Chronography of Canada
Page last
modified �10 January 2023
Click here for image of Winnipeg 1870
and 1935
Box
Index
4.0 Reinstatement
of Indigenous Rights, 1987-99
3.0 Quebec
French-based separatist movement 1967-95
2.5 Brian
Mulroney administration 1988-93
2.0 Trudeau
administration 1968-84
1.0 Modern
Canadian flag created, 1964-65
0.0
Development of Canada as a modern State 1925-52
17 October 2018, Canada became the second country (after Uruguay in
2013) to legalise the sale of cannabis.
29 January 2017, A White Supremacist student went to a mosque in
Quebec and shot six Muslim worshippers. He was later captured by
police.
25 January 2006, Stephen Harper, Conservative
Party, became Canadian Prime Minister.
12 December 2003, Paul Martin was elected as 21st
President of Canada.
4.0 Reinstatement
of Indigenous Rights, 1987-99
1
April 1999, Nunavut,
an Inuit homeland, part of the Northwest territories, was formed.
7
January 1998, In Canada, the Minister of Indian Affairs, Jane
Stewart, officially apologised to indigenous Americans and Inuit people for
centuries of mistreatment and injustice.
12/11/1992, In northern Canada, a referendum amongst
the Inuit people produced a majority for a semi-autonomous territory to be
called Nunavut.
1 January 1987, The town of Frobisher Bay
in Canada�s Northwest territories changed its name to Iqaluit. In 1999 it became capital of Nunavut.
7 December 1989. A gunman claiming to hate feminists
massacred 14 women at the University of Montreal.
22 June 1997, Gerard Pelletier, Canadian politician, died.
2 June 1997, In Canada the governing Liberal Party of Prime
Minister Jean
Chretien narrowly won general elections.
3.0 Quebec
French-based separatist movement 1967-95
30
October 1995. Quebec separatists narrowly (by just
1%) �lost a referendum to regain independence from
Canada.
12 September 1994, In Canada the Parti Quebecois won an overall majority
in the State legislature.
1980, Jean Lessage, Canadian
politician, died. He became the Liberal Prime
Minister of Quebec in 1960, but was defeated in 1966 by the Union Nationale
Party. He retired from leadership of the Party in 1970.
20 May 1980. Quebec voted against seceding from Canada.
26 August 1977, French was made the only official language of
Quebec, Canada, excluding English.
15/11/1976. The
secessionist Party
Quebecois won the
16 October 1970. State of insurrection proclaimed in
11 October 1970, Quebec Separatists kidnapped Pierre Laporte, Minister of
Labour. His body was found on 17 October 1970.
7
July 1969, The French language was given equal status to English across the country.
This was under the official Languages Act, passed by Canada�s House of Commons
this day.
1968, The Parti Quebecois
was founded by Rene
Levesque (1922-1987). This was in response to the refusal of
Quebec�s Liberal Party to become more nationalistic.
25 July 1967, During
a State visit to Canada, General Charles de Gaulle of France
encouraged French-speaking Quebec
citizens to break away; he was rebuked for this breach of etiquette by the
Canadian Prime Minister and returned to France.
25 October 1993, In Canada
the Liberal Party won a decisive victory in the general election. The
Progressive Conservative Party, which had been in office since 1984, retained
only 2 seats. The Bloc Quebecois became the second-largest Party.
25 June 1993, Kim Campbell
(born 1947) became Canada�s first female Prime Minister (Progressive
Conservative Party). In October 1993 her Party were defeated in an election by
the Liberal Party, led by Jean
Chretien, and in December 1993 Campbell resigned as Party
leader.
2.5 Brian Mulroney administration 1984-93
24/2/1993,
Brian Mulroney
resigned as Canadian Prime Minister.
13 January 1993. Official statistics from
Canada showed that Chinese was the country�s third most common
language, after English and French.
13 December 1992, KC Irving, Canadian
industrialist, died (born 14 March 1899).
17 December 1991, Joseph Robert Smallwood,
Canadian politician who took Newfoundland into the Canadian Federation in 1949
and became its first Prime Minister, died just before his 91st
birthday.
11 July 1990, Conflict between
indigenous Mohawk Indians and the Quebec provincial police erupted in the small
town of Oka, population 3,000. The dispute was sparked by a proposal to build a
golf course in land claimed by the Mohawk, including a Mohawk cemetery. The
Mohawk set up barricades and Corporal Marcel Lemay was shot and killed by a
Mohawk bullet. The conflict ended on 26 September 1990 when the last remaining 50
Mohawk surrendered and were arrested.
21/11/1988, Brian Mulroney was re-elected Conservative
Prime Minister of Canada, with a reduced majority. He had campaigned on a free
trade with the USA policy.
4 September 1984, Brian Mulroney (Progressive
Conservative Party) was elected to government.
2.0 Trudeau
administration 1968-84
30 June 1984, Pierre Trudeau resigned as Prime
Minister of Canada.
29/2/1984, Pierre Trudeau announced he was stepping down
after 15 years as Canadian Prime Minister.
15/2/1982, 84 died when a storm wrecked an oil rig off
the coast of Newfoundland.
18/2/1980, Pierre Trudeau
returned to power in the Canadian General Election, after nine months out of
office.
31 December 1980, Marshal Mcluhan,
Canadian philosopher, died aged 69.
16 August 1979, John George Diefenbaker,
Canadian Prime Minister (born 18.9.1895 in rural Ontario) died.
22 May 1979, In Canada, Pierre Trudeau,
Liberal, lost the election. Joe Clark became Progressive Conservative
Prime Minister of a minority government.
24 January 1978, A Soviet
nuclear-powered satellite, Cosmos 954, crashed in north-western Canada,
spilling radioactive debris. The Canadian government presented Moscow with a 6
billion dollar bill for the clean-up, of which Moscow eventually paid half.
27 October 1975, 18 year old Robert Poulin
began shooting at the Pius X High School in Ottawa, Canada, killing 1 and
injuring 5. He then shot himself.
7/2/1975, In response to the global oil crisis,
Canada imposed a national speed limit of 55 mph.
9 July 1974, In Canadian elections, Prime Minister Pierre
Trudeau�s Liberal Party won with 141 seats out of 264. The
Conservatives took 95 seats, the New Democratic Party took 11 the Social Credit
Party won 11 and there was one independent seat.
27 December 1972, Death of Lester Pearson,
Canadian politician and Liberal Prime Minister 1963-8.
30 October 1972, In Canadian elections the
incumbernt Liberal party narrowly won and Pierre Trudeau remained as Prime Minister.
17 October 1970, Pierre Laporte, Quebec
politician, died.
1968, The Trans-Canada highway was completed/
21 April 1968, Pierre Trudeau
succeeded Lester
Pearson as Prime Minister of Canada.
30 December 1967, Vincent Massey, Canadian lawyer and diplomat,
died aged 80.
29 October 1967, Expo 67 closed in Montreal, after having
attracted more than 50,306,648 visitors in six months, a record attendance for
any world's fair. It
had opened on 27 April 1967.
27 April 1967, The Expo
�67 exhibition opened in
8/11/1965, In Canadian elections, the Liberals under Lester B
Pearson became the largest Party with 131 seats, but without an
overall majority. The Progressive Conservatives secured 97 seats, Others won 37
seats.
1.0 Modern Canadian
flag created, 1964-65
15/2/1965, Canada flew the newly-adopted maple leaf flag for the first
time.
15 December 1964, The Canadian parliament voted in favour of a single
maple leaf design for the Canadian Flag.
8 April 1963, General election in Canada was won by the Liberals with 129
seats. The Progressive Conservatives won 95 seats, Others won 41 seats.
19/11/1962, The Newfoundland general election was won by the Liberal
Party of Newfoundland and Labrador, led by Joey Smallwood.
18 May 1962, In Canada, the Progressive Conservatives lost their
majority in the elections; however John Deifenbaker remained as Prime Minister. The
Progressive Conservatives won 116 seats, the Liberals won 100, others 49.
2 May 1962, Canada devalued its Dollar, setting a fixed rate of 1
Canadian Dollar to 92.5 US cents, in place of the floating rate in use since
1950.
1961, The New Democratic Party was founded, through a merger of the
Commonwealth Co-operative Federation and the Canadian Labour Congress.
31 March 1958, General election in Canada. The Progressive Conservatives
won a large majority, 208 seats, against the Liberals with 49 seats, and the
Co-operative Commonwealth Foundation with 8 seats. John
Diefenbaker remained
Prime Minister.
10 June 1957, In Canada, Progressive Conservatives won the election with
112 seats. The Liberals got 105 seats, the Cooperative Commonwealth foundation
got 25 seats, Others got 23 seats. The Liberal leader, Louis St Laurent, resigned,
ending 22 years of Liberal rule, and the Conservative, John Diefenbaker, took office.
1956, The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC)
was formed, by a merger between the Trades and Labor Congress and the Canadian
Congress of Labour.
26 April 1955, Sir Lyman Poore Duff, Canadian jurist (born 7
January 1865 in Meaford, Ontario) died in Ottawa, Ontario.
21 October 1954, Brian Tobin, Canadian politician, was born.
7 April 1954, The
USA announced that, in conjunction with Canada, it would set up a chain
of almost 100 radar stations along a 3,000 mile line at the 55th parallel. On 27
September 1954 a second chain of radar stations was announced above the Arctic
Circle to warn of enemy aircraft approaching from Russia across the North Pole. This was
the Distant Early Warning Line, or DEW; within a few years it was obsolete
because missiles would be delivered by rockets not planes.
1953, Large uranium deposits were
discovered in Ontario; these would become significant for the world�s emerging nuclear
industry.
0.0 Development of
Canada as a modern State 1925-52
24 January 1952, Vincent Massey became the first Canadian to be appointed Governor-General of Canada. He
remained in post until September 1959.
11 December 1948, At a ceremony in Ottawa,
terms of union were signed between Canada and the Dominion of Newfoundland by
which Newfoundland would become a province of Canada.
1 October 1947, The powers of the
Governor-General of Canada were increased by lettrers pa5tent signed by King
George V of Britain, this role now having �full royal powers�.
1931, The Statute of Westminister made Canada a fully independent State.
2 June 1925. The Canadian government
claimed all land between Greenland and
Newfoundland
31 March 1949. Newfoundland, with its dependency Labrador, joined
21 December 1933, Britain resumed administration of its
former colony, Newfoundland, after a financial crisis there. Newfoundland had
become a Dominion in 1917.
15/11/1948, W L Mackenzie-King, Prime Minister of Canada,
resigned and entered retirement. He was succeeded by Louis St Laurent.
10 September 1948, Margaret Trudeau, former Canadian 1st lady,
was born in Vancouver, British Columbia.
1947, Oil was first struck in
Alberta, at Leduc, near Edmonton.
22 April 1946, Samuel John :Latta, Canadian politician, died.
1942, In Quebec the Bloc Populaire
Party was founded. The Party was founded by Liberals who were opposed to
Canadian participation in World War Two, and to conscription, and also
contained Catholic
radicals such as Andre Laurendeau who wanted to base industrial relations on
Papal encyclicals and ban foreign capital from Quebec. The Bloc Populaire
disintegrated after winning four seats in the 1944 elections.
7 January 1941, A special committee of the Canadian
government recommended that Japanese Canadians not be allowed to volunteer
for the armed forces on the grounds of strong public opinion against them.
10 December 1939, The first convoy of Canadian troops
departed Halifax, Nova Scotia for England.
For main
events of World War Two in Europe see France-Germany. For main events of
World War in the Pacific see China-Japan
11 January 1934, Jean Chretien, Canada�s 20th Prime Minister,
was born.
18 June 1931, Canada raised tariffs on imports from the USA,
cutting import levels by two-thirds.
31 October 1929, Nova Scotia voted to repeal Prohibition.
This left Prince Edward Island as the only �dry� region in Canada.
30 October 1929, General Election in Ontario. The
Conservatives, led by Howard Ferguson, won with an increased
majority.
27 August 1927, Emily Gowan Murphy (maiden name Ferguson,
born 14 March 1868 in Cookstown, Ontario), petitioned the Canadian Government
to have women recognised as full legal �persons�. She had been instrumental in
passing the Dower Act (1911),giving
women a share in their husband�s property, and in 1916 Murphy had been appointed as the
first woman magistrate in the British Empire. However on her first day as
magistrate, a lawyer challenged her appointment as illegal as she was not a
�person� under Canadian law. Murphy began a legal battle to overturn this
law, petitioning the Canadian Government this day. On 14 March 1928 the Supreme
Court of Canada decided against Murphy and four other campaigners, Nellie McClung,
Irene Parlby,
Henrrietta
Muir and� Louise McKinney. The�Famous
Five� took their case to the British Privy Council, where they finally won on
18 October 1929. Murphy died of diabetes in 1933.
28 June 1926, In Canada, W L MacKenzie King resigned as a result of the
Canadian Customs scandal. Arthur Meighen formed a Liberal Government,
15 December 1922, Franco-Canadian trade agreement signed.
29 December 1921, MacKenzie King, Liberal Party, became Prime
Minister of Canada.
1 July 1920, Robert Borden, Prime Minister of Canada,
resigned due to ill-health. He was succeeded on 10 July 1912 by Arthur Meighen.
1/2/1920, The North
West Mounted Police changed their name to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
18 October 1919, Pierre Trudeau, Canadian Liberal and Prime Minister,
was born in
17/2/1919, Sir Wilfird Laurier, Canada�s first French-speaking
Prime Minister, died.
29 March 1918, In Quebec,
Canada, the Compulsory Military Service
Act of September 1917 provoked such severe rioting from this day until 2
April 1917 that 4 civilians were killed.
30 December 1917, Election-related riots in Quebec; city
placed under martial law.
3/2/1916, In Ottawa, Canada, the Parliament Building burnt
down.
14 August 1912, Leopold Demers, Canadian Liberal politician,
was born (died 21/11/1990),
22/2/1911, Canada voted to remain a part of the
1 June 1909, The Seattle World Fair opened.
17/11/1908, Sir Henri Joly de Lotbiniere, Canadian politician,
died (born 5 December 1829).
29 August 1907, After four years construction, the Quebec
Bridge, still being built, collapsed. 75 workers were killed and half the
bridge had gone.
1 May 1907, Death of Canadian Neil Brodie, reportedly the
�world�s dirtiest man�, who only bathed when legally ordered to do so.
22 May 1906, The last British troops left the Dominion of Canada.
15 March 1906, Alfred Jones, Canadian politician, died (born
9/1824).
30 August 1905,
The Province of Alberta was constituted a province of Canada, created
out of part of the North West Territories. Edmonton was chosen as the
provincial capital, causing a rapid growth in the city�s size.
1 September 1904, Earl Grey was appointed Governor-General of
Canada.
1 March 1903,
The Ligue Nationaliste Canadienne was founded in Quebec, Canada, by Henri Bourassa and Olivar
Asselin.
23 July 1900. Canada forbade
immigration of paupers and criminals.
26 April 1900, Major fire in Ottawa and Hull area of Canada;
12,000 made homeless.
1897, Immigration poster for Western Canada.
31 March 1897, Gold was
discovered in The Klondike, Canada.
17 August 1896. Gold was
discovered at Bonanza Creek on the Klondike River in Canada�s Yukon Territory.
This led to the great Gold Rush of 1898, in which the city of Dawson grew to
over 25,000 people.
16 August 1896, Sir David
MacPherson, Canadian politician, died.
18 December 1893, The
Chateau Frontenac Hotel opened in Quebec after 18 months construction, with 170
bedrooms.
1891, The first Ukrainian
migrants (Mennonites) arrived in Canada.
6 June 1891, Sir John Alexander Macdonald, first Prime Minister of Canada, died.
31 May 1891, Sir Antoine Dorion, Canadian politician, died
(born 17 January 1816).
1887, The Canadian Commercial Union
movement proposed an economic union with the USA. However there were fears that
this would lead to total union with, and thereby political dominance by, the USA.
16/11/1885, Louis Riel, leader of the Canadian Metis Rebellion, was hanged by
the British.
18 August 1885, Sir Francis Hincks, Canadian politician, died
(born 1807).
12 August 1885, Louis Reil and his Metis followers (see 24
August 1870, 16/11/1885) began a second rebellion in Saskatchewan. This day the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (organised 23 May 1873) and the Canadian Army
surrounded riel�s headquarters at Batouche and captured him.
9 December 1882, Sir Hugh Allan, Canadian financier, died in
Edinburgh (born 29 September 1810 in Saltcoats, Ayrshire).
1/2/1882, Louis Stephen St Laurent, Canadian statesman,
was born.
1880, The contract for
construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway was signed (ratified by the Canadian
Parliament in 1881),
24 June 1880, Canada�s national anthem, �Oh Canada�, was first
sung. Music was by Calixa Lavallee, and the words in French were
composed by Adolphe
Routhier. The English lyrics were written by Robert Weir in 1908.
9 May 1880, George Brown, Canadian statesman, died (born
29/11/1918).
1879, Canada, under a
Conservative government, raised customes duties against imports from the US, to
protect Canadian industry.
6/11/1879, The first Canadian Thanksgiving Day was observed.
It is now generally held on a Monday in October.
1878, Liberal Prime Minister, A. Mackenzie,
was defeated. John
MacDonald, Conservative (see 7/11/1873) was re-elected and served
until his death on 6 June 1891.
20 June 1877, The first commercial telephone service in Canada
was started by Hugh
Cossart Baker, in Hamilton, Ontario.
7/11/1873, The Conservative Prime Minister, Sir John
Macdonald, was defeated, over the Pacific Railway affair.
1 July 1873, Prince
Edward Island was made part of the Dominion of Canada.
1 June 1873, Joseph Howe, Canadian statesman, died (born 13
December 1804).
23 May 1873. The Royal
North West Mounted Police were
established in Canada. Their name was changed to The Royal Canadian Mounted Police on 1 February 1920.
10 May 1873, Sir George Cartier, Canadian statesman, died
(born 6 September 1814).
1871, Canada signed the Treaty of Washington with the USA, settling
fisheries rights and the usage of certain canals.
20 July 1871, British Columbia joined the Dominion of Canada.
24 August 1870, A rebellion by Louis Reil
(1844-85) was suppressed by British forces under Colonel Garnet J Wolseley
(1833-1913), who captured his stronghold at Fort Garry (Winnipeg) without a
fight. Riel fled the country. Riel and his Metis (French-Indigenous Indian
Canadians) had been concerned that when the Hudson Bay Company sold its rights
to the Canadian Government, the Metis would lose their traditional rights in
the Red River area. See 12 May 1870, 12 August 1885.
12 May 1870, Manitoba,
previously called the Red River Colony and controlled by the Hudson Bay Company, was bought by
Canada and made a province.
8 December 1869, In Toronto, T Eaton Ltd, shop, opened at
178 Yonge Street. It had fixed prices and no bartering or credit was allowed.
Canada
constituted as self-governing Dominion, 1866-69
9 April 1869, The Hudson Bay Company ceded its territory to Canada.
28 January 1868, Sir Edmund Head, British
colonial Governor of Canada, died (born 1805).
1 July 1867. Britain granted Canada self-governing dominion status. Britain
still maintained control over foreign policy. The Dominion of Canada was set up by the British North America Act. It comprised four million people and
four provinces, Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.
29 March 1867, The British North America Act created the dominion of Canada,
comprising the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.
8 June 1866, The Canadian Parliament met for the first
time, in Ottowa.
19 October 1864, The
Saint Albans raid. During the US Civil War, some 25 Confederate agents
crossed from Canada into Union territory and attacked the town of Saint Albans,
Vermont. They killed a man and fled back to Canada, having stolen around
US$200,000 from three banks. A US posse pursued the perpetrators into Canada
and captured them, but were forced to hand them over to Canadian authories. A
Canadian Court then released them unpunished, sparking fears of a war between
the USA and Canada/Britain. The raiders were rearrested and charged with
breaking Canadian neutrality. The money was returned. However the war scare did
not go away, and in 1865 some 2,000 Canadian militiamen were stationed along
the US border.
26/2/1864, Sir Louis Lafontaine, Canadian statesman, died
(born 4 October 1807).
20/11/1863, James Bruce, Earl of Elgin, Governor of Canada
1847-54, died in Dharmsala, India (born 20 July 1811 in London, England).
29 August 1861, William MacKenzie, Canadian politician, died
(born 12 March 1795).
17 September 1859, Frank Adams, Canadian geologist (died 29 December 1942)
was born.
9 December 1858, Robert Baldwin, Canadian statesman, died;
born in York (now Toronto), 12 May 1804
2 August 1858, British
Columbia was constituted a British Colony; it became part of the Dominion
of Canada in 1871.
26 June 1854, Robert Borden, Canadian politician, was born
in Grand Pre, Nova Scotia.
1849, A.T.Galt of the Montreal Tory Party issued the Annexation Manifesto, calling for the USA to take over
the Canadian Colonies. The Canadian economy had been suffering since Britain
ended its colonial trading preferneces. However the Canadian French were
strongly opposed, and the US showed little interest, so the policy was
abandoned.
24/11/1848, William Fielding, Canadian politician, was
born.
11 June 1847, Sir John Franklin, British Arctic explorer, died in Canada
attempting to discover the north-west passage.
19 January 1843, Sir William Mulock, Canadian statesman, was
born.
Canadian self-govermnment 1839-51
7 August 1858, Ottawa was selected as capital of Canada.
13 June 1841, The first Canadian
Parliament opened, at Ottawa.
15 October 1840, Honore Mercier, Canadian
statesman, was born.
23 July 1840, London
announced that Canada was to be a self-governing union.
10/2/1840, An Act was passed
reuniting the provinces of Upper and
Lower Canada, 50 years after they were divided by Britain.
11/2/1839, Lord Lambton,
Earl of Durham, produced a report advocating the Union of Upper and
Lower Canada, and for self-government there, The British Government accepted
these recommendations.
Rebellion against British
rule
29
December 1837, Canadian forces loyal to Britain burnt the US
steamboat Caroline, which had been supplying rebels under Papineau.
14 December 1837, British troops crushed a
rebellion in Canada.
5 December 1837, Louis Joseph Papineau began a
rebellion in Canada against British rule. This day he attacked Toronto but was
repulsed and fled across the border to the USA.
7 June 1832, Irish immigrants in Lowerr Canada, from the ship Carrick, began dying of cholera. Thgis
was the beginning of an epidemic that killed 9,000 people.
1831, Canadian Christian
missionaries opened the first of many �schools for natives�. Set up to convert
indigenous Canadian children, from 4 years old, into �docile English settlers�,
they were hotbeds of sadism and abuse, and in reality part of a programme of cultural
genocide. The last such school closed in 1997. Parents had to send
their children away to these schools or face jail, a law enforced by the
Canadian Mounties. This programme was intended to eradicate the mnomadic way of
life and free up land for European settlers.
5 December 1829, Sir Henri Joly de Lotbiniere, Canadian
politician, was born (died 17/11/1908).
5 June 1829, George Mountstephen, Canadian financier, was
born.
27 December 1823, Sir Mackenzie Bowell, Canadian politician, was
born.
28 January 1822, Alexander MacKenzie, Canadian statesman, was
born (died 17 April 1892).
6 August 1820, Lord Strathcona, Canadian businesman, was
born.
22 July 1820, Sir Oliver Mowat, Canadian statesman, was born
(died 19 April 1803).
29/11/1818, George Brown, Canadian statesman, was born
(died 9 May 1880).
6 September 1817, Sir Alexander Galt, Canadian statesman, was
born (died 19 September 1893).
17 January 1816, Sir Antoine Dorion, Canadian politician, was
born (died 31 May 1891).
23/11/1815, Canada�s frist street lights were lit, in
Montreal. They were fuelled by whale oil, which burnt cleanly.
11 January 1815, Sir John Alexander, Canada�s first Prime Minister, was born.
6 September 1814, Sir George Cartier, Canadian statesman, was
born (died 10 May 1873).
12 December 1812, John MacDonald, Canadian statesman, was born
(died 1 June 1872).
29 September 1810, Sir Hugh Allan, Canadian financier, was born
in Saltcoats, Ayrshire (died 9 December 1882 in Edinburgh)
10/11/1808, Guy Dorchester, British Governor of Canada,
died (born 3 September 1724).
4 October 1807, Sir Louis Lafontaine, Canadian statesman, was
born (died 26/2/1864).
13 December 1804, Joseph Howe, Canadian statesman, was born
(died 1 June 1873).
12 May 1804, Robert Baldwin, Canadian statesman, was born
in York (now Toronto); died 9 December 1858.
10 May 1798, George Vancouver, British explorer who
surveyed the Pacific coast of America, died.
12 March 1795, William MacKenzie, Canadian politician, was
born (died 29 August 1861).
1794, The city of Toronto was founded by Governor Simcoe,
on the site of an American-Indian village of the same name.
1794, Fort Augustus was
established on the site of what is now Edmonton,
Alberta.
22 July 1793, A party led by Sir Alexander MacKenzie arrived
on the Pacific coast of Canbada, becoming the first Europeans to cross Canada,
by foot and canoe.
24 May 1793, The British recaptured the archipelago of St Pierre et Miquelon, off Canada,
which was a severe blow to the French cod fishing fleet.
1791, The Constitutional Act set aside one
seventh of the public land in Upper and Lower Canada for the support of the
Protestant clergy. In practice these lands served to enrich the already-wealthy
clerical elite whilst beong of no benefit to lower-status clergy, and were
secularised in 1841.
10 June 1791, Bitain passed the Canada
Act, dividing the country into a mainly English Upper canada and a mainly French
Lower Canada, with two elected assemblies.
19 March 1791, French and English speaking settlers in Canada
were granted equal rights.
28 October 1790, The Nootka
Sound Convention, between Britain and Spain. Spain, claiming the entire
Pacific coastline of North America, had seized four British ships at Nootka
Sound, Vancouver Island, Canada. Britain disputed the Spanish claim because
Spain had not actually settled the coastline it claimed; at the Convention,
Spain backed down, opening up the area to British settlement.
3 June 1789, Alexander Mackenzie set out to explore the
Mackenzie River by canoe from central Canada to the Arctic Ocean.
1783, American
War of Independence
1783, About 50,000 �Loyalists�
arrived in Canada, having left the newly-independent United States of America
to live in the British colony of Canada.
11 May 1783, The
first British-loyalist refugees from the newly-independent United
States of America arrived at the estuary of the St John�s River, Canada, having
set sail from New York on 16 April 1783. They founded the city of St Johns.
For more on American War
of Independence, see United States of America
11 July 1776. Explorer Captain James
Cook set sail from Plymouth on his third and last voyage of
discovery. He was looking for a passage
around the north west side of America from the Pacific side.
1774, Spanish explorer Perez made the first
visit by a European to what is now British Columbia.
22 June 1774, The Quebec Act received Royal Assent. This
safeguarded the French-speaking inhabitants of Quebec the right to maintain
their own langiage and customes, legal and religious, within a British-governed
Canada, It also extended the province south to the Ohio and west to the Mississippi.
However the territorial claims of Massachusetts, Virginia and Connecticut were
ignored.
1758-63, Seven Years War. British capture Canada
from the French
10/2/1763. France
ceded Canada to Britain at the Treaty of Paris. See 26 July 1758 and
13 September 1759. The same treaty gave
Florida to Britain in exchange for Britain returning Cuba, which it had invaded
on 12 August 1762, to Spain; Spain also regained Louisiana and the
Philippines. Britain gained all of America east of the Mississippi. Britain
also gained Minorca, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Tobago, St Vincent, Grenada,
Dominica, and Senegal.
8 September 1760. The French
surrendered Montreal to the British under General Jeffrey Amherst. This completed the British conquest of
Canada. Britain had declared war in France in 1756 as part of the Seven Years War;
Amherst
won in Canada in 1758 when he took the French fortress at Louisbourg, opening up the way to Montreal.
13 September 1759. General James Wolfe killed in
the siege of Quebec; in a fight on the Plains of Abraham near the
city, although the British won the siege.
See 26 July 1758 and 10/2/1763. The French commander, Louis Montcalm,
was also killed, dying of his wounds on 14 September 1759. The British won
the surrender of Quebec on 18 September 1759.
24 July 1759, In
Canada, the British captured Fort Niagara from the French.
27 June 1759, Battle of Quebec, Seven
Years War.
27 August 1758, Battle of Fort Frontenac, Canada, Seven
Years War. Colonel
Bradstreet, British, defeated the French under Noyan, who lost control of Lake
Ontario.
26 July 1758. A British force authorised by William Pitt
to attack the French in North America had its first success with the capture of
Louisburg. See 13 September 1759 and 10/2/1763.
2 June 1758, A British war fleet anchored in Gabarus
Bay, off Canada, to fight the French.
19/2/1758, British General Amherst, recalled from
Germany by Pitt, sailed this day from Portsmouth with Brigadier-General Lawrence and Brigadier James
Wolfe, for Canada, to pursue the war against the French.� See 28 May 1758
1745-58, Nova Scotia, Anglo-French conflict
28 May 1758, Amherst, Wolfe, and Lawrence arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, see 19/2/1758.
28 July 1755, The �Great Upheaval� in Nova Scotia, Canada. The British colony
decided to expel all French colonists who would not swear allegiance to the
British Crown. In the subsequent conflict, thousands died over the next 8
years.
17 June 1755, After a siege by British Colonel
Monckton, French-held Fort Beuasojour in Nova Scotia (Acadia)
surrendered.
9 July 1749, The British founded the naval settlement of
Halifax, Nova Scotia, as an answer to the French base of Louisburg.
11/2/1747, A combined force of French and American Indians
under Captain
Coulon de Villiers attacked the British at Grand Pre, Nova Scotia.
16 June 1745, The British took Cape
Breton Island, Nova Scotia, from the French, then also captured the fortress of
Louisberg, at the mouth of the St Lawrence River.
22 June 1758, George Vancouver, the explorer who gave his
name to the city of Vancouver, Canada, was born in Kings Lynn, England.
22 June 1757, George Vancouver, English naval captain who
surveyed the Pacific coast of North America, was born in Kings Lynn, Norfolk.
1756, Martin Frobisher explored Newfoundland.
3 September 1724, Guy Dorchester, British Governor of Canada,
was born (died `10/11/1808).
28/11/1698, Frontenac, French colonial Governor of Canada,
died. He was very much mourned by the French Canadians.
6 July 1696, Frontenac, French colonial Governor of Canada,
left Lachine for a campaign against the Iroquois people. However the Iroquois
abandoned their villages and pursuit of them proved impracticable so on 10
August 1696 Frontenac
left the area.
1691, Henrey Kelsey of the Hudson Bay Company reached what is now
the eastern border of Alberta.
5 August 1689, Massacre of Lachine, Canada.
8 January 1679, La Salle, French explorer, reached the Niagara Falls.
12 September 1672, Frontenac was appointed as French colonial
Governor of Canada, to succeed de Courcelle. This day Frontenac arrived in Quebec.
However he was to prove too independent-minded and expansionist for the comfort
of France.
2 May 1670, Charles II chartered the Hudson Bay Company.
1669, The French discovered Lake Erie. Penetration by Europeans
into this area had been delayed by hostile Iriquois Indians.
18 May 1642. Montreal in Canada was
founded.
1639, The earliest European
settlement in New Brunswick, on the Bay of
Chaleur, was founded by the French.
20 July 1629, English
adventurer Sir
David Kirke seized Quebec
from the French.
23 January 1622, William Baffin, British explorer who searched
for the North West passage and gave his name to Baffin Island and Baffin Bay,
died.
Samuel de
Champlain
25 December 1635, Explorer Samuel de
Champlain died (born ca.1567).
28 July 1615, Samuel de
Champlain discovered Lake
Huron.
3 July 1608.The French explorer Samuel de
Champlain founded the city of Quebec. See 1535.
3 July 1567, Samuel de Champlain, explorer of Canada, was
born.
1611, The French discovered Lake
Ontario.
23 June 1611. The navigator Henry Hudson
and eight of his men were cast adrift in a small boat in Hudson Bay after the
crew mutinied on his ship Discoverie; they were never seen again.
3 August 1610, Henry� Hudson
discovered Hudson Bay.
5 July 1610, John Guy set sail from Bristol with 39 other
colonists, for Newfoundland.
17 April 1610, Henry Hudson set sail from England
aboard The Discovery to attempt to
find a North West Passage to the Orient.
1605, French colonists founded Port Royal, Nova Scotia.
20 July 1605, French cartographer Samuel de Champlain reached Cape
Cod in search of a spot for French setlement in the New World.
9 September 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert
(see 5 August 1583) was drowned when his ship, The Squirrel, sank off
The Azores drowning all on board.
5 August 1583. Sir Humphrey Gilbert
landed on Newfoundland and claimed it for Britain.� He founded the colony of St Johns there.
11 August 1576, Martin Frobisher
entered �Frobisher Strait�, Baffin Island. Now known as Frobisher Bay, the long
inlet was then thought to be a strait separating two islands.
Exploration by Jacques Cartier (French)
1 September 1557, Jacques Cartier, French explorer
of the North American coast and the St Lawrence river (born 1491), died in St
Malo.
16 June 1536, The St Lawrence River was
named by explorer Jacques Cartier.
1535, Jacques Cartier first visited
the site of what is now the city of Quebec. At that time, it was an Indian
village called Stadacona. See 3 July 1608.
24 July 1534, Jacques Cartier landed in
Canada, claiming the territory for France.
9 June 1534, Jacques Cartier discovered the estuary of the
St Lawrence River in Canada.
10 May 1534, Jacques Cartier explored Newfoundland while
searching for the Northwest Passage.
20 April 1534, Jacques Cartier sailed from St
Malo, to explore the Canadian coast.
21 October 1520, The islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon were
discovered by Portuguese explorer Jo�o �lvares Fagundes off Newfoundland. He
named them "Islands of the 11,000 Virgins" in honour of Saint Ursula.
6 August 1497. The Genoese navigator John Cabot
returned from an expedition across the Atlantic. King Henry VII financed his travels. Though he was Genoese
and had Venetian citizenship, Cabot
came to England in 1487 to raise support for a transatlantic voyage and settled
in Bristol. He sailed from Bristol on 2 May 1497 and landed on 24 June 1497 on
the coast of Labrador. There he
planted the Tudor banner, in defiance of the Treaty of Tordesillas,
which divided up the western world between Spain and Portugal (see 6 December 1492,
Papal backing for gold to finance a war against the Moslems). Under this treaty,
signed on 7 June 1494, all land west of a line in the western Atlantic would
belong to Spain;
any land east of it would be Portuguese. He explored the coastline from
Labrador to Cape Breton.
24 June 1497, John Cabot,
in his exploration of North America, arrived at Cape Breton Island. He believed
he had landed in eastern Asia.
2 May 1497,� John Cabot set sail from Bristol.
5 March 1496, King Henry VII of England granted John Cabot
(Giovanni
Caboto) a commission to explore for new lands.
31 December 1491, Jacques Cartier, French explorer of the St Lawrence
area of north America, was born in St Malo, northern France.
36,000 BCE, First humans reached North
America,, across the Bering Strait.
