Today in History for Feb. 28:
On this date:
In 1759, for the first time, Pope Clement XIII permitted the Bible to be translated and made available in the languages of all peoples in the Roman Catholic states.
In 1849, the ship "California" arrived in San Francisco carrying the first of the gold seekers.
In 1854, about 50 people opposed to slavery met at a schoolhouse in Ripon, Wis., to call for a new political organization. The group would later take the name of the Republican Party.
In 1860, an oil gusher was discovered in Enniskillen, Ont., a town later re-named Petrolia.
In 1876, the Parliamentary Library in Ottawa opened. The building's architectural beauty and grandeur was proclaimed around the world, however, it was obvious from the start that it did not have enough space for all of the books in the Parliamentary collection. The building escaped a fire that hit the original Centre Block in 1916, but had to be restored after a 1952 fire that burned for 10 hours in the building's dome.
In 1877, the University of Manitoba was founded.
In 1922, the British protectorate over Egypt ended.
In 1931, the Canadian Rugby Union adopted the forward pass in football.
In 1944, Dutch Christian Corrie ten Boom and her family were arrested by Nazi secret police for harbouring Jews, who managed to escape. Corrie was the only member of her family to survive the Holocaust.
In 1952, Vincent Massey was sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor General. Born in Toronto in 1887, he was president of the Massey-Harris Company from 1921-25. He was appointed minister without portfolio in the Mackenzie King cabinet in 1925 but failed to win a seat in Parliament. Massey was Canada's first ambassador to the U.S., from 1926-30, and Canadian high commissioner in London from 1935-46. The brother of actor Raymond Massey, he left Rideau Hall in 1959 and died in 1967.
In 1953, scientists James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick announced they had discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule that contains the human genes.
In 1956, a restaurant in Chatham, Ont., was fined $50 for refusing to serve two Black students.
In 1964, the Toronto International Airport terminal building was opened.
In 1971, the male voters of Liechtenstein defeated a referendum on giving women the vote.
In 1975, 41 people were killed when a London subway train crashed into the end of a tunnel.
In 1977, Parliament created Via Rail Canada to operate the country's passenger rail service.
In 1983, the European Community agreed to a two-year ban on the importation of seal pup skins.
In 1983, the final episode of "M.A.S.H." attracted, at the time, the largest TV audience in U.S. history. The series ran 11 seasons and its two-and a-half-hour finale was watched by 105.97 million people.
In 1984, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau went for a walk in an Ottawa blizzard and decided to resign. He announced his decision the next day.
In 1986, Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was assassinated on a downtown Stockholm street. The crime has never been solved.
In 1993, a raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, touched off a standoff between cult members and U.S. federal agents. Six cult members and four agents were killed. The siege came to an end on April 19 when the FBI launched an assault and fire engulfed the compound. Eighty-six people were killed, including cult leader David Koresh.
In 1995, a New Brunswick judge issued his report on the abuse of boys at the Kingsclear Training Centre. It outlined widespread bureaucratic indifference that allowed sexual abuse to continue for nearly 30 years. Four civil servants were later fired.
In 1996, Princess Diana agreed to divorce Prince Charles.
In 1988, the 15th Winter Olympic Games closed in Calgary. Canadian athletes won two silver medals and three bronze.
In 1999, Venus and Serena Williams became the first sisters to win WTA Tour events on the same day. Venus won the I.G.A. SuperThrift Tennis Classic in Oklahoma City after Serena took her first title on the WTA Tour at the Gaz de France Open.
In 2003, Vaclav Klaus won a narrow victory to become president of Czech Republic.
In 2004, RCMP Cpl. Jim Galloway and a suspect were killed in a double shooting in Spruce Grove, near Edmonton.
In 2010, a violent late winter storm (Xynthia) with fierce rain and hurricane-strength winds battered France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and parts of Germany, leaving at least 62 people dead.
In 2010, Sidney Crosby's golden goal gave Team Canada a 3-2 overtime win over arch-rival United States in the men’s hockey gold medal game at the Vancouver Olympics. According to CTV, it was the most watched television broadcast in Canadian history as 80 per cent (26.5 million) of Canadians saw part of the game with an average audience of 16.5 million viewers.
In 2010, the Vancouver Winter Olympics came to a close. The "Own the Podium" program produced a Canadian record 26 medals -- 14 gold, 7 silver and 5 bronze -- and placed it third in the overall medal standings behind the U.S. and Germany. The 14 gold medals were also a record for a host country and the most by any nation at a Winter Games.
In 2013, Benedict XVI became the first pope in 600 years to resign, ending an eight-year pontificate shaped by struggles to move the Catholic Church past sex abuse scandals and to reawaken Christianity in an indifferent world. (He was succeeded the following month by Pope Francis.)
In 2016, at the 88th Academy Awards, "Spotlight," the story of the Boston Globe's Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into child sex abuse by Catholic priests, won Best Picture. Leonardo DiCaprio won the Oscar for Best Actor ("The Revenant"), Brie Larson took Best Actress ("Room") and Alejandro Inarritu repeated as Best Director ("The Revenant").
In 2020, the World Health Organization raised the risk assessment of COVID-19 to "very high" at the global level. Organizations across Canada cancelled conferences and events for fears of spreading the novel coronavirus.
In 2020, the french fry master of downtown Halifax, "Bud the Spud," died at the age of 77. Leonard True, known as "Bud," started his food truck in 1977.
In 2021, Netflix won the top TV awards at the Golden Globes, with "The Crown" winning best drama for the second time. "Schitt's Creek" won two awards: best comedy or musical TV series and best actress in a TV musical or comedy series for Catherine O'Hara. "Nomadland" took the Globes' top award for best picture drama, with China-born director Chloe Zhao winning the statuette for best director. She's the first woman of Asian descent to do so, and only the second woman ever to win.
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The Canadian Press
