timeline Education This timeline lists significant moments in education in Canadian history. March 26, 1789 Education Pictou Academy Founded A Nova Scotia statute established the Pictou Academy. December 19, 1813 Education Death of James McGill Fur trader James McGill died, leaving an endowment of £10 000 for a college in Montreal (later McGill University). May 22, 1820 Education Dalhousie University Cornerstone The cornerstone of Dalhousie University was laid in Halifax. March 31, 1821 Education McGill Receives Charter University of McGill College (forerunner of McGill University) received its charter. February 10, 1829 Education King's College Founded King's College at Fredericton (later the University of New Brunswick) received a royal charter. UNB was incorporated in 1859. January 04, 1830 Education Upper Canada College Opened Upper Canada College opened at York (later Toronto). January 21, 1839 Education Acadia College Opens Acadia College opened at Wolfville, NS. September 18, 1841 Education Public Schools Established An Act for the establishment and maintenance of public schools in Canada was passed. October 16, 1842 Education Queen's University Founded Queen's University was founded as Queen's College. January 19, 1843 Education Mount Allison Founded Mount Allison Wesleyan Academy was opened in Sackville, NB. December 09, 1843 Education Bishop's University Founded Bishop's University at Lennoxville, Quebec, was founded. December 31, 1849 Education King's College Becomes U of T King's College in Toronto was secularized, becoming on January 1, 1850, the nondenominational University of Toronto. January 15, 1852 Education Trinity College Opened Toronto's Trinity College opened. December 08, 1852 Education Laval University Charter Laval University at Quebec received a royal charter. August 15, 1866 Education University of Ottawa Formed The College of Ottawa became the University of Ottawa. July 01, 1867 Education BNA Act Protects Some Minority Religious Education Rights The? British North America Act ?of 1867 gave provinces authority over? education ?with one significant exception: Section 93 of the? Act ?protected the religious education rights of the? Protestant ?minority in? Quebec ?and the? Roman Catholic ?minority in? Ontario . In Quebec, a dual confessional school system, controlled by Protestants and Roman Catholics, became entrenched in law. Although? Jews ?and members of other faiths could attend either Protestant or Catholic schools, they did not possess equal education rights. April 16, 1874 Education Agricultural College Opens The agricultural college at Guelph, Ont, received its first students. February 28, 1877 Education University of Manitoba Founded The University of Manitoba was organized by provincial statute and opened June 20. March 07, 1878 Education Universities Incorporated The University of Montreal and the University of Western Ontario were incorporated. April 23, 1887 Education McMaster Founded McMaster University was founded in Toronto by the union of Woodstock College and the Toronto Baptist College. March 31, 1890 Education Manitoba School Act The Manitoba School Act abolished publicly funded support for separate schools for Catholics. The aggrieved French minority argued that the Act violated the agreements under which Manitoba entered Confederation. January 01, 1903 Education Pinsler Case and Education Act, 1903 After a Protestant school board ?refused to honour a scholarship won by Jacob Pinsler, the son of Jewish immigrants, the Pinslers sued. However, the Quebec Superior Court upheld the board’s position because only Protestants and? Roman Catholics ?had constitutional education guarantees. Fallout from the Pinsler case led to the adoption of the? Education Act ?in 1903. It stipulated that Jews would be considered Protestants for educational purposes, and the Protestant board would receive funding based on enrolment. Nevertheless, problems persisted and dissatisfaction on all sides increased. ( See also Jewish School Question .) March 07, 1908 Education UBC Founded The University of British Columbia was founded. It began operations in 1915. September 23, 1908 Education University of Alberta Opens The University of Alberta at Edmonton opened, with 37 students. October 08, 1908 Education College Marguerite-Bourgeoys Opened After many years of deliberations, Sœur Sainte-Anne-de-Marie opened the first high school for girls in Montreal, on Sherbrooke Street. It would become the College Marguerite-Bourgeoys. September 20, 1910 Education Ecole des Hautes Opens The Ecole des Hautes etudes commerciales opened in Montreal. August 17, 1912 Education Circular No. 17 The Ontario Department of Instruction issued Circular No. 17, which banned the use of French in Ontario schools past Grade 1. May 08, 1919 Education L'Universite de Laval de Montreal Established With the signature of the Quum Illmi by Pope Benoit XV, l'Universite de Laval de Montreal became independent from l'Universite de Laval de Quebec. It would become l'Universite de Montreal. February 14, 1920 Education L'Universite de Montreal The Universite de Montreal was incorporated. November 30, 1924 Education Taschereau’s Special Commission on Education In 1924, Quebec Premier Louis-Alexandre Taschereau established a Special Commission on Education to examine the case of Jewish students in Quebec’s public school system. After the commissioners remained at an impasse, Taschereau referred the 1903?Act?to the Quebec Court of Appeal. It concluded that the Act violated section 93 of the? BNA Act ?and was therefore invalid. Jews ?had no legal rights to attend Protestant schools, teach or serve as commissioners. The court also ruled that the Quebec government did not have the authority to set up separate schools. The government appealed the decision to the? Supreme Court of Canada . In 1926, it upheld the appeal court rulings but concluded that the provincial government had the right to establish separate schools. In 1928, the case was referred to the? Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ?in Britain, which agreed with the Supreme Court. ( See also Jewish School Question .) April 01, 1930 Education The David Bill is Enacted in Quebec In April 1930, the Liberal government of Premier? Louis-Alexandre Taschereau ?passed a law to create??a? Jewish school board ?in? Quebec . Under the statute, government-appointed? Jewish ?commissioners were legally required to continue negotiations with the? Protestant ?and? Catholic school boards . However, the commissioners obtained few concessions other than an end to segregation. Discriminatory practices in hiring and religious education continued, as did taxation without representation. Opposition to the David Bill ? named after Provincial Secretary Athanase David ? erupted. Support within the Jewish community was split. The? Roman Catholic Church ?denounced the Bill and French-Canadian nationalists protested. The Bill was repealed in 1931. ( See also Jewish School Question .) March 26, 1959 Education York University Founded Ontario's 10th university, York University in Toronto, was formed. September 19, 1960 Education University of Calgary Founded The University of Alberta opened a new 130 ha campus on the outskirts of Calgary - later to become the University of Calgary. June 06, 1961 Education CUSO Formed CUSO was founded to place skilled Canadians in postings to provide technical assistance in the Third World. March 01, 1963 Education Simon Fraser U Established The BC government established Victoria College as the University of Victoria, and founded Simon Fraser University in Burnaby (opened 9 September 1965). May 27, 1963 Education NAIT Opens The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology opened in Edmonton. January 01, 1965 Education Last Racially Segregated School in Ontario Closes Thanks to the activism of? Black ?parents, racially segregated schools in? Ontario ?were gradually phased out. The last racially segregated school in Ontario, School Section No. 11 in Colchester, closed in 1965. This was accomplished after newly elected? MPP Leonard Braithwaite ?pushed for the clause on segregated schools for Blacks to be officially removed from provincial? education policy . Ontario and? Nova Scotia ?were the only provinces to legislate racially segregated schools. The last one in Nova Scotia, in Guysborough County, closed in 1983. However, informal segregation was present in other provinces including? Alberta ,? Saskatchewan ,? New Brunswick ?and? Prince Edward Island .? September 09, 1965 Education Simon Fraser U Opened Simon Fraser University opened in Burnaby. January 29, 1969 Education Sir Williams Computer Riot A committee dismissed the complaint by six Black Caribbean students at Sir George Williams University (now part of Concordia University, Montreal) who accused a biology lecturer of racism. The students and 200 of their supporters subsequently occupied the Computer Hall and initiated one of the largest student uprisings in Canadian history. February 15, 1973 Education Pearson College Established Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific was established north of Victoria. August 24, 1974 Education Concordia University Created Concordia University was created in Montreal by the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University. September 25, 1974 Education Pearson College Opens The first 100 students arrived to begin classes at the Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific, outside Victoria. January 01, 1993 Education Ontario Launches Anti-Racism Education Guidelines In 1993, the? Ontario ?Ministry of Education and Training launched the? Anti-Racism and Ethnocultural Equity in School Boards ?guidelines ? a resource for? school boards ?to implement policies to identify and eliminate various forms of? racism . Since then, the anti-racism education movement has grown and progressed throughout Canada. November 02, 1996 Education Death of Margaret Ormsby Historian Margaret Ormsby, whose book British Columbia: A History (1958) was the standard history text of BC for 3 decades, died at Kalamalka Lake, BC. January 01, 1997 Education BNA Amendment Allows Neutral Linguistic School Boards The? Jewish School Question ?was finally resolved in 1997 when section 93 of the? BNA Act ?was amended. This enabled the creation of religiously neutral linguistic school boards to replace confessional schools in? Quebec . The transition to a? secular ?public school system granted legal education rights to the? Jewish ?community in Quebec after more than 100 years of inequality. June 30, 1997 Education Poll on Knowledge of Canada An Angus Reid poll found that the average Canadian student knew the answer to only 10 of 30 questions about Canada. only 30% could identify John A. Macdonald as Canada's first prime minister. October 27, 1997 Education Teachers Strike in Ontario Five unions representing 126 000 teachers went on strike in Ontario, the largest teacher strike ever in north America. The teachers protested reforms put forward by the Mike Harris government. The strike ended Nov 7. March 16, 2005 Education Student Protest in Quebec One of the biggest protests ever, involving 80,000 students, took place in downtown Montreal. At issue was a $103 million cut to bursary funds by the government. As many as 200,000 college and university students from nearly every region went on strike for six weeks. August 26, 2021 Education Ryerson University Announces It Will Be Renamed The board of governors of Ryerson University agreed to accept all 22 recommendations made by the Standing Strong (Mash Koh Wee Kah Pooh Win) Task Force, which was established in December 2020 to “develop principles to guide commemoration at the university and to respond to the history and legacy of Egerton Ryerson within the context of the university’s values.” The recommendations included renaming the school and making materials available on the history and legacy of Egerton Ryerson , one of the architects of Canada’s residential school system.