1997 in Canada

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – Elizabeth II

  Federal government

• Governor general – Roméo LeBlanc
• Prime minister – Jean Chrétien
• Chief Justice – Antonio Lamer
• Parliament – 35th 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 then Marilyn Trenholme Counsell
• Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Frederick Russell then Arthur Maxwell House
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – James Kinley
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Hal Jackman then Hilary Weston
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Gilbert Clements
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Jean-Louis Roux 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 then Raymond Frenette
• Premier of Newfoundland – Brian Tobin
• Premier of Nova Scotia – John Savage 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 – 1997 Nunavut equal representation plebiscite.
• 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 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.
• 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 takes place in 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, British Columbia.
• November 17 – The Hibernia oil project pumps its first barrel of oil.
• November 21 – November 25 – The APEC summit is held in Vancouver, British Columbia. Controversy arises when Royal Canadian Mounted Police use force and pepper spray to remove protesters.
• December 3 – In Ottawa, Ontario, 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.

  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.
• May 18 – Hull Olympiques win their only Memorial Cup by defeating the Lethbridge Hurricanes 5 to 1. The entire tournament was played at the Robert Guertin Centre in Hull, Quebec
• June 7 – Calgary's Mike Vernon of the Detroit Red Wings is awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy
• October 26 – Formula One: Jacques Villeneuve becomes the first Canadian to become World Drivers Champion.
• November 16 – Toronto Argonauts win their fourteenth Grey Cup by defeating the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the 85th Grey Cup played at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton. Hamilton, Ontario's Paul Masotti was awarded the game's Most Valuable Canadian
• November 22 – UBC Thunderbirds win their third Vanier Cup by defeating the Ottawa Gee-Gees by a score of 39–23 in the 33rd Vanier Cup played at Skydome in Toronto

  Births

• January 13 – Connor McDavid, hockey player
• January 15 – Alex Cardillo, Irish-born actor
• January 20 – Jeffrey Baldwin, rape victim
• January 29 – Cassandra Sawtell, actress
• March 9 – Niamh Wilson, actress
• March 11 – Matreya Fedor, actress
• March 26 – Antoine L'Écuyer, actor
• 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
• October 27 – Eliana Jones, actress and gymnast

  Deaths

January to March

• January 1 – Hagood Hardy, composer, pianist and vibraphonist
• January 12
• *Charles Brenton Huggins, physician, physiologist, cancer researcher and Nobel prize laureate
• January 14 – Dollard Ménard, lieutenant colonel
• January 17 – Bill Kardash, politician
• January 26 – Norman Fawcett, politician
• February 19 – Lois Marshall, soprano
• March 2 – J. Carson Mark, mathematician who worked on development of nuclear weapons
• March 14 – Ivan Romanoff, conductor
• March 22 – Harry Thode, geochemist, nuclear chemist and academic administrator
• March 27 – Hugh Horner, politician, physician and surgeon

  April to June

• April 6 – Jack Kent Cooke, sports entrepreneur
• May 1 – Fernand Dumont, sociologist, philosopher, theologian and poet
• May 9 – Marie-Thérèse Paquin, Canadian pianist
• June 9 – Stanley Knowles, politician
• June 22
• *Gérard Pelletier, journalist, editor, politician and Minister
• *Larry Grossman, politician

  July to September

• July 30 – Robert Bryce, civil servant
• August 10
• *Jean-Claude Lauzon, Quebec filmmaker
• *Marie-Soleil Tougas, Quebec actress and TV host
• August 20 – Léon Dion, political scientist
• August 24 – Hardial Bains, founder and leader of Communist Party of Canada
• September 11 – Camille Henry, ice hockey player
• September 12 – Judith Merril, science fiction writer, editor and political activist
• September 30 – Pierre Granche, sculptor

  October to December

• October 12 – Rodrigue Bourdages, politician
• November 7 – Clyde Gilmour, radio broadcaster and journalist
• November 14 – Jack Pickersgill, civil servant and politician
• November 20 – Ronald Martland, Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
• November 24
• * Czeslaw Brzozowicz, engineer
• * John Sopinka, lawyer and puisne justice on the Supreme Court of Canada
• November 27 – Yves Prévost, politician and lawyer
• December 7 – George R. Gardiner, businessman, philanthropist and co-founder of the Gardiner Museum
• December 24 – Pierre Péladeau, businessman

  Full date unknown

• Hilda Watson, Leader of the Yukon Progressive Conservative Party