TODAY IN HISTORY:

In 1880, George Brown, editor of Toronto’s “Globe” newspaper and a Father of Confederation, was shot by a disgruntled employee he never knew. Brown’s seemingly minor leg wound became infected and he died May 9th at the age of 61. His killer, George Bennett, was hanged.

In 1911, an 18-minute fire in New York’s Triangle Shirtwaist factory killed 146 workers, mostly women. The fire led to many changes in health and safety laws in American sweatshops.

In 1976, Phyllis Major, the wife of musician Jackson Browne died by suicide. Much of the music on Browne’s album, “The Pretender,” displays his despair. The single “Here Come Those Tears Again” was co-written by Major’s mother Nancy Farnsworth.

In 1983, Motown’s 25th anniversary TV special was taped in Pasadena, Calif. The show featured reunions of both “The Supremes” and “The Jackson 5,” and the debut of Michael Jackson’s “moonwalk.” An estimated 47 million people – the largest audience ever to view a music special – watched NBC’s subsequent airing of the concert. But viewers did not see at least one sour note – when Mary Wilson attempted to hug Diana Ross during the reunited “Supremes” rendition of “Someday We’ll Be Together,” Ross pushed her away.

In 1992, the federal government abandoned the national dream of creating a Canadian-owned oil and gas industry. Conservative Energy Minister Jake Epp announced plans to lift restrictions on foreign ownership in the oil patch, meaning there would no longer be a requirement for 50 per cent Canadian ownership of the oil and gas industry. Alberta lobbied heavily for the changes, since foreign investment restrictions had kept foreign companies out of the oilpatch.

In 1995, The Tragically Hip made their debut on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live, “two days before winning Juno awards for Entertainer and Group of the Year. The Kingston, Ont., band was introduced by another Kingston native – actor Dan Aykroyd. The set did little to expand the band’s U.S. fan base.

In 2011, the federal Conservative government was brought down on a historic vote in Parliament, forcing an election. MPs voted 156-145 in favour of a Liberal motion citing Stephen Harper’s minority Tories for contempt of Parliament and expressing non-confidence in the government. The contempt citation marked a first for a national government anywhere in the Commonwealth. (The Conservatives were re-elected to a third consecutive mandate, and their first majority.)

In 2019, the last legal restrictions on Omar Khadr were lifted when an Alberta judge ruled that a war crimes sentence for the former Guantanamo Bay prisoner had expired. The ruling meant Khadr could apply for a passport as well as travel and visit freely. Khadr was sentenced to eight years in 2010 by a American military court for alleged acts committed in Afghanistan when he was 15 years old. That sentence – which the Supreme Court of Canada ruled would be a youth sentence – would have ended the previous October had Khadr remained in custody. But the clock stopped ticking when a judge freed him on bail in 2015 pending Khadr’s appeal of his military conviction in the United States.

In 2020, more than 800 Canadians returned home on Air Canada flights from Morocco, Spain and Ecuador as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to grow. Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said the government worked to repatriate as many Canadians as possible, but some will remain outside the country for an indeterminate amount of time.

In 2022, Taylor Hawkins, the longtime drummer for the rock band Foo Fighters, died at 50. Hawkins played drums for Alanis Morissette before joining Foo Fighters.