Every year the guide expects you to know, in order. Bold entries are the ones that appear most often.
| 1215 | Magna Carta — start of the 800-year tradition of ordered liberty |
| 496 | Fleur-de-lys said to be adopted by the French king |
| c.1000 | Vikings reach Labrador and Newfoundland (l'Anse aux Meadows) |
| 1497 | John Cabot maps the Atlantic shore |
| 1534–42 | Jacques Cartier's three voyages; kanata |
| 1604 | First European settlement north of Florida — St. Croix, then Port-Royal |
| 1608 | Champlain builds a fortress at Québec City |
| 1670 | Charles II grants the Hudson's Bay Company its monopoly |
| 1701 | French and Iroquois make peace |
| 1759 | Plains of Abraham — Wolfe and Montcalm both killed |
| 1758 | First representative assembly, Halifax |
| 1763 | Royal Proclamation (George III) — Aboriginal territorial rights |
| 1774 | Quebec Act — religious freedom for Catholics, French civil law restored |
| 1776 | 13 colonies declare independence; 40,000+ Loyalists flee north |
| 1791 | Constitutional Act — Upper and Lower Canada |
| 1793 | Upper Canada (Simcoe) first in the Empire to move against slavery |
| 1807 / 1833 | Britain bans the slave trade / abolishes slavery in the Empire |
| 1812–14 | War of 1812. Brock at Detroit and Queenston Heights; de Salaberry at Châteauguay (1813); Laura Secord (1813); White House burned (1814) |
| 1832 | Montreal Stock Exchange opens |
| 1837–38 | Rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada |
| 1840 | Upper and Lower Canada united as the Province of Canada |
| 1847–48 | Nova Scotia — first colony with full responsible government |
| 1849 | La Fontaine, first leader of a responsible government in the Canadas |
| 1857 | Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa as capital |
| 1867 | Confederation, 1 July — Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia. BNA Act. Macdonald first PM |
| 1869–70 | Riel's Red River uprising; Manitoba created (1870) |
| 1871 | British Columbia joins, on a railway promise |
| 1873 | P.E.I. joins; North West Mounted Police founded |
| 1885 | Last spike, 7 November; Riel executed; Banff National Park |
| 1891 | Naismith invents basketball |
| 1892 / 1909 | Stanley Cup (Lord Stanley) / Grey Cup (Lord Grey) |
| 1898 / 1905 / 1949 / 1999 | Yukon / Alberta and Saskatchewan / Newfoundland / Nunavut |
| 1899–1902 | Boer War — 7,000+ volunteers, 260+ dead |
| 1914–18 | First World War. 600,000+ served; 60,000 killed, 170,000 wounded |
| 1917 | Vimy Ridge, 9 April — 10,000 killed or wounded |
| 1916 / 1918 / 1921 / 1940 | Women's vote: Manitoba / federal / Agnes Macphail first woman MP / Quebec |
| 1918 | Armistice, 11 November |
| 1921 | Red and white become national colours (George V) |
| 1927 / 1934 / 1940 / 1965 | Old Age Security devised / Bank of Canada / unemployment insurance / CPP and QPP |
| 1929 / 1933 | Stock market crash / unemployment reaches 27% |
| 1939–45 | Second World War. 1 million+ served, 44,000 killed |
| 1944 | D-Day, 6 June — 15,000 Canadians take Juno Beach |
| 1945 | German surrender 8 May; Japan surrenders 14 August |
| 1947 / 1951 | Oil in Alberta / majority can afford food, shelter, clothing |
| 1948 / 1960 | Vote for Japanese Canadians / Aboriginal people |
| 1950–53 | Korean War — 500 dead, 1,000 wounded |
| 1952 | Elizabeth II becomes Queen of Canada |
| 1965 | Current flag raised for the first time |
| 1967 | Order of Canada — centennial of Confederation |
| 1969 | Official Languages Act |
| 1970 / 1972 | La Francophonie founded / Henderson's goal |
| 1980 | O Canada proclaimed national anthem; first Quebec referendum; Terry Fox |
| 1982 | Charter of Rights and Freedoms entrenched; Constitution amended without Quebec |
| 1985 / 1988 / 1994 | Rick Hansen / free trade with the U.S. and apology to Japanese Canadians / NAFTA |
| 1995 | Second Quebec referendum — defeated |
| 2002 / 2012 | Golden Jubilee / Diamond Jubilee |
| 2006 | Québécois recognized as a nation within Canada; Head Tax apology |
| 2008 | Residential schools apology |
| 2022 | King Charles III accedes — not in your 2021 guide |