-
Canada Joins League of Nations
Jan 10, 1920 - Canada became a founding member of the League of Nations. -
Treaty of Versailles in Effect
Jan 10, 1920 - The Treaty of Versailles ending the First World War took effect. It established the League of Nations, an organization for international co-operation, with Canada as a founding member. -
Period: to
Group of Seven Exhibit
May 7, 1920 to May 27, 1920 - The first exhibition of the Group of Seven was put on display at the Art Gallery of Toronto. The Group articulated a sense of a distinctly Canadian art, rooted in the Canadian landscape. -
Canadian Forum Founded
May 14, 1920 - The Canadian Forum magazine was founded; it is Canada's oldest continually published political periodical. -
Arthur Meighen Becomes PM
Jul 10, 1920 - Robert Borden resigned and was succeeded as Conservative prime minister by Arthur Meighen. -
First Woman Cabinet Minister
1921 - Mary Ellen Smith was appointed to the provincial Cabinet in BC, the first woman Cabinet minister in the British Empire. -
Bluenose Launched
Mar 26, 1921 - The schooner Bluenose was launched at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. -
United Farmers of Alberta Win
Jul 18, 1921 - The United Farmers of Alberta won the provincial election, forming the government until 1935. They chose Herbert Greenfield as premier. -
Parlby Elected Cabinet Minister
Jul 18, 1921 - Irene Parlby was elected to the Alberta Legislature as an MLA for Lacombe in the United Farmers of Alberta government. Only the second woman in the British Empire to hold ministerial office, she was particularly active on issues related to public health care, improved wages for working women and married women's property rights. -
Banting and Best Isolate Insulin
Jul 27, 1921 - Frederick Banting and Charles Best at the University of Toronto first isolated insulin. The first diabetes patient was treated on January 11, 1922. Banting and J.J.R. Macleod received the Nobel Prize for their achievement. -
Liberals Win Minority
Dec 6, 1921 - In a federal election, the Liberals won a minority government with 116 seats. The Conservatives took 50, the Progressives 65 (there were 4 other members). Mackenzie King became prime minister. -
First Woman Elected
Dec 6, 1921 - Agnes Campbell Macphail became the first woman elected to the House of Commons, and J.S. Woodsworth was the first socialist elected to the House. Macphail promoted the co-operative movement, peace, civil liberties and social reform. -
King Becomes Prime Minister
Dec 29, 1921 - W.L. Mackenzie King became prime minister of Canada for the first time. -
United Farmers of Manitoba Win
1922 - The United Farmers of Manitoba won the provincial election, with John Bracken as premier. -
Chanak Affair
Sep 15, 1922 - Britain sent a telegram calling upon the Dominions to contribute soldiers in a demonstration of the Empire's solidarity against the Turks. PM King was noncommittal. -
Halibut Treaty
Mar 2, 1923 - The "Halibut Treaty" with the US was the first treaty signed independently by Canada, without the participation of an Imperial delegate. -
Chinese Immigration Act
Jul 1, 1923 - The Chinese Immigration Act was replaced by legislation that virtually suspended Chinese immigration on the day known to the Canadian Chinese as "Humiliation Day." -
Bank Fails
Aug 17, 1923 - The Home Bank of Montreal failed, the first chartered bank to do so since the Farmer's Bank in 1911. -
United Farmers of Canada
1926 - The Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association amalgamated with the Farmers' Union of Canada to create the United Farmers of Canada. -
King-Byng Affair
Jun 25, 1926 - Mackenzie King's Liberals were defeated on a motion of censure. Governor General Byng refused to grant King's request to dissolve Parliament. Byng asked Arthur Meighen to form a government, which he did, on June 29. -
Meighen Nonconfidence
Jul 2, 1926 - The Meighen government was defeated in a nonconfidence motion. -
King Forms Minority
Sep 14, 1926 - In a federal election the Liberals and Conservatives reversed fortunes with the Liberals winning 116 seats and the Conservatives 91. The Progressives won 13 seats and the UFA 11; there were 14 others. King became prime minister again, forming a minority. -
King Prime Minister Again
Sep 25, 1926 - Mackenzie King became prime minister again. -
Balfour Report
Nov 18, 1926 - The Balfour Report was adopted at the Imperial Conference, which met in London from October 19 to November 23. This was a resolution defining Britain and the self-governing Dominions as "autonomous communities within the British Empire, equal in status." -
Old-age Pension Introduced
May 28, 1927 - The House of Commons approved the old-age pension plan. -
Persons Case
Apr 24, 1928 - In the Persons Case, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously decided women were not "persons" who could hold public office as Canadian senators. In 1929 the British Privy Council reversed the decision. -
Williams Wins Olympic Gold
Jul 30, 1928 - At the Olympic Games in Amsterdam, Percy Williams of Vancouver won the gold medal in the 100 m sprint. He added gold in the 200 m August 1. -
Women Legally Persons
Oct 18, 1929 - The Imperial Privy Council ruled that women were legally "persons" and therefore could hold seats in the Canadian Senate. -
Market Crash Ignites Depression
Oct 19, 1929 to Oct 24, 1929 - The selling of stocks on the New York Stock Exchange accelerated, leading to panic selling and tumbling prices. By Black Thursday, October 24, the economic boom of the 1920s was in ruins and the Great Depression began. -
Second Stock Market Crash
Nov 13, 1929 - A second stock market crash hit Canada.
