What was the Canadian Centennial of 1967?

The Canadian Centennial of 1967 marked the 100th anniversary of Confederation, celebrated across the country with year-long events, community projects, and national symbols including the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill, the Order of Canada, and Expo 67 in Montreal. The federal Centennial Commission, established by Parliament in 1963 and chaired by John Fisher, coordinated the celebrations under Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson.

Pearson lit the Centennial Flame at the front of Parliament Hill at 12:01 a.m. on January 1, 1967 with a torch carried in stages from Victoria, British Columbia. The flame burns continuously and is fed by natural gas piped from a fountain inscribed with the names of all twelve provinces and territories at the time (Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, and Northwest Territories; Nunavut, created in 1999, was added later).

Centennial projects funded jointly by the federal, provincial, and municipal governments built community centres, libraries, ice arenas, parks, and museums in nearly every Canadian community. The Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown (the cradle of Confederation) opened in October 1964 and remains in use. Each province and territory built a major Centennial project: Manitoba's Centennial Concert Hall, Ontario's Centennial Plaza in Toronto, Quebec's Grand Théâtre de Québec, and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa (opened 1969, slightly behind schedule).

The Centennial Train and Caravans toured every province carrying exhibits on Canadian history. Bobby Gimby's song 'CA-NA-DA' became the unofficial Centennial anthem. The Voyageur Centennial Canoe Pageant retraced fur-trade routes from Rocky Mountain House to Expo 67 in 100 days. Roughly 50.3 million visitors attended Expo 67 itself, the year's signature event. The 1967 cohort of new Canadians taking citizenship oaths was particularly large, as the Citizenship Act ceremonies became a Centennial tradition.