CONTENTS Introduction A Country Is Born 6 A New Country 1867 1884 8 Canada Grows 1885 1899 20 A New Century 1900 1913 28 Wartime and Beyond 1914 1928 36 The Great Depression 1929 1938 46 Return to War 1939 1953 52 Boom Years 1954 1966 62 Happy Birthday 1967 1979 68 The Digital Age 1980 1999 74 A New Millennium 2000 2017 84 Great Canadians 92 Index 96
A COUNTRY IS BORN At the stroke of midnight on July 1 1867 Canadians began to celebrate the birth of their new country Guns boomed bells chimed and people cheered A huge bonfire was lit in Ottawa the new capital Even though it was the middle of the night people poured into the streets That afternoon parades led by brass bands proudly marched down the main streets of many cities and towns The sun shone brightly in each of the founding provinces It was a perfect day to celebrate At night fireworks lit up the sky before happy Canadians wearily headed home after such an important day For the first time they had a strong feeling of unity as their nation took its place in the world They looked forward to a promising future full of growth and prosperity Although Canada didn’t become a country until 1867 it already had a long history The Vikings were the first explorers to arrive from Europe When they sailed to what’s now Newfoundland around the year 1000 they were met by Aboriginal peoples who had been living on the land for thousands of years The name Canada actually comes from the Huron Iroquois word kanata which means village Around 1535 French explorer Jacques Cartier began using the name to describe parts of the country
Aboriginal peoples knew how to survive the cold difficult climate Some of these groups had learned how to plant crops and care for them so they would provide lots of food When Europeans built permanent settlements in the 1600s Aboriginal peoples taught them how to hunt and fish They also knew what plants provided medicine Their knowledge saved the lives of many explorers and settlers Throughout its long history Canada has been a place where people have come to make their homes Before becoming its own country it was part of the French colonies called New France and later part of the British colonies of British North America Even today about 250 000 newcomers arrive in Canada each year bringing skills that help make the country a better place to live Canada’s history is the story of its people and their inventions discoveries and happenings that changed the world and how we live This book is a year-by-year look at this history from 1867 to 2017 All of the events in the country’s history would never fit into one book but many important ones are here These events both good and bad have transformed the lives of Canadians The country’s people will continue to shape not only Canada but also the world What a Country Canada is a big place In fact it’s the second-largest country in the world It holds about 10 percent of the entire world’s forests And some of its parks are bigger than entire countries Canada also has the longest coastline in the world by far and no bay on Earth has as long a shoreline as Hudson Bay You’ll find thousands of lakes in Canada more than the rest of the world combined That’s definitely something to celebrate
