglas Jung -- the first Chinese-Canadian elected to Parliament -- was born in Victoria. Jung represented Vancouver Centre for the Conservatives from 1957-62. He was also the first Chinese-Canadian lawyer accepted to the British Columbia bar, the first to appear before the B.C. Court of Appeal, and the first to represent Canada at the United Nations. Jung died in Vancouver on Jan. 4, 2002.
In 1928, W3XK Washington became North America's first licensed television station.
In 1940, the New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens 6-2 at Madison Square Garden in the world's first televised hockey game. It was aired on Westinghouse station W2XBS.
In 1945, CBC's International Service was launched.
In 1948, Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia.
In 1964, Cassius Clay, who later changed his name to Muhammad Ali, became world heavyweight boxing champion by defeating Sonny Liston in Miami Beach.
In 1966, the 13-km, $200-million east-west Toronto subway was opened by Prime Minister Lester Pearson.
In 1968, Quebec Premier Daniel Johnson accused Justice Minister Pierre Trudeau of displaying a dangerous ignorance of Quebec and the nature of federalism.
In 1972, Ontario Hydro's nuclear power generating plant was officially opened.
In 1982, Maclean Hunter Ltd. acquired 50 per cent ownership of the ``Sun'' newspapers in Toronto, Edmonton and Calgary.
In 1983, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tennessee Williams died at age 71.
In 1986, after 20 years of rule, Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos resigned. The 68-year-old Marcos and his family fled to Guam. Corazon Aquino, widow of the assassinated Benigno Aquino, succeeded Marcos.
In 1991, the Warsaw Pact, created by the Soviet Union and other eastern European countries as a counter-force to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, voted to dissolve on March 31.
In 1993, The Supreme Court of Canada ruled 4-3 that gay and lesbian couples aren't families under the Canadian Human Rights Act. The judges said Parliament never intended to include homosexual couples when it amended the human rights law in 1983 to prevent employers from discriminating against people based on family status. However, Justice Antonio Lamer wrote that he might have voted differently if the act had prohibited discrimination against homosexuals. Justice Minister Kim Campbell had introduced amendments to do just that in December.
In 1997, multimillionaire John du Pont was found guilty of murder in the fatal shooting of Olympic champion wrestler David Schultz, but a jury decided he was mentally ill.
In 1998, Canadian author and humorist W.O. Mitchell, died at age 83.
In 2000, telecommunications giant BCE bought broadcaster CTV for $2.3 billion.
In 2003, Roh Moo-hyun, 57, was sworn in as President of South Korea.
In 2005, notorious Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel gave up his fight to stay in Canada. The 65-year-old white supremacist was put on a plane in early March to return to Germany where he faced charges for spreading hate there. He would spend five years in a German prison before being freed in 2010.
In 2007, ``The Departed'' was named Best Picture at the 79th Annual Academy Awards. Martin Scorsese won his first Oscar for directing it. Forest Whitaker won Best Actor for ``The Last King of Scotland'' and the Best Actress award went to Helen Mirren for ``The Queen.''
In 2010, Ile-Dupas, Que.-native Joannie Rochette won the hearts of Canadians with an inspirational performance that earned her an Olympic bronze medal in ladies figure skating just days after her mother's sudden death.
In 2010, Canada claimed its third consecutive Olympic championship in women's hockey with a 2-0 victory over the United States at Vancouver's Winter Games. (Canada extended the streak to four at the 2014 Sochi Games.)
In 2018, the Pyeongchang Winter Games came to a close as short-track speed skater Kim Boutin, who won a silver and two bronze medals, carried the Canadian flag at the closing ceremony. Canada finished third overall with a record 29 medals (11 gold, 8 silver, 10 bronze), eclipsing its previous high of 26 from the 2010 Vancouver Games.
In 2019, the Saskatchewan's coroner's service report into the Humboldt Broncos bus crash called for tougher enforcement of trucking rules. It also recommended mandatory trucker training, mandatory seatbelt use on highway buses and a review of provincial policy on signs at intersections.
In 2019, R&B star R. Kelly's attorney entered a not guilty plea on his client's behalf to multiple charges of criminal sexual abuse.
In 2019, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh won his do-or-die bid to capture a B.C. seat in the House of Commons. The victory in the riding of Burnaby South tightened Singh's shaky grip on the reins of the federal New Democrats.
In 2020, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, ousted in the 2011 Arab Spring uprising, died at 91.
In 2020, Canadians and their family members flown home from Wuhan, China, were released from quarantine over the novel coronavirus. They spent that time at CFB Trenton, Ontario being monitored for any symptoms. Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam said the evacuees did not pose a risk of transmitting the disease when they returned to their homes. Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne advised Canadians planning trips overseas to check his department's travel advisories before booking, calling the outbreak a very dynamic situation.
In 2020, Dr. Bruce Aylward said the world isn't ready for a new coronavirus outbreak. Aylward returned to Geneva after leading a team of experts to China to study the virus for the World Health Organization. He urged other countries to get ready for a potential outbreak within their own borders as soon as possible, warning the spread of the virus seemed inevitable.
In 2020, Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard announced he had stepped down as chairman of his company following a FBI raid on his New York headquarters on suspicion of sex trafficking. Nygard denied the allegations.
In 2021, just months after taking over the job from Gen. Jonathan Vance, Admiral Art McDonald stepped aside as chief of the defence staff. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said McDonald left the post voluntarily as a military investigation was launched looking into allegations of misconduct against him. Sajjan did not specify what the allegations are. Lt.-Gen. Wayne Eyre stepped in to lead Canada's military.
In 2022, the Russian military pressed its invasion of Ukraine to the outskirts of the capital of Kyiv. The advancement came after Russia unleashed airstrikes on cities and military bases around the country. Troops and tanks from three sides were staging an attack. Explosions sounded before dawn in Kyiv.
In 2022, Canada brought in stronger sanctions against Russia in the wake of its military strikes against Ukraine. Fifty-eight people and entities connected to Russia, including key political leaders, oligarchs and their families, as well as the paramilitary organization known as the Wagner Group, were being sanctioned by Canada, along with several major Russian banks.
In 2022, Johnson & Johnson and distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson finalized settlements over their role in the U.S. opioid addiction crisis. The settlements cleared the way for US$26 billion to flow to nearly every state and local government in America, but none of it would be going directly to victims of opioid addiction or their survivors. Experts said some of the money should be used to provide housing to people with addictions who are homeless and to put more drug counsellors onto the streets.
In 2022, a prominent organizer of the three-week protest near Parliament Hill against COVID-19 restrictions was denied bail. Pat King was arrested a week prior and faced charges of mischief, counselling to commit mischief, counselling to commit the offence of disobeying a court order and counselling to obstruct police. Justice of the Peace Andrew Seymour said he was not satisfied that King, if released, wouldn't commit offences similar to those he was accused of. Seymour said he also lacked confidence in King's proposed surety, an Alberta woman who had known King for about four weeks.
In 2022, another round of Canadian sanctions targeted Russian President Vladimir Putin along with his chief of staff and foreign minister. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said Canada was confirming its support to remove Russia from SWIFT, a critical part of the global banking system. He said excluding Russian banks from the system would make it even harder for Putin to "finance his brutalities." Canada was also levying additional sanctions on Belarus and its leaders for helping Putin's invasion, targeting 57 individuals, in addition to existing sanctions against Alexander Lukashenko's regime for human rights violations.
In 2023, Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent died. The Newfoundland native had been a household name in Canada for decades, known for his many appearances on stage and screen. Pinsent was 92.
In 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says 31,000 soldiers have died fighting against the Russians over the previous two years – the first time he confirmed the number of fatalities since the start of Russia's invasion. He would not disclose the number of troops who have been injured or are missing.
The Canadian Press