1783 in Canada
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See also: 1782 in Canada, other events of 1783, 1784 in Canada and the list of 'years in Canada'.
Events
- The North West Company is formed.
- American independence is formally recognized at the Treaty of Paris.
- The success of the rebellious 13 American colonies leaves the British with the poorest remnants of their New World empire and the determination to prevent a second revolution. However, they have to accommodate the roughly 50.000 refugees from the American Revolution who settle in Nova Scotia and the upper St. Lawrence. There these United Empire Loyalists soon begin to agitate for the political and property rights they had previously enjoyed.
- Treaty of Versailles gives Americans fishing rights off Newfoundland, but not to dry or cure fish on land.
- More than 5,000 Blacks leave the United States to live in the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario. Having sided with the British during the American War of Independence, they come to Canada as United Empire Loyalists, some as free men and some as slaves. Although promised land by the British, they receive only varying amounts of poor-quality land, and, in fact, some receive none at all.
- In Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Rose Fortune becomes Canada's first policewoman.
- The border between Canada and the U.S. is accepted from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake of the Woods.
- In the area around the mouth of the St. John River, those who fled the thirteen American colonies by 1783 are called United Empire Loyalists. Those who arrive after 1783 are called Late Loyalists.
- Pennsylvania Germans begin moving into southwestern Ontario.
- January 20 - Preliminaries of peace are signed between Great Britain and the United States.
- Vermont delays entering the Union, because Congress is partial to New York, and because of the General Government's indebtedness, for which Vermont is not bound.