TODAY IN HISTORY: The White House is sacked

In 1660, Pierre Radisson and his brother-inlaw Chouart des Groseillers decided to form the Hudson Bay Co. after having a fortune in furs confiscated because they went west without the governor general’s permission.

In 1791, the British Parliament passed the Constitutional Act, which divided Canada into two provinces, Upper and Lower, each with its own lieutenant-governor and legislature.

In 1814, British troops burned the White House in Washington, D.C., during the War of 1812.

In 1870, Metis leader Louis Riel abandoned Fort Garry when troops led by Col. Garnet Wolseley arrived to put down the Red River Rebellion. In 1876, Cree from central Alberta and central Saskatchewan agreed to live on reserves.

In 1877, Alexander Graham Bell obtained the Canadian telephone patent.

In 1920, celebrated Canadian artist Alex Colville was born in Toronto.

In 1922, Rene Levesque was born in New Carlisle, Que.

In 1949, NATO was created by Canada, the U.S. and 10 European countries.

In 1950, the first Canadian unit to reach the Far East in the Korean War arrived in Tokyo.

In 1969, the American supertanker “Manhattan” left Chester, Pa., embarking on the first crossing of the Northwest Passage by a commercial ship. With the help of two other ships, including a Canadian icebreaker, the “Manhattan” reached Sachs Harbour, N.W.T., on Sept. 15.

In 1988, the general council of the United Church of Canada voted to consider all members for ordination, regardless of sexual orientation.

In 1990, three Canadian warships set sail for the Persian Gulf to participate in the blockade of Iraq over its invasion of Kuwait.

In 1992, engineering professor Valery Fabrikant opened fire on colleagues at Montreal’s Concordia University. Four people died and Fabrikant was convicted of firstdegree murder in 1993.

In 1998, Gillian Guess was sentenced in Vancouver to 18 months in jail for an affair she had with a defendant while serving on the jury that acquitted him.

In 1999, Onex Corp. chief executive Gerald Schwartz announced a $5.7-billion plan to buy Air Canada and its rival Canadian Airlines and merge them.

In 2001, an Air Transat Airbus 330, on a Toronto-Lisbon flight, made a safe emergency landing in the Azores after it ran out of fuel over the Atlantic Ocean.