Canadian Centennial

In 1961, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker announced that the federal government would provide funding for the construction of about 860 buildings as centennial projects.

[2] The prime minister, Lester Pearson, appointed in 1965 a committee headed by Ernest Côté to plan events in Ottawa for 1967.

[3] The CBC commissioned Gordon Lightfoot to write the song the "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" for broadcast on January 1, 1967.

Active until 1980, Challenge for Change used film and video production to illuminate the social concerns of various communities within Canada, with funding from eight different departments of the Canadian government.

The impetus for the program was the belief that film and video were useful tools for initiating social change and eliminating poverty.

[5] In Toronto, the Caribana parade and festival was launched in 1967 as a celebration of Caribbean culture, and as a gift from Canada's West Indian community in tribute to the Centennial year.

They sailed in different types of watercraft to include rubber-rafts, canoes, kayaks, river-boats, power-boats, skiffs, cabin cruisers, and four Amphicars.

[13] The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, or Expo 67 as it was commonly known, was the general exhibition, Category One World's Fair held in Montreal from April 27 to October 29.

In retrospect, the centennial is seen as a high point of Canadian aspirations prior to the anxious decade of the 1970s that saw the nation divided over issues relating to inflation, an economic recession, government budget deficits and Quebec separatism.

The locomotives were painted in purple, grey, and black livery and had a custom air horn that sounded the first four notes of "O Canada."

The image on the reverse of this version shows the original Parliament Buildings, and the obverse includes a green monochrome adaptation of the stylised maple leaf Centennial logo marked with the years 1867 and 1967.