TODAY IN history

In 1095, Pope Urban II called 600 men to the Council of Clermont, where he asked Europe to recapture the Holy Land from the Turks. A vast crusading army was deployed.

In 1791, the Constitutional Act, creating the jurisdictions of Upper and Lower Canada, was proclaimed. It came into effect on Dec. 26.

In 1883, the first operation of Standard Time in North America began at midnight in eastern Nova Scotia. Scottish-born Sir Sandford Fleming played a major role in introducing the concept around the world.

In 1903, the United States and Panama signed a treaty granting the U.S. rights to build the Panama Canal. Exactly five years later, the treaty was ratified.

In 1929, an earthquake in Cape Breton sent a 15-metre tidal wave onto Newfoundland’s Burin Peninsula. The wall of water killed 27 people and did $2 million in damage.

In 1936, the Toronto Globe bought the Mail and Empire and formed The Globe and Mail.

In 1961, the Saskatchewan legislature passed a law giving that province Canada’s first pre-paid medical care plan.

In 1963, the Nova Scotia government closed the province’s last segregated school for blacks.

In 1966, U.S. Roman Catholic bishops did away with the rule against eating meat on Fridays outside of Lent.