Before 1899 | 1900 to 1980 | Since 1980

Dates in history between 1900 - 1980

November 1905 : Treaty No. 9 is signed between the Cree First Nations in Northern Ontario and the Government of Canada.

July 1906 : Treaty No. 10 is signed by the Cree and Chipewyan First Nations in Saskatchewan and the Government of Canada.

August 1907 : An entire crew of Mohawk ironworkers is killed when the Quebec bridge they are working on collapses. The Mohawk clan mothers say Mohawk ironworkers must never again work all together on one job.

March 1913 -: Renowned Aboriginal poet E. Pauline Johnson (also known by her Mohawk name Tekahionwake) dies in Vancouver. Johnson, the daughter of Chief George Henry Martin Johnson, was born at Chiefswood on the Six Nations Mohawk Reserve near Brantford

September 1924 : The Canadian government refuses to allow the Six Nations Confederacy to remain as the traditional government of the Iroquois people on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario.

January 1949 : Onondaga athlete Tom Longboat, won the Boston Marathon in a record two hours and 24 minutes. Longboat's name was added to the Canadian Indian Hall of Fame. He retired from distance running and competitions in 1912.

January 1958 : James Gladstone, a member of the Blood Tribe in Alberta, is appointed to the Canadian Senate. He is Canada's first Aboriginal Senator.

March 1959 : The government sends the RCMP to evict traditional Iroquois chiefs and clan mothers from their meeting place on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario. Many people are hurt in this attempt to force the people from their traditional ways.

April 1965 : Leonard S. Marchand becomes the first Aboriginal person on the Cabinet staff when he is appointed as Special Assistant to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. He is later appointed to the Senate.

January 1966 : The first newspaper of its kind in the Arctic, The Drum, begins publishing. It features articles written in both Inuktitut and English.

April 1969 : Louis Riel's 32-page handwritten account of the Northwest Rebellion in 1870 is given to the National Archives of Canada, located in Ottawa.

December 1969 : The Canadian government sets up an Indian Claims Commission to deal with land claims.

January 1971 : Radio Tutoyakt begins daily broadcasts in English and Inuktitut from Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories.

May 1972 : The Quebec Indian Association files a legal action aimed at stopping the James Bay hydro-electric power project. The Association bases its claim to compensation on the Transfer Act of 1912, under which Quebec gained a large part of its northern land.

January 1973 : A ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada states that the Nisga'a First Nation in British Columbia retains no Aboriginal rights over the Nass River Valley.

February 1973 : Jean Chrétien, then Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, agrees to First Nations' local control of their own education.

February 1973 : Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau meets with Yukon Chiefs and agrees to negotiate Aboriginal land claims.

March 1973 : First Nations in Alberta receive a settlement of $190,000 in fulfillment of an agreement made, but never honoured, under the terms of their 1877 treaty, to provide $2,000 every year for ammunition.

March 1973 : Chief Dan George is presented with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Brandon University in Manitoba.

July 1973 : Queen Elizabeth II is given a sacred pipe and a scroll by chiefs from Saskatchewan to remind her of treaties and promises Britain made to Aboriginal people in Canada.

August 1973 : Canada's Supreme Court affirms that Status Indian women marrying non-Status Indian men lose their Aboriginal status.

November 1973 :A Quebec court rules that work on the James Bay Hydro Project must stop after hearing protests by Cree leaders.

March 1974 : The British Columbia Court of Appeal issues a decision that Status Indian children do not lose their Indian status when adopted by Aboriginal parents who are not Treaty Indians.

April 1974 : Prime Minister Trudeau appoints Ralph Steinhauer, former Chief of the Saddle Lake First Nation, as the Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta. Steinhauer is the first Aboriginal person in Canada named to a vice-regal position.

August 1974 : Canada's first Aboriginal Games are held in Saskatchewan as part of the Treaty No. 4 celebrations.

September 1974 : The United States rules that Aboriginal people born in Canada have a right to travel freely between Canada and the United States without registering at the United States border or using visas.

March 1975 : The Northwest Territories elects an Aboriginal majority in its Legislative Assembly for the first time.

January 1976 - : The first Native Law Centre in Canada opens at the University of Saskatchewan.

March 1977 : Willie Adams from Rankin Inlet is the first Inuit senator to be appointed to Parliament.

October 1977 : The federal government begins the Post-Secondary Education Assistance Program for Status Indian students going to college or university.

September 1978 : More than 300 high school students from Kahnawake (near Montreal) walk out of their classes to protest the Quebec government's French-language requirements for students.

December 1978 : The Quebec government promises to protect the rights and cultures of Aboriginal peoples if the province separates from Canada.

July 1979 - : Chiefs travel to Britain to argue against giving Canada its own constitution and call for Canada first to honour commitments made to Aboriginal people.

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