1997 in Canada

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Events from the year 1997 in Canada.

Incumbents

Main article: 1997 Canadian incumbents

Crown

• Head of state (monarch) – Queen Elizabeth II (consort – Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh)

Federal government

• Governor general – Roméo LeBlanc (viceregal consort – Diana Fowler)
• Prime minister – Jean Chrétien
• Chief Justice – Antonio Lamer (Quebec)
• Parliament – 35th (until 27 April) then 36th

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Bud Olson
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Garde Gardom
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Yvon Dumont
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Margaret McCain (until April 18) then Marilyn Trenholme Counsell
• Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Frederick Russell (until February 5) then Arthur Maxwell House
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – James Kinley
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Hal Jackman (until January 24) then Hilary Weston
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Gilbert Clements
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Jean-Louis Roux (until January 30) then Lise Thibault
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Jack Wiebe

Premiers

• Premier of Alberta – Ralph Klein
• Premier of British Columbia – Glen Clark
• Premier of Manitoba – Gary Filmon
• Premier of New Brunswick – Frank McKenna (until October 13) then Raymond Frenette
• Premier of Newfoundland – Brian Tobin
• Premier of Nova Scotia – John Savage (until July 18) then Russell MacLellan
• Premier of Ontario – Mike Harris
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – Pat Binns
• Premier of Quebec – Lucien Bouchard
• Premier of Saskatchewan – Roy Romanow

Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Commissioner of Yukon – Judy Gingell
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Helen Maksagak

Premiers

• Premier of the Northwest Territories – Don Morin
• Premier of Yukon – Piers McDonald

Events

January to June

• January 1 - Opening of the new municipal of Alfred and Plantagenet.
• January 4 - The federal government makes it harder to obtain unemployment insurance.
• February 14 - Newsprint giants Abitibi-Price and Stone-Consolidated announce they are merging.
• March 6 - A new rigorous anti tobacco advertising law is passed.
• March 11 - Alberta election: Ralph Klein's PCs win an eighth consecutive majority.
• March 15 - Gilles Duceppe is elected leader of the Bloc Québécois.
• March 19 - Bre-X geologist Michael de Guzman jumps or is pushed from a helicopter in Indonesia.
• March 21 - Nova Scotia Premier John Savage announces his resignation.
• April 22 - Massive flooding of the Red River in Manitoba leads to a state of emergency.
• May - Saint-Simon and Saint-Sauveur riots.
• May 11 - Nunavut equal representation plebiscite, 1997.
• May 31 - Confederation Bridge opens.
• June 2 - Federal election: Jean Chrétien's Liberals win a second consecutive majority, the Reform Party becomes the Official Opposition.
• June 18 - The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) introduces a television rating system.

July to September

• July 2 - The Somalia Inquiry is disbanded prematurely.
• July 9 - Danielle House forced to give up her Miss Canada International title after pleading guilty to assault.
• July 18 - Russell MacLellan becomes the new Premier of Nova Scotia.
• July 30 - Phil Fontaine elected head of the Assembly of First Nations.
• August 7 - Bjarni Tryggvason flies aboard the Space Shuttle.
• August 10 - The director Jean-Claude Lauzon and actress Marie-Soleil Tougas dies in a plane crash near Kuujjuaq.
• August 31 - Diana, Princess of Wales dies in a tragic car accident.
• September 2 - Newfoundlanders vote to do away with their religion based school systems.
• September 3 - One is killed in a Saskatchewan train derailment.

October to December

• October 1 - Michel Bastarache is appointed to the Supreme Court.
• October 2 - Canada recalls its ambassador to Israel after Mossad uses forged Canadian passports.
• October 7 - An out-of-court settlement is reached between Brian Mulroney and the federal government regarding the Airbus affair.
• October 13 - Raymond Frenette becomes premier of New Brunswick, replacing Frank McKenna.
• October 13 - 43 are killed in Canada's worst ever traffic accident as a tour bus falls off a cliff.
• October 17 - CTV News Channel begins broadcasting.
• October 27-November 10 - A teachers strike hits Ontario.
• November 3 - Canada destroys the last land mines in its arsenal.
• November 9 - The scandal-racked Saskatchewan Progressive Conservative Party is mothballed.
• November 14 - Fourteen-year-old Reena Virk is beaten to death by classmates in Victoria, BC.
• November 17 - The Hibernia oil project pumps its first barrel of oil.
• November 21-November 25 - The APEC summit is held in Vancouver. Controversy arises when Royal Canadian Mounted Police use force and pepper spray to remove protesters.
• December 3 - In Ottawa, representatives from 121 countries sign a treaty prohibiting the manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel land mines. However, the United States, the People's Republic of China, and Russia do not sign the treaty.
• December 19 - James Cameron's Titanic, the highest-grossing film of all time until Avatar (2009), premiers in the US.

Full date unknown

• The Calgary Declaration from the premiers, except Lucien Bouchard.
• A second Sacred Assembly is held but issues no proclamation.

Arts and literature

New Books

• Timothy Findley - You Went Away

Awards

• Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Mordecai Richler - Barney's Version
• See 1997 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Books in Canada First Novel Award: Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces
• Geoffrey Bilson Award: Janet McNaughton, To Dance at the Palais Royale
• Gerald Lampert Award: Marilyn Dumont, A Really Good Brown Girl
• Marian Engel Award: Katherine Govier
• Pat Lowther Award: Marilyn Bowering, Autobiography
• Stephen Leacock Award: Arthur Black, Black in the Saddle Again
• Trillium Book Award English: Dionne Brand, Land to Light On
• Trillium Book Award French: Roger Levac, Petite Crapaude!
• Vicky Metcalf Award: Tim Wynne-Jones

Film

• Atom Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter is released, it is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director

Television

• The Arrow, a mini-series about the Avro Arrow shows plays to great popularity and acclaim and the CBC
• Teletoon is launched

Music

• Oscar Peterson receives a Grammy for lifetime achievement.

Sport

• February 7 - Lennox Lewis becomes heavyweight boxing champion.
• September 25 - Chris Jericho is inducted into the Canadian Wrestling Hall of Fame.
• October 26 - Formula One: Jacques Villeneuve becomes the first Canadian to become World Drivers Champion.
• November 16 - At the 85th Grey Cup the Toronto Argonauts defeat the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.

Births

• January 13 - Connor McDavid, hockey player
• January 15 - Alex Cardillo, Irish-born actor
• January 20 - Jeffrey Baldwin, rape victim (died 2002)
• January 29 - Cassandra Sawtell, actress
• March 9 - Niamh Wilson, actress
• March 11 - Matreya Fedor, actress
• April 23 - Alex Ferris, actor
• April 28 - Jason Spevack, actor
• June 11 - Mackenzie Bent, ice dancer
• June 18 - Mary-Lynn Neil, singer and songwriter
• August 3 - Ayaka Wilson, actor
• November 21 - Laine MacNeil, actress

Full date unknown

• Antoine L'Écuyer, actor

Deaths

January to March

• January 1 - Hagood Hardy, composer, pianist and vibraphonist (born 1937)
• January 12
  • Frank Angelo, co-founder of MAC cosmetics
  • Charles Brenton Huggins, physician, physiologist, cancer researcher and Nobel prize laureate (born 1901)
• January 13 - Kate Buckman, bridge expert
• January 14 - Dollard Ménard, lieutenant colonel
• January 17 - Bill Kardash, politician (born 1912)
• January 26 - Norman Fawcett, politician (born 1910)
• February 4 - Peter McCain, president of McCain Foods Limited
• February 19 - Lois Marshall, soprano (born 1924)
• February 25 - Francis Joubin, discovered one of world's largest uranium deposits
• March 2 - J. Carson Mark, mathematician who worked on development of nuclear weapons (born 1913)
• March 12 - Jim Bowes, newspaper mogul
• March 14 - Ivan Romanoff, conductor
• March 22 - Harry Thode, geochemist, nuclear chemist and academic administrator (born 1910)
• March 27 - Hugh Horner, politician, physician and surgeon (born 1925)

April to June

• April 6 - Jack Kent Cooke, sports entrepreneur (born 1912)
• April 8 - Albert Malouf, judge
• April 11 - Muriel Furguson, lawyer, Senate's first woman Speaker
• April 28 - Andrew Sarlos, investment counsellor, multimillionaire
• May 1 - Fernand Dumont, sociologist, philosopher, theologian and poet (born 1927)
• May 14 - Jane Musset, fashion reporter
• June 6 - Ron Collister, TV and radio journalist, talk-show host
• June 9 - Stanley Knowles, politician (born 1908)
• June 22
  • Gérard Pelletier, journalist, editor, politician and Minister (born 1919)
  • Larry Grossman, politician (born 1943)
• June 29 - Art Solomon, spiritualist leader, author

July to September

• July 8 - Charles Tayler, journalist, horse breeder
• July 30 - Robert Bryce, civil servant (born 1910)
• August 10
  • Jean-Claude Lauzon, Quebec filmmaker (born 1953)
  • Marie-Soleil Tougas, Quebec actress and TV host (born 1970)
• August 20 - Léon Dion, political scientist (born 1922)
• August 24 - Hardial Bains, founder and leader of Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) (born 1939)
• September 11 - Camille Henry, ice hockey player (born 1933)
• September 12 - Judith Merril, science fiction writer, editor and political activist (born 1923)
• September 29 - Val Clery, writer, editor, broadcaster

October to December

• October 8 - James Ferguson, musician
• October 12 - Rodrigue Bourdages, politician (born 1923)
• November 7 - Clyde Gilmour, radio broadcaster and journalist (born 1912)
• November 14
  • Jack Pickersgill, civil servant and politician (born 1905)
  • Reena Virk, murder victim (born 1983)
• November 20 - Ronald Martland, Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada (born 1909)
• November 24
  • Czeslaw Brzozowicz, engineer (born 1911)
  • John Sopinka, lawyer and puisne justice on the Supreme Court of Canada (born 1933)
• November 27 - Yves Prévost, politician and lawyer (born 1908)
• December 7 - George R. Gardiner, businessman, philanthropist and co-founder of the Gardiner Museum (born 1917)
• December 13 - Catherine Keachie, magazine lobbyist
• December 24 - Pierre Péladeau, businessman (born 1925)

Full date unknown

• Pierre Granche, sculptor (born 1948)
• Hilda Watson, Leader of the Yukon Progressive Conservative Party (born 1922)

See also

• 1997 in Canadian television
• List of Canadian films of 1997