EVENTS THAT CHANGED THE HISTORY OF YOUR WORLD SINCE 1954

1955 - Introduction of Salk Polio Vaccine Beginning of Fibre Optics

1957 - Louis St. Laurent out, John Diefenbaker in Sputnik launched – 1st artificial satellite

1958 - Integrated circuits

1959 - St. Lawrence Seaway opens

1960 - Canadian Bill of Rights passed Laser technology begun

1961 - Formation of the New Democratic Party First human in space - Yuri Gagarin

1962 - Cuban missile crisis

Saskatchewan Medicare becomes prototype for all provinces

1963 - John Diefenbaker out, Lester Pearson in Assassination of President Kennedy of the U.S.

1965 - Canada adopts Maple Leaf flag

Canada Pension Plan established by the House of Commons Beginning of Vietnam War

1966 - First soft landings on the moon

1967 - First human heart transplant Black Holes discovered

Six day Arab-Israeli war Expo'67 in Montreal

1968 - Lester Pearson out, Pierre Trudeau in

Assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy

1969 - Canada becomes officially bilingual Woodstock Music Festival

1970 - Quebec crisis - terrorists kidnap British Trade Minister James Cross and Canadian Pierre Laporte - Ottawa invokes the War Measures Act - Pierre Laporte murdered by terrorists

National Guard kills four students at Kent State University

1971 - Munich massacre at the Olympics

1973 - Beginning of the Internet

1975 - First home computer Ebola virus appears

1976 - Capital punishment abolished Montreal Olympics held

First Parti Quebecois government led by Rene Levesque Whites accept principle of black majority rule in South Africa

1979 - Pierre Trudeau out, Joe Clark in

EVENTS THAT CHANGED THE HISTORY OF YOUR WORLD (Continued)

1980 - Joe Clark out, Pierre Trudeau in

1981 - First space shuttle flight

Prince Charles marries Diana Spencer

1982 - New constitution for Canada (including Charter of Rights and Freedoms), severs remaining ties with Britain

First genetically engineered product - insulin

1983 - Pioneer 10 leaves our solar system Compact discs appear

1984 - Pierre Trudeau out, John Turner in John Turner out, Brian Mulroney in HIV determined to be cause of AIDs

1986 - Expo ‘86 in Vancouver

MIR Space Station deployed Chernobyl power plant melts down

1988 - Calgary Winter Olympics

1989 - Massacre at L’Ecole Polytechnique, University of Montreal Break-up of the Soviet Union

Fall of the Berlin Wall

1990 - Meech Lake Accord dies

Nelson Mandela released from South African prison World Wide Web established

1992 - Charlottetown Accord defeated Cloning of living beings

1993 - Brian Mulroney out, Kim Campbell in Kim Campbell out, John Chretien in

1994 - NAFTA between Canada, Mexico, and U.S. Nelson Mandela elected President of South Africa

1995 - Quebec referendum on separation defeated by 1%

1999 - Nunavut becomes a territory

2000 - North Pole ice melts - 1.5 km of open water Working draft of human genome completed

2001 - World Trade Centre destroyed by terrorists

2004 - Paul Martin elected with a minority

Water verified present on Mars by Odyssey lander

U.S. attacks Iraq

1

NEAT MEMORIES FROM THE 40’s AND 50's (partly purloined from Polson)

Saturday matinees at the movies with yo-yo competitions at intermission and newsreels before the movie started
Vico and milk monitors
Chocolate iodine pills, which kept us goiter free
The Interurban War stamps bought with our nickels
The Shoot-the-Chute and Big and Little Dippers at Hastings Park
That strange primitive elevator at Spencer's
Malted milks that you ate with a long spoon
Collecting silver paper for the war effort Milk deliveries by horse
Milk in bottles with the cream on top (and which, when it froze, pushed the top up)
Throwing milk tops onto the ground in an attempt to win other milk tops
Steelies and cat's eyes Balloon tires
Big Little Books
You calling your friends (literally and in a loud voice)
Your mother calling you when it was time to come in
Peggie (cricket with rubber bicycle handles)
Fluoroscopic machines in the shoe departments that let you see your toes
The first rnargarine into which you had to mix the colour, by hand
Bobby socks, hobble skirts, bomber jackets, strides, saddle shoes, bell bottoms
Chinese vegetable and fish men in ancient black trucks
The Crystal Dairy
Taking the streetcar over that shaky old trestle to Kits Beach
The Kingsway, Rio, Circle, and Grandview theatres
Radio programs - Ma Perkins, Captain Midnight, Red Ryder, I Love a Mystery, The Thin Man, Amos'n Andy, The Shadow, Inner Sanctum, The Lone Ranger
The Kozy Fountain
Rushing outside when an airplane went over
Playing ball, tennis or whatever at the park with no adults and no rules
Brewers Park, Jones Park, Renfrew Park
Roller skates with toe clarnps and keys
Double Dutch rope skipping
Jacks, Hopscotch and Anti-anti I Over (or is it Auntie Auntie Eye Over)
Swimming in Trout Lake or Crystal Pool or Lumberman's Arch
Peashooters
Jawbreakers and Blackjack gum
Tinker toys
Candy cigarettes when you could be cool
Coffee shops with tableside jukebox machines
Baseball cards in your bicycle spokes