Canada's Defining Moments

Canada has been a nation for 136 years this July first and there have been many important points in her history. Three of these stick out as defining moments in Canadian history, the patriation of the Canadian constitution, the creation of the CBC and Canada's involvement in the 'D' day invasion of France.

The British North America act is Canada's original constitution. It gave the Canadian government the power to make its own laws but all new laws had to be approved by the British government. Prime Minister Trudeau decided that it was time for Canada to bring home the constitution. After discussion with the premiers of each province an agreement had been reached between the provincial and the federal government. Three main points of the agreement were 1. The power to amend the constitution would be brought home to Canada 2. Changes to the constitution could be made if the federal government and seven of the provinces agreed 3. The charter of rights and freedoms would be added to the constitution. All of the provinces agreed to this except Quebec and the deal was approved by

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On the morning of June 6 1944 hundreds of thousands of allied soldiers swarmed on to the beaches of Normandy in southern France.

. They were preparing to invade Nazi controlled Europe. The operation code named 'D' day or day of deliverance was the largest military operation in history. When the Canadian soldiers landed at Juno beach they faced many obstacles such as barbed wire and German machine gun posts. For this the CBC helped unite a country. Some people say that hockey night in Canada unified the country. By 1957 the CBC was broadcasting in both French and English 10 hours a day plus 85% of Canadians had access to the programming. Canadians no longer had to watch the news in the United States and watch world events from an American perspective.