AD
1001 Lief Ericsson explores the coast of Labrador and Newfoundland. Ericsson also may
have explored along the coast of Nova Scotia and New England which he called
Vineland.1455 English fisherman were probably visiting the Grand Banks to fish
and possibly had landed along the shore of Atlantic Canada.
1492
Columbus sails to America
1497
Henry the VII of England sends John Cabot to the new world where he explores the
coast of Cape Breton Island, Newfoundland or Labrador
1498
Cabot makes his second voyage across the Atlantic to the Maritimes but is lost
at sea
1500
Gaspar de Corte-Real sails around Newfoundland
1508
Thomas Aubert visits Newfoundland
1520 Fagundes sails into the Gulf of St. Lawrence area
1524 Verrazzano for France and Gomes for Spain, Scout the Atlantic seaboard
1527
John Rut in Labrador
1534
France dispatches an expedition to Atlantic Canada under the command of Jacques
Cartier. He explores the coast of Newfoundland, Labrador and The Gulf of St.
Lawrence. He landed in Gaspe on July 14, 1534 and planted the flag of France.
1535
Cartier continues to explore eastern Canada and sails up the St. Lawrence river
the Indian villages of Hochelega (present day Montreal) and Stadacona (present
day Quebec city).
1541
Cartier returns to North America with the Sieur de Roberval to found a
settlement. They named it Charlesbourg-Royal and it became the first French
settlement in North America.
1542 Roberval’s expedition
1577
Seeking the legendary North West passage to Asia and the spice/silk trade, the
England commissions Martin Frobisher to sail North over the top of America to
the pacific. Frobisher would make 3 attempts, all of which ended in failure. The
furthest he got was the Hudson Strait. - Drake begins his round the world voyage
(completed in 1580)
1583
Gilbert explores the coast of Newfoundland and Bellenger and La Roche land on
Cape Breton
1585 – 87 Davis is dispatched to find the Northwest
passage to Asia and Davis Strait is named after him
1595 Mercator’s Atlas is published
1598 La
Roche’s colony is established on Sable Island
1600
King Henry IV of France awards a Fur trading Monopoly to a group of French
merchants. - Hakluyt’s Voyages is published
1602 Waymouth sails into Hudson Strait
1605
Port Royal is established in Nova Scotia by the French under Samuel de
Champlain. -
1606
First theatrical production in Canada
1608
Samuel de Champlain sails up the St. Lawrence and lays claim to Quebec for
France.
1609
Champlain travels with the Algonquins to Lake Champlain where they attack the
Iroquois and the French use firearms against the Iroquois. - Lippershey invents
spectacles
1610
Etienne Brule goes to live among the Huron and eventually becomes the first
European to see Lakes Ontario, Huron and Superior. - Henry Hudson explores
Hudson Bay and is set adrift by a mutinous crew and dies.
1611
Etienne Brule reaches Lake Nipissing
1612
Samuel de Champlain is named the Governor of New France
1615
Champlain discovers the Great Lakes
1613 Argall attacks St. Sauveur in Acadia - Foundation of St. John’s Newfoundland
1617
Louis Hebert, the first habitant (farmer), arrives in Quebec
1621
William Alexander is awarded Nova Scotia by England
1623
Founding of Avalon, Newfoundland
1625
Jesuits arrive in Quebec to begin missionary work among the Indians
1627 The
Company of One Hundred Associates is founded (Apr. 29), by Cardinal Richelieu,
to establish a French Empire in North America - War breaks out between England
and France
1629
David Kirke captures Quebec for Britian (July 19)
1631
Thomas James sails into Hudson Bay and discovers James Bay which is named after
him - Foxe explores the Artic looking for the North West passage
1632 The
Treaty of Saint Germain en Laye returns Quebec to France
1634 Nicolet discovers Lake Michigan
1635
Founding of the French Academy; the Jesuit college at Quebec
1634 – 40 The Huron Nation is reduced by half from
European disease (smallpox epidemic, 1639)
1635
Samuel de Champlain dies
1637
Kirke is named the first governor of Newfoundland
1638
Placentia Newfoundland is founded
1639
Grant of Batiscan; Jesuits found Ste. Marie among the Hurons - The first
Ursulines reach Quebec
1640
Discovery of Lake Erie
1642
Montreal is Founded (may 18) by the Sieur de Maisonneuve - Nicolet is founded -
1644 The
founding of the Hotel-Dieu in Montreal
1648 The
First Council of New France is held
1649 The
Jesuit Father Jean de Brebeuf is martyred by the Iroquois at St-Ignace (mar. 16)
The Iroquois disperse the Huron nation (1648-49)
1651
Jean de Lauzon is appoint Governor of New
1654
Sedgwick seizes Port Royal
1657
Pierre d’Argenson becomes Governor of New France - Arrival of the Sulpicians in
Canada
1658
Francois de Laval made Apostolic Vicar of New France - First girls school in
Montreal
1659
Francois de Laval, later to become Canada’s first bishop, arrives in Quebec
(June)
1660
Adam Dollard des Ormeaux makes his last stand against the Iroquois at Long Sault
(May). The small party of French fights so well that the Iroquois decide not to
attack Montreal
1661 D’Avaugour becomes the Governor of New France - Radisson & Des Groseilliers
explore to Hudson Bay
1662
Thomas Temple is appointed Governor of Nova Scotia
1663
Quebec becomes a royal province which brings to an end the Company of New France
but marks the founding of the Sovereign Council - The Quebec Seminary
1665 The Carigan-Salieres regiment under the Marquis de Tracy is sent from France to
Quebec to deal with the Iroquois. - Jean Talon becomes Quebec’s first Intendant.
- Courcelle becomes the Governor of New France - Dutch pirates scour
Newfoundland ports
1666
Fort Temple is founded as an English stronghold in
1668
Founding of Fort Charles (Fort Rupert) on the Hudson Bay by the English. Father
Marquette founds mission at Sault Ste. Marie.
1669
Lake Erie discovered.
1671
Founding of Fort Albany on the Hudson Bay
1672 Frontenac becomes the Governor of Quebec - Albanel completes an overland trip to
Hudson Bay - The Hudson Bay Company is charter by King James of England
1673
Foundation of Cataraqui (Kingston) - Jolliet and Marquette reach the Mississippi
- Moose Factory and Fort Monsoni are founded
1675
Founding of Fort
1680
Founding of the Comedie Francaise
1679 Sieur Du Lhut lands at present day Duluth. La Salle sails in Griffon. Griffon
lost on return trip.
1682 La Barre becomes the Governor of Quebec - La Salle reaches the mouth of the
Mississippi - The Company of the North is
1685 Denonville becomes the Governor of Quebec
1686
Moose Factory and Rupert fall into French hands - John Abraham explores the
Churchill River
1689 Frontenac begins his second term as vieregal - Abenaki Indians seize Pemaquid -
Kelsey explores the North for the Hudson Bay
1690 The
English capture Port Royal - Phips begins his siege of Quebec - Canadian raids
against Casco, Salmon Falls and Corlear - Iberville sails into Hudson Bay -
Dorchester, New Brunswick is settled
1693 The
English retake Fort Albany from the French
1694
Iberville seizes York - The Tartuffe affair at Quebec
1696 Iberville’s campaign in Newfoundland
1697 Callieres becomes the administrator of Canada - First settlement at Moncton, New
Brunswick
1698
Thomas Savery patents his “steam engine”
1699 End
of the Iroquois.
1700
Treaty of peace signed with the Iroquois Confederacy - Founding of Detroit and
Mobile
1701
Cadillac at Detroit
1702
Having begun in Europe in1701, The War of the Spanish Succession spreads to
North America (Queen Anne's War) in Acadia and New England. - Leake ravaged
French Newfoundland
1703 Vaudreuil becomes Governor of Quebec and Beauharnois becomes Intendant
1704 New
flood of card money in Canada - French raids against Deerfield Mass
1705 J Raudot becomes the Intendant of Canada
1706
Opening of Montreal’s public marketplace
1707
Denis Papin constructs his first steamboat
1708 St.
Johns falls into French hands
1710
Francis Nicholson captures Port Royal for England.
1711
Abortive invasion of New France by English Walkers fleet is wrecked on the Ile-aux-Oeufs
1713 The
Treaty of Utrecht ends Queen Anne's War, confirming British possession of Hudson
Bay, Newfoundland and Acadia (except l'Ile- Royale [Cape Breton Island]). France
starts building Fort Louisbourg near the eastern tip of l'Ile-Royale.
1717 The
French begin construction of Fortress Louisbourg to stop the English from
invading the St. Lawrence
1718 The
foundation of New Orleans
1720
Fort Rouille founded on the site of Toronto
1721 Scroggs looks for a North West passage, while Richard Norton explores by land
1726 Beauharnois becomes Governor of New
1729
Reorganization of Newfoundland by the English
1730s The
Mississauga drive the Seneca Iroquois south of Lake Erie.
1731-43 The La Vérendrye family
organize expeditions beyond Lake Winnipeg and direct fur trade toward the east.
They are the first recorded Europeans to sight the Canadian Rockies from the
East.
1731
Gilles Hocquart becomes the Intendant of New France
1736 The Beauce country opened for settlement
1737
Opening of the North shore road from Quebec to Montreal - Grey Sisters founded
in Canada
1738
Official opening of the St. Maurice Ironworks - Founding of Fort La Reine
(portage La Prairie) and Fort Rouge (Winnipeg)
1740s The Mandan
Indians west of the Great Lakes begin to trade in horses descended from those
brought to Texas by the Spanish. Itinerant Assiniboine Indians bring them from
Mandan settlements to their own territories southwest of Lake Winnipeg.
1741
Founding of Fort dauphin (Dauphin Sask.) and Pas koyac (le Pas, Man.)
1743
Discovery of the Rocky Mountains
1744
Having begun in Europe in 1770, The War of the Austrian Succession spreads to
North America (King George's War). - Duvivier seizes Canso but fails at
Annapolis
1745
Massachusetts Governor William Shirley takes the French fortress of Louisbourg.
1746 Collapse of the revenge expedition of D’Anville
1747 La Galissoniere becomes Governor of New France
1748 Louisbourg and l'Ile-Royale are returned to France by the Treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle.
- Bigot becomes Intendant of New France
1749
Britain founds Halifax to counter the French presence at Louisbourg. They are
preparing for the final showdown with France in North America. - La Jonquiere
becomes the Governor of New France
1750 The
Ojibwa begin to emerge as a distinct tribal amalgamation of smaller independent
bands. German immigrants begin to arrive in numbers at Halifax. - Fort Beausejour is built by the French - Fort Lawrence is built by the English
1752
Canada's first newspaper, the weekly Halifax Gazette, appears (March 23). -
Duquesne becomes the Governor of New France
1753
Founding of Lunenburg Nova Scotia
1754
Beginning of the French and Indian War in America, though not officially
declared for another two years. - Fort Duquesne is constructed - Jumonville is
killed on the Ohio - Anthony Henday explores the west - Fort Necessity
capitulates - Wilkinson’s first steel mill at Bradley
1755
Britain scatters the Nova Scotia Acadians throughout other North American
colonies. - Braddock is defeated along the Mississippi by the French - Dieskau
is defeated by Lake George - Forts Beausejour and Fort Gaspareau fall -
Vaudreuil becomes the Governor of New France -Fort Carillon is constructed
1756
The
Marquis de Montcalm assumes a troubled command of French troops in North America
and proceeds to capture Fort Oswego. (The
Seven Year's War between Britain and
France begins in Europe).
1757
Fort William Henry falls
1758
Generals Jeffrey Amherst and James Wolfe take Louisbourg. - Fort Duquesne also
falls - Montcalm is victorious at Carillon - Nova Scotia receives a House of
Assembly
1759
Fall of Forts Carillon and Fort Niagara Wolfe takes Québec by defeating Montcalm
on the Plains of Abraham (Sept. 13), but both generals are killed. - Foundation
of the British Museum
1760 The British Conquest is assured when Levis wins the battle of St Foy.
General James Murray is appointed first British military governor of Québec. -
Nova Scotia townships of Chester, Dublin, Liverpool, Cornwallis, Campbelton and
Kentville are formed
1763 France cedes its North American possessions to Britain by the Treaty of
Paris. A royal proclamation imposes British institutions on Québec (Oct.).
Western Cree and Assiniboine traders who had benefited from agreements with the
French begin to lose profits to the British. British dominate the lake trade
after defeating French in Canada until 1796, when they begin the withdrawal of
their troops from American shores of Lake Ontario
1764 Murray becomes civil governor of Québec, but his attempts to appease French
Canadians are disliked by British merchants.
1768 Guy Carleton succeeds Murray as governor of Québec.
1772 The Hudson's Bay Company opens Cumberland House on the Saskatchewan. 1774
Carleton's recommendations are instituted in the Québec Act, which introduces B
British criminal law but retains French civil law and guarantees religious
freedom for Roman Catholics. The Act's geographical claims were so great that it
helped precipitate the American Revolution.
1775 The American Revolution begins. Americans under Richard Montgomery capture
Montréal (Nov. 13) and attack Québec (Dec. 31), where Montgomery is killed.
1776 Under Carleton, Québec withstands an American siege until the appearance of
a British fleet (May 6). Carleton is later knighted.
1778 On the last of three voyages to the west coast, Captain James Cook travels
as far north as the Bering Strait and claims Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island for
the British (Mar. 29-Apr.26).
1783 In Montréal and Grand Portage (in present-day Minnesota), the North West
Company is formed by a group of trading partners. The American revolutionary war
ends. The border between Canada and the U.S. is accepted from the Atlantic Ocean
to Lake of the Woods. In the area around the mouth of the Saint John River in
Nova Scotia, thousands of United Empire Loyalists arrive to settle, with some
heading on to Quebec. Loyalists are identified as those American colonists of
British, Dutch, Irish, Scottish and other origins, and others who had remained
loyal to their King during the American Revolution and were behind British lines
by 1783. (Those who arrive after 1783 are called Late Loyalists.) Pennsylvania
Germans begin moving into modern-day southwestern Ontario, then southwestern
Québec
1784 With the Loyalists swelling the northern Nova Scotia population, Nova
Scotia is partitioned and the province of New Brunswick is created. Thousands of
Loyalists land in modern-day Ontario -- then part of Québec -- along the St.
Lawrence River, the Bay of Quinte and at Niagara, establishing permanent
settlements and the multicultural roots of modern-day Ontario.
1785 The city of Saint John, N.B. is incorporated. Fredericton opens a
Provincial Academy of Arts and Sciences, the germ of the University of New
Brunswick (1859).
1789 At the behest of the North West Company, Alexander Mackenzie journeys to
the Beaufort Sea, following what would later be named the Mackenzie River.
1791 With western Québec filling with English-speaking Loyalists, the
Constitutional Act of 1791 divides Québec into Upper and Lower Canada
(modern-day Ontario and Quebec).
1792 George Vancouver begins exploration of the Pacific coast.
1793 Mackenzie reaches the Pacific at Dean Channel.
1794 An American diplomat, John Jay, oversees the signing of Jay's Treaty (Nov.
19) between the U.S. and Britain. It promises British evacuation of the Ohio
Valley forts and marks the beginning of international arbitration to settle
boundary disputes.
1796 York becomes the capital of Upper Canada.
1797 Having worked for the Hudson's Bay Company since 1784, David Thompson joins
the North West Company as a surveyor and mapmaker, eventually surveying hundreds
of thousands of square miles of western North America. Americans launch their
first lake schooner, the Washington, on Lake Erie near Presque Isle.
1798 A new fur-trading company is formed to compete with the North West Company.
Confusingly called the New North West Company, it is nicknamed the XY Company
from the way it differentiates its bales from those of its competitor. Northwest
Fur Company build lock at Sault Ste. Marie, Canada. Lock is 38 ft x 8 3/4 ft
with 30 inch depth over sills.
1800-1817 Lake trade expands until by 1817 there are some 20 merchant vessels on
Lake Erie.
1802
Mackenzie is knighted and becomes a member of the XY Company.
1803 The XY Company is reorganized under Mackenzie's name.
1804 The XY Company is absorbed by the North West Company. The earliest Fraktur
paintings appear in Lincoln county, Ontario.
1806 Le Canadian, a Québec nationalist newspaper, is founded.
1807 Slavery is abolished in British colonies. Fulton sails Hudson River in
first steamboat.
1812 The U.S. declares war on Britain (June 18), beginning the War of 1812.
Americans under General William Hull invade Canada from Detroit (July 11).
Canadians are victorious at the Battle of Queenston Heights (Oct. 13). The Red
River settlement is begun in Canada's northwest (Aug.-Oct.) on lands granted to
Lord Selkirk by the Hudson's Bay Company.
1813 Americans burn York (Apr. 27). The Battles of Stoney Creek (June 5) and
Beaver Dam (June 23) are Canadian victories, the latter in part due to Laura
Secord's famous 32 km. walk to warn Lieutenant James FitzGibbon, who had already
been warned by Indians. The Battles of Put-in-Bay, Lake Erie (Sept. 10) and
Moraviantown (Oct. 5) are both American victories. At the latter, which is also
known as the Battle of the Thames, British supporter and Shawnee Indian Chief
Tecumseh is killed. The Battles of Chateauguay (Oct. 25) -- with mostly
French-Canadian soldiers -- and Crysler's Farm (Nov. 11) -- with
English-Canadian soldiers -- are Canadian both victories over larger American
troops. Perry’s victory on Lake Erie gives US rights to all Great Lakes.
1814 Victories alternate between U.S. and British forces until the Treaty of
Ghent ends the war (Dec. 24).
1816 After several years of harassment by agents
of the North West Company, Métis and Indians under Cuthbert Grant kill Robert Semple, governor of the Red River settlement, and twenty others at Seven Oaks
(June 19). Lock and canal at Sault Ste. Marie destroyed by US troops. Work on Erie Canal starts. Sault Ste. Marie canal rebuilt.
1817 First
two lake steamers, Frontenac and Ontario, are launched on Lake Ontario. The Rush-Bagot agreement limits the number of battleships on the Great
Lakes to a total of eight.
1818 Canada's border is defined as the 49th Parallel from Lake of the Woods to
the Rocky Mountains.
1821 The Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company amalgamate, creating
unemployment for a substantial proportion of their Métis workforce.
1821-4 The Lachine Canal is completed.
1822 Louis-Joseph Papineau, a member of the legislative assembly since 1814,
travels from Montréal to England to oppose an Act of Union identifying the
French Canadians as a minority without language rights. The act is not passed in
the British Parliament.
1824-9
The first Welland Canal is completed, partly in response to American
initiatives in the Erie Canal. Erie Canal completed in 1825 by the State of New
York providing waterway between Buffalo on Lake Erie and Albany on the Hudson
River, the greatest single transportation factor in early settlement of the like
region and growth of lake navigation Work on Welland Canal starts. Fort Gratiot
Light, first on Lake Huron.
1826-32 Royal engineer Col. John By builds the Rideau Canal.
1834 York is renamed Toronto.
1834-35 William Lyon Mackenzie becomes the first mayor of Toronto.
1835 Joseph Howe, a Halifax printer and owner since 1828 of the weekly Novascotian, is arrested for libel but successfully argues his own case for
freedom of the press. A local hero, he begins advocating the kind of responsible
government that is only established in 1848.
1836 Opening of Canada's first railway line, from St. Johns, Québec, to La
Prairie, Québec.
1837 Along with a general feeling that the government was not democratic, the
failure of the executive committee to maintain the confidence of the elected
officials leads to violent but unsuccessful rebellions in Upper and Lower
Canada. The leaders, W.L. Mackenzie (Reformers) and Louis-Joseph Papineau (Patriotes),
both escape to the U.S.
1838 As governor general and high commissioner of British North America, Lord
Durham arrives to investigate the circumstances behind the Rebellion of 1837.
1839 Lord Durham's report recommends the establishment of responsible government
and the union of Upper and Lower Canada to speed the assimilation of
French-speaking Canadians. Territorial disputes between lumbermen from Maine and
New Brunswick lead to armed conflict in the Aroostook River valley (the
Aroostook War).
1841 An Act of Union unites Upper and Lower Canada (Feb. 10) as the Province of
Canada.
1842 The Independent Order of Odd Fellows breaks from the Manchester Unity, soon
opening lodges in Montréal and Halifax. The Webster-Ashburton Treaty ends the Aroostook War, settling once and for
all the Maine-New Brunswick border dispute (Aug.).
1843 Britain's claim to Vancouver Island is assured by Fort Victoria.
1844 Amnesty in Montréal provides for Papineau's return.
1848-51 The so-called Great Ministry of Robert Baldwin and Louis-H. Lafontaine
outlines the principles of responsible government in the Canadas. The Maritimes
are brought into the plan by Howe, then a reform-minded member of the House of
Assembly.
1849 The boundary of the 49th Parallel is extended to the Pacific Ocean. An Act
of Amnesty provides for W.L. Mackenzie's return from exile in the U.S.
1850 The site of By's headquarters during the construction of the Rideau Canal
is incorporated as Bytown. Plains Indian culture is at its height, sustained by
the use of horses and the exploitation of large game.
1851 Britain transfers control of the colonial postal system to Canada.
1852 Laval's Séminaire du Québec founds Université Laval, North America's oldest
French Language university.
1852-53 The Grand Trunk Railway receives its charter.
1854 Canada and the U.S. sign a Reciprocity Treaty, ensuring reduction of
customs duties (June 6).
1855 Bytown is renamed Ottawa.
1856 The Grand Trunk Railway opens its Toronto-Montréal line.
1857 Queen Victoria designates Ottawa as capital of the Province of Canada.
1858 The Halifax-Truro line begins rail service. Chinese immigrants from
California arrive in British Columbia, attracted by the Fraser River Gold Rush.
1860 The cornerstone of the Parliament buildings is laid (Sept. 1).
1861 Howe becomes Premier of Nova Scotia.
1862 Mount Allison University accepts the first woman student in Sackville, N.B.
1864 Originally designed to discuss Maritime union, the Charlottetown Conference
(Sept. 1-9) takes the first steps toward Confederation. The Québec Conference
(Oct. 10-27) identifies the seventy-two resolutions that set out the basis for
union.
1866 The Fenians, a group of radical Irish-Americans organized in New York in
1859 to oppose British presence in Ireland, begin a series of raids on Canadian
territory in the hopes of diverting British troops from the homeland. The most
serious of these was the Battle of Ridgeway (June 2), which lent a special
urgency to the Confederation movement. The London Conference (Dec. 4) passes
resolutions which are redrafted as the British North America Act.
1867 Confederation. Britain's North American colonies are united by means of the
BNA Act to become the Dominion of Canada (July 1). Sir John A. Macdonald is
Canada's first Prime Minister. Ottawa offically becomes capital of the Dominion.
1868 Thomas D'Arcy McGee, one of the fathers of Confederation and an outspoken
enemy of the Fenians, becomes Canada's first assassination victim at the hands
of a Fenian (Apr. 7).
1869 Canada purchases Rupert's Land from the Hudson's Bay Company. Threatened by
Canadian purchases of Hudson's Bay territories, Louis Riel leads the Métis in
occupying Fort Garry on the site of Winnipeg (Nov.).
1870’s Demand for leather goods leads to the destruction of northern bison
herds, which in turn leads to the collapse of the western native economy.
1870 The Red River Rebellion continues to resist Canadian authority in the
northwest. A provisional government is declared (Jan.) but they were driven out
by General Wolseley (Aug.) The Manitoba Act creates the province of Manitoba and
quells the rebellion.
1871 British Columbia joins confederation (July 20).
1873 Prince Edward Island joins Confederation. A period of economic depression
begins. The North-West Mounted Police are formed. Macdonald resigns over the
Pacific Scandal (Nov. 5), which brought attention to huge campaign contributions
made by Sir Hugh Allan in exchange for a charter to build the Canadian Pacific
Railway. Alexander Mackenzie, a Liberal, becomes Canada's second prime minister.
1874 Riel is elected to the House of Commons but cannot take the seat (Feb.).
Alexander Graham Bell discloses the invention of the telephone to his father at
the family home on the outskirts of Brantford, Ontario (July 26). Anabaptists
(Russian Mennonites) start to arrive in Manitoba from various Russian colonies.
1875 Riel is granted amnesty with the condition that he be banished for five
years. The Supreme Court of Canada is established. Bell's first functioning
telephone is demonstrated in Boston (June). Jennie Trout becomes the first woman
licensed to practice medicine in Canada, although Emily Stowe has been doing so
without a license in Toronto since 1867. Grace Lockhart receives from Mount
Allison University the first Bachelor of Arts degree awarded to a woman.
1876 The Intercolonial Railway, growing out of the Halifax-Truro line, links
central Canada and the Maritimes (July 1). The world's first long-distance phone
call connects the Bell residence with a shoe and boot store in nearby Paris,
Ontario (Aug. 10). The Toronto Women's Literary Club is founded as a front for
the suffrage movement.
1877 The provincial legislature creates the University of Manitoba, the oldest
University in western Canada.
1878 The Conservatives under Macdonald win federal election. Anti- Chinese
sentiment in British Columbia reaches a high point as the government bans
Chinese workers from public works.
1879 Macdonald introduces protective tariffs, a transcontinental railway, and
immigration to the west in his National Policy (Mar. 12).
1880 Emily Stowe is finally granted a license to practice medicine in Toronto.
1880-84 The Canadian Pacific Railway recruits thousands of underpaid Chinese Labourers.
1883 Augusta Stowe, daughter of Emily, is the first woman to graduate from the
Toronto Medical School. The Toronto Women's Suffrage Association replaces the
Literary Club of 1876.
1885 Riel, who had become an American citizen in Montana in 1883 only to return
to Canada in 1884, leads the North West Rebellion. The Métis are defeated at Batoche (May 2-9) and Riel is hanged in Regina (Nov. 16). The last spike of the
transcontinental railway is put in place in the Eagle Pass, B.C. (Nov. 7).
1887 The Liberals choose Wilfred Laurier as leader. The first provincial
Premiers' conference takes place in Québec City.
1890 Manitoba Liberals under Thomas Greenway halt public finding of Catholic
schools (Mar.). Isaac Shupe invents a curious sheet-metal clothing scrubber that
automatically releases soap.
1893 The National Council of Women of Canada is founded.
1895 The Yukon is made into a provisional district separate from the Northwest
territories.
1896 The economic depression ends. Liberals under Laurier (the first French
Canadian prime minister) win federal election partly on the Manitoba Schools
Question, though his compromises are not instituted until 1897. Gold is
discovered in the Klondike (Aug. 16).
1897 L.T. Snow patents a simple mechanical meat grinder.
1898 The Klondike Gold Rush is fully under way. The Yukon provisional district
is identified as a Territory separate from the Northwest Territories. Doukhobours begin to settle in Saskatchewan.
1899 The first Canadian troops sent overseas participate in the Boer War in
South Africa (Oct. 30). Canada's first woman lawyer is Clara Brett Martin.
1900 Canadian-born Reginald Fessenden makes the first wireless radio broadcast
near Washington, D.C. (Dec. 23), narrowly beating Marconi, who receives the
first transatlantic radio message at St. John's, Newfoundland, in the following
year.
1903 Canada loses the Alaska boundary dispute when British tribunal
representative Lord Alverstone sides with the U.S. (Oct. 20). Silver is
discovered in Northern Ontario. The first nude demonstrations of the Doukhobours
take place near Yorkton, Saskatchewan, to protest governmental policy regarding
individual ownership.
1905 The Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan are formed.
1906 Sir Adam Beck creates the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario (May
7), the largest such company in Canada.
1908 Peter Verigin, leader of the Doukhobours since his arrival in Canada in
1902, leads the extremist Sons of Freedom to British Columbia.
1909 The Department of External Affairs is formed. The first Grey Cup is played.
Canada's first powered air flight takes place at Baddeck, N.S.
1910 Laurier creates a Canadian navy the Naval Service Bill.
1911 Robert Borden and the Conservatives win federal election, defeating Laurier
on the issue of Reciprocity.
1912 A botanist, Carrie Derrick, is Canada's first woman professor, at McGill
University.
1914 The C.P. ship Empress of Ireland sinks in the St. Lawrence within fifteen
minutes of a collision in dense fog. Over one thousand lives are lost (May 29).
With nearly four hundred passengers on board, the Komagata Maru drops anchor in
Burrard Inlet, sparking political maneuvers intended to exclude unwanted Sikh
immigrants (May-July). Britain declares war on Germany (Aug. 4), automatically
drawing Canada into the conflict. The first Canadian troops leave for England
(Oct. 3). Parliament passes the War Measures Act, allowing suspension of civil
rights during periods of emergency.
1915 In their first battle, the 1st Canadian Division face one of the first
recorded chlorine gas attacks at Ypres, Belgium (Apr. 22). John McCrae writes
"In Flanders' Fields." National Transcontinental, the eastern division of the
Grand Trunk Railway, consolidates a line from Moncton to Winnipeg.
1916 The Parliament buildings are destroyed by fire (Feb. 3). The 1st Canadian
Division discovers that the Canadian-made Ross rifle (controversial since 1905)
is unreliable in combat conditions. It is withdrawn from service and replaced by
the British-made Lee- Enfield (Aug.). The National Research Council is
established to promote scientific and industrial research. Female suffrage is
first granted in Canada in Manitoba.
1917 Income tax is introduced as a temporary wartime measure. Borden sits as a
member of the Imperial War Cabinet (Feb. 23), giving Canada a voice in
international war policy. The military service bill is introduced (June 11),
leading to a conscription crisis dividing French and English Canada. A Union
Government (a coalition of Liberals and Tories) under Borden wins in a federal
election, in which all women of British origin are allowed to vote for the first
time. Canadians capture Vimy Ridge, France (Apr. 9-12) and Passchendaele,
Belgium (Nov. 6), in two of the war's worst battles. The explosion of a
munitions ship in Halifax harbour wipes out two square miles of Halifax, killing
almost 2000 and injuring 9000 (Dec. 6). In Alberta, Louise McKinney becomes the
first woman elected to a legislature in the British Commonwealth.
1918 Canadians break through the German trenches at Amiens, France (Aug. 8),
beginning "Canada's Hundred Days." Armistice ends the war (Nov. 11). Imprisoned
in South Dakota for pacificism, Hutterites flee northward into the Prairie
provinces.
1919 Grand Trunk Pacific, the western division of the Grand Trunk Railway,
consolidates a line from Winnipeg to Prince Rupert. The Canadian National
Railways is created as a crown corporation to acquire and further consolidate
these smaller lines. The first successful transatlantic flight leaves St.
John's, Nfld. (June 14). Beginning in the metals and buildings trades as a call
for union recognition, a general strike expands until it paralyzes Winnipeg (May
19-June 26). An armed charge by the RCMP on Bloody Saturday kills one and
injures thirty (June 21). James Shaver Woodsworth and others were charged with
seditious conspiracy. The federal government passes a Technical Education act.
1920
Canada joins the League of Nations at its inception. The Progressive Party
is formed by T. A. Crerar to obtain law tariffs for western farmers.
1921 Mackenzie King and the Liberals win federal election. Agnes Macphail
becomes the first woman elected to Parliament, then representing the Progressive
Party (which came in second and held the balance of power despite refusals to
form an official opposition). Woodsworth becomes the first socialist elected to
the House of Commons. The Bluenose is launched at Lunenburg, N.S. (Mar. 26).
Colonial Motors of Walkerville, Ontario manufactures an automobile called the
Canadian.
1922 The Canadian Northern and Canadian Transcontinental Railways merge to form
the Canadian National Railways. Canada's reveals a growing independence by not
going to Britain's aid in the Chanak crisis in Turkey. Banting, Best, MacLeod,
and Collip share the Nobel Prize for the discovery of insulin. Foster Hewitt
makes the first hockey broadcast. A Provincial Franchise Committee is organized
in Québec to work towards female suffrage in the province. Of the other
provinces, only Newfoundland has not yet given women the vote.
1923 A feeling of independence continues to grow. Canada signs the Halibut
Treaty with the U.S. without the traditional British signature. Mackenzie King
leads the opposition to a common imperial policy at the Imperial Conference in
London. Always heavily subsidized, the Grand Trunk Railway is finally taken over
by the government. The federal government more or less forbids Chinese
immigration on Dominion Day, soon to be called "Humiliation Day" by
Chinese-Canadians.
1925
Newfoundland women receive the right to vote.
1926 The Balfour Report defines British dominions as autonomous and equal in
status (Nov. 18).
1927 Britain's Privy Council awards Labrador to Newfoundland instead of Québec
(Mar. 1). The first coast-to-coast radio network broadcast celebrates the
Diamond Jubilee of Confederation.
1928 The Supreme Court of Canada rules that the BNA Act does not define women as
"persons" and are therefore not eligible to hold public office.
1929 The British Privy Council reverses the Supreme Court decision of 1928, and
women are legally declared "persons" (Oct. 18). The Great Depression begins. the
Workers' Unity League is formed.
1930 The Conservatives under R.B. Bennett win federal election. Jean de Brébeuf
and other Jesuit martyrs are officially canonized. Canada's first woman senator
is Cairine Wilson.
1931 The Statute of Westminster (Dec. 11) authorizes the Balfour Report (1926),
granting Canada full legislative authority in both internal and external
affairs. The Governor General becomes a representative of the Crown.
1932 The Ottawa Agreements provide for preferential trade between Canada and
other Commonwealth nations. Woodsworth plays a role in forming a democratic
socialist political party, the Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in
Calgary. Bennett's government establishes militaristic and repressive Relief
Camps to cope with the problem of unemployed single men. Doukhobours add the
burning of farm buildings to their protest techniques.
1934 The Bank of Canada is formed. The birth of the Dionne quintuplets attracts
international media attention.
1935 Inspired in part by the Workers' Unity League, about one thousand
unemployed and disillusioned men from all over the western provinces begin a
mass march, usually called the On-to-Ottawa trek, to confront Bennett over the
Relief Camps (June 3-July 1). In an attempt to remove a corrupt Liberal
administration, Maurice Duplessis, a Québec Conservative, allies with a splinter
group of Liberals under Paul Gouin to form the Union nationale.
1936 Driven by the reformist Union nationale, Duplessis manages to oust Gouin
and becomes Premier of Québec.
1937 The Rowell-Sirois Commission is appointed to investigate the financial
relationship between the federal government and the provinces. Trans Canada Air
Lines begins regular flights (Sept. 1).
1938 Meeting Mackenzie King in Kingston, Franklin D. Roosevelt is the first U.S.
president to make an official visit to Canada. The Workers' Unity League helps
to organize the Vancouver Sit-ins in which Relief Camp workers and others
occupied the Vancouver Post Office and some other public buildings. The protest
was peaceful until the police extracted the men by force on Bloody Sunday (June
19), when 35 people were wounded.
1939 Canada declares war on Germany (Sept. 10) after remaining neutral for a
week following the British declaration. Premier Duplessis opposes
Québec's
participation but is defeated by the Liberals on the issue (Oct. 26).
1940
The Unemployment Insurance Commission is introduced. Canada and the U.S.
form a Permanent Joint Defense Board. Parliament passes the controversial
National Resources Mobilization Act (June), which allows conscription for
military service only within Canada. Despite provincial disagreement, some of
the financial recommendations of the Rowell-Sirois commission -- especially
those relating to a minimum national standard of services -- are implicitly and
unilaterally adopted by Ottawa. Idola Saint-Jean and other early feminists
finally succeed in obtaining the vote for Québecois women.
1941 Hong Kong falls to the Japanese and Canadians are taken as POW's. The U.S.
enters the war due to Japanese aggression. Together, the incidents lead to
racial intolerance in Canada.
1942 About 22000 Canadians of Japanese descent are stripped of non- portable
possessions, interned and evacuated as security risks (Feb. 26). A national
plebiscite approves amendment of the National Resources Mobilization Act to
permit sending conscripts overseas (Apr. 27), once again revealing deep
divisions between Québec and English Canada. The Dieppe raid (Aug. 19), Canada's
first participation in the European theatre, is a disaster.
1943 Canadians participate in the invasion of Sicily (July 10) and win the
Battle of Ortona, a German stronghold on the Adriatic (Dec. 20- 28).
1944 Canadian troops push further than other allied units on D-Day (June 6).
Canadian forces fight as a separate army (July 23). The Family Allowance Act is
passed (Aug.). The CCF under Tommy Douglas wins the provincial election in
Saskatchewan, forming the first socialist government in North America.
1945 European hostilities end (May 5). The first family allowance ("baby-bonus")
payments are made (June 20). Canada joins the United Nations (June 26).
Hostilities in the Pacific basin end (Sep. 2). Igor Gouzenko defects from the
Soviet Embassy in Ottawa (Sept. 5) and reveals the existence in Canada of a
Soviet spy network. Canada's first nuclear reactor goes on line in Chalk River,
Ontario.
1948 Louis St. Laurent succeeds Mackenzie as prime minister (Nov. 15).
1949 Joey Smallwood brings Newfoundland into Confederation (Mar. 31). Canada
joins NATO. Canada's Supreme Court replaces Britain's judicial committee as the
final court of appeal.
1950 Volunteers in the Canadian Army Special Force join the United Nations
forces in the Korean war.
1951 Census shows population as just over 14 million. The Massey Royal
Commission reports that Canadian cultural life is dominated by American
influences. Recommendations include improving grants to universities and the
eventual establishment of the Canada Council (1957).
1952 Vincent Massey becomes the first native-born Governor General. Canada's
first television stations begin part-time broadcasts in Montréal and Toronto
(Sept.).
1953 The National Library is established in Ottawa (Jan. 1). The Stratford
Festival opens (July 13). The Korean War ends (July 27).
1954 The post-war boom is briefly interrupted by an economic slump. The first
Canadian subway opens in Toronto (Mar. 30). Viewers of the British Empire games
in Vancouver see two runners break the four minute mile in the same race.
Marilyn Bell is the first person to swim across Lake Ontario (Sept. 9).
Hurricane Hazel kills almost seven dozen people in Toronto (Oct. 15).
1955 The Canadian Labour Congress is formed. Riots in Montréal are caused by the
suspension of hockey star Rocket Richard (Mar. 17).
1956 The Liberals use closure to limit the Pipeline Debate -- which begins with
concern over the funding of the natural gas industry and ends in contoversy over
proper parliamentary procedure (May 8- June 6). The action contributes directly
to their electoral defeat (after twenty two years in power) the following year.
1957 John Diefenbaker and the Conservatives win a minority government (June 10).
Ellen Fairclough becomes the first female federal cabinet minister. The Canada
Council is formed to foster Canadian cultural uniqueness. Lester B. Pearson wins
the Nobel Peace Prize for helping resolve the Suez Crisis (Oct. 12).
1958 Diefenbaker's minority becomes the largest majority ever obtained in a
federal election (Mar. 31). A coal mine disaster at Springhill, N.S. kills 74
miners.
1959 Diefenbaker cancels the Avro Arrow project (CF-105 aircraft) to public
outcry. Almost 14000 jobs are lost (Feb. 20). The St. Lawrence Seaway opens
(June 26).
1960 Liberals under Jean Lesage win provincial election in Québec (June 22),
inaugurating the Quiet Revolution which pressed for special status within
Confederation. A Canadian Bill of Rights is approved. Native people win the
right to vote in federal elections.
1961 The New Democratic Party replaces the CCF.
1962 The Conservatives are returned to minority status in a federal election
(June 18). Socialized medicine is introduced in Saskatchewan (July 1), leading
to a doctors' strike. The Trans- Canada Highway opens (Sept. 3). Canada becomes
the third nation in space with the launch of the satellite Alouette I (Sept.
29). Canada's last executions take place in Toronto (Dec. 11).
1963 Liberals under Pearson win a minority government (Apr. 8). The separatist
Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) sets off bombs in Montréal (Apr.-May). A TCA
flight crashes in Québec, killing 118 (Nov. 29).
1964 Canadians get social insurance cards (Apr.) Northern Dancer is the first
Canadian horse to win the Kentucky Derby.
1965 Canada and the U.S. sign the Auto Pact (Jan.). The new flag is inaugurated
(Feb. 15). Roman Catholic churches begin to celebrate masses in English (Mar.
7). The Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario inadvertently causes a major
power blackout in North America (Nov. 9).
1966 The Munsinger affair (in which the Associate Minister of National Defence,
Pierre Sévigny, had a liaison with a German divorcée suspected by the RCMP)
becomes Canada's first political sex scandal (Mar. 4). The Canada Pension Plan
is established. The CBC introduces some colour broadcasts (Oct. 1).
1967 The air force, army, and navy are unified as the Canadian Armed Forces
(Apr. 25). World attention is turned to Expo '67 in Montréal (Apr. 27).
Centennial celebrations officially begin (July 1). French president Charles de
Gaulle says "Vive le Québec libre" in Montréal (July 24).
1968 Pierre Trudeau succeeds Pearson as leader of the Liberals and wins a
majority in a federal election (June 25) in an atmosphere like a media circus. A
Royal Commission on the Status of Women is appointed. Canadian divorce laws are
reformed.
1969 Postal reforms end Saturday deliveries (Feb. 1). Abortion laws are
liberalized (May). English and French are both recognized as offical languages
by the federal government (July 9). The breathalizer is put into use to test for
drunken drivers (Dec. 1).
1970 British trade commissioner James Cross is kidnapped by the FLQ (Oct. 5),
precipitating the October Crisis. Québec's labour and immigration minister
Pierre Laporte is kidnapped (Oct. 10) and later found murdered. The War Measures
Act is invoked (Oct. 16), banning the FLQ and leading eventually to nearly 500
arrests.
1971 The federal government officially adopts a policy of multiculturalism.
Gerhard Herzberg of the National Research Council wins the Nobel Prize in
chemistry for studies of smog.
1972
Canada wins the first hockey challenge against the Soviets. Trudeau's
Liberals win a minority government by only two seats.
1973 The House of Commons criticizes U.S. bombing of North Vietnam (Jan. 5).
Henry Morgentaler is acquitted of illegal abortion charges in Montréal (Nov.
13). The separatist Parti Québecois becomes the official opposition in a
provincial election.
1974 The Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario changes its name to Ontario
Hydro and begins to update its image (Mar. 4). Mikhail Baryshnikov defects in
Montréal (June 29). Trudeau's Liberals win a majority government (July 8).
1975 Toronto's CN Tower becomes the world's tallest free-standing structure
(Apr. 2). The Foreign Investment Review Agency intends to screen foreign
investment in Canada (July 18). TV cameras are allowed in the House of Commons
for the first time. Trudeau institutes wage and price controls to fight
inflation (Oct. 14).
1976 Canada announces a 200-mile coastal fishing zone (June 4). The death
penalty is abolished (July 14). The Olympic games are held in Montréal (July
17-31) under tight security. Team Canada wins the first Canada Cup (Sept. 15).
René Lévesque and the Parti Québecois win a provincial election (Nov. 15). The
Eaton Company discontinues catalogue sales after 92 continuous years.
1977 Québec passes Bill 101, restricting English schooling to children of
parents who had been educated in English schools (Aug. 26). Highway signs are
changed to the metric system (Sept. 6).
1978 The remains of a Soviet nuclear-powered satellite crash in Canada's north
(Jan. 24). Manufacturers of birth control pills are required to provide labels
of health risks for smokers and women over forty. Sun Life Assurance
acknowledges that it moved its head office to Toronto because of Montréal's
language laws and political instability.
1979 Conservatives under Joe Clark win a federal election (May 22). The first
uniquely Canadian gold bullion coin, stamped with a Maple Leaf, goes on sale
(Sept. 5). Most of Mississauga, Ontario is evacuated to avoid derailed train
cars containing chemicals (Nov. 10). The Supreme Court of Canada declares
unconstitutional the creation of officially unlilingual legislatures in Manitoba
and Québec (Dec. 13). Clark's Conservatives lose a non-confidence vote on the
budget (Dec. 13), forcing their resignation.
1980 Ken Taylor, Canadian ambassador to Iran, becomes an international celebrity
for helping six Americans escape Tehran (Jan. 28). Canada boycotts Moscow's
Olympic games due to the invasion of Afghanistan. A Québec referendum rejects
sovereignty-association (May 22). "O Canada" is officially adopted as Canada's
national anthem (June 27). The Supreme Court recognizes the equal distribution
of assets in failed common-law relationships.
1981 Terry Fox dies of cancer in the middle of his cross-Canada Marathon of Hope
(June 29). His example eventually raises about 25 million dollars. Québec bans
public signs in English (Sept. 23). The federal and provincial governments
(except Québec) agree on a method to repatriate Canada's constitution (Nov. 5).
1982 The offshore oil rig Ocean Ranger sinks, killing 84 (Feb. 15). Bertha
Wilson is the first woman appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court (Mar. 4).
The Québec government demand for a veto over constitutional change is rejected
(Apr. 7). Canada gains a new Constitution and Charter of Rights and Freedoms
(Apr. 17). The worst recession since the Great Depression begins.
1983 Pay TV begins operation (Feb. 1). Public outcry opposes the government's
approval of U.S. cruise missile testing in the west. Jeanne Sauvé is appointed
the first female Governor General (Dec. 23).
1984 John Turner succeeds Trudeau
as Liberal prime minister (June 30) but is soon defeated by Brian Mulroney's
Conservatives with an even larger majority than that achieved by Diefenbaker in
1958 (Sept. 4). The Pope visits Canada (Sept. 9-20). Hitching a ride on the U.S.
shuttle Challenger, Marc Garneau becomes the first Canadian in space (Oct. 5).
1985 U.S. ice-breaker Polar Sea challenges Canada's Arctic sovereignty by
traveling through the Northwest Passage. Mulroney and U.S. president Ronald
Reagan declare mutual support for orbital Strategic Defense Initiatives (Star
Wars) and Free Trade at the Shamrock Summit (so-named for their ethnic
backgrounds) in Québec City (Dec. 2). Ontario Liberals under David Peterson end
forty years of Conservative Premiership. Lincoln Alexander becomes Ontario's
first black lieutenant-governor.
1986 The Canadian dollar hits an all-time low of 70.2 U.S. cents on
international money markets (Jan. 31). Expo '86 opens in Vancouver (May 2-Oct.
13). The U.S. imposes tariffs on some imported Canadian wood products (May 22).
Canada adopts sanctions against South Africa for its apartheid policies (Aug.
5). Tamil refugees are found drifting off the coast of Newfoundland (Aug. 11).
Canada receives a United Nations award for sheltering world refugees (Oct. 6).
Canadian John Polanyi shares the Nobel prize for chemistry.
1987 Mulroney and the provincial Premiers agree in principle to the Meech Lake
Accord designed to bring Québec into the new Constitution (Apr. 30). A tornado
rips through Edmonton, killing 26 and injuring hundreds (July 20). Canadian
sprinter Ben Johnson sets a new world record (Aug. 30) for the 100-metre dash.
The Canada- U.S. Free Trade agreement is reached (Oct. 3), but still requires
ratification. Stock prices tumble throughout the world (Oct. 19).
1988 The Supreme Court strikes down existing legislation against abortion as
unconstitutional (Jan. 28). The Winter Olympics open in Calgary (Feb. 13). David
See-Chai Lam, born in Hong Kong, becomes British Columbia's lieutenant-governor
(Sept. 9). Ben Johnson sets a world record and wins the gold medal at the Seoul
Olympics in Korea (Sept. 24). Testing positive for steroids, he is stripped of
his medal two days later. The Supreme Court strikes down Québec's French-only
sign law (Dec. 15). Finding a loophole (the "notwithstanding" clause) in the
Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the province reinstates the law (Dec. 21).
Manitoba Premier Gary Filmon slows the ratification of the Meech Lake Accord in
reaction to Québec's move. Free Trade legislation passes the House of Commons
and the Senate (Dec.).
1989 Free Trade goes into effect (Jan 1). Heather Erxleben becomes Canada's
first acknowledged female combat soldier. One-dollar bills are replaced by the
one-dollar coin, popularly called the "loonie." The government announces cuts in
the funding of VIA Rail, to much public outcry (June 5). The first woman to lead
a federal political party, Audrey McLaughlin replaces Ed Broadbent as head of
the NDP (Dec. 2). Fourteen female engineering students are separated from their
male colleagues and murdered by a gunman at the University of Montréal (Dec. 6).
1990
Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells further slows down the signing of the Meech Lake Accord, but a native member of the Manitoba legislative, Elijah
Harper, deals it the fatal blow with his absolute refusal to accept Québec as
Canada's principal, if not only, "distinct society" (June 22). One of the many
responses is the formation of the Bloc Québecois by a handful of disenchanted
politicians (July 25). Bob Rae upsets David Peterson and, with a surprising
majority, becomes Ontario's first NDP Premier (Sept.). Despite the Liberals'
sometimes peculiar stalling tactics, the Senate passes the unpopular Goods and
Services Tax (Dec.). A recession is officially announced.
1991
The unpopular Goods and Services Tax comes into effect (Jan. 1). Canadian
forces join the multinational forces in the battle to drive Saddam Hussein's
Iraqi troops from Kuwait (Jan. 15). British Columbia premier Bill Van Der Zalm
resigns in the midst of a real estate scandal. George Erasmus, leader of the
Assembly of First Nations, resigns at the end of his second term (May); he is
succeeded by Ovide Mercredi, whose popularity earns him the nickname of
"eleventh premier." Yet another committee crosses the country soliciting
citizens' opinions on proposed constitutional reforms. David Schindler of the
University of Alberta wins the first international Stockholm Water Prize for
environmental research. In a Brantford, Ontario courtroom, a Six Nations man is
the first to be allowed to make a traditional native oath instead of swearing on
the Bible (Nov.). The Tungavik sign an agreement with Ottawa to create a new,
quasi-independent Inuit territory in the eastern Arctic.
1992 The Miss Canada pageant is scrapped. Roberta Bondar is Canada's first
female astronaut in orbit. Ontario lawyers vote no longer to swear an oath to
the Queen (Jan.). Canada is the first country to sign the international
bio-diversity convention at the Earth Summit in Brazil (June). Although the
players are all American, the Toronto Blue Jays become the first nominally
Canadian team to win baseball's World Series. Canadians vote "no" in a
referendum seeking popular support for the Charlottetown Agreement, intended as
a corrective to the Canadian Constitution in the wake of the failed Meech Lake
Accord (Oct. 26).
1993 Catherine Callbeck becomes the first woman Premier, in Prince Edward
Island. Environmental activists cause minor damage to government buildings in
Victoria, B.C., during a demonstration (Mar.). Kim Campbell replaces Brian
Mulroney as the head of the Progressive Conservatives, becoming Canada's first
woman Prime Minister (June). Part of northwest B.C. is set aside as a world
heritage conservation site. Protesters block loggers' access to ancient forests
near Clayoquot Sound (July-Aug.). The Toronto Blue Jays win the World Series for
the second year in a row (Oct. 23). Liberal leader Jean Chrétien is elected in a
landslide victory, with Lucien Bouchard's Bloc Québecois and Preston Manning's
Reform Party only one seat apart in distant second and third places (Oct. 25).
The Progressive Conservatives, in power for nine years, are reduced to a mere
two seats -- less than is required to be considered an official party.
1994 The Canadian pilot of a Korean airliner that crashed is arrested for
endangering the lives of his passengers.
1995-1997 A thirteen kilometer bridge connecting Prince Edward Island to the
mainland is opened.
