February 8, 1604 - Pierre de Gua de Monts forms the de Monts Trading Company with Champlain and Gravé du Pont; Canada's First chartered company; with capital from Rouen, St. Malo and La Rochelle merchants. Paris, France

February 8, 1631 - King Charles I grants Cape Breton Island to Robert Gordon of Lochinvar and his son Robert. London, England

February 8, 1631 - King Louis XIII names Charles de La Tour Governor and Lieutenant-General of New France and Acadia; commission partly restored after peace treaty in 1632; La Tour builds Fort Ste-Marie at the mouth of the Saint John River, rich fur region. Paris, France

February 8, 1690 - Louis de Buade et de Palluau, Comte de Frontenac organizes an attack on the Mohawks to retaliate for the Lachine massacre; sends Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville with more than 160 French Canadians and 100 Iroquois warriors to Schenectady, New York; 60 people killed, 30 captured, and the village put to the torch. Schenectady, New York

February 8, 1839 - American and Canadian loggers clash in Aroostook lumber war over undefined boundary with Maine along the St. Croix River; Maine and New Brunswick call out the militia; Nova Scotia passes an appropriation for defense, and British troops are called from Halifax to guard the border; the US Congress votes $10 million to raise a force of 50,000 men if needed; a truce is struck on March 25 and the border eventually settled by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty signed signed August 9, 1842. Aroostook, New Brunswick

February 8, 1853 - Place Name - J. B. Turgeon, the Mayor of Bytown, petitions town Council to change name of Bytown to Ottawa. Ottawa, Ontario

February 8, 1853 - Oregon Territory split into Oregon and Washington Territories. Isaac Ingalls Stevens appointed governor of the latter, John P. Gaines remains as the elected governor of the former. Oregon

February 8, 1858 - Railway opens to Truro and Windsor. Halifax, Nova Scotia

February 8, 1879 - Sandford Fleming First proposes adoption of Universal Standard Time, by dividing the world into 24 equal time zones, with standard time within each zone; in lecture at the Canadian Institute in Toronto; idea adopted by North American railways four years later, and by 24 countries at a conference in 1884. Toronto, Ontario (CBC Archives)

February 8, 1887 - Hugh Nelson commissioned lieutenant-governor of British Columbia

February 8, 1895 - Daniel Greene resigns as Liberal Prime Minister of Newfoundland; replaced by former PM William Whiteway. St. John's, Newfoundland

February 8, 1905 - James Whitney takes office as Premier of Ontario, replacing George Ross; first Conservative government in Ontario since 1872. Toronto, Ontario

February 8, 1911 - Kettle Valley Railway track-laying crews westbound from Midway, BC, arrive at Rock Creek, BC.

February 8, 1913 - Last game of the NHA (National Hockey Association) played with a seven man team between the Toronto Blueshirts and the Montréal Canadiens. Toronto, Ontario

February 8, 1918 - George Eulas Foster chairs new War Trade Board. Ottawa, Ontario

February 8, 1918 - Lieutenant-Governor Roberta MacAdams becomes the First woman in the British Empire to introduce a piece of legislation. Edmonton, Alberta

February 8, 1923 - First hockey game broadcast on the radio from Toronto's Mutual Street Arena; hosted by Norman Albert; Foster Hewitt took over the job, on the Toronto Star's own radio station, CFCA, on March 22. Toronto, Ontario
February 8, 1934 - Hart House Glee Club gives its First concert in Hart House at the University of Toronto; will perform in the Hart House Sunday evening concert series until 1970; disband in 1972. Toronto, Ontario

February 8, 1936 - Hockey - Charlie Conacher notches the First successful Toronto Maple Leaf penalty shot, against the New York Rangers. Toronto, Ontario

February 8, 1943 - World War II - HMCS Regina sinks the Italian submarine Avorio in the Mediterranean. Mediterranean Sea

February 8, 1944 - World War II - Sgt Tommy Prince of the 1st Canadian Special Service Battalion successfully poses as an Italian farmer tending his crops while fixing Army communication lines as Germans troops look on.

February 8, 1945 - World War II - Battle of the Rhineland - Gen Harry Crerar leads the First Canadian Army in attacking German positions in the Rhineland area of Holland and the German Reichswald, on the west bank of the Rhine; part of Operation Veritable to February 21, a joint amphibious offensive by the 1st Canadian Army and with XXX British Corps under command
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February 8 - World War II - Royal Winnipeg Rifles take part in Operation Veritable, the invasion of Nazi Germany.

February 8, 1948 - Fifth Winter Olympic games close at St Moritz. The RCAF Flyers defeat Switzerland 3-0 for the Gold, Ottawa's Barbara Ann Scott takes home the Gold Medal in Figure Skating, and Suzanne Morrow & Wallace Diestalmeyer win the Bronze in Pairs Figure Skating. St. Moritz, Switzerland

February 8, 1952 - Queen Elizabeth II takes the Oath of Accession to the Throne, following the death two days earlier of her father, King George the Sixth. London, England

February 8, 1958 - Lucile Wheeler of St-Jovite, Québec, wins downhill and giant slalom titles at the World Ski championships; started skiing at Mont Tremblant at age 2; 1956 won Canada's First Olympic ski medal, a bronze in the downhill. Kitzbuhel, Austria

February 8, 1959 - Hillcrest Miners' Literary and Athletic Association's hall burns down. Hillcrest, Alberta

February 8, 1959 - Music - Cantata Singers make their debut in Christ Church Cathedral, singing Bach's Mass in B-Minor; 40-voice mixed choir under Hugh McLean, founding conductor 1958-67. Vancouver, BC

February 8, 1960 - Federal-provincial conference on the Centennial backs Montréal bid for 1967 World's Fair. Montréal, Québec

February 8, 1967 - Hockey - Toronto Maple Leaf mired in their longest losing streak in team history (10 games). Toronto, Ontario

February 8, 1969 - FLQ terrorists explode bomb on McGill St. in Montréal. Montréal, Québec

February 8, 1979 - French Premier Raymond Barre visits Québec. Québec

February 8, 1980 - Former NHL president Clarence Campbell found guilty of conspiring to give Senator Louis Giguère a benefit in connection with a contract for airport duty-free shops; the Sky Shop affair. Montréal, Québec

February 8, 1983 - Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers scores all-star record four goals, all in the third period, as the Campbell Conference beats the Wales 9-3 at Nassau Coliseum. Uniondale, New York

February 8, 1984 - Canadian team attends ceremony of lighting the Olympic flame to open the 14th Olympic Winter Games in Kosevo Stadium, Sarajevo, Yugoslavia; with 1, 579 athletes representing 49 other countries. Nearly all the Olympic facilities will be destroyed during the civil war in Bosnia. Sarajevo, Bosnia

February 8, 1985 - Frank Miller becomes premier of Ontario, replacing Bill Davis after the Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership election. Toronto, Ontario

February 8, 1986 - Disaster - Nine-car VIA Rail passenger train collides head-on with a CN freight, killing 29, injuring 93. Hinton, Alberta

February 8, 1987 - Trial of Québec's Levesque sisters begins in Rome; charged with possession of heroin for the purpose of trafficking; acquitted
Feb. 12 Rome, Italy

February 8, 1990 - Daniel Lanois ends his 9-country European tour with a concert at London's Royal Festival Hall; the singer and record producer plays from his First album, Acadie; in the audience are clients and friends composer Brian Eno, U2 guitarist Dave Evans and singer Peter Gabriel. London, England

February 8, 1990 - Jean Chrétien announces he will run for the Leadership of the federal Liberal party; on resignation of John Turner Ottawa, Ontario

February 8, 1992 - Albertville Olympics - Canadian team attends opening of the 16th Winter Olympic Games in Albertville; to February 23. Canada finishes ninth in the medal count. Albertville, France

February 8, 1994 - Ottawa slashes tobacco taxes to reduce rampant cigarette smuggling; Québec, Ontario and the Maritime provinces follow; failure to control smuggling. Ottawa, Ontario

February 8, 1995 - Romeo LeBlanc sworn in as Canada's 25th Governor General; former teacher, journalist, federal Cabinet Minister; First native Acadian to hold the position. Ottawa, Ontario

February 8, 1996 - US bookstore chain Borders says it will invest in a chain of bookstores in Canada; Ottawa's Investment Review Division will block the plan in May under the cultural exemption of NAFTA. New York, New York
February 8, 1997 - Jean-Luc Brassard wins gold medal in free-style skiing at the World Championships in Nagano. Nagano, Japan

February 8, 1998 - NHL stops season until Feb. 24th to accommodate the Nagano Olympic games. North America

February 8, 1998 - Olympics - Ross Reblagliati wins the Olympic gold medal at Nagano in the first-ever Snowboarding event held at a Winter Games. Nagano, Japan

February 8, 2000 - BC government says province's film and TV production industry earned over $1 billion in 1999, ranking British Columbia third in North America after Los Angeles and New York. Victoria, BC


February 8, 2001 - Lorne Calvert becomes premier of Saskatchewan, replacing Roy Romanow

February 8, 2005 - Edmonton police chief Fred Rayner is fired after news of a police sting targeting a journalist and the chair of the city's police board comes to light. Edmonton, Alberta

February 8, 2005 - Julian Fantino is appointed Ontario's new commissioner of emergency management; former Toronto police chief

February 8, 2010 - Justice - CFB Trenton Base Commander Colonel Russell Williams charged with two counts of murder against two women and two counts of sexual assault of another two women. Belleville, Ontario