4 June 1940 

The evacuation from Dunkirk is completed. Six Canadians die in the battle.

5 June 1981

The first case of AIDS is reported. 

6 June 1944 

Nearly 160,000 Allied soldiers land in Normandy, France, on D-Day. 

10 June 1999

The Kosovo War ends. 

11 June 1847 

Explorer John Franklin dies aboard HMS Erebus, ice-bound in the Arctic.

12 June 1941 

Rail yards at Schwerte, Germany, are targeted in the Royal Canadian Air Force’s first bomber attack of the Second World War.

13 June 1898

After a gold rush, the Yukon joins Confederation, becoming Canada’s second territory.

14 June 1841 

The first session of the Parliament of the Province of Canada is opened by Baron Sydenham in Kingston, Upper Canada.

15 June 1891 

John Abbott is sworn in as Canada’s third prime minister, the first born on Canadian soil. 

16 June 1914 

Valcartier Garrison is created in anticipation of the First World War.

17 June 1928 

Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.

18 June 1815 

Napoleon suffers a shattering defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.

22 June 1813 

Laura Secord walks 32 kilometres to warn the British that the Americans are planning an attack.

26 June 1936 

The twin-rotor Focke-Wulf Fw 61, the world’s first helicopter, lifts off.

27 June 1946 

The Canadian Citizenship Act, which confers citizenship on all Canadians, regardless of place of birth, is passed. It would come into force
the following year. 

28 June 1914 

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria is assassinated in Sarajevo, igniting the First World War.

29 June 1922 

France grants Canada land surrounding Vimy Ridge for a memorial park; the Canadian National Vimy Memorial is unveiled there in 1936.