Over Niagara Falls

In 1793, Upper Canada, now Ontario, prohibited the importation of slaves and ruled that slaves’ children should be freed at age 25. But the act didn’t free any existing slaves in the colony. Slavery had been accepted by the natives and by the first French and English settlers in Canada, finally being outlawed by the British Parliament in 1833.

In 1905, Clarence Campbell, who was president of the NHL from 1946-71, was born at Fleming, Sask. A lawyer, Campbell attended the University of Alberta, was named a Rhodes Scholar and received his master’s degree in jurisprudence from Oxford University. He died on June 24, 1984.

In 1956, Dick Clark debuted as host of “Bandstand” on Philadelphia TV station WFIL. “Bandstand” featured top pop and rock stars lip-synching their latest hits and a group of local teens dancing in the studio to recorded music. ABC expressed interest, and in 1957 the program was retitled “American Bandstand” and shown across the U.S. and Canada. At the height of its popularity, the daily show was reported to have generated one million fan letters a week. Clark relinquished his “Bandstand” hosting duties in 1989 to 26-year-old David Hirsch, but the program died within months. Still, its 37-year run is a record for a television variety show.

In 1960, seven-year-old Rodger Woodward became the first person to survive an accidental plunge over Niagara Falls. Roger, his 17-year-old sister Deanne and 40-year-old family friend James Honeycutt were boating on the Niagara River when their motor failed and the current began carrying their boat towards the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. Roger suffered only a slight concussion when he was swept over the Falls wearing only a life jacket and bathing suit. He was picked up by a “Maid of the Mist” tourist boat and spent three days in hospital. Deanne was rescued at the very edge of the Falls, but Honeycutt drowned.

In 1971, Jim Morrison, lead singer of

“The Doors,” was buried in Paris, six days after he died of heart failure in his bathtub. Morrison’s death was not announced until after the burial, leading some fans to declare that he wasn’t really dead.

In 1989, the four original “Monkees” — Peter Tork, Davey Jones, Mickey Dolenz and Mike Nesmith — performed their first concert together in 20 years at a

“Monkees” convention in Los Angeles. There had been several previous reunions but Nesmith refused to take part.

In 2007, a 13-year-old Medicine Hat, Alta., girl was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her parents and eight-year-old brother. The girl, who was 12 when the killings occurred in 2006, became the youngest convicted multiple killer in Canada.

In 2010, the U.S. and Russia completed a 14-person spy swap after two planes carrying the agents landed briefly in Vienna, then took off again in the largest such diplomatic dance since the Cold War.

In 2011, South Sudan became the world’s newest nation, officially breaking away from Sudan after two civil wars over five decades that had cost millions of lives.

In 2019, Bombardier announced plans to lay off half of the 1,100 workers at its Thunder Bay, Ont., railway car plant. Two major contracts in Ontario — for the Toronto Transit Commission streetcars and Metrolinx GO Transit rail cars — were slated to halt by the end of the year. It blamed the cyclical nature of its business and the Trump Administration’s “Buy America” provisions.