Modern Canada: Study Notes

This chapter covers Canada in the 20th century and after: remembering the wars, the Great Depression, postwar prosperity, international roles, Quebec’s Quiet Revolution, and Canadian achievements in sport, science and invention.

Key facts to know

• Remembrance Day is November 11. Canadians wear a red poppy and observe a moment of silence at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
• John McCrae, a Canadian medical officer, wrote the poem “In Flanders Fields” in 1915.
• The stock market crash of 1929 led to the Great Depression. Unemployment reached 27% in 1933. The Bank of Canada was created in 1934.
• Unemployment insurance (now employment insurance) was introduced in 1940. Old Age Security was devised as early as 1927, and the Canada and Quebec Pension Plans began in 1965.
• Oil was discovered in Alberta in 1947, starting Canada’s modern energy industry.
• Canada helped form NATO and joined the United States in NORAD. It fought in the Korean War (1950–53) under the United Nations.
• The Quiet Revolution of the 1960s was a period of rapid change in Quebec. The Official Languages Act (1969) guarantees federal services in French and English.
• Quebec voted against sovereignty in referendums in 1980 and 1995. The Constitution was amended in 1982 without Quebec’s agreement.
• James Naismith, a Canadian, invented basketball in 1891. Terry Fox began his Marathon of Hope in 1980.
• Famous Canadian inventions and discoveries include the telephone idea (Alexander Graham Bell), the snowmobile (Joseph-Armand Bombardier), standard time zones (Sandford Fleming), insulin (Frederick Banting and Charles Best), the pacemaker (John Hopps) and the Canadarm.

These notes summarize the official Discover Canada guide in our own words. Always check the current edition of the guide on canada.ca. Discover Canada Prep is independent and not affiliated with IRCC.