Canada History Timeline (Part 3)

Events 401 - 600 of 616

• 1969-05-14 Abortion & contraception legalized in Canada
• 1969-07-07 Canada's House of Commons approves equality of French-English language
• 1969-09-09 The Official Languages Act comes into force in Canada - making English and French the country's official languages (replaced 1988 by new Official Languages Act) [1]

• 1970-07-05 Air Canada DC-8 crashes 7 miles from Toronto's airport killing 109

• 1971-04-01 US/Canada ISIS 2 launched to study ionosphere

• 1972-05-04 "The Don't Make A Wave Committee," a fledgling environmental organization founded in Canada in 1971, officially changes its name to the "Greenpeace Foundation"
• 1972-06-16 The largest single-site hydro-electric power project in Canada starts at Churchill Falls, Labrador
• 1972-08-10 1 million kg meteorite grazes atmosphere above Canada
• 1972-08-10 The Great Fireball, a rare daylight meteor seen from Utah, US to Alberta, Canada, passes 35 miles from Earth's surface
• 1972-11-27 Pierre Trudeau forms Canadian government
• 1973-04-20 Canadian ANIK A2 becomes 1st commercial satellite in orbit
• 1974-05-08 Canadian government of Pierre Trudeau falls
• 1974-07-09 Pierre Trudeau's Liberal Party wins Canadian parliamentary election
• 1974-10-10 Canadian bicyclist John Hathaway begins 2-year ride of 50,600 miles
• 1975-01-09 600 employees of Royal Canadian Mint go on strike
• 1975-03-08 Royal Canadian Mint announces branch opening in Winnipeg, Manitoba
• 1975-08-01 35 countries (33 European nations, Canada, and the U.S.) sign the"Helsinki Final Act" agreement concerning boundary integrity; human rights; and economic co-operation
• 1976-04-30 Royal Canadian Mint opens a branch in Winnipeg, Manitoba
• 1976-06-23 CN Tower, world's tallest free-standing structure (555 m/1,815.3 ft), built by Canadian National Railway, opens in downtown Toronto, Ontario (surpassed in 2007)
• 1976-10-22 Red Dye No. 4 is banned by the US Food and Drug Administration after it is discovered that it causes tumors in the bladders of dogs. The dye is still used in Canada.
• 1977-10-17 Canada begins regular live TV coverage of Parliament
• 1978-06-26 Air Canada Flight 189 to Toronto overruns the runway and crashes into the Etobicoke Creek ravine. Two of 107 passengers on board perish.
• 1978-08-03 11th Commonwealth Games open in Edmonton, Canada
• 1979-05-22 Canadians elect conservatives, Joseph Clark replaces Pierre Trudeau as the 16th Prime Minister of Canada

• 1979-09-05 Canada puts its first gold bullion coin on sale
• 1980-01-29 6 Iranian-held US hostages escape with help of Canadians
• 1980-02-18 Pierre Elliott Trudeau's Liberal Party wins Canadian elections
• 1980-03-03 Pierre Trudeau sworn in, for the second time, as the 17th Prime Minister of Canada
• 1980-12-05 Bank of Canada's Canadian Currency Museum opens
• 1981-07-30 UN Nations Human Rights Commission rules Canada violated International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in case of Wolastoqiyik woman Sandra Lovelace who lost her status through marriage [1]
• 1982-01-09 5.9 earthquake in New England & Canada; 1st since 1855
• 1982-03-04 Bertha Wilson is appointed as first woman to sit on the Supreme Court of Canada
• 1982-04-16 Queen Elizabeth proclaims Canada's new constitution
• 1982-04-17 Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Queen Elizabeth II sign the "Proclamation of the Constitution Act", establishing the "Charter of Rights and Freedoms" as part of the country’s new Constitution
• 1982-04-18 Canada Constitution Act replaces British North America Act
• 1982-07-26 Canada's Anik D1 Comsat launched by US Delta rocket
• 1982-09-14 Cindy Nicholas of Canada makes her 19th swim of English Channel

• 1983-06-02 Toilet catches fire on Air Canada's DC-9, 23 die at Cincinnati
• 1983-07-23 Gimli Glider: Air Canada Flight 143 runs out of fuel and makes a deadstick landing at Gimli, Manitoba.
• 1984-02-29 Pierre Trudeau announces he is stepping down after 15 years as Canadian Prime Minister
• 1984-04-09 Canada Health Act, the country's public funded heath insurance scheme (Medicare), passed by the Canadian House of Commons [1]

• 1984-06-30 Pierre Trudeau officially steps down as Prime Minister of Canada after serving two separate terms for a total of 15 years

• 1985-05-31 Tornado outbreak in the United States and Canada sees 41 tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario, leaving 90 dead
• 1986-04-11 A 1921 Canadian 50 cent coin is auctioned in New York for $22,000

• 1987-06-30 The Royal Canadian Mint introduces the $1 coin, known as the Loonie

• 1988-01-28 Canada's Supreme court declares anti-abortion law unconstitutional
• 1988-01-29 Canadian Ben Johnson breaks own 50-yard dash world record at 5.15
• 1988-05-21 New building for the National Gallery of Canada, designed by Moshe Safdie, opens in Ottawa, Ontario [1]
• 1988-07-30 Ronald J Dossenbach begins world record ride, pedaling across Canada from Vancouver to Halifax (13 days, 15 hr, 4 min)
• 1988-08-13 Ronald J Dossenbach sets world record for pedaling across Canada from Vancouver, BC to Halifax, NS in 13 days, 15 hr, 4 min
• 1988-09-22 Canada begins production of a $5 silver Maple Leaf bullion coin
• 1988-09-26 Canada's Ben Johnson stripped of his 100-m gold failing drug test
• 1988-09-27 Canadian Finn class sailor Lawrence Lemieux abandons race 5 to assist injured competitor after being in 2nd place; selfless act is awarded with the Pierre de Coubertin medal
• 1988-11-25 Widespread earthquake hits North East US, Canada, no damage reported
• 1988-12-30 Canadian Senate OK's free trade pact; with US
• 1989-06-12 Canadian Olympian Ben Johnson admits using steroids
• 1989-06-13 Houston's Terry Puhl plays in his 1,403rd game (most by a Canadian)

• 1989-12-06 Worst Canadian mass murder: Marc Lepine kills 14 women at U Montreal
• 1990-07-11 Oka Crisis: First Nations land dispute in Quebec, Canada begins between Mohawk people and town of Oka

• 1991-06-15 Birth of the first federal political party in Canada that supports Quebec nationalism, le Bloc Québécois
• 1991-07-23 James Farentino of "Dynasty" arrested in Canada for cocaine possession
• 1991-11-01 Last of Kuwait oil well fires extinguished by Canadian well control team "SafetyBOSS"
• 1992-02-03 Labor strike at Royal Canadian Mint ends
• 1992-08-12 Canada, Mexico, and the United States announce completion of negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
• 1992-10-26 The Charlottetown Accord fails to win majority support in a Canada wide referendum.

• 1993-10-25 Canada Liberal Party and Bloc Québécois wins parliamentary election

• 1994-08-18 15th Commonwealth Games open in Victoria, Canada
• 1994-10-16 Shreveport Pirates win first Canadian Football League game, 24-12 at home to Sacramento Gold Miners; fold 1995
• 1995-01-01 Centennial of Canadian Mounties presence in Canada's Yukon Territory

• 1995-10-30 Québec votes in a referendum to remain part of Canada
• 1995-11-05 André Dallaire attempts to assassinate Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien; he is thwarted when the PM's wife locks the door.
• 1996-03-31 Radio Canada International's final shortwave broadcast
• 1996-09-16 1st one-day international in Canada, India v Pakistan at Toronto
• 1996-11-19 Lieutenant General Maurice Baril of Canada arrives in Africa to lead a multi-national policing force in Zaire
• 1996-11-21 Canadian Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples says relationship between indigenous people and non-indigenous people should be completely re-structured [1]
• 1997-06-01 After a huge 7-month buildup, Donovan Bailey of Canada beats American superstar Michael Johnson in 150m race in Toronto; disappointingly, Johnson pulls up at 110m mark with quadriceps injury
• 1997-09-02 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Montreal Canada on CHOM 97.7 FM and in Toronto Canada on CILQ 107.1 FM
• 1998-01-04 A massive ice storm hits eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, continues through January 10, and causes widespread destruction
• 1998-08-20 The Supreme Court of Canada rules that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.
• 1999-04-01 Nunavut is established as a Canadian territory carved out of the eastern part of the Northwest Territories.

• 2000-05-02 Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands unveils the Man With Two Hats monument in Apeldoorn and the other in Ottawa on May 11, 2000. Symbolically linking both Netherlands and Canada for their assistance throughout World War II.

• 2001-12-06 The Canadian province of Newfoundland is renamed Newfoundland and Labrador
• 2002-01-21 The Canadian Dollar sets all-time low against the US Dollar (US$0.6179).
• 2002-03-04 Canada bans human embryo cloning but permits government-funded scientists to use embryos left over from fertility treatment or abortions.
• 2002-04-17 Four Canadian Forces soldiers are killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire from two United States Air Force F-16s, the first deaths in a combat zone for Canada since the Korean War
• 2002-05-11 Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands unveils the Man With Two Hats monument in Ottawa and Apeldoorn (May 2), 2000, symbolically linking both the Netherlands and Canada for their assistance throughout the Second World War.
• 2003-08-14 Widescale power blackout in the northeast United States and Canada.
• 2003-08-25 The Tli Cho land claims agreement is signed between the Dogrib First Nations and the Canadian federal government in Rae-Edzo (now called Behchoko).
• 2003-12-07 The Conservative Party of Canada is officially recognized after the merger of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.

• 2004-01-21 Canada: The residence of reporter Juliet O'Neill is searched by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) investigating leaks concerning the deportation of Maher Arar

• 2005-02-01 Canada introduces the Civil Marriage Act, making Canada the fourth country to sanction same-sex marriage.
• 2005-03-03 Mayerthorpe Incident: James Roszko murders four Royal Canadian Mounted Police constables during a drug bust in Rochfort Bridge, Alberta, then commits suicide. Deadliest peace-time incident for the RCMP since 1885 North-West Rebellion.
• 2005-05-08 The new Canadian War Museum opens, in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of V-E Day
• 2005-07-20 Canada becomes the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, after the bill C-38 receives its Royal Assent
• 2005-08-04 Prime Minister Paul Martin announces that Michaëlle Jean will be Canada's 27th and first black Governor General
• 2005-11-01 First part of the Gomery Report, which discusses allegations of political money manipulation, is released in Canada.
• 2005-11-24 Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian Parliament Stephen Harper, introduces a motion of no confidence. The motion is passed on November 28 leading to the dissolution of the 38th Canadian Parliament.
• 2006-04-08 Shedden massacre: The bodies of eight men, all shot to death, are found in a field in Ontario, Canada. The murders are soon linked to the Bandidos motorcycle gang.
• 2006-04-22 Four Canadian soldiers are killed 75 kilometers north of Kandahar, Afghanistan by a roadside bomb planted by Taliban militants, the worst single day combat loss for the Canadian army since the Korean War
• 2006-10-24 Justice Rutherford of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice struck down the "motive clause", an important part of the Canadian Anti-Terrorism Act
• 2006-11-27 The Canadian House of Commons endorses Prime Minister Stephen Harper's motion to declare Québécois a nation within a unified Canada.
• 2007-01-22 The jury portion of the trial against Robert Pickton, accused of being Canada's worst serial killer, opens in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada.
• 2008-06-11 Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper made an official historic apology to Canada's First Nations in regard to a residential school abuse in which children were isolated from their homes, families and cultures for a century
• 2008-07-12 Canadian harness racer John Campbell wins his 10,000th race as a driver by guiding 'Share the Delight' to victory in the 6th race at Meadowlands Racetrack
• 2009-07-23 The Bank of Canada announces the end of the recession even though it remains nascent and still dependent on government stimulus money
• 2009-11-30 Canada begins its recovery from the recession; economic growth is at 0.4% after 14 months of economic stagnation

• 2012-05-30 A number of nations including Germany, Turkey and Canada, expel Syrian diplomats following the Houla massacre
• 2012-06-21 Moody's downgrades 15 major banks in the UK, US, Canada and Europe
• 2012-08-26 Legionella outbreak in Quebec City, Canada, kills 8 and infects 104
• 2012-09-07 Canada closes its Iranian embassy and expels Iranian diplomatic staff out of Canada
• 2012-12-18 Canadian police begin arresting 17 people for 'the Great Maple Syrup Heist', for stealing 3,000 tonnes from a storage facility in Quebec
• 2013-02-08 A massive blizzard begins in the US and Canada that resulted in 15 deaths, 5,300 cancelled flights, and loss of power for 900,000 people

• 2013-09-10 Three people are killed after a Canadian Coast Guard helicopter crashes in the Arctic Ocean
• 2013-09-17 6 people are killed after a train and double-decker bus collide in Ottawa, Canada

• 2015-03-06 US State Department charges 2 Vietnamese and a Canadian citizen with cyberfraud, for stealing 1 billion email addresses for spam
• 2015-05-17 Canada defeats Russia to win gold at the 2015 IIHF World Championship
• 2015-06-28 David Sweat shot and captured near Canadian border. 2nd prisoner to escape maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility June 6
• 2015-10-06 Nobel prize for Physics awarded to Takaaki Kajita (Japan) and Arthur McDonald (Canada) for work on neutrinos
• 2015-10-19 Canadian federal elections: Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party win a majority with 184 seats
• 2015-11-04 Justin Trudeau sworn in as Canadian Prime Minister with a cabinet split equally between men and women
• 2016-05-05 Fort McMurray wildfires: Canadian province of Alberta declares a state of emergency as evacuation of 80,000 people continues
• 2016-10-30 Canada and the EU sign free trade deal after opposition by Belgium
• 2016-12-14 University of Toronto scientists present findings of the world's oldest water - 2 billion years old from a mine in Canada
• 2017-01-29 Attack on mosque in Quebec kills 6 and injures 17, shooter is French Canadian student
• 2017-07-01 Canada celebrates 150 years since its formation

• 2018-04-06 Canadian Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team involved in a bus crash outside Tisdale, Saskatchewan that kills 16
• 2018-04-23 Van deliberately driven into pedestrians in Toronto, Canada, killing 10 and injuring 13
• 2018-06-19 Canada's Senate votes to legalize recreational marijuana use, first major economy to do so
• 2018-07-01 Canada's retaliatory tariffs against the US's steel tariffs take effect, 25% on some steel, 10% on 250 other goods
• 2018-07-05 Heatwave in southern Quebec, Canada, kills 33
• 2018-07-22 Lone gunman shooting kills 3 including gunman and injures 13 in Toronto, Canada
• 2018-07-24 First bison born in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada, in 140 years, after being reintroduced
• 2018-08-06 Saudi Arabia's state airline suspends direct flights to Toronto and expels ambassador after Canada calls for release of detained activists for civil and women's rights
• 2018-08-16 British Columbia, Canada, declares State of Emergency with 566 wildfires burning, prompting evacuation of 3,000 people
• 2018-09-16 Scott Dixon of New Zealand finishes second in the IndyCar Grand Prix of Sonoma to wrap up his 5th IndyCar Drivers' title for Chip Ganassi Racing; Honda wins Manufacturers' Cup; Canadian Robert Wickens is Rookie of the Year
• 2018-10-01 New trade deal announced between United States, Canada and Mexico (USMCA), replacing NAFTA
• 2018-10-01 The United States, Mexico and Canada agree a new trade deal to replace NAFTA
• 2018-10-17 Canada legalizes the sale of recreational cannabis, the second country after Uruguay
• 2018-12-05 Arrest of Huawei Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou for possible violation of Iran sanctions in Canada
• 2019-01-10 Canadian astronomers report fast radio bursts (FRBs) of probable extragalactic origin, one repeating six times at the CHIME observatory, British Columbia
• 2019-01-12 18-year-old Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun arrives in Toronto, Canada, as a refugee, via Thailand, after escaping family abuse in Saudi Arabia
• 2019-02-06 Quadriga, Canada's biggest cryptocurrency exchange is unable to get to $145 million of bitcoin assets after its CEO dies with its access passwords
• 2019-03-04 Canadian minister Jane Philpott resigns in protest at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's and the government's handling of a scandal involving bribes from engineering firm SNC-Lavalin
• 2019-04-02 Canada is warming at twice the speed of the rest of the world, according to a federal report, increasing 2.3% in northern Canada
• 2019-05-08 Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi who spent eight years in prison on death row for blasphemy arrives in Canada
• 2019-06-03 Canadian government inquiry find deaths of over 1,000 indigenous women and girls over decades who have been murdered or are missing a "national genocide"
• 2019-06-11 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces plan to ban single-use plastics by 2021
• 2019-09-18 Photo of Canadian PM Justin Trudeau wearing brownface in 2001 emerges during Canadian election campiagn
• 2019-10-21 Canadian Federal Election: Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party loses its majority but wins the most seats (157) to form a minority government
• 2019-11-04 Major investigation finds unsafe lead levels in 11 Canadian cities between 2014 and 2018 mostly due to antiquated pipes
• 2020-01-06 Crawford Steel executives Sid Spiegel and Gary Stern via holding company S & S Sportsco purchase the Montreal Alouettes from the Canadian Football League
• 2020-03-18 US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agree to close the US-Canada border, the world's longest, to non-essential travel to curb COVID-19
• 2020-04-18 Canada's worst modern mass shooting as a gunman kills 18 people, including a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, across Nova Scotia
• 2020-05-01 Canadian PM Justin Trudeau announces ban on 1,500 types of assault-style weapons in response to recent Nova Scotia shooting
• 2020-06-18 Canadian coronavirus COVID-19 known cases pass 100,000 with 8,361 deaths
• 2020-09-21 Canadian province of Quebec expands restrictions, declaring it is in a second COVID-19 wave as cases across the country average 1,000 a day
• 2020-12-09 Canada approves the Pfizer/ BioNTech vaccine for COVID-19
• 2021-03-22 Sanctions imposed on Chinese officials over rights abuses against Uighurs in China by EU, UK, US and Canada
• 2021-04-17 Canada registers more new daily COVID-19 cases than the US for the first time as infections surge in Ontario [1]
• 2021-05-05 Canada is the first country to authorize the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for 12-15 year olds
• 2021-05-28 Discovery of a mass grave with the remains of 215 children from Kamloops Indian Residential School announced by First Nation in British Columbia, Canada [1]
• 2021-06-14 Heatwave event begins across western US and Canadian states with Denver at 101 degrees and Helena 105 degrees
• 2021-06-27 Hottest temperature ever recorded in Canada at 46.6 C (116 F) in Lytton, British Columbia (breaks record 2 days later with 49.6 C)
• 2021-06-29 Lytton, British Columbia, records Canada's highest-ever temperature of 49.6C (121.3F), before being destroyed by a wildfire the next day
• 2021-07-06 Mary Simon is named Canada's first indigenous Governor General by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
• 2021-08-01 Canada marks its first Emancipation Day (date slavery abolished in the British Empire in 1834)
• 2021-08-15 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calls a snap election for 20 September, two years ahead of schedule
• 2021-09-30 Canada observes its first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, honoring victims and survivors of residential schools for indigenous children
• 2021-12-25 NASA's James Webb Space Telescope launched in joint effort with ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, South America [1]
• 2022-01-04 Canadian government announces US$31.5 billion settlement to fix and compensate for Indigenous child welfare system, largest in its history [1]
• 2022-02-06 Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declares a state of emergency over a trucker protest against a covid vaccination mandate on the US-Canada border [1]
• 2022-02-13 Canadian police arrest truckers who have protested a vaccine mandate for blocking Ambassador's Bridge, between Detroit and Windsor, for a week at the busiest land border crossing in North America [1]
• 2022-03-22 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party reaches a deal with opposition New Democratic Party to stay in power till 2025 [1]
• 2022-06-14 Denmark and Canada agree to split the arctic Hans Island, ending their 50-year "Whiskey War", where each country laid claim by buying whiskey on the island [1]
• 2022-06-25 30,000-year-old intact remains of a baby wooly mammoth found frozen in permafrost in Klondike gold fields in the Yukon, Canada [1]

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