TODAY IN HISTORY: Seahawks win their first Super Bowl
In 1942, Ottawa proclaimed western British Columbia a “protected area” and soon began moving Japanese people inland. The measure was intended to quell fears of Japanese people assisting an invasion during the Second World War. Within weeks, the action was expanded to include all those of Japanese origin. They were treated as aliens and deprived of their property. Decades later, the federal government apologized to Canada’s Japanese community.
In 1971, Idi Amin assumed power in Uganda following a coup that ousted President Milton Obote. Amin’s reign of terror over the African nation lasted eight years.
In 1979, punk rocker Sid Vicious, born John Ritchie, died of a heroin overdose in a New York City jail. He had just embarked on a solo career after the demise of the “Sex Pistols” when he was arrested on charges of murdering his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen.
In 1983, Giovanni Vigliotto testified at his bigamy and fraud trial in Phoenix that he had married 105 women over a 20-year span. He married some twice, others at least three times.
In 1988, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney fired Supply and Services Minister Michel Cote for not reporting a private loan from a company doing government business.
In 1990, South Africa announced the legalization of the African National Congress and other political organizations that had been outlawed.
In 1996, the Canadian Football League became allCanadian again when four American franchises folded. The Grey Cup-champion Baltimore Stallions moved to Montreal to become the Alouettes.
In 1999, the death of groundhog Wiarton Willie was announced. Canada’s most famous rodent weather forecaster had been emerging from his burrow in Wiarton, Ont., for 10 years to predict how much longer the winter would last.
In 2003, Canadian golfer Mike Weir won the Bob Hope Classic in La Quinta, Calif.
In 2009, 60-year-old Ranjit Hayer of Calgary became the oldest Canadian woman to give birth, delivering twins at Calgary’s Foothills Hospital.
In 2014, the Seattle Seahawks won their first Super Bowl title, punishing Denver 43-8 with their No. 1ranked defence that disarmed Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning and the highest-scoring offence in league history.
In 2014, Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his apartment of a drug overdose. He was 46. He won an Academy Award in 2005 as the title character in “Capote.”
In 2016, NDP candidate Melanie Mark became the first indigenous woman elected to the British Columbia legislature after winning a byelection in the party stronghold of Vancouver-Mount Pleasant.
In 2017, The Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie gave what turned out to be his last public performance, invited onstage at the last minute to take part in Blue Rodeo’s encore (“Lost Together”) to end a concert at Toronto’s Massey Hall. Downie died on Oct. 17 after a nearly two-year battle with incurable brain cancer.
In 2018 Andrew Wilkinson, 60, a doctor, lawyer, Rhodes Scholar and former cabinet minister, was elected as the new B.C. Liberal leader a year after the party lost its 16-year grip on power. His party lost the 2020 election and he resigned as MLA in 2022.
In 2020, mathematicians and geeks everywhere celebrated a rare occurrence: 02/02/2020. This kind of eight-digit palindrome hasn’t occurred for more than 900 years – since Nov. 11, 1111. The date is considered a “universal palindrome” because it reads the same whether you write the date as “Month/Day /Year” or “Day/Month/Year.” The next one didn’t come until Dec. 12, 2121.
In 2021, the Trudeau government signed a tentative agreement for Novavax to produce millions of doses of its COVID-19 vaccine at a new facility in Montreal.