Key Events

							Key Events

A Master List
   1914: For King and Country
• Canada went to war automatically with
  Great Britain
• The Canadian Corps was an independent
  volunteer army within the British Empire
• Canadian factories expanded to produce
  the necessary war materials
   1915: Women and the War
• Although they could not vote, Canadian
  women contributed to the war effort as
  nurses, as factory workers, raising money
• The Canadian Corps withstood a gas
  attack at Yprès
• Saskatchewan prohibited the sale of
  alcohol for the duration of the war
       1916: Trench Warfare
• There was racism in the army; recruiting
  officers were reluctant to sign up
  aboriginal soldiers
• The Ross rifle proved to be useless and
  Sam Hughes was fired as Minister of
  Militia
• Conditions in the trenches were miserable:
  mud, rats, stale food, stench, fear
 1917: The Conscription Crisis
• Canada won an important victory at Vimy
  Ridge a source of pride for decades to
  come
• The government introduced conscription to
  bring Canadian Corps up to 500,000 men
• Although English-Canada supported the
  government, voters in Quebec opposed
  conscription; country was divided along
  racial lines
    1918: Canada‟s 100 Days
• The Canadian Corps was selected
  whenever a tough objective had to be
  taken
• From 1917 on, the Canadian Corps never
  lost a gun, never lost ground
• During the 100 Days the heavy pressure
  the Canadians put on the Germans helped
  bring about the armistice
    1919: Adjusting to Peace
• The Spanish flu epidemic killed many
  Canadians
• Canada signed the Treaty of Versailles
  independently of Great Britain
• Radicalized workers staged a general
  strike in Winnipeg
      1920: League of Indians
• One third of all able bodied Indian men
  volunteered to fight in the war
• Despite loyal wartime service, Indians received
  no benefits (no vote, conditions on reserves
  remained grim, no political power)
• The League of Indians (modeled on League of
  Nations) was established to unite all the First
  Nations and give them more influence
 1921: The Progressive Movement
• By 1921 women could vote in every
  province except PEI and Quebec
• The Progressive party came in second in
  the election and ended two-party politics
  for ever
• Progressive politicians (like Agnes
  Macphail) fought for farmers and workers
 1922: The Discovery of Insulin
• Canadians were very inventive,
  discovering such things as radio,
  telephone, the zipper, insulin and the
  electric light bulb
• Unemployment was high and the jobs
  people could find didn‟t pay well
• Prohibition was still in effect, but a man
  could get a drink of alcohol with a doctor‟s
  prescription
      1923: Humiliation Day
• Racism was common. Chinese people
  could not become Canadian citizens
• Before 1923, if a Chinese person wished
  to come to Canada, he had to pay a $500
  head tax
• The immigration act was changed to
  prohibit Chinese immigration
          1924: Hollywood
• Canadians develop a hearty appetite for
  American pop culture: Hollywood movies,
  jazz music, fashions
• Hollywood celebrities begin to matter more
  to Canadians than British royalty
• Canadian women wear shorter dresses,
  flatten their chests and smoke
  scandalously in public
           1925: Prohibition
• Province after province went dry during
  the war, but not Quebec
• Liquor continued to be sold by creative
  businessmen who fold loopholes in the
  prohibition laws
• When prohibition ended, provincial
  governments got into the act selling liquor
  through government-owned retailers
    1926: The King-Byng Affair
• Rum-runners were smuggling American
  merchandise duty-free into Canada on their
  return trips.
• A scandal involving a corrupt customs
  minister threatened to topple the
  government
• The Governor General triggered a backlash
  against Britain by denying the prime
  minister‟s request for a new election.
   1927: The Group of Seven
• Canada developed a distinctive artistic
  style unique from Europe
• Canadian art became fashionable
• Because they had something that was first
  rate, Canadians were beginning to
  overcome their inferiority complex
         1928: Sports Gold
• Canada celebrated the Kellogg-Briand
  Treaty renouncing war
• Canadian athletes, especially the women,
  dominated the IX Olympic Summer
  Games in Amsterdam
• The NHL expanded into the United States
  and several Canadian teams folded,
  unable to pay the salaries the Americans
  offered.
     1929: The Persons Case
• Male chauvinism made it very difficult for
  women to break into the professions:
  medicine, law, journalism, politics
• The Famous Five petitioned the Supreme
  Court to declare women persons and end
  male chauvinism.
• Women had to take their case all the way
  to Great Britain, but they finally were
  vindicated.
   1930: A Faltering Economy
• The Conservatives won the federal
  election and R.B. Bennett became prime
  minister
• The Canadian economy shrank as
  factories produced fewer cars, mines
  closed and farm incomes declined.
• The government introduced the
  “Unemployment Relief Act” dedicating $20
  million to help the unemployed.
        1931: Life on the Dole
• Most Canadians believed unemployment
  was their fault and felt humiliated going on
  the dole.
• To qualify for the dole, a man had be
  destitute, have a family to support and do
  whatever work was offered.
• The government raised the sales tax from
  1% to 6% but cut the tax rates for high
  income earners.
         1932: Communism
• The Communists tried to run in the 1930
  election but were harassed and
  imprisoned.
• Section 98 of the Criminal Code made it
  illegal to be a member of any organization
  advocating revolution.
• A riot broke out at Kingston Penitentiary
  when prisoners staged a sit-down strike to
  force some changes.
1933: Cooperative Commonwealth
          Federation
• The strategies of the Conservatives did
  nothing to end the Depression.
• Canadians began to blame Bennett for the
  continuing misery.
• A new socialist political party (the CCF)
  was formed; its plan was to replace
  capitalism but it rejected violence.
 1934: The Dionne Quintuplets
• Canadians began to read stories in the
  newspapers that fascist parties were gaining
  power in Europe.
• Fewer Canadians were getting married because
  of the Depression
• The Ontario government took the Quintuplets
  away from the Dionnes and made them a tourist
  attraction.
          1935: Social Credit
• Some Canadians worked sixty hours for wages
  that left them in poverty.
• A commission revealed that a seamstress made
  9½ cents to sew a dress Eaton‟s sold for $1.59.
• Albertans elected a new party (Social Credit)
  into power.
        1936: Union Nationale

• The Great Depression hit Quebec as hard
  as the other provinces.
• The Union Nationale came to power to
  save the people from the “evil influences” of
  communism.
• Quebec passed a padlock lock giving the
  police special powers to arrest anyone the
  premier disliked.
      1937: Spanish Civil War
• GM workers went on strike in Oshawa
  demanding the right to unionize.
• The Ontario government sent in the police to
  punish them.
• Some Canadians volunteered to fight against
  fascism in Spain, but they got no support from
  the government.
          1938: Appeasement
• Canada gained the right to set its own foreign
  policy in 1931 (Statute of Westminster)
• Canada prevented its delegate to the League of
  Nations from recommending punitive measures
  against the Japanese.
• Although its delegate recommended an oil
  embargo against Italy, Canada‟s government
  refused to support it.
     1939: Jewish Refugees
• Canada declared war on Germany
• Government promised there would be no
  conscription
• Canada turned away Jewish refugees
1940: Aerodrome of Democracy
• Canada played a crucial role in the air war
  – Canada manufactured planes
  – Canadian pilots flew mission during Battle of
    Britain
• Liberals won re-election
• Quebec gave women the vote.
   1941: Japanese-Canadians
• Anti-Japanese hostility increased in Canada
  after bombing of Pearl Harbour
• Canadian troops tried in vain to defend British
  colony of Hong Kong
• 22,000 Japanese-Canadians were interned for
  duration of war.
        1942: Grand Strategy
• Canadians voted in a plebiscite on conscription
  – English Canada agreed to release government from
    its pledge of no conscription
  – French Canada did not
• Canada sustained heavy casualties during the
  failed Dieppe raid
   1943: Demanding a Welfare
            State
• Socialism became popular
  – Liberals and Conservative moved to the left
  – CCF picked up a lot of votes in Ontario
• Many commodities were rationed.
• Union membership doubled since 1939.
 1944: The Liberation of France
• Canadian soldiers helped liberate France.
• Despite facing discrimination, 3,000
  Aboriginals volunteered to fight for Canada
  during World War Two.
• Some Canadians trained for special
  missions, parachuting in behind enemy
  lines to sabotage their installations.
          1945: Spy World
• Canada helped the Allies defeat Germany.
• After the Gouzenko Affair, Canada began
  to arrest people suspected of passing
  information to the Soviets.
• During the war, at Camp X, many
  Canadians were trained for top secret
  missions.
  1946: Return of the Veterans
• A million veterans returned home.
• Rationing ended.
• War brides came to Canada with the
  Canadian soldiers they had married.
• Canada had a baby boom.
        1947: Energy Boom
• Canada‟s economy remained strong after
  the war ended.
• Oil was discovered at Leduc, Alberta.
• During the war Canadian industry
  expanded and factories began to produce
  things they‟d never made before.
 1948: Universal Human Rights
• Canada was an important member of the
  United Nations.
• Canadians celebrated the Universal
  Declaration of Human Rights.
• Canada began to change its laws to end
  racism, but still had a long way to go.
        1949: North Atlantic
• Canada elects a French-Canadian prime
  minister
• Newfoundland joins Confederation
• Canada plays a key role in the creation of
  the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
          1950: The Jet Age
• The AVRO Jetliner shows Canada is a
  world leader in jet aircraft design
• Canada begins producing the CF-100, a
  long-range all-weather jet fighter for Arctic
  patrol
• AVRO, with 10,000 employees, is the
  biggest employer in Toronto
     1951: Defining Canadian
• Canadians are fighting in Korea under an
  American general
• The government is removing the word
  „royal‟ from mail trucks and replacing
  British with Canadian passports
• Canadian culture is threatened by
  American popular culture
  1952: Powers of Resistance
• French language is threatened outside
  Quebec
• The asbestos strike makes Quebeckers
  realize American and English-Canadian
  business owners dominate their economy
• Canadian textile workers break with the
  UTWA to establish the Canadian Textile
  and Chemical Union
1953: The New Internationalism
• 25,000 Canadians served in Korea; 312
  died
• Canada enters a new phase of
  internationalism
• The government is committed to spending
  $5 billion over three years to build up the
  military to a permanent peacetime force of
  100,000.
 1954: Equal Rights Feminism
• Women in Quebec still can‟t sign
  mortgages or telephone contracts
• Only the CCF campaigns for equal
  rights feminism
• The CCF in Quebec selects a
  woman as its leader
       1955: French-Canadian
            Nationalism
• CBC-TV televises its first hockey
  game in 1952
• Televised sports brings Canadians
  closer together
• Fans in Montreal riot because Rocket
  Richard was suspended
• Anger in Quebec is boiling up after
  years of frustration
1956: Middle Power Constraints
• Expert diplomacy gives Canada
  real power at the United Nations
• Canada invents peacekeeping to
  end the Suez Crisis
• Canada accepts 40,000
  Hungarian refugees
          1957: Closure
• Canadians begin to worry about the
  extent of American ownership of
  Canadian industries and resources
• The Liberals use closure to cut off
  debate about the Trans-Canada
  Pipeline
• The Conservatives win the election
  and form a minority government
         1958: Teenagers
• The Conservatives win the biggest
  majority ever, controlling 208 of 265
  seats
• Canada becomes more diverse: first
  Ukrainian and Blood Indian Senator
• Almost half of the population is under
  age 25
• Teenagers become trendsetters: music,
  clothing, pastimes
  1959: The End of the Arrow
• Canada scraps the CF-105 and
  accepts Bomarc missiles
• The St Lawrence Seaway opens
• NORAD links Canada closer to the
  United States
        1960: Provincialism
• Provinces demand more money from
  Ottawa
• Quebec wants to opt out of federal
  programs to preserve its autonomy
• The Liberal Party comes to power in
  Quebec with plans to modernize the
  province
• The Quiet Revolution begins as power
  of Catholic Church in Quebec is
  attacked
 1961: The Fight for Medicare
• The CCF merges with the
  Canadian Labour Congress to
  form the New Democratic Party
• Saskatchewan introduces
  Canada‟s first medicare scheme
• The medical establishment fights
  the scheme with a doctors strike
   1962: The Commonwealth
• Canada and the United States clash
  over the Cuban Missile Crisis
• Canada struggles in vain to find
  trade partners to reduce
  dependency on USA
• Canada opposes South Africa‟s
  readmission to the Commonwealth
  unless apartheid is ended
  1963: The Nuclear Question
• Canadian peacekeepers are sent to
  Cyprus
• The branches of the armed forces
  are unified under a new flag
• The Liberals are back in power
• Canada accepts nuclear weapons
  as part of its commitment to NATO
  and NORAD
  1964: The State of the Arts
• American civil rights movement
  draws attention to status of Blacks in
  Canada
• Canada Council is endowed with
  $100,000,000 to support the arts
• There is an explosion in the quantity
  and quality of all forms of Canadian
  art
  1965: French-English Relations
• Auto Pact guarantees Canada a greater
  share of the North American auto
  market
• English-Canadian intellectuals worry
  Canada has become a branch plant
  colony of the USA
• FLQ terrorism escalates in Quebec
• A Royal Commission recommends
  bilingualism
   1966: The Global Village
• Counter culture challenges values
  and norms of older generation
• Canadian television networks begins
  broadcasting in colour
• Television replaces school as
  primary source of information for
  teenagers
  1967: The Summer of Love
• Canada celebrates its centennial,
  the highlight of which is Expo „67
• Crowds of separatists cheer Charles
  de Gaulle‟s proclamation “vive le
  Québec libre!”
• Indian culture (long hair,
  environmental focus, free spirit) is
  suddenly in fashion
  1968: The Voice of Women

• Trudeau is elected Prime Minister on
  a wave of Trudeaumania
• Although Canadian businesses profit
  from arms sales to the USA, most
  Canadians oppose the Vietnam War
• Thousands of American draft
  dodgers and deserters find refuge in
  Canada
 1969: The Mystery of the White
             Man
• The Official Languages Act is
  passed, guaranteeing federal
  services in both official languages.
• A White Paper proposes to do away
  with reserves and treaty rights.
• Canada‟s armed forces are reduced
  by a third.
      1970: The October Crisis
• The FLQ kidnaps two men in Montreal.
• The government invokes the War
  Measures Act.
• Pierre Laporte is assassinated by the
  FLQ.
      1971: Multiculturalism
• Canada is declared officially
  multicultural.
• Canada‟s immigration policy is now
  colour-blind (white immigrants are
  no longer preferred)
• Non-European immigration
  outnumbers immigration from
  Europe for the first time
    1972: Women in Politics
• The first black woman is elected to
  office.
• Women‟s liberation movement is in
  full swing.
• Liberals are reduced to a minority
  government and NDP hold balance
  of power.
       1973: Land Claims

• Oil shock sends world price of oil
  soaring.
• Government introduces a national oil
  policy to make Canada self-sufficient
  in oil by the end of the decade.
• Supreme Court rules that Natives in
  B.C. can claim ancestral land rights.
    1974: The New Left
• Anti-American attitudes increase in
  wake of Vietnam War and Watergate
  scandal
• The Foreign Investment Review
  Agency is established to block
  American takeovers of Canadian
  businesses.
• The NDP pressures the government to
  create Petro-Canada to help Canada
  achieve energy self-sufficiency.
• Trudeau‟s Liberals win another
  majority government.
              1975: Survival
• Supreme Court denies Irene Murdoch a fair
  share of marriage property in divorce
  settlement. (Women are outraged.)
• The Canadian Radio Television Commission
  requires 30% Canadian content
• Women‟s liberation movement puts strains on
  many marriages (including the prime
  minister‟s)
    1976: Language Wars
• One million workers down their tools to
  protest wage and price controls
• Air traffic controllers strike to protest
  unpopular bilingualism policy
• Quebec votes in René Lévesque‟s
  separatist Parti Québécois
     1977: The First Nations
• Canada claims 200 miles of sea as its
  territorial limit
• First Nations claim they own land where
  no treaty exists
• The Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry
  allows Canadians to hear the Native
  point of view
• The 1975 James Bay and Northern
  Quebec Agreement becomes the first
  modern land-claim settlement
 1978: Tomorrow Country
• Alberta‟s economy and population are
  expanding while the rest of Canada
  stagnates
• Alberta‟s government makes 45% of
  every barrel of oil sold, allowing it to do
  away with the sales tax
• Ottawa forces Alberta to sell its own
  below the world price
           1979: Joe Who?
• Joe Clark‟s Progressive Conservatives
  win a minority government
• To tackle the deficit, the government
  brings down a tough budget which
  includes an 18% tax on gasoline
• The opposition parties vote against the
  budget and Joe Clark has to call another
  election after just three months in power
   1980: The Centre Must Hold
• Pierre Trudeau returns from retirement to
  lead the Liberals to another majority
  government
• Quebeckers vote in a referendum,
  rejecting sovereignty association (to
  separate from Canada) by a margin of
  60% to 40%
• The Liberal government introduces the
  National Energy Program
 1981: The Provinces Push Back
• Albertans are so enraged by the NEP
  that 49% say they favour separating from
  Canada
• Premiers who oppose Trudeau‟s plans to
  repatriate the constitution form the Gang
  of Eight
• Alberta and Ottawa make a deal to share
  the oil revenue: Alberta gets 30%,
  Ottawa gets 25%
   1982: The Night of the Long
             Knives
• The BNA Act is repatriated; the new
  constitution includes a Charter of Rights
  and Freedoms
• Quebec is stripped of its veto power and
  René Lévesque feels he has been
  betrayed by English Canada
• Despite losing the referendum, the Parti
  Quebecois continues on in power, using
  Bill 101 to eliminate English signs in
  Quebec
1983: Unions on the Defensive
• Under Trudeau, the federal deficit grows
  from $17 to $200 billion
• Interest rates skyrocket and many
  working class families lose their homes
• Unions are threatened as robots replace
  workers at automotive plants
            1984: Star Wars
• Many Canadians criticize Star Wars.
• Trudeau lets America test cruise missiles in
  Canada.
• Canadian astronaut flies aboard the space
  shuttle.
• Brian Mulroney becomes Prime Minister.
  [Trudeau retires (again)]
     1985: Open for Business
• Mulroney declares Canada is “open for
  business” (His government axes FIRA and
  NEP)
• Mulroney tackles deficit by cutting funds to
  military, foreign aid, the CBC, and VIA
  Rail.
• Mulroney begins to consider a free trade
  deal with USA.
        1986: Globalization
• Canada continues to attract immigrants
  from around the globe.
• Canada is adapting to a new economy
  based on the computer and foreign
  competition.
• Magna International Ltd is a Canadian
  business success story.
   1987: The New Federalism
• Canada works out a free trade agreement
  with the United States, but Liberals in the
  Senate block its passage into law.
• A new party (Reform) is formed in western
  Canada with an emphasis on reforming
  the Senate.
• The Meech Lake Accord is negotiated. It
  will recognize Quebec as a distinct
  society.
  1988: The Corporate Agenda
• The free trade agreement dominates the
  1988 federal election.
• Country is split down the middle: Liberals
  and NDP share the anti-FTA vote; PCs get
  the pro-FTA vote.
• Vote splitting gives Mulroney a second
  majority government and free trade
  becomes law.
    1989: Cultural Imperialism
• Montreal Massacre raised awareness of
  violence against women.
• Canadians celebrated the fall of the Berlin
  Wall and the end of the Cold War
• Budget cuts to CBC mean Canadian
  content is squeezed out by powerful
  American imports.
      1990: Distinct Societies
• Town of Oka tried to expand its golf
  course onto sacred Native burial ground,
  triggering a tense standoff.
• The army is sent in to remove the
  barricades.
• The Meech Lake Accord was defeated by
  Elijah Harper‟s opposition.
1991: The National Unity Crisis
• Canadian forces participated in Operation
  Desert Storm (liberation of Kuwait).
• Quebec began to reconsider separation
  from Canada because of failure of Meech
  Lake Accord.
• The federal government established a
  Citizens‟ Forum to examine Canada‟s
  options.
           1992: Backlash
• The recession was the biggest worry of
  most Canadians, not national unity.
  Unemployment is 10%.
• Most Canadians rejected the
  Charlottetown Accord in a national
  referendum.
• Racial tensions increase because a Sikh
  man wished to serve as an RCMP officer
  while wearing his turban.
        1993: The Slaughter
• The torture of a Somali teenager by
  Canadian peacekeepers shocked the
  nation.
• Canadian peacekeepers serving in
  Yugoslavia received a rare U.N. citation.
• The voters humiliated Kim Campbell‟s
  Progressive Conservative Party, reducing
  them to just two seats.
      1994: Dark Continent
• Canada helped bring an end to apartheid
  in South Africa.
• Canadian peacekeepers have served in
  many African nations: Somalia, Congo and
  Rwanda.
• Despite best efforts of General Romeo
  Dallaire, Canada did not do enough to
  prevent the genocide of 1,000,000 Tutsis
  in Rwanda.
  1995: Power from the North
• Quebec‟s First Nations blocked
  construction of James Bay II hydro-electric
  dams on their land.
• Federal government recognized inherent
  right of Native people to govern
  themselves.
• In another referendum, Quebec voters
  rejected sovereignty association by a
  narrow margin.
   1996: Tackling the Deficit
• Canada‟s debt was out of control.
• A tough federal budget slashed spending
  for each government department by as
  much as 50%.
• Social programs became less generous.
         1997: Landmines
• Canadians were saddened by the tragic
  death of Princess Diana.
• Canadians worried that social programs
  were being cut too aggressively
• Canada spearheaded the international
  campaign to ban landmines.
       1998: Human Rights
• Canada has developed a host of
  documents to protect human rights.
• Canada can play a lead role in prosecuting
  war criminals.
• The Charter of Rights and Freedom was
  used to strike down the Rape Shield Law.
            1999: Our Land
• The federal government and the Inuit
  negotiate the largest land claim agreement
  in Canada‟s history (1993).
• The map of Canada is redrawn because
  Nunavut has been created.
• The Inuit try to draw attention to the effects
  of global warming on the Arctic..
       2000: The Clarity Act
• Canada has a Governor-General of
  Chinese descent and BC has a Sikh
  premier.
• 200,000 immigrants arrive in Canad each
  year.
• The Clarity Act explains to Quebec the
  conditions for separation.
• Jean Chretien‟s Liberals won a third
  majority and BQ in Quebec is in decline.
           2001: World Trade
• Team Canada trade missions have negotiated
  business contracts worth several billion dollars.
• Protest against the World Trade Organization
  builds. Protestors oppose extending NAFTA to
  include all of South America.
• Canadian airports receive 33,000 unexpected
  visitors when USA closes its airspace following
  World Trade Center attack.