1977 in Canada

Events from the year 1977 in Canada.

Incumbents

• Monarch: Elizabeth II
• Governor General: Jules Léger
• Prime Minister: Pierre Trudeau
• Premier of Alberta: Peter Lougheed
• Premier of British Columbia: W.R. Bennett
• Premier of Manitoba: Edward Schreyer and then Sterling Lyon
• Premier of New Brunswick: Richard Hatfield
• Premier of Newfoundland: Frank Moores
• Premier of Nova Scotia: Gerald Regan
• Premier of Ontario: Bill Davis
• Premier of Prince Edward Island: Alexander B. Campbell
• Premier of Quebec: René Lévesque
• Premier of Saskatchewan: Allan Blakeney

Events

• January 1 - Canada's offshore exclusive economic zone is extended to 200 nautical miles (370 km).
• February 6 - René Lévesque is embroiled in scandal after he, while driving in a car with a woman who is not his wife, hits and kills a homeless man.
• February 27 - Royal Canadian Mounted Police raid Keith Richards's Toronto hotel suite while he is sleeping and seize 22 grams of heroin, 5 grams of cocaine, and narcotics paraphernalia.
• February 28 - Canadian passenger rail services are amalgamated into Via Rail.
• May 5 - Willie Adams becomes the first Inuk to enter Parliament when he is appointed to the Senate.
• May 9 - The final report of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry is released.
• June: Elizabeth II tours Canada as part of her Silver Jubilee goodwill tour.
• June 9 - Ontario election: Bill Davis's PCs win a second consecutive minority.
• August - Murder of Emanuel Jaques.
• August 26 - The Charter of the French Language is passed by the Parti Québécois.
• September 3 - September 5 - All Canadian road signs are converted to metric units.
• October 18 - Deliberations of the House of Commons are televised for the first time making Canada the first country to broadcast the complete proceedings of its national legislature.
• November 21 - Gerald Hannon's controversial article "Men Loving Boys Loving Men" is published in The Body Politic
• November 24 - Sterling Lyon becomes premier of Manitoba, replacing Edward Schreyer.

Full date unknown

• The Eaton Centre opens in Toronto.
• Prime Minister Trudeau separates from his wife Margaret Sinclair.
• Quebec becomes the first jurisdiction (larger than a city or county) in the world to prohibit discrimination in the public and private sectors based on sexual orientation.
• Etobicoke introduces the Reduce Impaired Driving in Etobicoke programme which, eventually, spreads across the province as Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere.

Arts and literature

New works

• Margaret Atwood: Dancing Girls
• Elizabeth Smart: A Bonus
• Timothy Findley: The Wars
• Irving Layton: The Covenant
• Roch Carrier: Il n'ya pas de pays sans grand-père
• Gabrielle Roy: Ces Enfants de ma vie
• Morley Callaghan: Close to the Sun Again
• Antonine Maillet: La Veuve enragée
• Mordecai Richler: Home Sweet Home
• Marshall McLuhan: City as Classroom: Understanding Language and Media

Awards

• See 1977 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Books in Canada First Novel Award: Michael Ondaatje, Coming Through Slaughter
• Stephen Leacock Award: Ray Guy, That Far Greater Bay
• Vicky Metcalf Award: James Archibald Houston

Sport

• April 7 - The Toronto Blue Jays play their first game, defeating the Chicago White Sox.
• 16 July - Gilles Villeneuve makes his Formula One debut, with Team McLaren, at the British Grand Prix. He is the first Canadian driver in the top formula.

Births

January to March

• February 11 - Stephanie Richardson, swimmer
• March 13 - Barney Williams, rower and Olympic silver medalist
• March 27 - Buffy-Lynne Williams, rower and Olympic bronze medalist
• March 28 - Trevor Stewardson, boxer

April to June

• April 5 - Zach Whitmarsh, track and field athlete
• April 21 - Jamie Salé, pair skater, Olympic gold medalist and World Champion
• April 26 - Craig Adams, ice hockey player
• May 4 - Emily Perkins, actress
• May 9 - Michelle Fournier, hammer thrower
• May 16 - Jean-Sébastien Giguère, ice hockey player
• June 12 - Wade Redden, ice hockey player
• June 22 - Chris Wolfenden, volleyball player
• June 27 - Kristen Taunton, field hockey player

July to September

• July 1 - Jarome Iginla, ice hockey player
• July 8 - Sandra Lizé, water polo player
• August 1 - Marc Denis, ice hockey player
• August 14 - Tonya Verbeek, wrestler and Olympic silver medalist
• August 15 - Martin Biron, ice hockey player
• August 24 - Murray Grapentine, volleyball player
• September 17 - Kim Sarrazin, softball player
• September 29 - Wade Brookbank, ice hockey player

October to December

• October 3 - Kristy Odamura, softball player
• October 6 - Daniel Brière, ice hockey player
• October 8 - Viktor Berg, squash player
• October 15 - Jen Button, swimmer
• October 18 - Paul Stalteri, soccer player
• October 27 - Erin White, softball player
• October 29 - Matt Higgins, ice hockey player
• November 18 - Shahier Razik, squash player
• December 16 - Éric Bélanger, ice hockey player
• December 29 - Christin Petelski, swimmer

Deaths

• January 24 - Jack Bush, painter (b.1909)
• February 17 - Edward LeRoy Bowerman, politician (b.1892)
• March 14 - Benjamin Chee Chee, artist (b.1944)
• May 5 - Stuart Garson, politician, Minister and 12th Premier of Manitoba (b.1898)
• June 24 - André-Gilles Fortin, politician (b.1943)
• July 3 - Hugh Le Caine, physicist, composer and instrument builder (b.1914)
• August - Emanuel Jaques, murder victim (b.1965)
• August 14 - Wilfred Curtis, Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Canadian Air Force (b.1893)
• November 3 - William Kurelek, artist and writer (b.1927)
• November 5 - Guy Lombardo, bandleader and violinist (b.1902)
• November 25 - Tommy Prince, one of Canada's most decorated First Nations soldiers (b.1915)

Full date unknown

• Alfred Henry Bence, politician and barrister (b.1908)