Homo sapiens reach North America

Cross Asia-Alaska land bridge.

First European settlement in North America

Viking village at L’Anse aux Meadows occupied for four years.

John Cabot visits. Sees North America, possibly Newfoundland

Claims territory for Britain.

Jacques Cartier lands at Gaspé

Claims territory for France.

First French colony in North America

Quebec military post Charlesbourg-Royal, established by Cartier and Sieur de Roberval.

Basque whalers set up North America’s first industrial plant at southern tip of Labrador

Produce whale oil. Red Bay National Historic Site preserves remnants of plant, housing, graves of 160 whalers.

First Newfoundland settlers.

Martin Frobisher seeks Northwest Passage, returns to London with fool’s gold.

Humphrey Gilbert claims Newfoundland for Britain.

Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, establishes Ville Marie. Now Montreal.

Jesuits abandon Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons

Ontario mission burned to prevent capture by Iroquois.

La Salle explores Mississippi Valley

Claims it for France, names it Louisiana.

Médard Chourart des Grosseilliers and Pierre-Espirit Radisson explore Hudson Bay. Backed by London businessmen who establish Hudson’s Bay Company [HBC] two years later. HBC obtains Ruperts Land.

Iroquois sign Montreal Peace Treaty with France.

Britain wins title to Hudson Bay, Newfoundland, and Acadia, except Cape Breton.

France builds Fortress Louisbourg on Cape Breton.

Britain establishes Halifax naval base.

Nine-year French-Indian war starts.

Expulsion of Acadians starts

11,500 shipped from Maritimes to Louisiana and France over eight years.

Britain declares war on France

Seven-Year’s war starts in North America for New World possessions…. First post office in Canada opens in Halifax.

Britain captures Fortress Louisbourg

French driven from Maritimes. Louisbourg demolished, later recreated as museum.

Wolfe wins Plains of Abraham Battle, But Britain hasn’t yet conquered Canada.

France cedes Louisiana to Spain, other New World possessions to Britain, except tiny islands St. Pierre and Miquelon…. Benjamin Franklin appointed Canada’s first postmaster. Fired in 1774 for sympathizing with American colonists…. Royal Proclamation guarantees aboriginal rights in negotiations for land claims.

First public library in Canada opens at Montreal College.

Samuel Hearn first European to reach Arctic coast overland.

Quebec Act establishes British criminal law in Quebec. Restores French civil law, guarantees French Canadians linguistic and religious rights.

Revolutionary War starts with fighting at Lexington and Concord.

U.S. invasion of Canada defeated.

First 1,124 of 40,000 United Empire Loyalists reach Halifax.

First Europeans on B.C. west coast.

James Cook in HMS Resolute and George Vancouver in HMS Discovery drop anchor in Nootka Sound.

Fur traders merge

16 Montreal outfits form Northwest Company to compete with HBC.

American Revolutionary War ends.

Frances Barkley first white woman in B.C.

Britain-Canada regular sailing service starts.

Alexander Mackenzie discovers Mackenzie River. Reaches river delta near Arctic Ocean…. First Ontario stagecoach service. Fort Erie to Queenston.

Britain acquires 1 million acres in Ontario from Ottawa, Chippewa, Pott-awatamie and Huron Indians…. Spain abandons claim to B.C. coast. Surrenders seized British ships; agrees to restitution; war averted.

Canada Act creates Upper and Lower Canada.

George Vancouver returns. Charts West Coast, Alaska to California.

North America crossed

Mackenzie reaches Pacific Ocean at Bella Coola July 22. Lewis and Clark make first U.S. overland crossing 13 years later…. Upper Canada Act Against Slavery bans importing slaves. Full abolition in all British Empire follows in 1834… Emmanuel Allen auctioned in Canada’s last slave sale.

First Canadian theatre opens in Montreal.

First white woman settler in Western Canada

Marie-Anne Gaboury settles at Red River. Later becomes Louis Riel’s grandmother.

Simon Fraser at Pacific

Party travels Fraser River in Indian dugout canoes to site of future New Westminster.

First steamboat in Canada

John Molson launches passenger ship Accommodation for Montreal-Quebec City service.

Selkirk buys 300,000 square kilometres from HBC for Red River Settlement for displaced Scottish highlanders.

Yanks invade Canada

Start two-and-a-half year war.

Dalhousie University opens in Halifax.

HBC and Northwest Company merge.

Rideau Canal built.

Ottawa to Kingston, 200 kilometres.

First St. John’s Rowing Regatta

North America’s oldest continuous sports event.

Sam Slick appears in Halifax Nova Scotian

Thomas Chandler Haliburton’s fictional Yankee clockmaker becomes one of the best-known humour figures in 19th century English literature.

HBC buys Red River colony from Selkirk estate.

Rebellions crushed in Upper and Lower Canada

William Lyon Mackenzie and Louis-Joseph Papineau flee to U.S.

Second rebellion in Lower Canada

Robert Nelson declared president of Canadian Republic. Crushed in five days.

Durham report promises responsible government.

George Lambton hopes to Anglicize French Canadians.

Upper and Lower Canada merged

Become Canada West and Canada East. Canada has two sections but one legislature. First capital is Kingston.

U.S. Democratic Party adopts election slogan “Fifty-four forty or fight.”

Seeks to extend U.S. western border to Alaska.

Oregon Treaty sets Western Canada-U.S. border at 49th parallel.

Last of 105 Franklin Arctic expedition survivors abandon HMS Erebes and Terror

Set out on foot for HBC post on Great Slave Lake. All perish.

Amnesty Act grants immunity to exiled 1837 rebels.

Mackenzie and Papineau return… Annexation Manifesto seeks Canada-U.S. union. Future Prime Minister John Abbott one of 325 prominent Montrealers who sign.

10,000 homeless in Montreal fire.

Free trade.Canada-U.S.Reciprocity

Agreement lasts 12 years. U.S. abrogation adds impetus for British North America confederation…. Legislation abolishes seigniorial tenure in Lower Canada. 160 seigniors held land farmed by 72,000 tenants.

First passenger train from Montreal to Toronto.

25,000 prospectors stampede Fraser River gold rush…. Frederick Gisbourne lays first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable, Newfoundland to Ireland.

American shoots stray HBC pig on San Juan Island.

Britain and U.S. both claim island lying between Victoria and Seattle. Both send in troops. Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany arbitrates. Awards island to U.S.

Confederation July 1

Unites Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in Dominion of Canada.

Thomas D’Arcy McGee shot dead

First Canadian political assassination claims a Father of Confederation.

Canada buys Ruperts Land from HBC: one-quarter of North America for $15 million…. Louis Riel leads Red River rebellion.

Red River rebellion crushed. Riel flees to Montana.

B.C. joins Canada. 6th province.

Pacific scandal

John A. Macdonald government falls. Macdonald solicited election funds from Canadian PacificRailway promoter Hugh Allan. Liberals elected under Alexander Mackenzie….. Prince Edward Island joins Canada.

Sitting Bull leads 2,000 Sioux Indians in flight to Canada

Escape follows massacre of George Custer and U.S. 7th Cavalry at Battle of Little Big Horn. Sioux remain under Canadian protection five years.

Bell Telephone Company formed

In four months it had four subscribers.

National Policy protects Canadian business

Import duties average 25%… Buffalo herds depleted. Prairie Indians starving. Mounties feed 7,000 at Fort McLeod…. Emily Howard Stowe Ontario’s first licensed woman doctor.

Calixa Lavallée composes O Canada with French lyrics.

Canadian Pacific Railway incorporated

Government subsidies: $25 million cash, 25 million acres of land, 1,175 kilometres of track.

Standard Time adopted

See Canadian inventions, page 36.

Voyageurs sail for Khartoum

386 Canadian volunteers lead British soldiers up Nile River to relieve besieged troops. 16 voyageurs killed in Canada’s first overseas war action.

Riel returns

Heads provisional government. Leads Northwest Rebellion in March. Rebellion squashed in Battle of Batoche, May 9-12… Jumbo killed. World’s largest elephant hit by train…. Smallpox kills 1,391 in Montreal…. Last CPR spike driven November 2… Riel hanged November 16.

Vancouver City incorporated April 2, Destroyed by fire June 13

Four buildings left standing, 50 killed.

Canada’s first hydroelectric power generated at Ontario paper mill.

Manitoba Act abolishes separate schools for Catholics and Protestants.

Montreal Athletic Association wins first Stanley Cup.

First Labour Day

Inspired by Canadian journalist and labour leader Alexander Whyte Wright.

Annapolis seaman Joshua Slocum first to sail solo around the world.

Wilfred Laurier leads Liberals to election victory…. Yukon Gold Rush. George Carmack, Skookum Jim, and Tagish Charlie hit pay dirt.

Victorian Order of Nurses and Women’s Institute founded…. Bicycle repairman George Foote Foss builds Canada’s first internal combustion motor vehicle.

Canadian troops join 1899-1902 South African War.

Child labour

Bureau of Labour exposes wretched conditions of child workers…. First trans-Atlantic radio message sent in Morse code from England to St. John’s.

Alberta and Saskatchewan are 8th and 9th provinces.

Roald Amundsen crosses Northwest Passage. 3-year voyage.

Robert Stanley Weir writes English lyrics for O Canada…. Lucy Maud Montgomery writes Anne of Green Gables.

Grey Cup

Governor General Earl Grey donates cup for amateur Canadian football…. Birds tagged. Used by naturalist Jack Miner to study migration routes.

Free trade signed by Canada and U.S. Subject to approval by Congress and Parliament. Congress approves but Laurier government defeated in elections. Agreement dies…. Second trans-Canada railway. Grand Trunk Pacific line reaches Prince Rupert.

Canada enters First World War… Empress of Ireland sunk. Collision in Gulf of St. Lawrence with Norwegian ship Storstad costs1,012 lives lost, 464 saved.

Third trans-Canada railway. Canadian Northern line reaches Vancouver via Edmonton and Yellowhead Pass…. John McCrea writes In Flanders Fields.

July 1, First of 18-day Battle of the Somme, worst in World War I: 1 million Allied and German casualties; 27,049 Canadian casualties, one-quarter of force. Of 801 in 1st Newfoundland Regiment, 733 killed or wounded.

Income taxed

Temporary war measure…. Canada wins 52 square kilometres of European mud. Seven-week Passchendaele victory cost 16,000 Canadian lives…. Tragic Halifax explosion. 1,800 killed, 1,800 injured, 4,000 homeless in Canada’s worst disaster…. First woman judge appointed. Helen Emma McGill joins Vancouver juvenile court…. Louise McKinney Canada’s first woman legislator. Elected Alberta MLA.

First World War ends. 628,462 served in Canada’s armed forces; 60,661 killed; 173,000 wounded…. Women win vote in federal elections…. Daylight saving time starts.

Troubled labour year

22,000 workers join first Canadian general strike at Winnipeg. Two killed and 20 wounded in RNWMP attack on “Bloody Sunday.” Across Canada, 139,988 workers stage 298 strikes with loss of 39 million working days during year…. First non-stop trans-Atlantic flight. British pilots Alcock and Brown fly 72 hours from St. John’s to Galway, Ireland…. Railway bailout. Government establishes Canadian National Railway to take over bankrupt Canadian Northern, Grand Trunk and Grand Trunk Pacific. Government assumes big debts.

Canada a founding member of League of Nations…. Royal North West Mounted Police (RNWMP) become Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

Agnes Macphail first woman MP

Only woman Member of Parliament for 14 years…. Bluenose schooner launched at Lunenburg…. World’s largest hydroelectric plant powers up at Niagara Falls.

Banting and Best discover insulin. See page 37….. Ottawa plots U.S. invasion. Secret plan in case of war.

Canada dry. Prohibition almost everywhere…. Toronto Symphony Orchestra tunes up.

Saskatchewan repeals prohibition.

United Church of Canada begot

Presbyterians, Methodists and Congregationalists merge…. Speed skater. Toronto’s 17-year-old Lela Alene Brooks sets 6 world records. Later extends that to 17.

King-Byng affair.

Mackenzie King Liberal government resigns June 29 over customs scandal. Governor General Byng calls on Arthur Meighen to form Conservative government July 2. Meighen government falls. Loses confidence motion by one vote. Liberals win national elections September 14.

Old Age Pensions for needy Canadians over 70… Edward Rogers invents first batteryless radio…. Hello! Are you there? Canada and Britain begin transatlantic phone service.

Supreme Court says women are not persons. Can’t sit in Senate.

October stock market crash

Heralds 10-year Great Depression…. Women ruled persons. They can sit in Senate. Britain’s Privy Council overrules Canada’s Supreme Court…. U.S. Coast Guard sinks Canadian schooner I’m Alone. Ship in international water 320 kilometres off Louisiana. Carried 2,800 cases of liquor for prohibition-thirsty Americans. Ship’s captain and crew jailed…. World’s longest suspension bridge links Windsor and Detroit.

R.B. Bennett Conservative government elected…. Federal employees win 8-hour workday law… Cairine Reay Wilson first woman senator.

Men work in relief camps for 20 cents a day. Single, unemployed men get food, shelter and medical care. By June, 1936, when the camps were closed, they had housed 170,000 men…… Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission created. Later renamed CBC…. Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) organized in Calgary by socialist MPs and League for Social Reconstruction. Forerunner of New Democratic Party.

23% unemployed

1,517,531 on public relief…. Bankrupt Newfoundland reverts to colony status. Becomes British dependant…. CCF calls for nationalization of railways, banks, insurance companies and public utilities…. Communists win municipal elections in Blairmore, Alberta.

World’s first surviving quintuplets

Five Dionne sisters born in Callandar, Ont…. RCAF acquires first 10 fighter aircraft.

On to Ottawa Trek

1,000 jobless men hop freight cars in Vancouver. Ranks swell to 2,000. Trek ends in Regina after policeman killed in riot…. Liberals win national elections. Mackenzie King returns for second rule of 14 years…. U.S. apologizes for sinking I’m Alone. Pays $50,000 in compensation.

Nurse Dorothea Palmer arrested for distributing birth control information. Later acquitted. Birth control literature legalized.

Happy Gang sings.

CBC’s most popular radio musical program runs for 22 years…. Dawn to Dusk Across Canada. Inaugural flight of government’s Trans-Canada Airlines (later Air Canada) launches first national airline service…. Quebec’s “Padlock Law” shutters buildings suspected of spreading communism…. Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion sends 1,200 Canadian volunteers to fight fascists in Spanish civil war. Lost cause immortalized in Hemmingway novel For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Second World War. Canada joins September 10.

Quebec women win franchise.

Last to vote in provincial elections…. Henry Larsen skippers RCMP patrol vessel St. Roch on first west-to-east crossing of Northwest Passage…. William Stephenson appointed Britain’s chief espionage agent in North America. Canadian inventor and First World War fighter pilot is code named Intrepid…. Comic book imports banned.

Hong Kong tragedy

1,957 Canadian infantry fight Japanese in defence of British colony; 209 killed in battle, 204 die in war camps…. Unemployment Insurance launched…. Wartime controls freeze prices, wages, and rents…. Japanese bomb Pearl Harbour December 7. U.S. enters war.

West coast Japanese Canadians interned

Moved to B.C. interior ghost towns. Property expropriated…. Dieppe disaster. 5,000 Canadian infantry raid French port. 907 killed, 946 captured, many wounded…. German submarine torpedoes British steamer Nicoya and Dutch vessel Leo in Gulf of St. Lawrence…. Japanese submarine lobs shells at Vancouver Island lighthouse. Misses target…. Submarine lands German spy Werner Janowski at New Carlisle, Quebec. Mounties capture him next day… Canadian RAF pilot George “Buzz” Beurling shoots down 15 enemy aircraft…. Alcan highway opens. Highway for Alaskan defence against possible Japanese invasion stretches 2,450 kilometres from Dawson Creek, B.C., to Fairbanks, Alaska.

Canadian Navy assumes North-West Command

Protects North Atlantic convoys to Britain. Many casualties from German U-boat torpedo attacks…. Italy surrenders to Allies, Germans fight on. Canadian forces lead advance across Sicily and up Italy.

Allies land on Normandy beaches

Five thousand Canadians killed in two-month battle to secure beachhead.

War ends

Germany surrenders to Allies May 7; to Soviet Union, May 8. Japan surrenders September 2. More than 1 million Canadians served in armed forces; 44,093 killed; 54,000 wounded; 9,000 taken prisoners… Russian spy ring in Canada. Clerk Igor Gouzenko defects with documents from Russia’s Ottawa embassy…. First monthly Family Allowance (aka Baby Bonus) cheques for families with children, $5 to $8 per child, depending on age. Major factor in lifting status of most Canadians from below to above defined poverty level by 1951 census…. Canada’s first reactor goes nuclear. ZEEP (Zero Energy Experimental Pile) in operation at Chalk River…. Canada joins UN as a founding member.

Canada’s first drive-in movie theatre opens in Hamilton…. Bluenose sinks. Hits reef off Haiti.

Alberta’s Leduc discovery ignites Canada’s oil boom.

Newfoundland votes to join Canada

10th province…. Mackenzie King retires. With 7,825 days in office, longest-serving prime minister in British Commonwealth…. PM Louis St. Laurent proposes “collective security league.” Becomes North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)…. Barbara Ann Scott wins figure skating gold at Winter Olympics.

Work starts on Toronto subway

Canada’s first…. Canadian-built Jetliner North America’s first commercial jet aircraft…. BNA Act amended. Enables Canada to change its constitution. Change comes 34 years later…. Fire destroys Noronic, largest Great Lakes passenger ship; 118 lives lost.

Red River flood evacuates 100,000 Winnipegers…. Canada joins UN forces in Korean War.

Old Age Pensions for all over 70, for needy aged 65… Canada to build St. Lawrence Seaway, with or without U.S.

First television stations on air at Montreal and Toronto…. Atomic Energy Canada established. AECL to investigate nuclear electric power.

Korean War ends

21,940 Canadians served with UN forces. 314 killed, 1,211 wounded, 33 captured…. First Canadian indoor shopping mall opens in Toronto.

World’s longest pipeline delivers Alberta oil to Sarnia, Ont…. Hurricane Hazel hits Toronto. 124-km winds cause flooding, lots of damage, 83 deaths.

Black Friday in Parliament

House of Commons in uproar. Government makes unprecedented use of closure to ram through bill to subsidize construction of natural gas pipeline from Alberta to Montreal…. Lester Pearson proposes special UN Emergency Force to stop incipient Suez war. First UN Peacekeepers.

Supreme Court overturns Quebec Padlock Law…. John Diefenbaker’s Conservatives win national elections…. Spring Hill coalmine explosion traps 174 miners. 100 rescued over 8 days, 74 perish…. Montreal Herald stops publication after 146 years…. World’s biggest non-nuclear explosion demolishes Ripple Rock shipping hazard off B.C. coast.

First ship passes through St. Lawrence Seaway.

Seven-year-old Roger Woodward survives fall over Niagara’s Horseshoe Falls.

Tommy Douglas first New Democratic Party leader.

Saskatchewan creates medicare…. National Oil Policy rescues Alberta’s oil industry. Prohibits petroleum imports west of Ottawa…. Canada’s first commercial nuclear power plant fires up near Chalk River, Ontario… Trans-Canada Highway officially opened. Short Ontario section still missing…. Pamela Anne Gordon bares all. First Canadian playmate in Playboy…. Fog halts Grey Cup game. Resumes in Toronto next day. Winnipeg Blue Bombers beat Hamilton Tiger Cats…. CTV airs. Second national TV network.

Quebec separatists turn violent

Molotov cocktails, small letter bombs, bigger bombs explode. 65- year-old night watchman killed. Queen Victoria monument in Montreal, Wolfe’s statue in Quebec City, blown up. 16 FLQ members plead guilty to terrorism…. Bush fire. Three killed, nine wounded in Kapuskasing shootout between company loggers and independent workers.

Maple Leaf Flag unfurled…. SIN numbers issued. Social insurance digits for all…. Northern Dancer wins Kentucky Derby. First Canada horse to take prize…. Stock market spree. Triggered by copper-zinc-silver discovery at Timmins.

Qualifying age for universal Old

Age Pensions reduced from 70 to 65 years…. Auto Pact creates Canada-U.S. free trade in new cars and parts…. Newfoundland offers free tuition for first year students at St. John’s Memorial University…. Final section of Trans-Canada Highway opened between Fort Frances and Atikokan, Ont…. Blackout. Millions in dark, as Ontario Hydro relay failure cuts power from southern Ontario to Florida, Atlantic coast to Chicago. Lights out for 12 hours.

Colour television starts…. Defence Minister Pierre Sévigny snared in sex spy affair. Montreal prostitute Gerda Munsinger is information contact for Communist spy services…. Last Studebaker car. Automaker folds…. Canada’s first topless bar opens. Vancouver’s Cat’s Whisker’s bares half….. Nancy Greene wins gold. Rossland, B.C skier takes women’s slalom at Canadian International Ski Championships.

Canada celebrates Centennial Year

Montreal hosts Expo ’67 World Fair. Centennial Voyageurs paddle canoes 5,283 kilometres from Rocky Mountain House to Montreal…. Charles De Gaulle cries “Vive le Quebec Libre” in Montreal. Canada is not amused…. Cunard steamships end Atlantic passenger service.

Pierre Elliott Trudeau leads Liberals

Succeeds Lester Pearson as party leader and prime minister …. Political air war. Trudeau, Robert Stanfield, Tommy Douglas, Real Caouette in first national TV debate…. Trudeaumania sweeps Canada. Liberals re-elected…. Giant oil find on Arctic coast. Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay is North America’s biggest oil field…. Nancy Greene wins gold in women’s giant slalom at Winter Olympics.

Snowmobiles replace Mounties’ dog teams…. Saskatchewan accepts grain for university fees…. Montreal Expos first non-American team in U.S. baseball’s big leagues…. Breathalizer tests for suspected drunk drivers…. Separatist violence rocks Quebec. 27 injured in Montreal stock exchange explosion. FLQ Pierre-Paul Geoffroy pleads guilty to 31 Montreal bombings. 64 more follow. Mayor Drapeau’s home bombed, but no injuries… 16-hour wildcat strike by Montreal police and firemen. 2 deaths, violence and looting…. War Measures Act invoked. 465 arrested, 18 convicted…. Montreal students protest alleged racism at Sir George Williams University. $14 million computer destroyed, data centre burned…. Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker John A. Macdonald frees ice-trapped U.S. oil tanker Manhattan. Trial Northwest Passage run to ship Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay oil. Oil later shipped instead by trans-Alaska pipeline.

No more inches and miles

Canada adopts metric system…. British Trade Commissioner James Cross and Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte kidnapped by FLQ terrorists. Laporte’s body found in car trunk. Cross freed. Kidnappers get haven in Cuba.

Four FLQ terrorists convicted of kidnapping and non-capital murder of Pierre Laporte…. Quebec plans $6 billion James Bay hydroelectric power project…. Peter Lougheed’s Alberta Conservatives elected. End 36-year Social Credit rule.

Canada wins hockey title with 34 second left

Paul Henderson’s goal beats Russians…. Harold Ballard convicted of fraud and theft. President of Toronto Maple Leaf Gardens and Maple Leaf hockey team gets three-year jail term…. Last daily rum ration for Canada’s navy sailors.

Arab oil embargo

Gasoline and fuel oil shortages. Oil price jumps from $3.50 US to $11 per barrel….. Karen Kain and Frank Augustyn win first place duet ensemble at International Ballet Competition in Moscow…. Legal trouble for abortion doctor Henry Morgantaler. Admits to 6,000 abortions but acquitted on charges. Acquittal overturned by Quebec Appeal Court. Acquittal upheld by Supreme Court. Morgantaler serves 10 of 18-month jail term. Acquitted again at a retrial in 1976. Abortion legalized in 1990.

National Energy Program strains Confederation

Ottawa bites into Alberta oil revenues. Creates national oil company Petro-Canada. Oil price and exports controlled….. French language signs mandated in Quebec.

Egg Marketing Agency has egg on its face

28 million surplus “bad” eggs destroyed…. Wage and price controls imposed to curb rampant inflation…. Minimum wage for federal employees increased 20 cents to $2.60 per hour.

T. Eaton Company ends publication of iconic catalogue.

A century-old fixture at houses and outhouses…. Canada wins hockey’s first Canada Cup. Beats Czechoslovakia in overtime.

Cross Canada Via Rail.

Ottawa train for national rail passenger service…. Cree and Inuit win 60% of Quebec. Big land claims settlement…. Bill 101 makes French Quebec’s official language. Limits use of English.

Explorers findSpanish galleon sunk off Labrador in 1525.

Road to Arctic Coast opens.

Dempster Highway runs 736 kilometres from Dawson to Inuvik…. Supreme Court strikes down unilingual legislatures and courts in Quebec and Manitoba.

Terry Fox ends cross-Canada cancer run at Thunder Bay.

Cancer spreads to lungs of one-legged runner. Dies nine months later, age 23, a national hero…. Canada rescues Americans from Iranian captivity. Ambassador Kenneth Taylor hides 6 U.S. diplomatic employees for 2 months after takeover of American embassy in Iranian revolution. They escape Tehran under cover of Canadian passports…. Quebecers reject sovereignty-association by 60-40 vote.

Champagne toast for oil accord

Trudeau and Lougheed sign Alberta-Canada revenue sharing deal that calms bitter dispute. Agreement anticipates doubling of world oil prices, but price falls from $43 to $19 per barrel in seven years…. Government-owned Petro-Canada buys Belgian-controlled Petrofina Canada for record $14 billion…. Soviet Union wins Canada Cup hockey tournament…. 12.5% inflation rate is 33-year high.

Constitution Act replaces British North America Act

Includes Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Signed by all provinces except Quebec…. Storm sinks drill ship Ocean Ranger off Newfoundland. 84 killed…. Canadian economy sinks 4.8%. Biggest drop since 1933 in Great Depression. Unemployment hits 8.6%…. Europe bans imports of Canadian seal pelts.

Two fisheries patrol boats sunk off Nova Scotia

9 charged with piracy in conflict over lobster quotas…. Canadarm releases, then retrieves satellite from U.S. space shuttle…. Jeanne Sauve appointed first woman governor general.

Canada wins 4 Winter Olympic medals in Sarajevo…. Wins record 44 Summer Olympic medals in Los Angeles…. 3 killed, 13 wounded in Quebec legislature. Corporal Dennis Lortie fires sub-machine gun. Wanted to destroy Parti Quebecois government…. Marc Garneau first Canadian in space.

Quebec Superior Court overturns Bill 101

French-language signs violate province’s Human Rights Charter…. Paraplegic Rick Hansen begins round-the-world wheelchair journey. See feature page 38…. Base metal money. Bronze $1 loonie followed by $2 toonie…. Supreme Court invalidates 95 years of Manitoba’s English-only laws. Hundreds to be translated into French…. Orange light for prostitutes. Federal law prohibits soliciting in public places, impeding pedestrians or vehicular traffic.

Big fossil find. Bay of Fundy collection is North America’s largest…. Jetco president Keith Alexander first Canadian business executive jailed for environmental pollution…. Ontario doctors end 250-day strike over ban on extra billing…. Refugee status for 155 Sri Lanka Tamils found drifting off Newfoundland.

Mulroney and provincial premiers sign Meech Lake Accord

Offers Quebec distinct society. Expanded powers for provinces. Must be ratified by Parliament and provincial legislatures…. Edmonton tornado kills 25, injures 250… Black Monday. Global stock market crash October 19 sinks Canadian shares 22.5% by month-end…. Preston Manning elected Reform Party leader.

Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement signed…. United Church approves ordination of homosexuals…. Ottawa sells 45% ownership of Air Canada. Later sells all to Canadian investors…. Supreme Court strikes down Quebec’s unilingual sign laws. Violates federal and Quebec charters. Quebec National Assembly invokes constitutional “notwithstanding clause” to maintain sign laws.

Audrey McLaughlin elected NDP leader.

First Canadian woman to lead a national political party…. 14 women killed, 9 wounded in University of Montreal shooting rampage. Shooter Marc Lepine commits suicide. Says feminists spoiled his life.

Nova Scotia Micmac Indian Donald Marshall Jr. found wrongfully convicted of 1971 murder. Served 11 years in jail…. Four million tires burn for 17 days. Spew toxic smoke at Ontario tire dump. 4,000 residents evacuated…. Mohawk gambling turns violent. Armed warriors overrun blockades set up by opponents of commercial gambling on Quebec’s Akwesasne reserve. 500 residents flee violence on reserve…. Elijah Harper kills Meech Lake Accord. Cree MLA refuses unanimous consent to introduce Accord in Manitoba legislature. Says it fails to recognize aboriginal rights…. Bloc Quebecois political party formed by Liberal and Conservative MPs.

Goods and Services taxed.

Charlottetown Accord defeated in Quebec referendum.

Successor to failed Meech Lake Accord. Second attempt to win Quebec’s accession to Constitution…. Toronto Blue Jays win baseball World Series. Win again in 1993.

Atlantic cod fishery shut down to rebuild depleted stock…. Kim Campbell succeeds PM Brian Mulroney. Canada’s first woman prime minister. PC’s reduced to 2 seats in following elections. Jean Chretien returns Liberals to office.

800,000 killed in Rwanda genocide. UN fails to heed General Dellaire’s request for 5,000 troops to bolster 420-man police keeping force…. North American Free Trade Agreement inked. Embraces Canada, United States and Mexico. Replaces Canada-U.S. Free Trade…. Navy seizes Spanish trawler. Broke Grand Banks fishing ban. Dubbed Turbot War.

Quebec separation defeated again. Referendum rejected 50.6% to 49.4%… Medicine Hat flood evacuates 50,000… Gun control law prohibits most handguns. Rifles must be registered…. Guy Paul Morin’s murder conviction overturned. Served 11 years in jail…. Woman top cop. Calgary’s Christine Silverberg Canada’s first female police chief…. Paul Bernardo gets life sentence. No parole. Convicted of kidnap, rape and murder of Leslie Mahaffy, Kristin French, and Tammy Lyn Homolka. Wife and murder partner Karla Homolka testified against him. Gets 12-year jail term…. Canadian National Railways privatized…. Canada sends 1,000 peacekeepers to Bosnia.

Quebec floods kill 10. Demolish 2,600 homes in Saguenay District…. Canada organizes Arctic Council. Embraces 10 circumpolar countries…. Former B.C. Premier Bill Bennett convicted of insider trading.

80,000 evacuated in Manitoba and North Dakota floods

Damage estimated at $35 US billion…. Canada signs UN Kyoto Protocol. Ratified by Parliament 5 years later. Pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions 6% below 1990 level by 2012 is far from achieved…. Oil flows from Hibernia. Canada’s first major offshore oil field is 315 kilometres east-southeast of St. John’s.

Millions freeze in dark in Great Ice Storm.

Freezing rain knocks out power for up to 30 days. Blackout stretches from southeastern Ontario to Nova Scotia and New England. Storm kills 35, injures 945. Up to $7 billion in damages…. Dollar worth $0.64 US. Record low…. 20,000 on Parliament Hill protest long gun registration.

Nunavut now Canada’s third territory

Carved from 60% of Northwest Territories. One-fifth of Canada is home for 27,000 people…. RCAF fighter jets join NATO bombing raids to force Serbian troops out of Kosovo…. T. Eaton Company files for bankruptcy.

Reform Party renamed Canadian Alliance.

Wins 66 seats in national elections. Becomes official opposition. Progressive Conservative Party 5th with 12 seats.

Canada hosts 35,000 stranded Americans.

Terrorist attacks on New York and Washington divert 224 U.S. planes to Canada…. Canada first to legalize medical marijuana.

Canadian troops join U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan war on terrorists…. Canada commits $10 billion over 10 years to combat spread of weapons of mass destruction…. Canada wins Olympic gold for men’s and women’s hockey teams at Salt Lake City…. Stephen Harper elected Canadian Alliance leader.

Alliance and Progressive Conservative parties merge

Form Conservative Party. No more “Progressive Conservative” oxymoron…. SARS epidemic kills 44 in Toronto. Poor hospital infection-control procedures blamed for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

Harper elected Conservative leader March 28

Conservatives win 99 seats in June 28 elections….. Auditor General uncovers sponsorship scandal. No work performed for $15 million federal advertising contract in Quebec. Most of the money kicked back to Liberal Party…. Supreme Court upholds child spanking “within limits.”…. World Health Organization endorses Canadian plan to deal with avian flu epidemic. 19 million B.C. poultry slaughtered…. First same-sex marriages. Michael Hendricks and René Lebouf wed in Montreal April 1. First same-sex divorce granted September 14 to Toronto lesbian couple…. Nelson, B.C. rejects planned monument to American draft dodgers.

Civil Marriage Act legalizes same-sex marriage across Canada…. Four Mounties shot dead in drug raid on Meyerthorpe, Alta. farm…. CBC journalist Michaëlle Jean appointed Governor General…. First ever Commons tie-breaking vote. Speaker Peter Millikin’s vote sustains Paul Martin’s minority Liberal government…. No-confidence motion defeats government November 28… Natalie Glebova wins Miss Universe title. Russian-born Canadian classical pianist…. Ian and Sylvia’s Four Strong Winds named Canada’s greatest song.

Canada and Russia veto UN Draft Rights of Indigenous People…. Harper Conservatives elected minority government…. Terrorist plot uncovered. Ontario youths planned to behead Harper, kidnap MPs, blowup Parliamentary buildings and military installations…. Ontario blackout. Thunderstorms, tornadoes leave 200,000 without power for up to one week…. Elizabeth May elected Green Party leader.

Newspaper publisher Conrad Black convicted of three charges of fraud and one of obstructing justice…. Appeal Court overturns Steven Truscott 1959 murder conviction of Lynne Harper.

Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier leaves confidential NATO documents in home of girl friend, who is linked to Hells Angels…. Harper calls 2-month Parliamentary recess. Averts defeat on non-confidence motion. Kills planned Liberal-NDP coalition government.

Ghostnet uncovered. University of Toronto researchers discover Chinese cyber spying

Hackers infiltrated top political, economic and media computer resources in more than 100 countries.

Canada wins record medals at 21st Winter Olympics

14 gold, 7 silver and 5 bronze at Vancouver and Whistler. Canadian men’s and women’s hockey teams both win gold, defeating U.S. teams…. Warmest driest winter. Average 2009-10 winter 40 C. above normal…. Accusations of political payola haunt Treasury Board President Tony Clement…. University of Waterloo president David Johnston appointed Governor General…. Judge rules brothels and streetwalking legal.

Conservative government in contempt of Parliament

Failed to provide cost information about planned purchase of fighter jets and construction of new jails. Government falls on non-confidence motion. Returned to power with majority in national elections…. Winter 2010-2011 is 2.50 above normal.

Ending the Long-Gun Registry Act kills 15-year law requiring ownership registration of non-restricted firearams; records to be destroyed. Quebec Superior Court imposes injunction; says registry an effective and economical crime prevention tool… Alison Redford extends 25-year Alberta rule of Progressive Conservatives. Election day polls forecast majority Wildrose Party government, but PC’s win 61 seats to 17 for Wildrose…. September 19. 14-year-old Annaleise Carr is youngest to swim Lake Ontario, landing at Mississauga where Marilyn Bell made the first crossing in 1954 at age 16 (page 35). Against an adverse storm, Carr swam the 52.5-km “traditional Marilyn Bell route;” Bell swam a 54-km route. Carr’s swim raised an initial $90,000 for Camp Trillium, a camp for children with cancer.