TODAY IN HISTORY: A prince visits the falls

In 1773, the ship, ‘Hector,’ arrived at Brown’s Point, near Pictou, N.S. Hector carried 178 Scottish immigrants -- the first large wave of immigration that made Scots the predominant ethnic group in Nova Scotia. A replica ship was later built to commemorate the voyage and is on display in Pictou harbour.

In 1835, Charles Darwin reached the Galapagos Islands aboard ‘HMS Beagle.’

In 1860, Edward, Prince of Wales, visited Niagara Falls, where he witnessed a performance of the great French tightrope walker Blondin.

In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws were passed in Germany, segregating Jews and adopting the swastika as the official German flag. The laws barred Jews from professional positions, stripped them of property and segregated them into ghettos.

In 1946, 21 members of the Royal Canadian Air Force died in a plane crash near Estevan, Sask. The plane carried a load of pilots, all members of No. 124 Squadron, who had been engaged in returning lease-lend Cornell aircraft to the United States. The cause of the crash was determined to be human error.

In 1960, Maurice (Rocket) Richard announced his retirement from hockey after playing 18 seasons with the Montreal Canadiens. Richard was the greatest goalscorer of his era, with a regular season total of 544 and he once scored 50 goals in 50 games. He died in May 2000.

In 1969, Ed Sullivan released ‘The SulliGulli,’ his first and only rock record. He was hoping it would create a new dance. The 45-record went nowhere on the charts.

In 1978, Muhammad Ali became the first heavyweight boxer to win the world title three times when he won a 15-round decision from Leon Spinks in New Orleans.

In 1978, Syncrude Canada opened the world’s largest oilsands production facility at Mildred Lake in northeastern Alberta.

In 1984, Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass before 500,000 people at a Toronto military base.

In 1993, a compensation plan was announced for people who contracted HIV through tainted blood products before Canadian officials started screening blood for the virus. The plan was approved by most provinces and both territories. They joined Nova Scotia and Quebec, which had announced their own compensation packages earlier. The following day, the federal government announced an inquiry would be held to recommend how to make the blood system safer and more efficient.

In 1997, for the first time in history, Sinn Fein, the political arm of the IRA, attended Northern Ireland peace talks in Belfast.

In 2000, BCE and the Thomson family announced a $4 billion joint venture combining the Globe and Mail and its associated Web sites, CTV and the Internet portal Sympatico.

In 2003, Torstar Corp. announced it would shut down the money-losing ‘Cambridge Reporter’ after 157 years.

In 2004, Prime Minister Paul Martin and Canada’s premiers and territorial leaders signed a six-year deal worth $18 billion to reform medicare. The federal government later signed a separate deal with Quebec exempting the province from some promises other provinces made, such as expanding certain home-care services. The side deal was hailed as a pattern for future federal-provincial agreements.

In 2008, global markets plummeted after investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection, rival Merrill Lynch agreed to be taken over by Bank of America and the U.S. Federal Reserve threw a lifeline to the battered financial industry. In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index dropped 515.26 points to 12,254.32.

In 2011, the Ford assembly plant in St. Thomas, Ont., closed after a 44-year history, leaving 1,200 employees out of a job.

In 2012, the NHL locked out its players at 11:59 p.m. after failing to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement. It was the league’s fourth shutdown since 1992. A tentative 10-year deal was struck on Jan. 6, 2013, enabling the league to salvage a season with a truncated 48game schedule that began on Jan. 19.

In 2016, an Edmonton judge convicted Travis Vader of second-degree murder in the deaths of seniors Lyle and Marie McCann, an Alberta couple who vanished shortly after they left on a camping trip in 2010. Their bodies have never been found.

In 2017, Ontario’s Wiarton Willie, the albino groundhog at the centre of Canada’s most high-profile weather forecasting tradition, died at age 13.