Canadian History Timeline, A.D. 1000-1984

This timeline is adapted from Atlantic Canadian History class assignments, Mount Allison University, 1991-93, and "Notable dates in Canadian History," The Canadian World Almanac and Book of Facts, 1989 (Toronto: Global Press, 1988), pp. 21-27. Notification of errors is appreciated:

As an example of what I learned during my education I have gathered some facts straight from the net. The history that we all are taught is quite biased based on my own perspective.
If our history books were more accurate, then maybe, we would all be a little more tolerant of eachother.

Text taken from the The Canadian World Almanac and Book of Facts, will be colored RED.

Information that I have located during my search for Black Canadian History, will be colored WHITE.
In the 400 years that we have lived in Canada, Blacks have been part of many important milestones in Canada's history and culture. The following is a list of some of these highlights.

11th-16th Centuries

ca.1000 Norse build settlement at L'Anse-aux-Meadows (northern tip of Newfoundland)

1497 Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) claims Cape Breton Island (or Newfoundland) for England

1534 Jacques Cartier explores Gulf of St. Lawrence

1541 Cartier and Sieur de Roberval found a settlement on St. Lawrence River, but it fails.

1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert, brother-in-law of Sir Walter Raleigh, sails for Newfoundland from England

1588 English fishing fleet delays sailing to Newfoundland to participate in the defeat of Spanish Armada

1598 The Marquis de la Roche lands 40 convicts on Sable Island


17th Century

1603 Sieur de Monts obtains charter to all the land lying between 40th-46th degree north latitude

1604-06 Mattieu da Costa travels with the Champlain expedition to Port Royal.
He serves as an interpreter between the French and the Micmac Indians of the area.

1605 Port Royal, the first permanent French settlement in North America, founded

1608 Quebec (the city) founded by Samuel de Champlain

1610 Etienne Brule lives among Huron and is first European to see Great Lakes

1613 Port Royal sacked by Samuel Argall and his pirates from Virginia

1621 James I of England grants Acadia to Sir William Alexander who renames it New Scotland (Nova Scotia)

1627 Company of One Hundred Associates is founded to establish a French Empire in North America

1628 Olivier Le Jeune, an 8-year-old boy from Madagascar, arrives in Quebec. He is the first recorded slave purchase in New France. Le Jeune is probably the first person of African origin to live most of his life in Canada.

1629 Quebec (the city) captured by an English fleet led by David Kirke, (he also captured Port Royal the year before)

1631 Charles de la Tour builds Fort La Tour (a.k.a. Fort Saint Marie) at the mouth of the Saint John River

1632 British lose control of Acadia due to the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye

1632 Isaac de Razilly sails from France with 300 people hoping to establish a permanent French settlement in Acadia

1636 French crown grants Gulf of Maine and Bay of Fundy to d'Aulnay; La Tour gets Nova Scotia peninsula

1639 Smallpox epidemic decimates Huron people; population reduced by 50%

1642 Montreal is founded

1649 Attacks by the Iroquois disperse the Huron; disrupts fur trade over the next fifteen years

1652 Massachusetts General Court licenses traders going from Massachusetts to Acadia

1660 English Navigation Act prohibits foreigners from trading with English colonies

1663 Louis XIV assumes personal control of New France

1667 France, England and the Netherlands sign the Breda Treaty in July and with this England gives Acadia to France

1667 First census of New France records 668 families, totalling 3,215 non-native inhabitants

1670 Hudson's Bay Company is formed and granted trade rights over all territory draining into Hudson's Bay

1676 West Country merchants attempt to enforce restrictions on settlement in Newfoundland

1682 French explorer La Salle reaches the mouth of the Mississippi

1686 King James II & Louis XIV sign neutrality pact handing forts of St. John's & Port Royal back
to the French

1690 Sir William Phips captures almost all of the French possessions in Acadia

1697 Treaty of Ryswick restores the status quo between France & England; Acadia is returned to the French

18th Century

1700 Population of Acadia is 1,400

1701 War of the Spanish Succession begins in Europe; spreads to North America (Queen Anne's War) in 1702

1704 French forces destroy the English settlement at Bonavista, Newfoundland

1707 Port Royal is attacked twice by the English from Massachusetts

1709 In New France, slavery becomes legal.

1710 The English take Port Royal and name it Annapolis Royal

1713 Treaty of Utrecht cedes French Acadia, Newfoundland, Hudson Bay and the "country of the Iroquois" to England

1719 Construction of Louisbourg Fortress by the French begins on Ile Royale (Cape Breton Island)

1720 Lord Baltimore sponsors expedition to bring settlers to Newfoundland

1721 800 Acadians take oath of allegiance to the French

1734 A Montreal slave named Marie-Joseph Angelique learns that she is to be sold to someone else. In an attempt to escape, she sets a fire in her mistress's house. The fire can not be contained, causing damage to half of Montreal. She is caught, tortured and hanged, bringing attention to the conditions of the slaves.

1744 France declares war on England (March 15)

1745 Louisbourg surrenders to English after six-week seige (June 17)

1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle returns Ile Royale (Cape Breton) and Ile Saint-Jean (Prince Edward Island) to French

1749 Halifax is founded by British to counter French presence at Louisbourg

1754 French and Indian War begins in North America; becomes Seven Years' War when fighting spreads to Europe (1756)

1755 Expulsion of the Acadians begins

1758 Louisbourg captured again by the British (July 27)

1759 British troops under Wolfe defeat French forces under Montcalm at Quebec; both generals are killed; Quebec falls

1759 Proclamation issued by Governor of Nova Scotia invites New Englanders to settle there

1760 Louisbourg Fortress demolished by the British

1763 Treaty of Paris gives Canada (New France and Acadia) to England

1769 Prince Edward Island becomes a separate colony

1774 Quebec Act guarantees religious freedom for Roman Catholic colonists

1776 American Revolution begins

1776 Quebec withstands American siege

1778 Captain James Cook anchors in Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island

1783 Treaty of Versailles gives Americans fishing rights off Newfoundland, but not to dry or cure fish on land

1783 More than 5,000 Blacks leave the United States to live in the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario. Having sided with the british during the American War of Independence, they come to Canada as United Empire Loyalists, some as free men and some as slaves. Although promised land by the British, they receive only varying amounts of poor-quality land, and, in fact, some receive none at all.

1783 in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Rose Fortune becomes Canada's first policewoman.

1784 United Empire Loyalists arrive in Canada; New Brunswick becomes a separate colony to accommodate them

1786 New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland allowed to import goods from the United States

1789 Alexander Mackenzie journeys to the Beaufort Sea, following what would later be named the Mackenzie River

1791 Constitutional Act divides Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada

1792 Captain George Vancouver begins his explorations of the Pacific Coast

1792 A large number of the Black Loyalists in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia migrate to Sierra Leone in West Africa, mainly because the promises of land in Canada were not kept by the British.

1793 Under the leadership of Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe, Upper Canada passes a law to stop people from bringing slaves into Upper Canada. The law also frees slaves who are 25-years old or more. With this act, Upper Canada becomes the first British territory to bring in legislation against slavery, although it does not abolish slavery entirely.

1794 Jay Treaty allows U.S. vessels into British ports of the West Indies; British agree to evacuate Ohio Valley forts

1796 About 600 Blacks from Jamaica are deported to Nova Scotia. Known as Maroons, they help rebuild the Halifax Citadel. In 1800, most of them leave for Sierra Leone, Africa.

1799 American competition for West Indies trade kills Liverpool, Nova Scotia's merchant fleet


19th Century

1800 Spain cedes Louisiana back to France

1804 1,400 American ships are fishing off Labrador and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence

1809 Napoleon's continental blockade cuts British access to Scandinavian timber

1812 War of 1812 declared, allowing Maritime colonies to profit from illegal trade

War of 1812 Fighting on the same side as White militia and Mohawk Indians, a group of Black soldiers forces American invaders to retreat in the Battle of Queenston Heights.

Some 2,000 Blacks come from the United States to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick during the War of 1812.

1812 Red River settlement founded by Hudson's Bay Company

1813 Amerindian chief Tecumseh is killed at the Battle of Moraviantown

1814 Treaty of Ghent ends War of 1812; no territorial gains on either side

1817 Famine in Newfoundland due to poor postwar economy

1817 Nova Scotia population estimated at 78,345

1818 49th parallel becomes British North America/U.S. border from Lake of the Woods to Rocky Mountains

1821 Hudson's Bay Company merges with arch rivals, the Montreal-based North West Company

1825 Opening of Erie Canal gives New York competitive edge over Montreal

1829 Opening of Lachine Canal restores level playing field for Montreal

1833 Royal William, formerly operating between Quebec & Halifax, becomes first steamship to cross Atlantic

1834 At midnight July 31, slavery comes to an end in all British territories, including British North America. To honour this important event, August 1 is celebrated as Emancipation Day in Windsor, Ontario, and elsewhere.

1837 Two separate rebellions, one in Upper and one in Lower Canada, fail to dislodge entrenched elites

1837 Black militia units participate in putting down the rebellion in Upper Canada.

Early-mid 1800s More than 30,000 American Blacks escape slavery in the United States and come to Canada. In the United States, the Fugitive Slave Act is passed in 1850. It provides that even free persons can be made a slave if suspected of being a runaway. As a result, more fugitive slaves and free Black persons come to Canada.

1839 Lord Durham's Report recommends union of Upper and Lower Canada, and responsible government

1841 Act of Union unites Upper and Lower Canada

1841-42 The Dawn Settlement in what is now Dresden, Ontario, is established to provide self-help for Blacks in agricultural communities.

1842 New Brunswick/Maine boundary settled by Webster-Ashburton Treaty

1843 Fort Victoria built by British to strengthen their claim to Vancouver Island

1845 Halifax native Samuel Cunard chooses Boston as the western terminus for his steamships

1846 British Prime Minister Robert Peel announces Free Trade, ending old Colonial mercantile trade system

1848 Responsible government established in Nova Scotia and Canada

1849 The boundary at the 49th parallel is extended to the Pacific Ocean (bisecting Point Roberts!)

1850s From her home in St. Catherines, Ontario, Harriet Tubman makes 19 trips into the United States to help slaves escape to Canada.

In Ontario, the Common Schools Act is passed providing for separate schools for Blacks and Roman Catholics. This results in the creation of separate schools for Blacks, leading in some cases, to Whites refusing to have their children attend schools with Blacks. In Hamilton, Ontario, there are riots as some parents try to prevent Blacks from attending schools with White children.

1853 Mary Ann Shadd becomes the first woman in North America to become a editor of a newspaper. Working out of Chartam, Ontario, she publishes, edits and writes in the Provincial Freeman, a newspaper serving the Black community in Ontario.

1854 Establishment of the African Baptist Association of Nova Scotia.

1854 Reciprocity (free trade) begins between British North America and the United States

1856 Formation of the British Methodist Episcopal Church (BME), an all Black church.

1857 Queen Victoria names Ottawa as Canada's capital

1858 About 600 Blacks from California move to Victoria British Columbia. One of them, Mifflin Gibbs, later plays a key role in persuading British Columbia to become part of Canada.

1859 Abraham Shadd is elected to the town council in Raleigh, Ontario and becomes the first Black elected to public office.

William Hall, born in Hants County, Nova Scotia, becomes the first Nova Scotian and the first
Black to win the Victoria Cross for Bravery in the war. The Victoria Cross is the highest
military honour in the British Commonwealth.

1860 The all-Black Victoria Pioneer Rifle Company is formed to defend British Columbia.

1861 American Civil War begins

1861 Dr. Anderson Fuffin Abbott becomes the first Canadian Born Black to graduate from
medical school.

1864 Quebec Conference sets out the terms of union for British North American colonies

1866 Fenians launch first raids into British territory (June 2)

1867 Confederation of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario forms the Dominion of Canada

1867 Sir John A. Macdonald becomes Canada's first prime minister

1869 Hudson's Bay Company surrenders territorial rights to Rupert's Land to the Crown

1869 Newfoundlanders reject Confederation in general election

1870 Louis Riel leads Metis resistance to Canadian authority; province of Manitoba created

1871 Treaty of Washington grants fishing rights on Grand Banks to United States

1871 British Columbia joins Confederation

1872 Elijah McCoy, born in Colchester, Ontario, invenets the first of his many devices
to oil engines used on trains and in factories. His inventions are so good that many people
refuse to buy imitations of his work. They insisted on having "The Real McCoy".

1873 Global economic depression begins

1876 Intercolonial Railway linking central Canada and the Maritime provinces is completed

1879 National Policy imposes tariff on manufactured goods being imported into Canada

1882 John Ware, a Texas cowboy, moves to Alberta. He introduces longhorn cattle into Canada
and pioneers the development of rodeo.

1885 Transcontinental railway is completed in Eagle Pass, B.C.; 9 days later, Louis Riel is hanged in Regina

1890 Manitoba stops public funding of Catholic schools; causes uproar in Quebec

1891 Nearly one-quarter of Nova Scotian women are working for wages outside the home

1897 Klondike gold rush begins

1898 Canada issues Christmas postage stamp showing British Empire in "flaming red"

1899 Boer War begins; the first Canadian troops to serve overseas are sent to South Africa

20th Century

1900 Federal immigration policy entices Eastern Europeans to Canadian West

1901 Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio message at St. John's, Newfoundland

1903 Canada loses Alaska Boundary dispute when British representative sides with U.S.

1903 A prospector in northern Ontario stumbles across the world's richest silver vein

1905 Provinces of Saskatchewan and Albertre a a formed

1907 Industrial Disputes Investigation Act (IDIA) requires compulsory conciliation of labour disputes

1909 Black farmers from Oklahoma start settling into Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

1910 Federal government decides to establish the Royal Canadian Navy

1911 Liberal government of Wilfred Laurier loses Reciprocity election; Robert Borden becomes Prime Minister

1912 S.S. Titanic sinks off Newfoundland; recovered bodies are buried in Halifax cemetery

1913 Canadian economy goes into a slump

1914 Canada automatically enters First World War when Britain declares war on Germany (August 4)

1914-18 Black Canadians join combat units and a construction battalion, is formed as a segregated unit in
the First World War. They serve with great loyalty, even though the Government of Canada tries
to keep Blacks out of the Armed Forces, and even though Black soldiers are abused, and sometimes
physically attacked just because of their skin colour.

1917 French munitions ship Mont Blanc catches fire & explodes in Halifax harbor on December 6th; 2,000 killed

1917 Canadians capture Vimy Ridge after British and French attempts fail

1917 Income tax is introduced by the federal government as a "temporary wartime measure"

1918 Under the War Measures Act, manufacture & sale of intoxicating beverages is prohibited in Canada

1920 With passage of the Volstead Act in the United States, the rum-running era begins

1922 Foster Hewitt makes the world's first radio broadcast of a hockey game

1923 Canada deals directly with U.S. without British participation in signing Halibut Treaty

1925 Delegation of Maritime businessmen and politicians travels to Ottawa to lobby for Maritime Rights

1926 Old age pension instituted by federal government

1926 Royal Commission (Duncan) report recommends restoration of preferential Maritime railway freight rates

1928 Supreme Court of Canada rules that women are not "persons" who can be elected to public office

1929 British Privy Council overrules Supreme Court "non-person" decision

1929 New York Stock Market crash

1931 Female worker at Ganong's candy factory in St. Stephen, N.B., makes $14/wk; her male foreman makes $32/wk

1931 Statute of Westminster grants Canada full autonomy from Britain

1933 Newfoundland Assembly votes to suspend self-government; British appoint "Commission of Government"

1934 The Dionne quintuplets are born in Callander, Ontario

1935 R.B. Bennett's "New Deal" for Canada announced; Supreme Court later declares it ultra vires

1939 Canada enters World War II after remaining neutral for 1 week; pro-war party in Quebec wins provincial election

1939-45 In the Second World War, authorities again try to keep Blacks out of the armed forces, but Blacks insist on serving their country. Eventually, they join all services of the war, often serving with distinction.

1940 Ogdensburg Agreement co-ordinates industrial output of Canada and U.S.

1942 Construction boom due to American and Canadian military bases eliminates unemployment in Newfoundland

1942 Canadian raid on French port of Dieppe is a disaster; British later claim it was useful rehearsal for D-Day

1944 Canadian troops advance further inland than any other Allied unit on D-Day (June 6)

1944 Saskatchewan voters elect the first socialist government in North America, led by Tommy Douglas

1946 Carrie Best, of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, starts publishing a newspaper called The Clarion. Later its name changes to The Negro Citizen. It continues publication for 10 years. As a publisher and writer, Carrie Best shows that Blacks are often not treated fairly in Nova Scotia. She shows how they are not served on restaurants, and kept out of theatres. Best helps to get rid of those practices, making Nova Scotia - and Canada - a better place to live.

1949 Newfoundland becomes Canada's tenth province on March 31st

1951 Mid-century census records Canada's population as 14 million

1951 Royal Commission (Massey) reports that Canadian culture is dominated by American influences

1952 First television stations in Canada begin broadcasting in Montreal (Sept. 6) and Toronto (Sept. 8)

1954 Segragation ends in Nova Scotia schools with the advent of changes to the law that permitted Segragation.

1955 Montreal Canadiens hockey star Maurice "Rocket" Richard is suspended for fighting; riots break out in Montreal

1955 The Canadian Pacific railway finally starts ot let some Blacks work as railway conductors. Before that time, many Blacks worked on the railway, primarily as porters, but none were allowed to be conductors.

1959 Canadian government cancels the Avro Arrow; many engineers on the project end up working for NASA

1959 St. Lawrence Seaway opens

1950-60 New laws make it illegal to refuse to let people work, to be served in stores or restaurants or to move into a home because of race.

1960s Large nimbers of people from the Carribean start settling in Canada.

1960 "Quiet Revolution" begins in Quebec

1962 Trans-Canada Highway officially opens

1962 Daniel G. Hill, an American born Black who moved to canada in 1950, is made the first director of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, the first government agency in Canada set up to protect citizens from discrimination. Hill later becomes chairman of the Commission. Later still, he serves as the Ombudsman of Ontario. He also writes three books, including The Freedom Seekers: Blacks in Early Canada.

The Canadian immigration policy changes, emphasising that education and skills of the applicant are to be the main criteria for entry into Canada. This leads to the "Points System" in 1967, which is considered more equitable for Blacks.

1963 Leonard Braithwaite is elected to the Ontario legislature, and is the first Black to serve in a provincial legislature in Canada.

1964 Harry Jerome of Vancouver, British Colombia, wins a bronze medal in the 100-metre dash at the Tokyo Olympics. Earlier he has run the distance in the world record time of 10.0 seconds. In 1971, he is awarded the Order of Canada "for excellence in all fields of Canadian life."

Segragation becomes against the law in Ontario, bringing an end to racially separated
classrooms in Ontario.  I did not know that starting school in 1965, that I would be a part
of the first non-segregated classrooms in Toronto.

1965 Groundfish landings in Northwest Atlantic peak at 2.8 million tons

1965 The Auto Pact, forerunner of NAFTA, is signed between United States and Canada

1969 The federal government becomes officially bilingual

1970 The FLQ, a militant separatist group in Quebec, kidnaps British diplomat & murders Quebec cabinet minister

1972 Rosemary Brown of Vancouver, British Columbia, becomes the first Black woman elected to a provincial legislature in Canada.

1974 Dr. Monestime Saint Firmin is elected Mayor of Mattawa, Ontario, making him Canada's first Black Mayor.

1976 Canada announces 200-nautical-mile coastal fishing zone

1976 Parti Quebecois under Rene Levesque wins Quebec provincial election on separatist platform

1979 Lincoln Alexander, of Hamilton, Ontario, becomes Canada's first Black cabinet minister. He serves as Minister of Labour in the federal government. from 1985 to 1991, he serves as the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.

1980 The majority of Quebecers reject separation from Canada in a referendum vote

1981 Quebec bans public signs in English

1982 New Canadian Constitution is ratified by every province except Quebec

1984 Brian Mulroney, a bilingual lawyer from Quebec, leads Conservatives to biggest landslide in Canadian history

1984-88 Daurene Lewis serves as Mayor of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. She is the first Black woman to be elected Mayor of a Canadian city.

1988 Ben Johnson, a Canadian Olympic 100 meter runner shatters the 100 meter sprinting record. Although later disqualified for steroid use by the IOC he was for a short time the fastest man ever to run that distance in all of history.

1990 Afican National Congress leader Nelson Mandela, who has just been freed from South African jail, visits Canada. He speaks to huge crowds in Montreal and Toronto.

1991 Jean-Bertrand Astride, the President of Haiti, who was forced out of his country when the military seized power, visits Canada. He meets with Prime Minister Mulroney and is warmly welcomed by the large Haitian community in Montreal, where he had studied at the University of Montreal in the 1980's.

Julius Alexander Isaac, a native of Grenada, is named Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Canada. He becomes the first Black Chief Justice in Canada and the first to serve on the Federal Court.

1996 Donavan Bailey, of Oakville Ontario becomes the fastest man in world by taking the 100 meter sprints, at the Atlanta Olympic Games.  Donavan broke both the Olympic and World records.