Bells across Canada ring for Quebec City's 400th anniversary

CANADIANS celebrated Thursday the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City, the beginnings of Canada and four centuries of French culture and language in North America.

Bells rang out across Canada at 11:00 a.m. Quebec time (1500 GMT) to mark the exact time that French explorer Samuel de Champlain is thought to have landed on these shores 400 years ago. With live music, a military parade and a performance by the Cirque de Soleil troupe, Canadians commemorated the day in 1608, marking Canada’s beginnings when Champlain crossed the Atlantic Ocean and headed up the Saint Lawrence River to establish the city with 30 other men.

“Four hundred years ago an explorer came this way, and today, a nation salutes him,” Quebec premier Jean Charest said at official ceremonies in the shadow of a statue of Champlain overlooking the river.