1977 in Canada

Events from the year 1977 in Canada.

← 1976 1975 1974 1977 in Canada → 1978 1979 1980
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
See also:	History of Canada Timeline of Canadian history List of years in Canada

Incumbents

Crown

• Monarch – Elizabeth II

Federal government

• Governor General – Jules Léger
• Prime Minister – Pierre Trudeau
• Chief Justice – Bora Laskin (Ontario)
• Parliament – 30th

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Ralph Steinhauer
• Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Walter Stewart Owen
• Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Francis Lawrence Jobin
• Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Hédard Robichaud
• Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland – Gordon Arnaud Winter
• Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Clarence Gosse
• Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Pauline Mills McGibbon
• Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Gordon Lockhart Bennett
• Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Hugues Lapointe
• Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – George Porteous

Premiers

• Premier of Alberta – Peter Lougheed
• Premier of British Columbia – Bill Bennett
• Premier of Manitoba – Edward Schreyer (until November 24) 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

Territorial governments

Commissioners

• Commissioner of Yukon – Arthur MacDonald Pearson
• Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Stuart Milton Hodgson

Events

• January 1 - Canada's offshore exclusive economic zone is extended to 200 nautical miles (370 km).
• January 26 – Katimavik is founded as a volunteer service organization for Canadian youths.
• February 6 – Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II's accession as Queen of Canada
• 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.
• March 30 - CFVO-TV was shut down due to the Cinérotique controversy.
• 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.
• June 24 — Social Credit leader André-Gilles Fortin is killed in a car accident.
• July 28 – Emanuel Jaques, 12, is abducted after being lured into an apartment building under false pretenses on Yonge Street in downtown Toronto. His strangled body is found several days later under a pile of wood on the building's rooftop. Four men are apprehended for the crime.
• 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 an early country to broadcast the proceedings of one body 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.
• Focus Corporation, a project delivery company is founded.
• 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
• 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

• March 13 – The Toronto Varsity Blues win their eighth University Cup by defeating the Alberta Golden Bears 4–1. The final game was played at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton
• April 7 – The Toronto Blue Jays become Major League Baseball's second Canadian team, when they defeat the Chicago White Sox in a game played at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto
• May 14 – The Montreal Canadiens win their 20th Stanley Cup by defeating the Boston Bruins 4 games to 0. Thurso, Quebec's Guy Lafleur was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy
• May 14 – The New Westminster Bruins win their first Memorial Cup by defeating the Ottawa 67's 6 to 5. The final game was played Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver
• May 26 – The Quebec Nordiques win their first Avco Cup by defeating the Winnipeg Jets 4 games to 3. The deciding Game 7 was played at the Colisée de Québec
• July 16 – 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.
• November 19 – The Western Ontario Mustangs win their fourth (second consecutive) Vanier Cup by defeating the Acadia Axemen 48–15 in the 13th Vanier Cup played at Varsity Stadium in Toronto
• November 27 – The Montreal Alouettes win their fourth Grey Cup by defeating the Edmonton Eskimos in a game played at Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Vancouver's Don Sweet won his second Most Valuable Canadian award and London, Ontario's Glen Weir won the game's Defensive MVP award.

Births

January to March

• January 1 - Jacinthe Taillon, synchronised swimmer
• January 31 - Mark Dutiaume, ice hockey player
• February 7 - Paul Comrie, ice hockey player
• February 11 - Stephanie Richardson, swimmer
• February 20 - Gail Kim, wrestler
• March 3 - Stéphane Robidas, ice hockey player
• March 6 - Reagan Pasternak, actress
• March 11 - Jason Greeley, singer
• 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 3 – Ryan Dempster, baseball player
• May 4 - Emily Perkins, actress
• May 9 - Michelle Fournier, hammer thrower
• May 12 - Rachel Wilson, actress
• May 13 - Christopher Ralph, actor
• May 16 - Jean-Sébastien Giguère, ice hockey player
• May 19
  • Claire Carver-Dias, synchronised swimmer
  • Kelly Sheridan, voice actress
• May 28 - Erin Mathews, voice actress
• May 31
  • Phil Devey, baseball player
  • Greg Leeb, 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
• July 12 - Peter Schaefer (ice hockey), ice hockey player
• July 19 – Jean-Sébastien Aubin, ice hockey player
• July 26 – Tony Sampson, voice and television actor
• July 28 – Allan Hawco, actor and producer
• August 1 - Marc Denis, ice hockey player
• August 14 - Tonya Verbeek, wrestler and Olympic silver medalist
• August 15 - Martin Biron, ice hockey player
• August 22 – JP Auclair, freeskier. (d. 2014)
• August 24 - Murray Grapentine, volleyball player
• August 29 - Leslie-Ann Gervais, fencer
• September 15 - Jean-François Caissy, documentary filmmaker
• 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 14
  • Bianca Beauchamp, latex model
  • Kelly Schumacher, basketball 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 13 - Darius Rafat, music producer, composer, bandleader, music agent and entrepreneur
• December 16 - Éric Bélanger, ice hockey player
• December 17 - Katheryn Winnick, actress
• December 27 - Jacqueline Pillon, voice actress
• 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)

See also

• 1977 in Canadian television
• List of Canadian films of 1977