1880s: Waterloo, ON, passes one the first juvenile curfew resolution, marking the beginning of a juvenile curfew movement that would sweep North America. appears to have originated as an import from small towns in Canada. The bylaw stipulates that once the town bell has rung at 9pm, any child under 15 could be arrested if found loitering on the streets without parental supervision.

1893: Ontario passes the Children’s Law, enabling and encouraging towns and cities across the province to adopt juvenile curfew laws. The trend is adopted in towns and cities nationwide—many curfew bylaws remain in effect to this day, though these are usually not enforced.

?The act also granted authority to truancy officers ?

1920: The city of Chicago passes a curfew law prohibiting children under 16 years from being on public streets after 10pm, marking the first time a curfew law was passed in a large metropolitan urban US setting.

1901: The advent of the juvenile court and a new definition of “juvenile delinquency” results arrests of children for various “”status offenses”: activities that would not have been treated as crimes if the perpetrators were adults” [2], in concerted attempts to keep children “off the streets” and public spaces of the city.

1853: New York City passes an early truancy law [2].

1896: As the juvenile curfew movement spreads throughout the Midwestern US, Alexander Hogeland, author of Ten Years Among the Newsboys (1883) and self-proclaimed “father of the curfew law,” persuades city officials in Lincoln to impose a curfew on children under 15. The curfew prohibits children from being on public streets after 9 p.m. in the spring and summer and 8 p.m. in the fall and winter, unless the child is accompanied by a parent, is running an errand, or holds a job that requires them to be there. The Lincoln curfew becomes a model for curfew legislation nationwide, and is widely copied in towns throughout the United States.

1908: The Juvenile Delinquents Act (JDA) is passed, based on the same sentiments of the playground movement. The JDA provides no clear legal definition of “delinquency,” but the term is applied to both status and criminal offenses and leads to numerous arrests of minors for activities that would not be considered crimes if the perpetrators were adults. The JDA is used to regulate children’s behaviour in public places, especially places of entertainment, with vague charges such as “incorrigibility,” “delinquency,” and “vagrancy”.

1980: The findings and recommendations of the National Task Force on Children's Play (1974-) is published by the Canadian Council on Children and Youth. The document acts as a resource for the planning of formal and informal play spaces (from playgrounds to organized sports teams).

1984: The Canadian Parks and Recreation Association drafts a policy on play.

1984-86: Canadian Council on Children and Youth launches the Fair Play for Children in Sport Project and Fair Play Campaign.

2004: The Quebec Human Rights Commission stops the town ofHuntingdon, QC from passing a controversial curfew bylaw prohibiting children under the age of 16 to be in public streets or parks between 10:30pm and 6am. The town instead passes a bylaw (the only one of its kind in Quebec) requiring parental supervision of children under 16 in public places between 10:30pm and 6am, with some exceptions (children returning home from work or an organized activity).