1997 in Canada

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 (from September 22)

Provincial governments

Territorial governments

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.^[1]
• 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.

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.

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
• September 30 – Pierre Granche, sculptor (born 1948)

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)
• 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

• Hilda Watson, Leader of the Yukon Progressive Conservative Party (born 1922)