TODAY IN history

In 1795, the metric system was officially adopted by the French government. Gabriel Mouton, vicar of a church in Lyons, is considered the father of the decimal system of measurement. Over the years, his work was revised, improved and extended by a number of French scientists.

In 1868, Thomas D’arcy Mcgee, one of the most brilliant orators in Canadian parliamentary history, was assassinated in Ottawa by a member of the Fenian Brotherhood. The Irish-born Father of Confederation worked as a journalist and poet before first being elected to the Canadian legislature in 1858.

In 1977, the Toronto Blue Jays played their inaugural regular season game. After a pregame snowstorm at Exhibition Stadium, the Blue Jays got two home runs from first baseman Doug Ault in beating the visiting Chicago White Sox 9-5.

In 2008, a British jury ruled that Diana, the Princess of Wales, and her companion Dodi Fayed, were unlawfully killed due to reckless speed and drinking by their driver, and by the reckless pursuit of paparazzi chasing them.

In 2013, Halifax-area teenager Rehteah Parsons was taken off life support after a suicide attempt three days earlier. Her family said Parsons, 17, struggled with depression after a photograph of her alleged sexual assault by four boys at a house party in 2011 was distributed online.