12/3/1960
Canada welcomes its two millionth immigrant since the end of the Second World War.

12/3/1969
Tragedy strikes as the Canadian aircraft carrier Bonaventure is being decommissioned. The ship’s aviation fuel tanks are emptied and cleaned, but one tank does not vent properly, and the first two sailors who enter the tank are overcome by deadly fumes. Two other sailors lose their lives during the rescue attempt.

12/3/1971
Canadian Forces begin to take delivery of the Bell Kiowa helicopter. The Kiowa is acquired to replace the aging fleet of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft presently in the Canadian Forces inventory. The Kiowa is to serve as a scout helicopter with limited attack/assault capabilities.

12/4/1950
Canadian warships Cayuga, Athabaskan (2nd) and Sioux are part of a United Nations force covering the withdrawal at Chinnampo, Korea.

12/5/1944
After entering the city the day before, Canadians settle into the historic city of Ravenna, Italy.

12/5/2001
In return for amnesty, Mullah Omar surrenders Kandahar to Hamid Karzai, leader of the Pashtun forces against the Taliban.

12/6/1917
More than 1,600 people died and another 9,000 are injured in an explosion in Halifax after the French munitions ship Mont Blanc collides with the Belgian ship Imo.

12/6/1921
Agnes Macphail is the first woman to be elected to the Canadian House of Commons. Macphail was a strong advocate for the co-operative movement, civil liberties, peace and social reform.

12/6/2008
Joint Task Force Afghanistan Air Wing, which includes all Canadian Forces air assets in Kandahar, is established.

12/7/1941
Japanese forces, without warning, attack the American fleet at Pearl Harbour in the Hawaiian Islands.

12/8/1941
At 8 a.m., Japanese aircraft attack Kai Tak airport in Hong Kong and in the process damage or destroy all Royal Air Force aircraft.

12/8/1915
Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae’s poem In Flanders Fields is published by Punch magazine.

12/9/1941
A key position on the Shing Mun Redoubt is attacked and later captured by Japanese forces invading Hong Kong.

12/9/2004
Hamid Karzai becomes president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.