Canada History Timeline (Part 2)

Events 201 - 400 of 616

• 1917-06-02 Canadian ace Billy Bishop undertakes a solo mission behind enemy lines, shooting down three aircraft as they were about to take off and several more on the ground, for which he is awarded the Victoria Cross
• 1917-07-25 Sir Thomas Whyte introduces the first income tax in Canada as a "temporary" measure (lowest bracket is 4% and highest is 25%).
• 1917-08-29 Canadian Parliament passes the Compulsory Military Act which is opposed by many French-Canadians from Québec and farmers across the country [1]
• 1917-10-06 Battle of Passchendaele: Canadian troops capture the village of Passchendaele in the Third Battle of Ypres, after 250,000 casualties on both sides
• 1917-12-06 French munition ship SS Mont Blanc collides with Norwegian SS Imo in Halifax harbour, Canada, resulting explosion kills at least 1,700 and injures more than 9,000 people - world’s largest pre-atomic explosion [1]

• 1918-06-01 Canadian ace Billy Bishop downs 6 aircraft over a three-day span, including German ace Paul Bilik, reclaiming his top scoring title from James McCudden
• 1918-06-27 Canadian hospital ship HMHS Llandovery Castle sunk by German U-boat off southern Ireland - only 24 of 258 people on board survive (U-boat officers later charged with war crimes) [1]
• 1918-08-29 WWI: Bapaume, France re-taken from the Germans in the Second Battle of Bapaume by British, Australian, NZ and Canadian Corps in the Hundred Days Offensive
• 1918-10-25 Canadian steamship "Princess Sophia" hits a reef off Alaska, 398 die
• 1919-05-15 Beginning of the Winnipeg General Strike as more than 30,000 workers walk off the job in the largest strike in Canadian history (ends 25 June) [1]
• 1919-06-06 Assent is given to an Act to amend the Canadian Currency Act, 1910
• 1919-12-20 Canadian National Railways established (N America's longest, 50,000 KM)
• 1920-02-01 Royal Canadian Mounted Police forms as Royal Northwest Mounted Police merge with Dominion Police
• 1920-04-15 New Canadian small cent coin is released
• 1921-02-14 Canadian 5 cent nickel coin is authorized

• 1921-12-25 Last major Potlatch (ceremony) by Chief Daniel Cranmer (Kwakwaka’wakw) from Alert Bay, British Columbia. Twenty-six people arrested, their masks and regalia sold by Canadian government. [1]
• 1921-12-29 Mackenzie King is sworn in as the 10th Prime Minister of Canada

• 1922-06-29 France grants 1 km² at Vimy Ridge "freely, and for all time, to the Government of Canada, the free use of the land exempt from all taxes."
• 1924-03-27 Canada recognizes USSR
• 1924-04-01 The Royal Canadian Air Force is formed.
• 1924-05-24 Canada grants women the right to vote in federal elections, though First Nations women still unable to without giving up their status [1]
• 1925-06-10 Inaugural service for the United Church of Canada, a union of Presbyterian, Methodist, and Congregationalist churches held in Toronto Arena
• 1925-06-29 Canada House opens in London, England

• 1926-07-01 Canada restores gold standard
• 1926-09-25 Mackenzie King is re-elected as Prime Minister of Canada

• 1927-02-18 US & Canada open diplomatic relations
• 1927-06-01 Peace Bridge between US and Canada opens
• 1927-08-07 Peace Bridge between US and Canada dedicated
• 1928-06-24 With declining business, the Great Gorge and International Railway begins using one-person crews on trolley operations in Canada
• 1929-01-02 US & Canada agree to preserve Niagara Falls
• 1929-03-22 US Coast Guard vessel sinks Canadian schooner suspected of carrying liquor
• 1929-09-21 1st legal pass in Canada was thrown by Gerry Seiberling & 1st reception by Ralph Losie of Calgary Altomah-Tigers against Edmonton
• 1929-10-18 Women are considered "Persons" under Canadian law
• 1930-07-29 Airship R100, 1st passenger-carrying flight from England to Canada

• 1930-08-16 I British Empire Games open in Hamilton, Canada
• 1930-08-23 1st British Empire Games close in Hamilton, Canada
• 1930-09-29 1st Canadian football game played under lights, Hamilton-UBC
• 1930-10-29 1st Eastern Canada night CF game: Oshawa vs Toronto Balmy Beach
• 1931-10-10 A J Bennett hits H Garbarino for 1st scoring pass in Canada's Big 4
• 1931-12-01 Ottawa branch of Royal Mint begins operation as Royal Canadian Mint
• 1931-12-11 Statute of Westminster gives complete legislative independence to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland (Free State), and Newfoundland (not then part of Canada)
• 1932-06-17 Oil tanker Cymbeline explodes in Montreal, Canada
• 1932-07-18 US and Canada sign a treaty to develop St Lawrence Seaway
• 1933-07-01 The Canadian Parliament suspends all Chinese immigration.
• 1933-12-03 Funeral of WWI commander Sir Arthur Currie with 150,000 people lining the streets of Montreal - largest Canadian funeral at the time
• 1935-03-11 Bank of Canada first opens on Wellington Street, Ottawa
• 1935-04-12 Royal Proclamation sets design of Canada's new Jubilee Silver Dollar
• 1935-05-01 Canada's 1st silver dollar is circulated
• 1935-06-03 One thousand unemployed Canadian workers board freight cars in Vancouver, British Columbia, beginning a protest trek to Ottawa, Ontario
• 1935-10-23 Mackenzie King is elected as Prime Minister of Canada for the third time
• 1936-01-06 Barbara Hanley becomes Canada's 1st woman mayor in Webbwood, Ontario
• 1936-09-04 British-Kenyan aviator Beryl Markham takes off from Abingdon in England on a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean; crash-lands at Baleine Cove on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, becoming the 1st woman to make the east-west trip [1]

• 1939-03-07 Guy Lombardo & Royal Canadians 1st record "Auld Lang Syne"
• 1939-09-03 World War II: Britain declares war on Germany after invasion of Poland. France follows 6 hours later quickly joined by Australia, New Zealand, South Africa & Canada
• 1939-09-10 Canada, under the leadership of Mackenzie King, declares war on Germany
• 1940-06-10 Canada declares war on Italy
• 1940-08-17 FDR and Canadian PM William M. King agree to mutual defense abroad and to establish the Permanent Joint Board of Defense in the Ogdensburg Agreement
• 1940-10-02 British liner Empress, loaded with refugees for Canada, sunk
• 1941-01-03 Canada & US acquire air bases in Newfoundland (99 yr lease)
• 1941-01-09 Maiden flight by Canada's British-built Avro Lancaster military plane
• 1941-12-25 Japan announces surrender of British-Canadian garrison at Hong Kong

• 1942-03-03 1st combat flight for Canadian British-built Avro Lancaster bomber
• 1942-07-05 Ian Fleming graduates from a training school for spies in Canada
• 1942-08-06 Canadian destroyer HMCS Assiniboine sinks U-210
• 1942-08-19 World War II: Over 4,000 Canadian and British soldiers killed, wounded or captured raiding Dieppe, France
• 1942-09-18 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation authorized for radio service
• 1943-01-03 Canadian Army troops arrive in North Africa
• 1943-03-18 British merchant vessel "Canadian Star" is torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic by German U-boat U-221, 34 die with 54 survivors [1]
• 1943-07-10 US, British and Canadian forces invade Sicily in WW II (Operation Husky)

• 1943-11-18 First US ambassador to Canada, Ray Atherton, nominated
• 1943-11-20 WWII: German submarine U-536 sunk northeast of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean by British and Canadian warships
• 1943-12-10 British 8th Army (1st Canadian Infantry Division) occupies Orsogna/Ortona Italy
• 1944-03-06 WWII: British and Canadian sailors boards abandoned German U-boat U-774 seeking Enigma code machine, but are forced to scuttle the sub when efforts to tow it fail
• 1944-05-23 British and Canadian troops occupy Pontecorvo, Italy
• 1944-06-07 Canadian 50th Division occupies Bayeux during the Normandy invasion
• 1944-07-20 British and Canadian troops occupy Hill 67/Ifs/Bras/Frenouville, Normandy
• 1944-07-20 Canadian Cameron Highlanders conquer St Andre
• 1944-07-25 World War II: Operation Spring - one of Canada's bloodiest days, 18,444 casualties and 5,021 killed
• 1944-08-08 Canada/Polish troops occupy Cramesnil/Secqueville/Cintheaux/St-Aignan
• 1944-08-14 Canada and Polish begin Operation Tractable: attempting to encircle strategic French town of Falaise
• 1944-08-14 Operation Tractable: new Canadian offensive
• 1944-08-16 2nd Canadian Division occupies Falaise, Normandy, during Operation Intractable
• 1944-08-17 4th Canadian Armoured division occupiers Trun, Normandy
• 1944-08-21 Battle of Falaise, Normandy, led by Polish Armoured Division and First Canadian Army - largest encirclement on the Western Front leading to surrender and capture of German 7th Army
• 1944-09-03 Canadian troops liberate Abbeville, France
• 1944-09-12 Second Quebec Conference: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and the Combined Chiefs of Staff meet in Quebec City, Canada to discuss Allied occupation zones, the Morgenthau Plan, U.S. Lend-Lease aid to Britain and the role of the Royal Navy
• 1944-10-06 Canadians free Austria
• 1944-10-09 Canadian offensive in West-Zeeuws-Flanders
• 1944-10-19 Canadian troops liberate Aardensburg, Netherlands
• 1944-10-21 Canadian troops occupy Breskens
• 1944-11-02 Canadian troops occupy Knokke in Belgium
• 1944-11-05 Canadian & British troops liberate Dinteloord
• 1945-02-22 Canadian 3rd Division occupies Moyland
• 1945-02-23 Canadian troops occupy Kalkar
• 1945-03-24 Operation Varsity: In the largest one-day airborne operation of all time, British, US & Canadian paratroopers land east of the Rhine in Northern Germany
• 1945-04-01 World War II: Canadian troops free the Dutch cities of Doetinchem, Enschede, Borculo and Eibergen
• 1945-04-03 World War II: Dutch city of Hengelo freed from Nazi control by the Canadian Army
• 1945-04-05 World War II: Dutch city of Almelo is freed by the Second Canadian Corps
• 1945-04-06 World War II: Dutch city of Coevorden freed from German occupation by Canadian forces
• 1945-04-10 Canadian troops conquer Deventer
• 1945-04-12 Canadian troops liberate Nazi concentration camp Westerbork, Netherlands
• 1945-04-13 Canadian soldier Léo Major single-handedly liberates Dutch town of Zwolle by fooling Germans into thinking a raid had begun
• 1945-04-13 WWII: Canadian army liberates Teuge & Assen, Netherlands, from Nazis
• 1945-04-16 World War II: Dutch town of Arnhem, site of failed Operation Market Garden, is freed by British and Canadian forces
• 1945-04-16 World War II: German troops in Groningen, Netherlands surrender to Canadian and Dutch allied forces
• 1945-05-08 Canadian troops move into Amsterdam
• 1945-09-28 Canadian football's Calgary Bronks changes its name to Stampeders

• 1946-06-14 Canadian Library Association established
• 1946-09-22 Canadian woman Evelyn Dick charged with butchering her husband in Hamilton, Ontario

• 1948-11-15 Mackenzie King retires after 22 years as Prime Minister of Canada
• 1948-12-29 Canada recognizes Israel
• 1949-02-12 Team Canada beats Denmark 47-0 in hockey
• 1949-03-31 Newfoundland becomes Canada's 10th province
• 1949-08-21 Canada's largest earthquake since 1700 strikes the Queen Charlotte Fault below Haida Gwaii, at 8.1 magnitude it knocks cows off their feet [1]
• 1949-09-09 Pacific Airlines flight explodes en route to Baie-Comeau, killing 23 people. A passenger's husband Albert Guay later sentenced and hanged along with two others for first bombing of a Canadian plane [1]
• 1949-09-17 128 die as fire guts Canadian passenger steamer Noronic in Toronto
• 1950-01-19 Maiden flight by Canada's Avro Canada CF-100 military plane
• 1950-09-23 Canada's first mountain rescue by helicopter of a forestry worker from a Wells Gray Park forestry lookout
• 1951-06-01 Massey Commission issues its landmark report in Canada, advocating for funding wide range of cultural activities (resulted in the founding of the National Library of Canada) [1]
• 1951-06-20 Fist major revision of Canada's Indian Act; removes political, cultural and religious restrictions for First Nations Peoples, like the potlatch and sun dance [1]

• 1952-02-28 Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor General of Canada
• 1952-07-04 Canadian Currency, Mint and Exchange Fund Act allows gold coins of $5, $10, and $20 to be minted
• 1952-09-06 Canadian TV begins in Montreal
• 1952-11-19 Scandinavian Airlines opens a commercial route from Canada to Europe
• 1953-01-20 1st US telecast transmitted to Canada from Buffalo, New York
• 1953-03-03 Canadian Comet crashes at Karachi, 11 killed
• 1954-07-30 5th British Empire Games and Commonwealth Games open in Vancouver, Canada
• 1954-10-15 Hurricane Hazel makes landfall in the US in North Carolina as a category 4 hurricane, 195 die in US and Canada
• 1954-10-18 Hurricane Hazel becomes most severe to ever hit the US, killing 195 in US and Canada
• 1955-02-17 Ice Pairs Championship at Vienna won by Frances Dafoe and Norris Bowden of Canada
• 1956-01-22 Canadian Football Council forms

• 1957-03-03 Ice Pairs Championship at Colorado Springs won by Wagner & Paul of Canada

• 1957-06-21 Ellen Louks Fairclough is sworn in as Canada's first woman Cabinet Minister
• 1957-06-21 John Diefenbaker (C) takes office as Prime Minister of Canada
• 1957-06-21 Louis St. Laurent resigns as Prime Minister of Canada, ending the longest uninterrupted run at the federal level in Canadian history

• 1957-08-01 US and Canada create North American Air Defense Command (NORAD)
• 1957-08-11 Canada's first major commercial airline disaster when Maritime Central Airways DC-4 crashes in a thunderstorm near Québec City, killing all 79 aboard [1]
• 1957-10-04 Avro Arrow roll-out ceremony at Avro Canada plant in Malton, Ontario
• 1957-10-14 Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs Lester B. Pearson wins Nobel Peace Prize, for his aid in resolving the Suez Crisis; the 1st Canadian to win the award [1]
• 1957-10-14 Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first Canadian monarch to open the Parliament of Canada with the Speech from the Throne
• 1958-01-19 Canadian Football Council renamed Canadian Football League
• 1958-04-05 Ripple Rock, an underwater threat to navigation in the Seymour Narrows in Canada is destroyed in one of the largest ever non-nuclear controlled explosions
• 1958-05-12 US & Canada form North American Air Defense Command (NORAD)
• 1958-06-17 The Wooden Roller Coaster at Playland, which is in the Pacific National Exhibition, Vancouver, Canada opened, and is still open to this day
• 1958-08-14 Canadian Football League plays 1st game (Winnipeg 29, Edmonton 21)
• 1959-02-20 Canada's program to design and manufacture the supersonic jet fighter the Avro Arrow is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate [1]
• 1959-02-28 Ice Pairs Championship at Colorado Springs won by Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul of Canada, their 3rd title
• 1959-04-27 The last Canadian missionary leaves the People's Republic of China.

• 1960-03-31 First Nations people first granted the right to vote in Canada, without giving up their Indian status, in repeal of part of Canada Elections Act [1]
• 1960-07-01 First Nations peoples in Canada granted the right to vote in Federal elections, while still retaining their status and treaty rights [1]
• 1961-11-06 US government issues a stamp honoring 100th birthday of James Naismith (invented game of basketball - actually Canadian)
• 1962-01-26 Canadian Marine Service renamed Coast Guard
• 1962-03-15 Donald Jackson of Canada is 1st to land a triple lutz ice skate jump
• 1962-09-28 Alouette (Canada), 1st Canadian satellite, launched
• 1962-09-29 Launch of Alouette 1, 1st Canadian satellite (on US Delta rocket)
• 1962-11-08 Canada's government orders the nickel changed back to round shape
• 1963-04-22 Lester B. Pearson is sworn in as the 14th Prime Minister of Canada
• 1963-06-19 Charter members of Canadian Football Hall of Fame chosen
• 1963-11-29 Trans-Canada Airlines Flight 831: A Douglas DC-8 carrying 118, crashes after taking-off from Dorval Airport near Montreal, Canada
• 1964-11-16 Radio CJCX Sydney Nova Scotia (Canada) starts shortwave transmission
• 1964-12-15 Canada's House of Commons votes 163 to 78 to approve the red Maple Leaf Flag
• 1965-01-02 Obverse design of all Canadian coins is changed to depict present-day
• 1965-02-15 Red Maple Leaf Flag becomes the official flag of Canada
• 1965-07-08 Canadian Pacific airliner crashes into Gustafsen Lake, British Columbia, due to a bomb on board killing 52 people - one of the great unsolved aviation mysteries [1]
• 1965-11-09 Hurricane hits north east US/Canada
• 1965-11-09 Several U.S. states and parts of Canada are hit by a series of blackouts lasting up to 13 hours in the Northeast Blackout of 1965.
• 1966-03-04 Canadian Pacific airliner explodes on landing at Tokyo, 64 die
• 1966-04-25 Rare daylight meteor observed from New Jersey, US to Quebec, Canada in the early evening
• 1966-05-06 Canadian Minister of Finance announces a $20 Centennial gold coin
• 1967-04-27 Expo 67 opens in Montreal, Canada, featuring a giant Biosphere designed by Buckminster Fuller
• 1967-06-05 Royal Canadian Mint ordered to start converting 10 cent & 25 cent coins to pure nickel as soon as possible
• 1967-07-01 Canada celebrates the 100th anniversary of the 1867 British North America Act which served as Canada's constitution for over 100 years
• 1967-09-18 Yellowknife replaces Ottawa as capital of Northwest Territories, Canada
• 1967-10-29 Expo 67 closes in Montreal, Canada
• 1967-12-14 Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson announces that he is retiring from politics, succeeded by Pierre Trudeau

• 1968-06-02 Canadians must get government permission to export silver
• 1968-06-03 Canada announces it will replace silver with nickel in coins
• 1968-08-01 Canada begins replacing silver with nickel in coins
• 1969-01-30 US/Canada ISIS 1 launched to study ionosphere
• 1969-04-01 Royal Canadian Mint formally forms as a Crown Corporation

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