On December 17th 1862 Passports were required for the first time
12/17/2009 at 7:45 AM
to enter the US from British North America.
The first Canadian passports were issued in 1862, following the outbreak of the American Civil War, when the United States demanded more secure identification from Canadians wishing to cross the border. They took the form of a Letter of Request from the Governor General.
These documents remained in use until, in 1915, Canadian passports were first issued in the British format, a ten-section single sheet folder.
The modern form of the Canadian passport came about in 1921. At that time, Canadians were British Subjects, and Canada shared a common nationality code with the United Kingdom: thus, Canadian passports were issued to those British subjects resident in or connected to Canada.
This arrangement ended in 1947, when the Canadian Citizenship Act was granted Royal Assent and the designation of Canadian citizenship was created. As of July the following year, Canadian passports were issued to Canadian citizens only, and by 1985 the first machine-readable passports were distributed, in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organization standards.
All Canadian passports are issued by Passport Canada, a special branch of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and are valid for five years, except that those of children under age three are valid for three years.
As of early 2007, nearly 42% of Canadians held a valid Canadian passport. Although held by individuals, all Canadian passports remain property of Her Majesty in right of Canada.
Source:
http://www.ppt.gc.ca/pptc/hist.aspx?lang=eng