Key Events in History

Aboriginal Peoples

Women

Minorities and Immigration

Canadian

1955
1960 Canadian Bill of
Rights introduced

1958 James Gladstone

becomes first Aboriginal
senator

1960

1965

1960 Aboriginal peoples win

right to vote in federal
elections

1965 Aboriginal peoples win

the right to vote in
Alberta
1969 Aboriginal peoples win
the right to vote in
Qubec

1970

1975

White Paper proposes

changes for Aboriginal
peoples, including
eliminating the Indian
Act
1970 Red Paper demands
Aboriginal selfgovernment
1973 Supreme Court
recognizes Aboriginal
land title in Calder case

1980

Qubecs Quiet
Revolution begins

1963 Betty Friedans book

The Feminine Mystique
launches the womens
movement

1962 Most racial

discrimination is
eliminated from
Canadas immigration
policies

John Diefenbaker
(conservative)

1958 U.S. and Canada sign

NORAD agreement

1969 Bill C-150 recognizes

the right to abortion
and gives women
access to contraception
1971 National Action
Committee on the
Status of Women
established

1960

1965 Maple leaf flag

adopted

1962 Cuban Missile Crisis

Berlin Wall erected

19631968
Lester Pearson (liberal)

1966 Canada Pension Plan

introduced
1967 Canadas centennial

1969 Bill C-150

decriminalizes
homosexuality
1971 Official policy of
multiculturalism
introduced

Pierre Trudeau (liberal)

1970

1968 Canadian International

Development Agency
(CIDA) created
1969 Bill C-150 (Omnibus
Bill)

19791980
Joseph Clark (conservative)
1973 International oil crisis
Vietnam War ends

1975

1970 October Crisis

1970s

Trans-Canada Highway
completed

Provinces across
Canada change family
law to gradually
eliminate gender bias

19801984
Pierre Trudeau (liberal)
1980 First Qubec
referendum on
sovereignty-association

1984 (3 months)

1988 Canadian
Multiculturalism Act
(Bill C-93)

19841993
1987 FTA signed with U.S.
1989 Berlin Wall falls

Brian Mulroney
(conservative)

1985

1995 Second Qubec

referendum

1990

1991 Soviet Union collapses

and Cold War ends
1992 Earth Summit in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

1993 (5 months)

1994 NAFTA implemented

19932003

Rwanda genocide

Kim Campbell (conservative)

Jean Chrtien (liberal)

1995

1997 Kyoto Protocol signed

2000 UN members adopt
Millennium Development
Goals

1997 Delgamuukw decision

1999 Nunavut created

2000 Nisgaa Treaty

2008 Prime Minister Harper

apologizes to former
residential school
students

1990 Persian Gulf War begins

UN publishes first
Human Development
Report

1992 Charlottetown Accord

1993 Kim Campbell

becomes Canadas first
female prime minister

1996 Last federally funded

residential school
closes

2006 Residential school

settlement agreement

1987 Meech Lake Accord

1980

John Turner (liberal)

Tiananmen Square
massacre in China

1993 B.C. Treaty

Commission
established

1965

19681979

Expo 67

Official Languages Act

1977 Aboriginal peoples halt

Mackenzie Valley
Pipeline

Sparrow case
establishes that
Aboriginal rights, such
as hunting and fishing,
in existence in 1982
are protected under
the Constitution

1955

Medical Care Act

1967 Royal Commission on

the Status of Women

1990 Oka land dispute

2005

19571963

1956 Suez crisis

1963 FLQ bombings in

Montral

1985

2000

1955 Warsaw Pact formed

1961 Vietnam War begins

Constitution patriated

1995

Prime Ministers

1962 Medicare established

in Saskatchewan

1982 Canadian Charter of

Rights and Freedoms

1990

International

2006 Federal government

apologizes for Chinese
Head Tax
2008 Prime Minister Harper
apologizes for
Komagata Maru
incident

2000 Environmental
Protection Act came
into force

2001 Terrorist attack on the

World Trade Centre in
New York

20032006

2003 Iraq War begins

Paul Martin (liberal)

2000

2005 Kyoto Protocol takes

effect
2009 UN Climate Change
Conference in
Copenhagen, Denmark

2006
Stephen Harper (conservative)

2005