The worldwide Great Depression of the early 1930s was a social and economic shock that left millions of Canadians unemployed, hungry and often homeless. Few countries were affected as severely as Canada during what became known as the Dirty Thirties, due to Canada’s heavy dependence on raw material and farm exports, combined with a crippling Prairies drought.

The Dominion of Canada wasn't born out of revolution, or a sweeping outburst of nationalism. Rather, it was created in a series of conferences and orderly negotiations, culminating in the terms of Confederation on 1 July 1867.

Upper and Lower Canada were thrown into turmoil from 1837–38, when insurgents mounted rebellions in each colony against the Crown and the political status quo. The revolt in Lower Canada was the more serious and violent of the two.

The North-West Rebellion (or North-West Resistance) was a violent, five-month insurgency against the Canadian government, fought mainly by Métis militants and their Aboriginal allies in what is now Saskatchewan and Alberta.

The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued by King George III to establish a basis of government administration in the North American territories formally ceded by France to Britain in the Treaty of Paris, 1763, following the Seven Years War.

The united Province of Canada — a response to the problems and violence that plagued Lower and Upper Canada in the 1830s — was a 26-year experiment in anglophone-francophone political co-operation. During this time responsible government came to British North America, trade and commerce expanded bringing wealth to the region, and Confederation was ultimately born.

Catastrophic accidents or natural disasters may be spectacular or tragic, but they seldom have great historical significance.

The discovery of gold in the Yukon in 1896 led to a stampede to the Klondike region between 1897 and 1899. This led to the establishment of Dawson City (1896) and subsequently, the Yukon Territory (1898).

The Cuban Missile Crisis began 22 October 1962.

Police banging on doors at all hours of the day or night, ordering frightened occupants to gather up only what they could carry. Parents and children innocent of any crime ushered from their homes, herded into a central depot and sent out by train to remote camps.

Halifax was devastated on 6 December 1917 when two ships collided in the city's harbour, one of them a munitions ship loaded with explosives bound for the battlefields of the First World War.

In a time when the news of labour "strife" is dominated by disputes between millionaire athletes and billionaire owners, history provides a useful perspective on a time when working people had to fight to work less than 12 hours a day.

Although little is known about Chloe Cooley, an enslaved woman in Upper Canada, her struggles against her “owner,” Sergeant Adam Vrooman, precipitated the Act to Limit Slavery in Upper Canada, 1793 — the first legislation in the British colonies to restrict the slave trade.

In 1858 at least 30 000 gold seekers flooded the banks of the Fraser River from Hope to just north of Lillooet in British Columbia's first significant gold rush. Although short in duration, the Fraser Rush had a significant impact on the area's Aboriginal peoples.

The Charlottetown Conference of September 1864 set Confederation in motion. The meeting brought together delegates from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island to discuss the union of their three provinces.

In 1867 many Nova Scotians were reluctant to endorse CONFEDERATION. In the elections of Sept 1867 anti-Confederates captured 36 of 38 seats in the local legislature, and 18 of 19 seats in the Dominion Parliament.

Radiant sunshine bathed the Island of Montreal on the morning of May 18th, 1642. The hawthorns and wild cherry trees were in blossom and the meadow, where a group of French colonists had set up an altar, was dotted with trilliums and violets.

On January 11, 1914, Vilhjalmur Stefansson's flagship, Karluk, was crushed and sunk by the tumultuous, rumbling ice of the East Siberian Sea. Not an auspicious start for an invasion, but that is exactly what it turned out to be.

When Toronto's Roman Catholic parishioners attended church services on 15 May 1847, they were read a letter from Bishop Michael Power that urged them to prepare for a sudden influx of refugees from one of the worst human disasters of the 19th century.

Naming a country is no small task. The name should evoke feelings of pride and strength and reflect the character of the land and its people.

During the golden summer of 1908, Canadians celebrated the 300th anniversary of the founding of Québec with a public spectacle rarely rivaled for scale or theatricality since. Then, as now, there were those who wanted to conflate the founding of Québec with the birth of Canada.

Lillian Clarke, 15, worked late at the hotel in Frank on April 28, so her employer offered her a room for the night. It was the first time the young girl remained away from home overnight.

The year 1858 is the single most important year in British Columbia’s history. It was on August 2 of that year that an imperial act established the mainland colony of BC under the authority of Governor James Douglas.

For one brief historical moment in 1858, the most important spot in British Columbia was a gravel bed in the Fraser River about two kilometres south of Yale. It was only 45 metres long when the river was low (and invisible when the water rose). It was called Hill's Bar.

Robert Henderson drifted downstream in the shallow waters of the Indian River, heading toward Forty Mile to get supplies for the men panning for gold at Gold Bottom Creek.