Canadian Historical Events in January

Canadian Historical Events is a daily guide to the important events that shaped Canada to what it is today. It is a compilation of significant events for the month of January including the birth and death of famous Canadians as well as laws promulgated by authorities. The list is constantly updated to incorporate the most recent events.

Canada Historical Events in January

Day	Year	Event
1	985	A Norse-Icelandic explorer named Bjarni Herjólfsson sighted North America, probably some parts of northeastern Canada. Thus, he is now considered as the first European to discover Canada.
1	1850	Bytown (now Ottawa) was incorporated as a town and named after John By who was instrumental in the building of the Rideau Canal.
1	1855	Bytown was incorporated as a city and renamed Ottawa.
1	1894	Calgary was incorporated as a city.
1	1947	The Canadian Citizenship Act, the law which created the legal status of Canadian citizenship, came into force.
1	1994	The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, United States and Mexico took effect.
1	2001	Ottawa amalgamated all the municipalities of the Regional Municipality of Ottawa–Carleton into one single city.
2	1988	Leaders of Canada and the United States signed the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA).
4	1993	Kim Campbell becomes the first woman minister of defence in Canada and the first woman to become minister of defence in a NATO member state.
9	1892	Edmonton was incorporated as a town.
11	1934	Birth: Jean Chrétien, the 20th prime minister of Canada
12	1819	The Apostolic Vicariate of Upper Canada was established on territory split off from the then Roman Catholic Diocese of Québec.
16	1947	Birth: Thomas Christopher Collins, a Canadian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who was the Metropolitan Archbishop of Toronto from 2007 to 2023.
19	1910	Neil McNeil was appointed as first Archbishop of Vancouver.
21	1890	The Roman Catholic Diocese of Alexandria was established in Ontario Province.
25	1874	The Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Canada (now suffragan Diocese of Peterborough) was established out of the territory of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kingston.
27	1826	The Apostolic Vicariate of Upper Canada was promoted as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kingston in Ontario Province.
28	1822	Birth: Alexander Mackenzie, the second prime minister of Canada