June 26 - National Canoe Day

In 2007, with over 1 million votes cast, the canoe was named one of the 7 Wonders of Canada via CBC Radio. In celebration, the Canadian Canoe Museum founded National Canoe Day with the aim of increasing participation in paddle sports in Canada, engaging new paddlers, and reaching across generational and cultural divides to introduce the canoe to those who haven't before had the opportunity to experience that aspect of our national heritage.

National Canoe Day has grown to become a truly countrywide event, with thousands of paddlers from across Canada and the world celebrating every year by going for a paddle or portage, attending an event, making a canoe-themed craft, or working on their own canoes that day. National Canoe Day is even celebrated internationally by groups in the United Kingdom, the United States, France, South America, and beyond!

So, how will you celebrate National Canoe Day? Check out some of these ideas!
- Go for a paddle
- Make a canoe craft with your family, school, or group
- Create a canoe-themed display in your shop window (or house windows if you have enough)
- Become a member of the Canadian Canoe Museum
- Teach someone how to paddle
- Wear a canoe (I'd love to see pictures of this!)
- Restore of build a canoe
- Adopt a canoe in the collection of the Canadian Canoe Museum
- Join your local canoe club
- Build your own canoe

Maybe you have your own way to celebrate National Canoe Day! Let us know how!

Today is also International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, and International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

Here are some interesting things that happened on this day in history:

- Charles Newbold patented his cast-iron plow in 1797. He couldn't sell it to farmers, however, due to their fear of the effects of iron on the soil!
- Lightning struck gunpowder in a Luxembourg warehouse in 1807, causing 230 to die.
- Royal assent was given to Robert Peel's Act repealing the Corn Laws in 1846, terminating the preferential treatment of Canadian grain in Britain.
- The June Days Uprising ended in Paris in 1848.
- The British Navigation Acts were repealed by Britain in a move towards free trade in 1849. The acts were considered a burden in Canada.
- Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden, who headed the Canadian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference 1919, was born in Grand Pré, Nova Scotia in 1854.

- An imperial order-in-council admitted Prince Edward Island into Canada in 1873, effective July1st.
- Dr. Walter Reed began research to combat Yellow Fever in 1900.
- Sherlock Holmes began his "Adventure of 3 Garidebs" in 1902. 
- Painter Marian Scott, who for 50 years experimented with fresh art forms often through repetition of small abstract forms, was born in Montréal in 1906.

- A violent confrontation between police and strikers effectively ended the strike of the miners in Drumheller, Alberta in 1925.
- Author Yves Beauchemin was born at Noranda, Québec in 1941. One of his first novels, Le Matou, which was translated into several languages, made him internationally known and was made into a film by Jean Beaudin in 1985.
- Canada joined the United Nations at its founding in 1945.

- The Yorkshire Ripper killed 16-year old shop assistant Jayne MacDonald in Leeds in 1977, changing public perception of the killer as she was the first victim who was not a prostitute.
- The Canada Elections Act received royal assent in 1970, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18.
- Canada hosted the 3rd-annual G20 Summit in 2010, a forum where 20 of the world`s leaders gathered to discuss critical global issues.

Stay tuned for our next, "On This Day in History"!