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Cold War Begins 1945
With the end of hostilities after the Second World War, a bipolar world emerged. After the war there no longer existed a group of five or six great powers. There were two new superpower: the United States and the Soviet Union. Continental Europe was in ruins, Germany no longer existed, Italy was crushed, and Britain was now in obvious and serious decline due to the destruction caused by the war. This new structure formed the basis of the Cold War. -
Canada joins NATO 1949
The North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington on April 4, 1949 establishing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This political and military alliance is designed to promote the stability of the North Atlantic area and to safeguard the freedom of its peoples, based on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law. Canada has been a member of North Atlantic Treaty Organization since its inception. -
Newfoundland joined Confederation 1949
Canada "from sea to sea" became a reality in 1949 when Newfoundland joined Confederation. Although it was our newest province, its capital, St. John's, is the oldest city in Canada. European fishermen have been coming to the shores of the Grand Banks for hundreds of years. Our tenth province had held out a long time. -
Korean War begins 1950
The Korean War began when North Korea invaded South Korea. The United Nations, with the United States as the principal force, came to the aid of South Korea. China, with assistance from the Soviet Union, came to the aid of North Korea. The war arose from the division of Korea at the end of World War II and from the global tensions of the Cold War that developed immediately afterwards. Canadian soldiers as one of the United Nation allies also involved in the Korean War. -
Korean War 1950-1953
The Canadian Forces were involved in the 1950–1953 Korean War conflict and its aftermath. Canada participated on the side of the United Nations in the Korean War, with 26,000 Canadians participating in the Korean War, and Canada sending eight destroyers. Canadian aircraft provided transport, supply and logistics. 516 Canadians died in the conflict, 312 of the deaths were from combat.
After the war, Canadian troops remained for three years as military observers. -
Immigration Act 1952
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (Pub.L. 82–414, 66 Stat. 163, enacted June 27, 1952), also known as the McCarran–Walter Act, restricted immigration into the U.S. and is codified under Title 8 of the United States Code (8 U.S.C. ch. 12). -
Korean War ends 1953
The fighting ended on 27 July 1953, when an armistice was signed. The agreement created the Korean Demilitarized Zone to separate North and South Korea, and allowed the return of prisoners. However, no peace treaty has been signed, and the two Koreas are technically still at war. Periodic clashes, many of which were deadly, have continued to the present. -
AVRO Arrow 1953-1959
The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow was a delta-winged interceptor aircraft designed and built by Avro Canada. The Arrow is considered to have been an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry. The CF-105 (Mark 2) held the promise of near-Mach 2 speeds at altitudes of 50,000 feet (15,000 m) and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond. -
Vietnam War begins 1954
The Vietnam War also known as the Second Indochina War, This war was fought the First Indochina War (1946–54) and between North Vietnam—supported by the Soviet Union, China and other communist allies—and the government of South Vietnam—supported by the United States, Philippines and other anti-communist allies. -
Warsaw Pact 1955
The Warsaw Pact was a collective defense treaty among the Soviet Union and seven other Soviet satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War. -
Suez Crisis 1956
The Suez Crisis, was an invasion of Egypt in late 1956 by Israel, followed by the United Kingdom and France. The aims were to regain Western control of the Suez Canal and to remove Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser from power. After the fighting had started, the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Nations forced the three invaders to withdraw. The episode humiliated Great Britain and France and strengthened Nasser. -
John Diefenbaker 1957-1963
John George Diefenbaker, was serving from June 21, 1957 to April 22, 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an election victory, doing so three times, although only once with a majority of seats in the Canadian House of Commons. In 1960, Diefenbaker brought in the Canadian Bill of Rights, which put into law of the basic freedoms including freedom of speech, worship and assembly.This bill, however was not a part of the consititution -
Quiet Revolution 1960
The Quiet Revolution (Révolution tranquille) was a time of rapid change experienced in Québec during the 1960s. This vivid yet paradoxical description of the period was first used by an anonymous writer in The Globe and Mail. -
Cuban Missile Crisis 1962
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis , the Caribbean Crisis , or the Missile Scare, was a 13-day (October 16–28, 1962) confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union concerning Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. Along with being televised worldwide, it was the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war. -
Lester Pearson PM 1963-1968
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson OM CC OBE PC PC (23 April 1897 – 27 December 1972) was a Canadian scholar, statesman, soldier and diplomat, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis. He was the 14th Prime Minister of Canada from 22 April 1963 to 20 April 1968, as the head of two back-to-back Liberal minority governments following elections in 1963 and 1965. -
White Paper 1969
The 1969 White Paper (officially entitled Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian policy) was a Canadian policy paper proposal made in 1969 by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and his Minister of Indian Affairs, Jean Chrétien. -
October Crisis 1970
The October Crisis (French: La crise d'Octobre) was a crisis that involved the kidnapping and murder of Pierre Laporte, a provincial cabinet minister, and the kidnapping and subsequent release of James Cross, a British diplomat, by members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ). -
Immigration Act 1978
The Immigration Act. 1976, in Canada was insured in 1978 by the Parliament of Canada. It focused on who should be allowed into Canada, not on who should be kept out. The act came into force in 1978, along with new immigration regulations. This act gave more power to the provinces to set their own immigration laws and defined "prohibited classes" in much broader terms. -
USSR invades Afghanistan 1979
The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan and the U.S. Response, 1978–1980. At the end of December 1979, the Soviet Union sent thousands of troops into Afghanistan and immediately assumed complete military and political control of Kabul and large portions of the country. -
Trudeau PM 1968-79,1980-1983
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau PC CC CH QC FRSC (/truːˈdoʊ/; French pronunciation: [tʁydo]; October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000), usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was a Canadian politician who served as the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968, to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980, to June 30, 1984. -
Constitution Act 1982
The Constitution Act, 1982 enshrined the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the Constitution, and completed the unfinished business of Canadian independence — allowing Canadians to amend their own Constitution without requiring approval from Britain. -
Jean Sauve 1984
In 1970, the Trudeau government produced a report that described the problems facing women in Canada. The report made suggestion on ways to help society adjust to the changing role of women. By 1980, many of these suggestions had already been acted upon. One of the Trudeau’s decisions is appointing women to key roles in government---Jeanne Sauve was picked as the first female Speaker of the House of Commons in 1978, she later became the first female Governor General in 1984. -
Meech Lake Accord 1987
In 1987 the Progressive Conservative government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney attempted to win Québec's consent to the revised Canadian Constitution — following the Québec government's rejection of it in 1981. -
Cold War ends 1990
The cold war ended as the General Secretary of USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev make the declaration that acknowledged the independence of the former Soviet republics and created the Commonwealth of Independent States , although five of the signatories ratified it much later or not at all. The declaration made by Gorbachev does not only means the dissolution of USSR, but also symbolizes the end of Cold war that has run almost for a half century . -
Gulf War 1990-1991
The Gulf War , for operations leading to the buildup of troops and defense of Saudi Arabia and Operation Desert Storm (17 January 1991 – 28 February 1991) in its combat phase, was a war waged by coalition forces from 34 nations led by the United States against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait. More than 4,000 Canadian Armed Forces members served in the Persian Gulf region in 1990-1991. -
Oka standoff 1990
The Oka Crisis was a land dispute between a group of Mohawk people and the town of Oka, Quebec, Canada, which began on July 11, 1990, and lasted until September 26, 1990. -
Charlottetown Accord 1992
The Charlottetown Accord of 1992 was a failed, joint attempt by the government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and all 10 provincial premiers to amend the Canadian Constitution, specifically to obtain Quebec's consent to the Constitution Act of 1982. -
Brian Mulroney PM 1984-1993
Martin Brian Mulroney, PC, CC, GOQ, lawyer, businessman, politician, prime minister of Canada 1984 to 1993 (born 20 March 1939 in Baie-Comeau, QC). -
NAFTA agreement 1994
NAFTA, the North American Free
Trade Agreement, came into effect on January 1, creating the largest free trade region in the world, generating economic growth and helping to raise the standard of living for the people of all three member countries. By strengthening the rules and procedures governing trade and investment, the NAFTA has proved to be a solid foundation for building Canada’s prosperity and has set a valuable example of the benefits of trade liberalization for the rest of the world. -
Rwanda 1994
The Rwandan genocide, known officially in Rwanda as the genocide against the Tutsi, was a genocidal mass slaughter of Tutsi in Rwanda by members of the Hutu majority government. -
Peace Keeping in Bosnia 1995
For much of the 20th century, this area was a single Communist country known as Yugoslavia. However, long-standing ethnic, religious and political differences between the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Muslim populations who have lived there for centuries created an environment of distrust that made for an unstable situation. -
Kyoto Accord 1996
The Kyoto Accord is an international treaty which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that commits State Parties to reduce greenhouse gases emissions, based on the premise that (a) global warming exists and (b) man-made CO2 emissions have caused it. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. There are currently 192 parties (Canada withdrew effective December 2012) to the Protocol. -
Nunavut Territory 1999
Nunavut is the newest, largest, northernmost, and least populous territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act[8] and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act,[9] though the boundaries had been contemplatively drawn in 1993. The creation of Nunavut resulted in the first major change to Canada's political map since the incorporation of the new province of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1949.
