2003 in Canada

Encyclopedia : 2 : 20 : 200 : 2003 in Canada

See also: 2002 in Canada, other events of 2003, 2004 in Canada and the list of 'years in Canada'.

See also:

Contents

1 Incumbents
2 Events
3 Arts and Literature

3.1 Literary Awards
3.2 Music
3.3 Television

4 Births
5 Deaths

Incumbents

Events

January - A Windsor, Ontario court invalidates Canada's marijuana laws
January 20 - Avalanche kills eight skiers in eastern British Columbia
February 2 - An avalanche in Glacier National Park, British Columbia, kills six boys and one girl.
February 22 - 2003 Canada Winter Games
March 5 - Sui-chu Kwan, who travelled to Hong Kong in February, dies of SARS in Toronto.
March 10 - Scarborough's Grace Hospital closes as a result of SARS, the first of many hospitals to do so
March 17 - Health Canada announces 17 suspected SARS cases in Canada
March 26 - Ontario declares a public health emergency as a result of SARS
April 14 - In the Quebec election Jean Charest's Liberals defeat Bernard Landry's Parti Québécois
April 23 - The World Health Organization issues a travel advisory against Toronto because of SARS, Canadian officials protest the decision
April 25 - After more than two weeks with no new cases of SARS, health workers begin to suggest the disease is contained
April 29 - Jean Charest becomes premier of Quebec, replacing Bernard Landry
May 12 - Holly Jones, a ten-year-old girl, disappears in Toronto; parts of her body are later found floating in Lake Ontario
May 20 - An Alberta cow is found to have been infected with BSE; the United States, Japan, and a number of other nations halt all imports of Canadian beef
May 22 - SARS re-emerges in a Toronto hospital
June 9 - In the New Brunswick election Bernard Lord's Conservatives lose seats but are re-elected to a majority government
June 10 - The Ontario Court of Appeal rules that the ban on same-sex marriage is illegal, and marriages begin immediately
June 30 - Canada's first space telecope is launched
July 8 - British Columbia follows Ontario's lead and permits same-sex marriage
July 11 - Zahra Kazemi is beaten to death by Iranian security forces
August 5 - In the Nova Scotia election John Hamm's Conservatives are re-elected to a minority government
August 9 - The United States eases its ban on Canadian beef
August 14 - The United Church of Canada votes to approve same-sex marriages
August 14 - A massive blackout hits Ontario, Quebec and the northeastern United States
August 30 - Canada becomes the first country to implement the World Trade Organization initiative to supply generic drugs to developing countries to help fight AIDS/HIV
September 23 - The 443 km² Ward Hunt Ice Shelf fractures in the Arctic, releasing water within a contained freshwater lake
September 29 - Hurricane Juan makes landfall as a category 2 storm at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Two were killed directly and 5 indirectly.
October 2 - Ontario Election. Dalton McGuinty's Liberals defeats Ernie Eves's Tories.
October 5 - Maher Arar is freed from jail in Syria
October 8 - After serving 19 years of his 25-to-life sentence, a jury finds Colin Thatcher eligible to apply for early parole
October 14 - Puretracks, Canada's first online music store, officially launches
October 21 - Newfoundland and Labrador election: Premier Roger Grimes's Liberals are defeated by Danny Williams's Conservatives
October 23 - An El Al Jet is diverted twice, first to Montreal then to Hamilton, Ontario, after a threat is made against Toronto Pearson International Airport.
October 23 - Dalton McGuinty becomes premier of Ontario
November 5 - In the Saskatchewan election Premier Lorne Calvert's NDP is re-elected to a thin majority
November 6 - Danny Williams becomes premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, replacing Roger Grimes
November 10 - Municipal elections occur across Ontario; In the Toronto election, David Miller is elected mayor
November 13 - The Canadian dollar value closes at a 10 year high of $0.7695 US
November 16 - The Edmonton Eskimos win the 91st Grey Cup, defeating the Montreal Alouettes 34 to 22
November 18 - Canada offers Ontario $330 million in relief of the past summer's SARS virus impact
November 19 - An interim report on the cause of the August 14, blackout is released, which blames problems in Ohio.
November 22 - The Heritage Classic, the first outdoor game in NHL history, is played in Edmonton
November 27 - Canadian Alliance party leader Stephen Harper fires CA Member of Parliament Larry Spencer as Family Values Critic after anti-gay remarks [link]
November 28 - Liberal Party Member John Manley announces his retirement from politics. [link]
November 28 - Type A influenza kills a boy in southern Ontario, the third victim in the province killed by the same strain of the virus. Numerous influenza-related deaths also reported in the United States and United Kingdom. [link]
November 30 - Abdurahman Khadr returns to Canada from Afghanistan after being imprisoned by the Americans at Guantanamo Bay
December 8 - In Edmonton, the United States awards Bronze Stars to 26 Canadian soldiers of 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Battle Group who distinguished themselves serving alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2002. The four who were killed in the friendly fire incident are awarded the medal posthumously. Canadian Chief of Staff, General Ray Henault gives a Commander-in-Chief Unit Commendation on behalf of Governor General Adrienne Clarkson. in Edmonton
December 10 - A strike paralyzes BC Ferries
December 10 - Joe Handley becomes premier of the Northwest Territories, replacing Stephen Kakfwi
December 12 - Paul Martin is sworn in as Canada's 21st Prime Minister
December 24 - Canada's Department of Agriculture places a partial ban on imported beef from United States due to a single case of mad cow disease in Washington
December 30 - Governor General of Canada Adrienne Clarkson, with her husband John Ralston Saul, arrives in Afghanistan to meet with Canadian troops

Arts and Literature

Literary Awards

Books in Canada First Novel Award: Michel Basilières, Black Bird
Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: M.G. Vassanji - The In-Between World of Vikram Lall
See 2003 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
Geoffrey Bilson Award: Joan Clark, The Word for Home
Gerald Lampert Award: Kathy Mac, Nail Hunters Plan for Strength and Growth
Griffin Poetry Prize: Margaret Avison, Concrete and Wild Carrot
Pat Lowther Award: Dionne Brand, Thirsty
Marian Engel Award: Elisabeth Harvor
Matt Cohen Prize: Fred Bodsworth
Norma Fleck Award:
Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize: Kevin Patterson, Country of Cold
Stephen Leacock Award: Dan Needles, With Axe and Flask - A History of Persephone Township From Pre-Cambrian Times to the Present
Timothy Findley Award: Guy Vanderhaeghe
Trillium Book Award English: Thomas King (prose) and Adam Sol (poetry)
Trillium Book Award French: Serge Denis and François Paré (prose) and Angèle Bassolé-Ouédraogo (poetry)
Vicky Metcalf Award: Roslyn Schwartz

Music

Shania Twain's CD Up! is a hit

Television

American Idol comes to Canada as Canadian Idol, hosted by Ben Mulroney (son of Brian Mulroney)
On This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Colin Mochrie leaves the cast; Mary Walsh is expected for six episodes but leaves; Shaun Majumder joins
Jessica Holmes joins the cast of Royal Canadian Air Farce

Births

Deaths

January 3 - Henry John Lawrence Botterell, last living Great War fighter pilot.
January 20 - Bill Werbeniuk, snooker player
March 31 - H. S. M. Coxeter, geometer
April 26 - Rosemary Brown, politician
May 12 - Holly Jones, murder victim
May 13 - John Savage, Premier of Nova Scotia
June - Donald Jack, author
June 14 - Jacob Froese, Manitoba politician
June 15 - Hume Cronyn, stage and film actor
June 15 - Pierre Bourgault, politician and writer
June 21 - Roger Neilson, National Hockey League coach
July 11 - Zahra Kazemi, Canadian-Iranian photographer
July 16 - Carol Shields, author
September 5 - Gisele MacKenzie, singer
September 8 - Jaclyn Linetsky, actor
September 20 - Vernon Singer, Ontario politician
October 7 - Izzy Asper, businessman
October 13 - Bertram N. Brockhouse, physicist
October 16 - Stu Hart, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Wrestler and football player(CFL)
November 24 - Hugh Kenner, scholar
December 16 - Robert Stanfield, Tory leader
December 23 - John Newlove, poet

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