Canada became McDonald's first international market when the chain opened a restaurant there in 1967.
The first Canadian McDonald's opened in Richmond, British Columbia, near Vancouver. This expansion marked the beginning of McDonald's growth beyond the United States and established Canada as one of the company's oldest international markets.
The Richmond restaurant was operated by George Cohon, who later became a major figure in developing McDonald's in Canada and other countries. McDonald's had already grown substantially in the United States by the mid-1960s, making international expansion a logical next step.
People sometimes confuse the first international market with the first McDonald's outside North America. That later milestone was the restaurant opened in Japan in 1971. Canada was the earlier international opening.