From Ellesmere Island to Pelee Island, from Tofino to St. John’s, we’ll show you where it all happened. You’ve read about all kinds of interesting people and events in Kayak. Get clicking to see where in Canada you’ll find them.

Firsts - Canadian People, Places and Things

Southeastern Labrador About 7,500 years ago, First Nations in this area—known to archaeologists as the Maritime Archaic Indians—buried a child in North America’s first known burial mound.

Halifax, Nova Scotia Cornwallis Street Baptist Church is set up in 1832 to serve the city’s growing Black population.

Moncton, New Brunswick The first name of this city was Le Coude, French for The Elbow. It was named by Acadian farmers who settled in the area around the bend in the Petitcodiac River.

Prince Edward Island Tiny P.E.I. grows nearly one-third of Canada’s potatoes. The first record of a potato crop on the island is in 1771, when a report sent to the governor in England describes the harvest as “phenomenal.”

Quebec City, Quebec The first big Carnaval, the city’s huge winter festival, took place in 1894. Mascot Bonhomme Carnaval first appears in 1955.

Tweed, Ontario Canada’s first all-female local council was elected in this village in 1967. It only lasted four years; in the next election, one woman lost by a few votes to a man.

Lower Fort Garry, Manitoba The first treaty in the new country of Canada was signed with First Nations of southeastern Manitoba in August, 1871. Not surprisingly, it is known as Treaty 1.

Montmartre, Saskatchewan The first Ukrainians in Saskatchewan settled in the area of Montmartre, southeast of Regina, in 1895.

Fort McLeod, Alberta The RCMP set up its first post in Alberta here in 1874. One of the new officers’ most important jobs was to control the trade in whisky.

Lillooet, British Columbia This was the first town on the route that took prospectors in search of gold into the B.C. interior starting in the 1860s. Lillooet is known as Mile 0 on the Cariboo Wagon Road.

Norman Wells, Northwest Territories The first oil well in the north started pumping here in August, 1920. In 1985, Canada’s first completely buried pipeline started moving the oil to northern Alberta.

Watson Lake, Yukon The first person to put up a sign showing the distance to his home was Carl Lindley, an American soldier working on the Alaska Highway, in 1942. Since then the world-famous signpost forest has sprung up around it.

Rankin Inlet, Nunavut Jordin Tootoo, the first Inuit to play in the National Hockey League, is from here. He plays for the Detroit Red Wings.