2. Geography
• Canada gets its name from 1535 Cartier’s reporting that Indians of Quebec used Kanata for
their village and tribal lands. 1534 - Jacques Cartier explores the St Lawrence river, claims the
shores of the Gulf of St Lawrence for France. 1627 - Company of New France established to
govern "New France“ – The North American colonies.
• 1670 - Hudson's Bay Company established by London traders. The company holds trading
rights for regions whose rivers drain into Hudson Bay.
• 1701 - Thirty-eight Indian nations sign a peace treaty near Montreal with the French, ending
20 years of diplomacy! 1756 - Seven Years' War begins, between New France and the larger
and economically-stronger British colonies. After early French successes, the settlement of
Quebec falls in 1759 and the British advance on Montreal. 1763 - Under the Treaty of Paris,
Britain acquires all French colonies east of the Mississippi including New France, which
becomes the colony of Quebec. 1774 - The Quebec Act recognises the French language and
the Roman Catholic religion in the colony. 1776 onwards - Loyalist refugees from the
American War of Independence settle in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec and
Ontario. 1783 - Fur traders in Montreal set up the North West Company. The company builds
up a network of trading posts across the west and north; its expeditions reach the Pacific
coast. So many Loyalists arrived on the shores of the St. John River that a separate colony—
New Brunswick—was created in 1784. British concession’s of all land south of the Great
Lakes, which was formerly a part of the Province of Quebec and included modern day
Michigan, Illinois and Ohio, was ceded to the Americans. Fishing rights were also granted to
the United States in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and on the coast of Newfoundland and the
Grand Banks.
3. Geography
• 1791 By the Constitutional Act, the Province of Quebec was divided into two colonies: Upper
and Lower Canada. Important to remember the portion of this French Region was the
Louisiana Purchase to understand the France controlled portion of the US came from Lower
Canada!
• 1812-14 The War of 1812 between the US and Britain, largely over the effects on the US of
British blockades of French ports. Action includes naval battles in the Great Lakes and a US
attack on York (present-day Toronto). But the US fails to realise its plans to invade Canada.
• 1821 Both Hudson's Bay Company and North West Company merge, after years of bitter
rivalry descend into bloodshed.
• 1841 The Union Act combines Upper and Lower Canada.
• 1867 The Constitutional Act severs Ontario and Quebec and unites them with Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick into a new country called: Dominion of Canada.
• 1870 Manitoba becomes fifth province, followed by British Columbia and Prince Edward
Island.
• 1873 Canada has acquired Rupert's Land (1869-70), Manitoba has been created (1870), and
British Columbia (1871) and Prince Edward Island have been admitted into Canada. The
Canadian objective of being a country "From Sea to Sea" has been fulfilled.
4. Geography
• 1885 Canadian Pacific railroad is complete.
• 1898 Federal law extended the boundaries of Ontario and Quebec northward.
1898 Gold rush on the upper Yukon River; Yukon Territory given separate status.
• 1905 The provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta are created by legislation.
• 1912 Federal law granted further extension of territory in the North to Manitoba,
Ontario and Quebec.
• 1949 Canada becomes founder member of NATO.
• 1949 Newfoundland, a British dominion, becomes a province of Canada.
• 1965 The present Canadian flag is adopted
• 1999 Territory of Nunavut is formed in the north-west. It is the first territory in
Canada to have a majority indigenous population.
• 2005 August - Canada sends naval vessels to Churchill, an Arctic port, for the first
time in 30 years. The move is seen as a challenge to rival territorial claims and
follows a spat with Denmark over an uninhabited island.
5. From The People of Canada
Surprising List of Famous Things in Life
• Abbott, Scott co-inventor Trivial Pursuit Cooke, Jack owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Kings, Washington
Redskins and the Chrysler Building Sir Cunard, Samuel (1787-1865) - founder Cunard Line Fuller, Alfred (1885-1973) - Fuller
Brush Company major financier Celine Dion- world famous singer Laliberté, Guy OC CQ (1959-) - founder owner Cirque du
Soleil Mayer, Louis B. (1885-1957) - co-founder MGM Studios Redpath, John (1796-1869) - canal builder, sugar refinery
founder Sharp, Isadore founder of the Four Seasons Hotel chain James Shatner Actor Capt. James T. Kirk of Star Trek
Sir Van Horne, William Cornelius KCMG (1843-1915) - constructed the Canadian Pacific Railway Warner, Jack (1892-1978) -
founder of Warner Bros. Studios Ahearn, Thomas (1855-1938) - invented the electric cooking range and the electric car
heater Barringer, Anthony (1925-) - 70 patents for mineral exploration Bascom, Earl W. (1906–1995) - co-invented rodeo's
side-delivery chute, invented reverse-opening side-delivery chute, hornless bronc saddle, one-hand bareback rigging and
high-cut chaps Bell, Alexander Graham (1847-1922) - born in Scotland, invented the telephone in Canada and developed it
in the United States Fenerty, Charles -1892) - Canadian inventor of the wood pulp process for making paper Fessenden,
Reginald radio inventor who made the first radio-transmitted audio transmission and the first two-way transatlantic radio
transmission; also invented sonar and patented the first television system Sir Fleming, Sandford -1915) -
inventor of the system of Standard Time zones Gosling, James OC (1955-) - invented Java computer language Gesner,
Abraham Pineo -1864) - inventor of kerosene; known as the "Father of the Petroleum Industry McCoy, Elijah (1844-1929)
- developed automatic machinery lubricator, lawn sprinkler, the "Real McCoy“ Markle, Wilson - (1938- ) - invented film
colorization process in 1983 Naismith, James (1861-1939) - invented basketball Urry, Lewis (1927-2004) - invented the
long-lasting alkaline battery Sir, Major Banting, Frederick (1891-1941) - Nobel laureate noted as one of the co-discoverers of
insulin Bigelow, Wilfred (1913-2005) - inventor of the first artificial pacemaker Callaghan, John (1923-2004) - pioneer of
open-heart surgery Hillier, James (1915-2007) - inventor of the electron microscope Schawlow, Arthur (1921-1999) - Nobel
Prize winner in physics (for lasers) Masterson, Bat (1853-1921) - gunfighter, fight promoter, sports journalist
• PLUS FIVE (5) Astronauts in NASA program!
6. The People of Canada
• Native Indians called Inuit's and migration across the Berring Sea during the Ice
Age are the first people to inhabit present day Canadian regions.
• 1627 French influence begins when the New France Company is started in the St.
Lawrence River Valley, begins the French connection.
• 1774 The Quebec Act recognizes the French language and the Roman Catholic
religion in the colony.
• 1670 Hudson's Bay Company established by London traders. This begins British
peoples origins.
• Canada has always welcomed huge numbers of immigrants as compared to other
countries during every period of migration, as a percentage of its population.
• French people have, like all Europeans and all people alike, fought peacefully and
otherwise to maintain their language and culture as French Canadian’s.
• In modern decades immigration has created superior ethnic towns and has
provided immense positive returns to Canada. These include economic as well as
loyalty of its immigrants toward Canada as their New Country. This is particularly
powerful for oriental people who standout in a country of European origin for
hundreds of years.
•
7. The People of Canada
• Canadian citizens are highly revered for their allegiance and pride in their
country.
• In 1905 when Saskatchewan and Alberta were admitted as provinces, they
were growing rapidly thanks to abundant wheat crops that attracted
immigration to the plains by Ukrainians and Northern and Central
Europeans and by settlers from the United States, Britain and eastern
Canada.
• More than 95 % of the population live within about 100 miles from the
Canadian-US border.
• 2008 June - Government apologizes for earlier policy of forcing aboriginal
children to attend boarding schools aimed at assimilating them. Most of
the schools were closed in the 1970s.
• 2011 May - Conservatives win third consecutive term in government, and
a parliamentary majority. The elections shake up the opposition, with the
Liberal Party slipping into third place for the first time.
8. History of Canada
Historical Independence to present
• During the American Revolution some sympathy for the American cause in Nova Scotia. Neither party joined the
rebels, but several hundred joined the revolutionary cause.
• An invasion of Canada; by the Continental Army in 1775, to take Quebec from British control was halted at the
Battle of Quebec, by Guy Carleton assisted by local militias. Defeated British army in the Siege of Yorktown Oct
1781, signaled end of Britain's suppression of the Revolution.
• British evacuated New York City in 1783, taking many Loyalist refugees to Nova Scotia, while other Loyalists went
to southwestern Quebec. Loyalists on St. John River created a separate colony, New Brunswick, in 1784.
• 1791 the division of Quebec into the largely French-speaking Lower Canada and an Loyalist Upper Canada, its
capital now Toronto.
• After 1790 most of the new settlers were American farmers searching new lands, favorable to republicanism, and
were basically non-political and stayed neutral in the War of 1812.
• 1783 Treaty of Paris, formally ended the war. Britain concessions to the Americans, notably, the US-Canadian
border was officially demarcated. All land south of the Great Lakes, which was formerly a part of the Province of
Quebec and included modern day Michigan, Illinois and Ohio, was ceded to the Americans. Fishing rights were
also granted to the United States in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and on the coast of Newfoundland and the Grand
Banks. British ignored part of the treaty, keeping military outposts in the ceded Great Lakes areas, and supplied
the Indians there with munitions.
• The British evacuated the outposts with the Jay Treaty of 1795, and this continued supply of munitions irritated
the Americans up to the war of 1812.
• 1867 John A. Macdonald (First Prime Minister of Canada) created the North-West Mounted Police (now the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police) for the Northwest Territories security. Specifically, Mounties asserted Canadian
sovereignty over possible American encroachments.
• The Mounties first large scale mission was to suppress the second independence movement by Manitoba's Métis,
a mixed blood people of joint First Nations and European descent.
• Independence in the Red River Rebellion in 1869 and the later North-West Rebellion in 1885 was led by Louis Riel.
9. History of Canada
French Heritage and British Autonomy
• The Alaska boundary dispute, since the Alaska purchase of 1867, became critical when gold was discovered in the
Yukon during the late 1890s, with the U.S. controlling all the possible ports of entry. Canada argued its boundary
included the port of Skagway. The dispute went to arbitration in 1903, but the British delegate sided with the
Americans, angering Canadians who felt the British had betrayed Canada to better British-US relations.
• In 1893, legal experts codified a framework of civil and criminal law, The Criminal Code of Canada. This solidified
the liberal ideal of "equality before the law“, for every adult Canadian.
• Laurier 1896–1911, the Seventh Prime Minister of Canada felt Canada was on the verge of becoming a world
power, declaring that the 20th century would "belong to Canada“.
• 1914 - Outbreak of World War I. Canada fights on the side of Britain and France.
• 1931 - Statute of Westminster grants British dominions complete autonomy.
• 1939 - Outbreak of World War II. To demonstrate its recent autonomy from the British Crown, it waits for a week
to enter WWII by declaring War .
• 1947 - Canada is declared to be of equal status with Great Britain within the Commonwealth.
• 1950 - War in Korea. Canadian forces participate in UN effort.
• 1967 - Expo 67 in Montreal provides impetus to Canadian national identity. French President Charles de Gaulle
visits and declares 'Vive le Quebec libre' (Long live free Quebec).
• 1968 - Pierre Trudeau of the Liberal party wins elections. Parti Quebecois (PQ) is formed to push for complete
independence for Quebec.
• 1970 - Members of a radical Quebec separatist group, the Front de Liberation du Quebec, kidnap a British trade
official and murder a Quebec minister.
• 1976 - PQ wins elections in Quebec.
• 1980 - A referendum on the separation of Quebec is defeated.
10. History of Canada
1982 Canada is Free
• 1982 - The UK transfers final legal powers over Canada. Canada is now completely free. The country adopts its new constitution, which includes a charter of rights.
• 1984 - Trudeau retires. Elections are won by the Progressive Conservatives under Brian Mulroney. Mulroney realigns foreign policy towards Europe and the US.
• 1985 - 329 people, including 280 Canadians, are killed in a bomb attack on an Air India jet travelling between Montreal and London.
• 1989 - Canada and the US agree to establish free trade.
• 1991 - Canadian forces participate in the Gulf War following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
• 1992 - Canada, US and Mexico finalize the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement NAFTA.
• 1993 - Mulroney resigns as leader of the Progressive Conservatives in February but remains prime minister until June. He is succeeded by Kim Campbell, Canada's
first female prime minister. The Canadian parliament ratifies NAFTA. Campbell calls an election in October, but her party suffers a humiliating defeat, winning only 2
seats when previously it had held 169. Campbell resigns. Jean Chretien of the Liberals becomes prime minister.
• 1995 - A referendum in Quebec rejects independence by a margin of only 1%.
• 1997 - Chretien is re-elected prime minister with a reduced majority.
• 1998: Court says Quebec can't go it alone.
• 1998 - Supreme court rules that if Quebec votes to secede, it can only carry out the policy with the federal government's consent. For its part, the federal government
is obliged to negotiate on secession if a majority of Quebec's citizens desires it.
• 2000 - Chretien again elected prime minister. His Liberal Party picks up votes in Quebec, weakening support for Quebec separatists.
• 2001 April - Leaders of countries from across the Americas meet in Canada at the Summit of the Americas. They reaffirm their commitment to setting up the world's
largest free trade zone by 2005.
• 2003: Quebec separatists defeated
• 2003 March - Canada opts not to join the US-led coalition against Iraq. The move sparks fierce domestic political debate, and Prime Minister Chretien comes under
fire from Washington.
• 2003 April - Liberal Party beats the Parti Quebecois (PQ) in provincial elections in Quebec, ending nine years of rule by the pro-independence party.
• 2003 December - Former finance minister Paul Martin is sworn in as prime minister. Jean Chretien retires after 10 years in office.
• 2004 June - Prime Minister Paul Martin is returned to power in general elections, but his Liberal party is stripped of its majority.
• 2005 May - Government wins a confidence motion in parliament by just one vote. The opposition had been determined to defeat the government over a 2004
financial scandal.
• 2005 November - A commission set up to investigate the scandal involving misspent government money exonerates PM Paul Martin, but criticizes his predecessor
Jean Chretien.
• 2005 November - Paul Martin's minority Liberal government is brought down in a vote of no confidence.
• 2006 January - Stephen Harper's Conservatives defeat Paul Martin in general elections, ending 12 years of Liberal government.
• 2006: Canada backs Quebecer nationhood.
• 2006 June - In a major anti-terror operation, 17 people are arrested in Toronto on suspicion of planning attacks. An official says the men were inspired by al-Qaeda.
• 2006 November - Parliament agrees that the Quebecois should be considered a "nation" within Canada. The proposal was put forward by PM Stephen Harper.
• 2007 March - The Action Democratic Party, which advocates more autonomy for Quebec but within a federal Canada, makes dramatic gains in provincial elections.
• 2011 May - Conservatives win third consecutive term, and a parliamentary majority. The elections shake up the Liberal Party by slipping to third place for the first
time
11. Bibliography
Thanks to these excellent web sources
• Google.com/images/Canadian
• Faculty.marianopolis.edu/Quebec History
• Faculty.marianopolis.edu/chronolofoctober19
70crisis
• http://news.bbc.co.uk.2.hi.americas/country_
profiles/1203358.stm
• www.ameriquefrancaise.org
• Rise and Fall of the American Nation/textbook
