TODAY IN HISTORY: American troops ransack Parliament

In 1644, wheat was planted in Canada for the first time near what is now Montreal.

In 1813, a force of 1,800 Americans landed at York (now Toronto) and the outnumbered British garrison withdrew. The town was sacked and the parliament buildings were burned down. In retaliation for this action and the destruction of Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.), the British raided Buffalo and Washington and set fire to the White House.

In 1831, the first Canadian steamboat to cross the Atlantic entirely under steam power, the "Royal William," was launched at Quebec City.

In 1838, martial law was revoked in Lower Canada. It was imposed the previous year because of the Papineau rebellion.

In 1865, the steamer "Sultana" exploded on the Mississippi near Memphis, killing more than 1,400 Union prisoners of war from the recently-ended U.S. Civil War.

In 1928, Prince Edward Island changed to driving on the right-hand side of the road.

In 1942, in a national plebiscite, Canadians voted in favour of conscription for overseas service.

In 1967, the Expo World's Fair was opened in Montreal by Prime Minister Lester Pearson.

In 1973, acting FBI Director L. Patrick Gray resigned after it was revealed that he had handed over bureau files on the Watergate burglary to the Nixon White House.

In 1977, the Parti Quebecois government proposed legislation to make French the working language in almost all phases of Quebec life.

In 1982, the trial of John Hinckley Jr., who shot four people in 1981, including President Ronald Reagan, began in Washington. Hinckley was acquitted by reason of insanity.

In 1987, the American Justice Department barred Austrian President Kurt Waldheim from entering the United States. It said he aided in the deportation and execution of thousands of Jews and others while serving as a German army officer during the Second World War.

In 1992, Lina Haddad, 27, gave birth in Montreal to the first quintuplets ever born in Quebec – three boys and two girls.

In 1992, Russia and 12 other former Soviet republics won entry into the IMF and World Bank.

In 2000, Nova Scotia allowed its black community mandatory representation on anglophone school boards.

In 2006, the Supreme Court of Canada, in a 4-3 decision, upheld key provisions of the national DNA databank that stores genetic profiles of sexual and dangerous offenders.

In 2006, Canada and the U.S. reached a sevenyear tentative deal on softwood lumber that would return US$4 billion of the $5 billion in duties collected from Canadian firms.

In 2010, after spending two decades in a Miami prison for drug trafficking, former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was extradited to Paris where he was immediately arrested on charges of laundering drug money in France in the 1980s. He was convicted on July 7 and sentenced to seven years in prison.

In 2010, chaos erupted in the Ukraine parliament after approval of a treaty allowed Russia to extend the lease on a naval base in a Ukrainian port on the Black Sea until 2042. Ukraine would get cheap natural gas from Russia in exchange. Lawmakers attacked each other, punching and brawling.