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The Start Of The Marathon Of Hope
Terry Fox dips his prosthetic leg in the Atlantic Ocean to begin The Marathon of Hope. This was an across Canada run that Terry trained a lot for. He ran a marathon each day with his friend, Doug Alward, by his side. After running 18 miles, Terry's bone cancer got worse and spread to his lungs. He ended up running a total of 3,339 miles and died at 1981 but raised a total of $24.17 million dollars for cancer research. He raised awareness about cancer across Canada. -
Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms enhances the protection of Canadian human rights. This was a document that was part of Canada's constitution with a total of 34 sections and it was presented by Pierre Elliot Trudeau. It requires the House of Commons, Senator, and 2/3 of the provinces representing over 50% of Canadians to approve for any changes to occur to the Charter or any part of the constitution. -
Marc Garneau
Marc Garneau was one of the first Canadian Astronauts and the first Canadian in outer space. He took part in three flights abroad NASA space shuttles. He flew on the U.S. space shuttle Challenger, STS-41-G as payload specialist. In February 2001, he was appointed executive vice-president of the Canadian Space Agency, and became its president on November 22, 2001. -
Free Trade Agreement
The Canada-U.S. free trade agreement is signed by the Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and U.S. President Ronald Reagan. The agreement eliminated barriers to trade in goods and services between Canada and the U.S. This agreement came into effect in January 1st, 1989. With Mexico joining in on the trade in January 1st 1994, they changed it to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This stengthened relations between Canada and the U.S. It also provided jobs for many Canadians. -
Oka Criris
This was a land dispute in Oka, Quebec between town officials and Mohawks. This turned into a 78 day stand-off. This was the first well-publicized violent conflict between First Nations and the Canadian government in the late 20th century.The conflict arose after the Mohawks' sacred land that included pineland and a burial ground, marked by standing tombstones of their ancestors was being taken away and made into a golf course and residential development. Sept 1990, Mohawks surrender to police. -
Quebec Referendum
This was the second referendum that asked in the Canadian province of Quebec whether or not Quebec should split from the rest of Canada. The votes came out very close. 49.42 (2,308,360 voters) voted "yes" and a mere 50.58% (2,362,648 voters) voted "no" keeping Quebec with Canada. This was the closest Quebec had ever been to separating from Canada. This referendum was launched by Parti Québécois. -
Nunavut
Canada's newest territory, Nunavut, is split from the eastern Northwest Territories. The Inuit attempted to gain their own territory and self government since the 1970's and finally claimed title to Nunavut when they signed the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. In this agreement, the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada recieved about 350,000 km2 of land, capital transfer payments of $1.9 billion over 15 years and a $13 million Training Trust Fund for the establishment of the Government of Nunavut, and more. -
9/11
Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked 4 commercial airplanes to attack the U.S. and used 2 of those planes and flew them into the World Trade Center towers in New York. Al-Qaeda was a militant Islamic organization founded by Osama Bin Laden. About 3000 people died, including 26 Canadians. The Canada Border Services Agency was created in 2003 to increase Canada's border security. After 9/11, Muslims were treated differently due to racial profiling. Canadians of Muslim faith felt more unwelcomed after 9/11 -
Civil Marriage Act
Canada was the fourth country in the world, and the first country outside of Europe, to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act which provided a gender-neutral marriage definition. This was introduced by Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberal minority government in the Canadian House of Commons. This was the third vote supporting same-sex marriage taken by three Parliaments under three Prime Ministers in three different years. This allowed gay marriages.
