1 March 1633
Samuel de Champlain becomes the first governor of New France.

Samuel de Champlain.

2 March 1923
Canada signs its first independent international treaty—with the United States— to preserve the Pacific halibut fishery.

3 March 1942

An Avro Lancaster of No 1 Group, Bomber Command, silhouetted against flares, smoke and explosions during the attack on Hamburg, Germany, by aircraft of Nos 1, 5 and 8 Groups on the night of 30/31 January 1943. This raid was the first occasion on which H2S centimetric radar was used by the Pathfinder aircraft to navigate the force to the target.
Credit: Imperial War Museum

Avro Lancasters lay mines off the coast of Germany in their first combat flight.

4 March 1943

H.M.C.S. ” Shediac” off the coast of British Columbia, 16 December 1944.

HMCS Shediac and HMCS St. Croix sink U-87 in the North Atlantic.

5 March 1945
Operation Thunderclap sends 760 bombers, including 185 Canadian, against war factories in Chemnitz, Germany.

6 March 1940
The Agricultural Supplies Board is established to safeguard wartime agricultural supplies.

7 March 1876
A patent is issued for Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone.

8 March 2001
Women can now serve on submarines.

9 March 1812
A British spy’s letters are presented to the U.S. Congress, sparking the War of 1812.

10 March 1992
Citing his “unique and historic role,” the House of Commons declares Métis leader Louis Riel a founder of Manitoba.

11 March 1756

Marquis Louis Joseph de Montcalm is named major-general and three weeks later sets off for New France.

12 March 1930
First World War ace Billy Barker dies in a plane crash.

13 March 1928

Eileen Vollick becomes Canada’s first licensed female pilot.

14 March 1974
The Canadian Forces Total Force concept erases lines between regular and reserve air units.

15 March 1813

After a 24-day snowshoe march, 550 soldiers from Fredericton reach Quebec City to strengthen British North America’s defences.

16 March 1935
In violation of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany introduces conscription.

17 March 1908

The National Battlefields Commission is created to preserve the Plains of Abraham battlefield.

18 March 1931
The Royal Canadian Legion wins its campaign—the House of Commons replaces Armistice Day with Remembrance Day, to be observed on Nov. 11.

19 March 1885
The Northwest Rebellion begins.

20 March 1944
The First Canadian Army has a new commander: Lt.-Gen. Harry Crerar.

21 March 1898
The Yukon Field Force raises 203 militia volunteers to support the North West Mounted Police.

22 March 1916
The Newfoundland Regiment arrives in France and prepares for the Battle of the Somme.

23 March 1918
The 1st Canadian Motor Machine-Gun Brigade moves to the front at Arras, France.

24 March 1975
The beaver becomes an official symbol of Canada.

25 March 1944
The Great Escape sees 76 Allied airmen escape a German POW camp, aided by tunnel king RCAF Lieut. Wally Floody.

26 March 1941
An accidental explosion near Halifax sinks HMCS Otter, killing 19.

27 March 1915

Lieut. Frederick Maurice Watson Harvey runs ahead of his men to capture a machine gun at Guyancourt, France, and is awarded the Victoria Cross.

28 March 1918
Five days of anti-conscription riots begin in Quebec City, ending when the army fires on a crowd, killing four and wounding dozens.

29 March 2010
The Canadian Forces ends 19 years of operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

30 March 1951
Flt. Lt. Omer Lévesque shoots down a North Korean fighter jet over North Korea.

31 March 1945

PL-51164 28/02/51 F/L Omer Levesque, Montreal, in front of F-86 at Newcastle County Airport, Delaware.

The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan winds up after graduating 131,553 pilots, observers and navigators.