Dear Canada: A step back in time
TIMELINE
CANADA THROUGH THE YEARS: Keep track of important dates in Canada's history
and explore the Dear Canada books that reflect on these times.
- Go to:
- 16th Century & Before
- 17th Century
- 18th Century
- 19th Century
- 20th Century
16th Century & Before
- About
18000 B.C.The first inhabitants of North America probably cross from Siberia via a land bridge.
- About
A.D. 1001Leif Ericsson makes his first voyage to Vinland.
- 1497
John Cabot makes the first of two voyages for England to the fishing grounds of Newfoundland.
- 1534
Jacques Cartier claims the Gaspé Peninsula for France. The following year he travels up the St. Lawrence to Stadacona (now Québec City) and Hochelaga (now Montréal) and names the territory “Canada.”
- 1576
Martin Frobisher makes the first of three journeys to find the Northwest Passage.
- 1583
Sir Humphrey Gilbert claims Newfoundland for England.
17th Century
- 1604
Samuel de Champlain establishes a colony at Nova Scotia.
- 1608
Champlain establishes a permanent French colony at Québec.
- 1615
The first Roman Catholic missionaries attempt to convert Indigenous people to Christianity.
- 1642
The founding of Montréal.
- 1649
War between the Wendat and Haudenosaunee confederacies leads to the destruction of the Wendat Nation. The Haudenosaunee begin raids on New France.
- 1663
Jean Talon is appointed intendant of New France. King Louis XIV commits to defending the colony and promoting settlement.
- 1666
Alone in an Untamed Land:
The Filles du Roi Diary of Hélène St. Onge - 1670
The British crown grants a charter to the Hudson’s Bay Company.
18th Century
- 1713
The Treaty of Utrecht.
- 1721
- 1749
The British establish Halifax.
- 1755
Banished from Our Home:
The Acadian Diary of Angélique Richard - 1755
The British begin the expulsion of the Acadians.
- 1756–1763
The Seven Years War between Britain and France, during which the British capture Louisbourg (1758) and Québec in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham (1759), and the French surrender New France to the British (1760).
- 1759
The Death of My Country:
The Plains of Abraham Diary of Geneviève Aubuchon - 1769
Prince Edward Island becomes a colony of Great Britain.
- 1774
The passage of the Québec Act.
- 1776
The creation of the North West Company.
- 1778
Captain James Cook explores the Pacific Coast.
- 1775–1783
The American Revolutionary War, during which the Thirteen Colonies gain independence from Great Britain. The people of Québec, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island remain loyal to Great Britain. About forty thousand Loyalists from the Thirteen Colonies join them.
- 1791
Québec is divided into two separate colonies: Lower and Upper Canada.
- 1783
With Nothing But Our Courage:
The Loyalist Diary of Mary MacDonald - 1792
Captain George Vancouver makes the first of three voyages to explore Vancouver Island and the coast of British Columbia.
- 1793
Explorer Alexander Mackenzie crosses the Rocky and Coastal Mountains to reach the Pacific Ocean.
- 1793
John Graves Simcoe establishes York (now Toronto) on the shore of Lake Ontario.
19th Century
- Early 1800s–late 1900s
It is estimated that about 150,000 Indigenous children are removed from their communities and forced to attend residential schools.
- 1811
The first group of Lord Selkirk’s settlers arrives at Hudson Bay.
- 1812–1815
The War of 1812, between Great Britain and the United States, in which Isaac Brock is killed (Battle of Queenston Heights in 1812), Laura Secord becomes a hero (1813) and Tecumseh dies (1813).
- 1812
- 1815
- 1837
Rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada result in a visit from Lord Durham and the recommendation that the colonies should receive responsible government.
- 1837
A Rebel's Daughter:
The 1837 Rebellion Diary of Arabella Stevenson - 1840–1860
The Underground Railroad gives freedom to thousands of slaves. It was a system of secret paths, hiding places, and safe houses whose owners helped shelter escaping slaves.
- 1841
The Act of Union unites Upper and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada.
- 1843
Victoria is established on Vancouver Island.
- 1847
A Sea of Sorrows:
The Typhus Epidemic Diary of Johanna Leary - 1850
Where the River Takes Me:
The Hudson's Bay Company Diary of Jenna Sinclair - 1851
Canada’s first postage stamp is issued. It has only been possible to send mail overseas for about ten years.
- 1857
Ottawa becomes the new capital of Canada.
- 1858
British Columbia becomes a colony of Great Britain when gold is discovered in the Fraser River.
- 1862
A Trail of Broken Dreams:
The Gold Rush Diary of Harriet Palmer - 1863
A Desperate Road to Freedom:
The Underground Railroad Diary of Julia May Jackson - 1866
- 1867
The British North America Act is passed. New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Québec and Ontario form the Dominion of Canada.
- 1869
The Métis in the Red River region rebel when Canada purchases the territory from the Hudson’s Bay Company.
- 1870
The province of Manitoba joins Confederation. The Northwest Territories are created.
- 1871
British Columbia joins Confederation.
- 1873
The Cypress Hills massacre results in the creation of the North West Mounted Police to keep order in the new territories.
- 1873
Prince Edward Island joins Confederation.
- 1875
Some 60,000 Barnardo Children were sent from England to Canada between 1875 and 1930 for a chance at a better life.
- 1882
A Ribbon of Shining Steel:
The Railway Diary of Kate Cameron - 1885
The Métis rebel against the Canadian government. Their leader, Louis Riel, is later hanged.
- 1885
Blood Upon Our Land:
The North West Resistance Diary of Josephine Bouvier - 1885
The last spike of the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway is driven at Craigellachie, British Columbia.
- 1887
Days of Toil and Tears:
The Child Labour Diary of Flora Rutherford - 1892
- 1896
Gold is discovered in the Klondike.
- 1897
- 1898
Yukon becomes a federal territory.
20th Century
- 1899–1902
Canadians fight for the British during the Boer War in South Africa.
- 1902
- 1905
Saskatchewan and Alberta join Confederation.
- 1910
The first known outbreak of polio in Canada. Polio was a devastating worldwide disease that struck the youngest and healthiest, from babies to teenagers. The Salk vaccine (introduced in 1955) and the Sabin oral vaccine (introduced in 1962) eventually brought polio under control in the early 1970s.
- 1912
The sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean southeast of Nova Scotia.
- 1912
- 1914–1918
WWI: Britain declares war on Germany. Canada participates as part of the British Empire.
- 1914
Prisoners in the Promised Land:
The Ukrainian Internment Diary of Anya Soloniuk - 1916
Brothers Far from Home:
The World War I Diary of Eliza Bates - 1917
The Halifax explosion.
- 1917
No Safe Harbour:
The Halifax Explosion Diary of Charlotte Blackburn - 1918
Women are granted the right to vote in federal elections.
- 1918
If I Die Before I Wake:
The Flu Epidemic Diary of Fiona Macgregor - 1919
The Winnipeg general strike.
- 1922
- 1926
In 1926, 104,471 people left their homes to come to Canada. They were a variety of nationalities — French, Irish, Scandinavian, German, Scottish, Czech and others — but the largest immigrant group that year were the English.
- 1926
A Prairie as Wide as the Sea:
The Immigrant Diary of Ivy Weatherall - 1927
The first coast-to-coast radio broadcast in Canada.
- 1929
The Persons Case.
- 1929
The stock market crash of October 29 marks the beginning of the Great Depression.
- 1932
Not a Nickel to Spare:
The Great Depression Diary of Sally Cohen - 1936
The establishment of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
- 1937
To Stand On My Own:
The Polio Epidemic Diary of Noreen Robertson - 1939–45
Canada participates in the Second World War.
- 1940
Exiles from the War:
The War Guests Diary of Charlotte Mary Twiss - 1941
- 1941
- 1947
The oil strike at Leduc No. 1 in Alberta marks the beginning of the province’s oil boom.
- 1948
- 1949
Newfoundland joins Confederation.
- 1960
Indigenous people living on reserves are granted the right to vote in federal elections.
- 1965
Canada adopts a new flag featuring a red maple leaf.
- 1966
These Are My Words:
The Residential School Diary of Violet Pesheens - 1970
The FLQ, a terrorist group attempting to establish an independent Québec through revolution, kidnaps a British trade commissioner and a Québec cabinet minister. The federal government, under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, invokes the War Measures Act.
- 1982
The Constitution Act is passed, along with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
- 1989
The North American Free Trade Agreement comes into effect.
- 1998
The last residential school in Canada closes.
- 1999
Nunavut becomes a federal territory.
- 2001
Security alerts across Canada after terrorist attacks of September 11 on New York City and Washington D.C.
- 2002
Canadian forces take up combat mission in Afghanistan.
- 2002
Canada signs the Kyoto Accord, a global effort to reduce the green house gases that cause global warming.
- 2003
SARS epidemic kills more than thirty people and causes fear in Toronto and Vancouver.
- 2004
CBC Television’s “Greatest Canadian” contest chooses Tommy Douglas.
- 2004
Same-sex marriages become legal throughout Canada.
- 2005
Michaëlle Jean becomes governor general.
- 2005
Canadian Steve Nash named National Basketball Association’s Most Valuable Player.
- 2007
Census results show Canada had 31,612,897 people in 2006.
- 2010
Vancouver hosts the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Canada’s Olympians won more gold medals than those of any other nation.
- 2011
Canada sends military forces to assist the change of government in Libya during the “Arab Spring” uprisings.
- 2013
Kathleen Wynne becomes premier of Ontario in February. Six of Canada’s premiers are women.
- 2013
Astronaut Chris Hadfield becomes the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station. His Twitter postings earn a global following.
- 2013
A trainload of oil tankers derails at Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, killing 47 people.
- 2014
A lone gunman shoots Corporal Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, provoking national mourning.
- 2015
After the federal election in October, Justin Trudeau becomes Canada’s 23rd prime minister.
- 2015
The report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is published.
- 2016
Canada admits 33,000 Syrian refugees, with more to come.
Learn more about Canada's history with our Interactive Timeline:.
