Today in history
merchant ship, the “N.S. Savannah.”
In 1961, the government-built town of Inuvik, N.W.T., was officially opened. The town, the largest Canadian community north of the Arctic Circle, was constructed to replace the old settlement of Aklavik, which was being threatened by flood and erosion. Located on the Mackenzie River delta, the town's economy is centred on nearby oil and gas exploration.
In 1969, “Apollo 11” astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin blasted off from the moon aboard the ascent stage of the lunar module for docking with the command module.
In 1972, the CRTC approved the creation of a third television network -- Global TV. It was licensed to serve five Ontario cities.
In 1975, a bill creating a federal human rights commission with powers to stop discrimination by businesses under federal jurisdiction was introduced in the Canadian House of Commons. The bill outlawed discrimination by employers on grounds of race, sex, colour, religion, age or marital status.
In 1983, martial law was lifted in Poland after more than 18 months.
In 1984, in the first known death of a human caused by a robot, a factory worker in Jackson, Mich., was crushed against a safety bar.
In 1988, Canada's War Measures Act of 1914 was set aside when the new Emergencies Act was given royal assent.
In 2006, two Canadian soldiers, Cpl. Francisco Gomez, 44, and Cpl. Jason Patrick Warren, 29, were killed when their convoy was attacked by suicide bombers near Kandahar, Afghanistan.
In 2008, Radovan Karadzic, 63, the wartime Bosnian Serb leader, was arrested after eluding officials for nearly 13 years. He was accused of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and other atrocities relating to the 1995 massacre and other acts against Muslim, Croat and other non-serb civilians in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 1992-95 war.
In 2008, a federal appeals court threw out a $550,000 fine against CBS Corp. for the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show that ended with Janet Jackson's breast-baring “wardrobe malfunction.”
In 2011, the space shuttle Atlantis returned from a re-stocking mission of the International Space Station, bringing an end to NASA'S 30-year program. The shuttle is now on display at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
In 2011, retired Brig.-gen. Daniel Menard pleaded guilty before a military court martial to having intimate relations while leading Canada's mission in Afghanistan, and then urging her to cover it up. His punishment included a $7,000 fine and a symbolic demotion to the rank of colonel.
In 2011, Pentagon chief Leon Panetta certified formally that gays can serve openly in the U.S. Armed Forces, repealing the 17-year-old don't ask, don't tell prohibition. (It took effect on Sept. 20.)
In 2013, Belgium's King Albert abdicated after a 20year reign; his son Philippe took over as the fractured nation's seventh king.