07/9/1944
British and Canadian forces enter the severely bombed city of Caen, Normandy.

07/9/1969
The federal government recognizes English and French as Canada’s official languages.

07/9/1982
An unemployed father of two breaks into Buckingham Palace and spends several minutes talking to the Queen before being arrested.

07/10/1943
The Allied invasion of Sicily, code-named Operation Husky, begins just before dawn. Included in the first wave is 1st Canadian Infantry Div., commencing the nation’s first sustained commitment to the ground war against Germany. The division lands southwest of Pachino against numerous, but erratically motivated Italian units. By day’s end, the Canadians secure all their objectives, kill 100 enemy and capture 650 prisoners at a cost of seven dead and 25 wounded.

07/11/1812
American soldiers under the command of General William Hull invade Canada from Detroit.

07/11/1979
Small pieces of Skylab I are found scattered across Western Australia. Chunks of the U.S. space laboratory also land in the southern Indian Ocean. The unoccupied lab was launched in 1973.

07/11/1990
Officers from the Surete du Quebec try to dismantle a blockade set up by Mohawks near Oka, Que. One officer is shot and killed.

07/12/1950
Canadian destroyers HMCS Cayuga, HMCS Athabaskan and HMCS Sioux are sent to Korea.

07/12/1972
No. 406 Squadron, equipped with Sea Kings and Trackers, is formed at Canadian Forces Base Shearwater, N.S.

07/13/1909
C.K. Hamilton completes first powered and directed flight in Canada at Montreal in a dirigible.

07/13/1971
Ten army officers are executed by firing squad in Morocco after a failed coup.

07/14/1915
First aircraft built on a Canadian production line has its maiden flight at Toronto. The aircraft is a Curtiss JN-3 trainer)

07/14/1976
Canada formally abolishes the death penalty.

07/15/1870
Manitoba and the Northwest Territories enter Confederation.

07/15-16/1900
A Squadron of the Canadian Mounted Rifles and B Squadron of the Royal Canadian Dragoons participate in a major battle at Wittpoort Pass against the Boers.