Dominion Provincial Youth Training Centre

1960s: Timeline

This time line consists of local, national, and international events relevant to the Canadian experience. It serves to contextualize the growth and evolution of VIU.

Source: The Canadian Encyclopedia Online

August 1960

  • The House of Commons approved the Canadian Bill of Rights. While not provincially binding, the Bill obliged the federal government to guarantee civil rights and freedoms to all Canadians

September 1960

  • Nanaimo's Chinatown was destroyed by fire

The clearing in the top left of the photo is the present-day site of VIU's Nanaimo campus. At the time, Nanaimo's Vocational Training School operated in facilities at the bottom of the clearing on 4th and Wakesiah.
Image courtesy of Nanaimo Community Archives

August 1961

  • Construction began of the Berlin Wall in Germany

July 1962

  • The Trans-Canada Highway officially opened

October 1962

  • The Cuban Missile Crisis began when US President John Kennedy publicly denounced the Soviet installation of ballistic missiles in Cuba

January 1963

  • Nanaimo Regional General Hospital opened its permanent location at Dufferin Crescent

August 1963

  • A massive (200,000 strong) civil rights march from the South ended in Washington DC where Martin Luther King delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech

July 1967

  • Nanaimo hosted its first Bathtub Race and became known as The Bathtub Capital of the World!

Image courtesy of Nanaimo Community Archives