1 January 1885

Standard time goes into effect, the brainchild of Canadian Pacific Railway chief engineer Sir Sandford Fleming.

2 January 1940

The first Canadians decorated in the Second World War, Pilot Officer S.R. Henderson and Wing Commander J.F. Griffiths, are awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

2 January-8 February 1950

Lester Pearson is aboard the RCAF’s first around-the-world flight, en route to a foreign ministers’ conference in Ceylon.

4 January 1945
U-boats claim the Norwegian steamship Polarland and Canadian merchant ship Nipawin Park off the coast of Nova Scotia.

5 January 1948
The National Defence College opens in Kingston, Ont.

6 January 1915

The Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry arrives at the trenches in France.

7 January 1904
The Marconi International Marine Communication Company establishes CQD—Come Quickly Distress—as the first international radio distress signal.

8 January 1838
During the Patriot War, rebels seize a lighthouse near Amherstburg, Ont., but are captured the next day by Canadian militia.

10 January 1814
Militia captures an American patrol near Missisiquoi Bay in Lower Canada.

11 January 1957

HMCS Magnificent delivers troops and materiel for the United Nations Emergency Force controlling the Israeli-Egyptian border.

12 January 1945
A 10-metre Japanese incendiary balloon bomb is found on a family farm south of Regina.

13 January 1942
Canadian fighter pilots arrive in Singapore, part of a force of 50 Hawker Hurricanes.

14 January 1952
HMCS Uganda, the only Canadian warship to fight the Japanese, is recommissioned as HMCS Quebec.

15 January 2006
In Afghanistan, a car bomb kills diplomat Glyn Berry, severely wounds Private William Salikin, Corporal Jeff Bailey and Master Corporal Paul Franklin.

18 January 1995
A film is broadcast of a disturbing hazing by Canadian Airborne Regiment members at CFB Petawawa in Ontario.

19 January 1943


Princess Margriet of the Netherlands is born in Ottawa where her mother Juliana, who became queen in 1948, sheltered during the war.

20 January 1968

Robert Shankland, awarded the Victoria Cross at the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917, dies.

21 January 1900
A second contingent of 1,281 Canadian troops sails from Halifax for the Boer War.

22 January 1874


Louis Riel is re-elected as Member of Parliament for Provencher in Manitoba, but an arrest warrant in Ontario prevents him from taking his seat.

23 January 1953


Flight Lieutenant Ernie Glover receives the first peacetime Distinguished Flying Cross awarded to RCAF personnel.

24 January 1978
After an out-of-control Soviet satellite re-enters the atmosphere, radioactive debris falls across Northern Canada.

25 January 1900

Nursing sisters receive the rank and pay of lieutenants.

27-30 January 1973
An airlift delivers 115 Canadian personnel to South Vietnam for peacekeeping duties.

28 January 1980
Ambassador to Iran Kenneth Taylor aids the escape of six diplomats who sought sanctuary at the Canadian Embassy after 66 American hostages were taken during the Iranian revolution.

29 January 1942
Eight RCAF members are among those killed in the first bombing raid on the German battleship Tirpitz.

30 January 1915

The Canadian Cavalry Brigade is formed in England under command of Brigadier-General J.E.B. Seely.

31 January 2006
Canada signs a five-year international commitment to support security, governance and development in Afghanistan.