|
1535 Jacques Cartier discovers the Iroquois city of Stadacona, Canada (now Quebec) and in May, the even greater Huron city of Hochelaga.
1578 Martin Frobisher sails from Harwich, England to Frobisher Bay, Canada, eventually to mine fool's gold, used to pave streets in London.
1603 Samuel de Champlain, French explorer, sails to Canada
1670 The Hudson's Bay Company is founded in England, but located in Canada.
1733 Right of Canadians to keep Indian slaves upheld at Quebec.
1759 Seven Years' War (French and Indian War): In Canada, British forces capture Fort Niagara from French, who subsequently abandon Fort Rouillé.
1760 Great Upheaval: New England planters arrive to claim land in Nova Scotia Canada taken from the Acadians.
1763 French and Indian War: The 1763 Treaty of Paris ends the war and France cedes Canada to Great Britain.
1764 The English-language ''Quebec Gazette'' is established in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. As of 2005, it is the oldest surviving newspaper in North America.
1775 American Revolutionary War: The Continental Congress bans trade with Canada.
1783 United Empire Loyalists flee to Canada from the new United States.
1783 Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada - First United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown.
1783 Grants of land in Canada to American loyalists announced.
1785 University of New Brunswick founded in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
1799 The small town of Tignish, PE, Canada is founded.
1812 Americans invade Canada at Windsor, Ontario.
1812 War of 1812: Battle of Queenston Heights - As part of the Niagara campaign in Ontario, Canada, United States forces under General Stephen Van Rensselaer are repulsed from invading Canada by British and native troops led by Sir Isaac Brock (although he dies during the battle).
1813 War of 1812: In Canada, United States forces capture Fort George.
1814 War of 1812: Battle of Lundy's Lane - Reinforcements arrive near Niagara Falls, Ontario for General Riall's British and Canadian force, and bloody, all-night battle with Jacob Brown's Americans commences at 18.00; Americans retreat to Fort Erie.
1816 The Battle of Seven Oaks is fought in the Red River Colony of Canada.
1816 Battle of Seven Oaks between Hudson Bay and Northwest fur-trading companies, near Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
1834 Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Goodwin Keats Governor of Newfoundland, Canada. (b. 1757)
1840 Mount Allison University is founded in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada.
1844 First ever international cricket match is played in New York City between Canada and the United States.
1846 The Oregon Treaty establishes the 49th parallel as the border between the United States and Canada, from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
1857 Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, Ontario as the capital of Canada.
1867 The British North America Act receives royal assent, forming the Dominion of Canada in an event known as Confederation. This unites the Province of Canada, Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia as of July 1. Ottawa becomes the capital, and John A. Macdonald becomes the Dominion's first prime minister.
1870 The Canadian province of Manitoba is created in response to Louis Riel's Red River Rebellion
1871 British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada.
1871 The Royal Regiment of Artillery formed the first regular Canadian army units when they created two batteries of garrison artillery which eventually became The Royal Canadian Artillery.
1872 Trade unions legalised in Canada.
1873 The Canadian Parliament establishes the North West Mounted Police (which will be renamed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1920).
1873 Alexander Mackenzie becomes Canada's second prime minister.
1876 An giant squid, 6.1 meters long, washes ashore in Thimble Tickle Bay in Canada
1877 Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles.
1880 First performance of ''O Canada'', the song that would become the national anthem of Canada.
1880 First woman licensed to practice medicine in Canada - Dr. Emily Howard Stowe.
1883 US and Canadian railroads institute five standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.
1885 North-West Rebellion took place and was put down in Canada.
1885 Cree and Assiniboine warriors won the Battle of Cut Knife, their largest victory over Canadian forces during the North-West Rebellion.
1885 Canadian Pacific Railway finished - Finally: In Craigellachie, British Columbia, construction ends on a railway extending across Canada. Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald considered the project to be vital to Canada due to the exponentially greater potential for military mobility.
1885 Canadian Pacific Railway finished - Finally: In Craigellachie, British Columbia, construction ends on a railway extending across Canada. Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald considered the project to be vital to Canada due to the exponentially greater potential for military mobility.
1885 Canadian rebel leader of the Métis, Louis Riel is executed for high treason.
1887 The Rocky Mountains Park Act becomes law in Canada, creating that nation's first national park, Banff National Park.
1891 John Abbott becomes Canada's third prime minister.
1892 John Thompson becomes Canada's fourth prime minister.
1894 Mackenzie Bowell becomes Canada's fifth prime minister.
1896 Wilfrid Laurier becomes Canada's seventh prime minister.
1897 First ascent of Mount Saint Elias, second highest peak in the United States and Canada.
1901 The 1,282 foot (390 meters) covered bridge crossing the St.John River at Hartland, New Brunswick, Canada opens. It is the longest covered bridge in the world.
1901 Guglielmo Marconi receives the first trans-Atlantic radio signal in Newfoundland, Canada; it is Morse code for the letter "S."
1905 The Canadian province of Alberta is established from the southwestern part of the Northwest Territories.
1905 The Canadian province of Saskatchewan is established
1905 The Province of Alberta, Canada holds its 1st General Election.
1908 The University of Alberta is founded in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
1909 Leon's, a Canadian furniture chain is first opened.
1909 The Silver Dart makes the first powered flight in Canada and the British Empire.
1911 In Canada, the Dominion Parks Branch was established (now Parks Canada), the world's first national park servi In 1911 it fell under the Department of the Interior, and now resides within the Department of the Environment.
1911 Robert Laird Borden becomes Canada's eighth prime minister.
1916 Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Canada are burned down.
1917 Sir Thomas Whyte introduces the first income tax in Canada as a "temporary" measure (lowest bracket is 4% and highest is 25%).
1917 In Montreal, Canada, the National Hockey Association breaks up (on November 26 it was replaced with the National Hockey League).
1918 August 8 — World War I: Battle of Amiens — Canadian troops, backed by Australians, begin a string of almost continuous victories with a push through the German front lines. German General Erich Ludendorff will later call this the "black day of the German army."
1920 Arthur Meighen becomes Canada's ninth prime minister.
1921 William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes Canada's tenth prime minister.
1928 The Great Gorge and International Railway switches to one-man crews for its trolleys in Canada.
1929 Canada and the United States agree on a plan to preserve Niagara Falls.
1929 1929 Grand Banks earthquake: Off the south coast of Newfoundland in the Atlantic Ocean, a Richter magnitude 7.2 submarine earthquake centered on Grand Banks, breaks 12 submarine transatlantic telegraph cables and triggers a tsunami that destroys many south coast communities in the Burin Peninsula area, killing 28. As of 1997, it is Canada's most lethal earthquake.
1930 Richard Bedford Bennett becomes Canada's eleventh prime minister.
1936 The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) begins radio in Canada.
1937 Highest recorded temperature in Canada, at Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan: 45°C.
1938 The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting the United States with Canada, is dedicated by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
1939 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth arrive in Quebec City to begin the first-ever visit to Canada by British sovereigns.
1939 Canada declares war on Germany.
1940 Canada - Parliament dissolved and election called for March 26.
1940 World War II: Canada declares war on Italy.
1943 World War II: Operation Gomorrah begins: British and Canadian aeroplanes bomb Hamburg by night, those of the Americans by day. By the end of the operation in November, 9,000 tons of explosives will have killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.
1944 British and Canadian forces capture Caen.
1944 Operation Spring - One of the bloodiest days for Canadians during the war: 18,444 casualties, including 5,021 killed.
Scouts also fought in the Warsaw Uprising.]]
1944 William Lyon Mackenzie King introduces conscription in Canada (see Conscription Crisis of 1944).
1945 The first nuclear reactor outside of the U.S. is built in Chalk River, Ontario, Canada.
1945 World War II: Canadian soldiers liberate the city of Amsterdam from Nazi occupation.
1945 Russian code clerk Igor Gouzenko defects to Canada. He helps the West gain an understanding of Soviet spy rings in North America.
1947 February 8 - heavy blizzard in Canada buries towns from Winnipeg to Calgary
1948 Louis Stephen St. Laurent becomes Canada's twelfth prime minister.
1949 The former British colony of Newfoundland joins Canada as its 10th provin
1952 Vincent Massey sworn in as first Canada-born Governor-General of Canada.
1952 TV debuts in Canada as the CBC in Montreal, Quebec airs.
1954 Canada's first subway opens in Toronto.
1957 John Diefenbaker becomes Canada's thirteenth prime minister.
1958 A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada
1961 Wayne Gretzky, professional hockey player (Known as "The Great One") is born in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.
1961 China buys grain from Canada for $60 million.
1962 The Canadian Alouette 1, the first satellite built outside the United States and the Soviet Union, is launched from Vandenberg AFB in California.
1963 April 20 – In Quebec, Canada, members of the Quebec terrorist group, the Front de libération du Québec, bomb the Canadian Armed Forces recruitment center, killing night watchman Wilfred V. O'Neill.
1963 Lester B. Pearson becomes Canada's 14th prime minister.
1963 Trans-Canada Airlines Flight 831, a Douglas DC-8 carrying 118, crashes into a wooded hillside after taking-off from Dorval International Airport near Montreal, killing all 118 on board (for many years this was the worst air disaster in Canada's history).
1964 Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip begin an 8-day visit to Canada.
1964 Canada: A Federal Multi-Party Parliamentary Committee selects a design to become the new official Flag of Canada.
1965 Northeast Blackout of 1965: Several U.S. states (VT, NH, MA, CT, RI, NY and portions of NJ) and parts of Canada are hit by a series of blackouts lasting up to 13½ hours.
1967 Canada celebrates its first one hundred years of Confederation.
1967 During an official state visit to Canada, French President Charles de Gaulle declares to a crowd of over 100,000 in Montreal: ''Vive le Québec libre!'' (Long live free Quebec!). The statement, interpreted as support for Quebec independence, delights many Quebecers but angers the Canadian government and many English Canadians.
1968 Color TV becomes available in Canada for the first time.
1968 Pierre Elliott Trudeau becomes Canada's fifteenth prime minister.
1969 French is made equal to English throughout the Canadian national government.
1970 October Crisis: In Montreal, Quebec, a national crisis hits Canada when Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte becomes the second statesman kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group.
1970 Canada and the People's Republic of China establish diplomatic relations.
1970 October Crisis: In Montreal, Quebec, kidnapped British Trade Commissioner James Cross is released by the Front de Libération du Québec terrorist group after being held hostage for 60 days. Police negotiate his release and in return the Government of Canada grants five terrorists from the FLQ's Chenier Cell their request for safe passage to Cuba.
1975 Eighteen-year-old Robert Poulin begins shooting at St. Pius X High School in Ottawa, Canada and then shoots himself, killing one and wounding five.
1976 The 1976 Summer Olympics begin in Montreal, Canada.
1979 Joe Clark becomes Canada's 16th and youngest Prime Minister.
1980 Six American diplomats, posing as Canadians, manage to escape from Tehran, Iran as they board a flight to Zurich, Switzerland and thereby end the Canadian caper operation.
1980 Referendum: Voters in Quebec reject by a vote of 60% a proposal to seek independence from Canada.
1981 The first Friday the 13th event is held by motorcyclists in Port Dover, Ontario, Canada.
1982 By Proclamation of the Queen of Canada on Parliament Hill, Canada repatriates its constitution, granting full political independence from the United Kingdom; included is the country's first entrenched bill of rights.
1982 In Alberta, Canada 15 members of the Black Leopards Karate Club demolish a house with bare hands and feet with owner's consent.
1984 Brian Mulroney becomes Canada's 18th prime minister.
1986 The 1986 World Exposition in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada opens.
1988 The 1988 Winter Olympics open in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
1992 STS-42: Dr. Roberta Bondar becomes the first Canadian woman in space, aboard Space Shuttle ''Discovery''.
1992 In Canada, the Charlottetown Accord is defeated in a national referendum.
1993 Catherine Callbeck becomes Premier of Prince Edward Island, becoming the first elected female premier in Canada (Rita Johnston was Canada's first female Premier but was not elected).
1993 Kim Campbell becomes Canada's 19th and first female Prime Minister.
1993 Jean Chrétien becomes Canada's twentieth Prime Minister.
1994 Hockey becomes Canada's official winter sport.
1995 Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada, becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.
1995 Quebec separatists narrowly lose a referendum for a mandate to negotiate independence from Canada
1996 July 21 - Storms provoke severe flooding on the Saguenay River in Quebec, in one of Canada's most costly natural disasters.
1997 In Ottawa, Canada, representatives from 121 countries sign a treaty prohibiting the manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel landmines. The United States, the People's Republic of China, and Russia do not sign the treaty, however.
1998 The Supreme Court of Canada states Quebec can not legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.
1998 In Canada, pilots for Air Canada launch the first strike in the company's history.
1999 Nunavut, an Inuit homeland, is created from the eastern portion of Northwest Territories to become Canada's third territory.
2000 Canada - Parliamentary elections - Jean Chrétien re-elected as Prime Minister, as the Liberal Party increases majority in House of Commons.
2002 Four Canadian infantrymen are killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire from 2 U.S. F-16s.
2002 Gay Canadian teenager Marc Hall is granted a court injunction ordering that he be allowed to attend his high school prom with his boyfriend.
2003 Pen Hadow becomes the first man to walk alone, without any outside help, from Canada to the North Pole.
2003 Hurricane Juan lands at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada as a category 2 storm, killing 2 directly and 5 indirectly.
, the first Chinese manned space mission.]]
2004 A fire breaks out on the Canadian submarine ''HMCS ''Chicoutimi'''', leaving it stranded without power in the North Atlantic ocean, off the north coast of Ireland; 1 crewmember is killed.
2005 The Canadian House of Commons members narrowly pass two budget bills at a second reading, allowing the minority Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin to stay in power.
2005 Canada's Civil Marriage Act, legalizing same-sex marriage, receives Royal Assent.
2005 The Liberal Party minority government in Canada is toppled by a non-confidence vote in the House of Commons, tabled by the Conservatives and backed by the Bloc Québécois and the New Democratic Party, paving the way for a federal election on January 23, 2006.
|
