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Terry Fox & The Marathon of Hope
Terry Fox ran the Marathon of Hope to raise money to support cancer research. The marathon began in St. John's, Newfoundland and ended just outside of Thundery Bay, Ontario. His goal was to raise $1 for every Canadian which would have been about $24 million; however, he had to stop his run due to cancer spreading to his lungs. The importance of this event is it inspired people to support cancer research and showed that someone with a disability can do just the same thing as a healthy person. -
Signing of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom was signed by Queen Elizabeth the Second into law on April.17, 1982. The Canadian Bill of Rights preceeded the Charter; it did not have much power and could be easily influenced by the government. The Charter's importance is it guarantees human rights. Before it was established, not everyone would be treated equally; people would be discriminated against due to their background and race. -
Air India Flight 182 Disaster
It was a passenger plane that exploded near the coast of Ireland. It killed all 329 passengers and crew members, and Sikh extremists were the masterminds behind it. The cause of the crash was believed to be bombs being planted on the aircraft by Sikh extremists. The importance of this event is it warned Canada of the dangers of terrorism and made it improve its security/intelligence system to better prepare itself if another event similar to this one happened again. -
Agreement of the Montreal Protocol
It is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer through phasing out the production of substances responsible for ozone depletion. It was agreed on Sept.16, 1987 and came into force on Jan.1, 1989. The importance of this protocol is it helped decrease the amount of ozone depletion substances in the atmosphere and slowed down the thinning of the ozone layer. Furthermore, health benefits were seen as the recovery of the ozone layer prevented diseases like skin cancer. -
Brian Mulroney Apologizes to the Japanese People
Brain Mulroney apologized to the Japanese people for their mistreatment and internment during WW2. During the Second World War, Japanese Canadians were believed to be spies of Japan, so they were sent to internment camps to prevent them from helping their native country. Along with a formal apology, monetary compensation was provided to the survivors. The importance of this apology is it helped improve the government's relationship with Japanese Canadians after all they’ve done to them. -
End of The Meech Lake Accord due to Elijah Harper's Efforts
The Meech Lake Accord was done in attempts of persuading Quebec to sign the revised Canadian Constitution. In order to become law, the accord must have the consent of all 10 provinces' Parliament and Legislature. Elijah Harper (Manitoba government) did not agree which ultimately led to the failure of the accord. The significance of this event is its failure caused Quebec, largest province of Canada, to not sign the revised Canadian Constitution, and did not help improve English-French relations. -
Persian Gulf War
Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait began on Aug.2, 1990. Canada disliked what Saddam Hussein was doing, so it decided to impose sanctions on Iraq, freeze Iraqi assets in Canada and join a coalition of 34 countries to remove Iraq from Kuwait. The importance of this event is it showed how Canada was an excellent peacekeeper; Canada has completed many peacekeeping missions given by the UN. After the war ended, Canadian troops remained in Kuwait to prevent anymore fighting between the two sides. -
9/11 Attack
It was a series of suicide attacks, through using planes, done by 19 military personnel of the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda. The 9/11 Attack is known as the most deadly terrorist attack on America in history and the world still remembers it even after many years. This event is significant to Canada because it made its security system stricter to prevent a similar terrorist attack from happening on Canadian soil. (E.g. improving airport security to prevent terrorists from entering Canada) -
Canada Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage
Canada was the fourth country in the world, and the first country outside Europe, to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide. Before the legalization of same-sex marriage, people were arrested if they were to marry someone of the same sex as it was against the law at the time. The importance of this event is now same-sex couples have the same rights as opposite-sex couples and won't be discriminated against due to their sexual preference; this further guarantees every Canadian's rights. -
Stephen Harper Apologizes for Residential Schools
Residential schools were established in order to assimilate all Aboriginal people into "Canadian culture"; at the schools, the children were treated inhumanely and many died due to this. Stephen Harper decided to apologize on behalf of the government for their decision in building residential schools. The significance of this apology is it was the beginning of fixing the government's relationship with the First Nations people after the many years of mistreatment and unfairness.
