2001 in Canada

Events from the year 2001 in Canada.

Incumbents

Estimated Canadian population: 31,110,565

Crown

Monarch – Elizabeth II

Federal government

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

Premiers

Premier of Alberta – Ralph Klein
Premier of British Columbia – Ujjal Dosanjh then Gordon Campbell
Premier of Manitoba – Gary Doer
Premier of New Brunswick – Bernard Lord
Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador – Beaton Tulk then Roger Grimes
Premier of Nova Scotia – John Hamm
Premier of Ontario – Mike Harris
Premier of Prince Edward Island – Pat Binns
Premier of Quebec – Lucien Bouchard then Bernard Landry
Premier of Saskatchewan – Roy Romanow then Lorne Calvert

Territorial governments

Commissioners

Premiers

Events

January to March

January 1 – The Ontario cities of Ottawa, Hamilton and Sudbury have their surrounding suburbs merged into their municipalities. Sudbury is the only one of the three to change its name. Toronto had been similarly merged in 1998.
January 17 – The Bank of Canada unveils a new $10 bill with enhanced security features.
January 18 – MafiaBoy pleads guilty to 56 of 66 mischief charges in a Montreal courtroom. The other 10 charges were withdrawn.
January 27 – Lorne Calvert becomes the leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party after winning the fourth ballot at the party's 2001 leadership convention.
January 29 – Peter Milliken is elected as the new Speaker of the House of Commons after five rounds of voting.
January 29 – The Toronto Stock Exchange allows company shares greater than $5 in value to trade at 1¢ increments instead of at 5¢ increments.
January 30 – Governor General Adrienne Clarkson reads the Speech from the Throne at the beginning of the 37th Canadian parliament.
January 30 – An envelope mailed to Citizenship and Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan containing a mysterious blue powder caused the Immigration Canada building to be sealed off. A Winnipeg laboratory on February 1 said the powder posed no health risk.
February 2 – Canada begins banning imports of beef and beef products from Brazil due to concerns of mad cow disease.
February 2 – Ontario Minister of Finance Ernie Eves quits to become vice-chair and senior adviser at Credit Suisse First Boston Canada.
February 3 – Roger Grimes becomes leader of the Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador after winning the second ballot at the party's leadership convention.
February 5 – Prime Minister Jean Chrétien becomes the first foreign leader to visit the newly elected President of the United States, George W. Bush, in Washington, D.C.
February 8 – Lorne Calvert becomes premier of Saskatchewan, replacing Roy Romanow.
February 13 – Roger Grimes becomes premier of Newfoundland, replacing Beaton Tulk.
March 8 – Bernard Landry becomes premier of Quebec, replacing Lucien Bouchard.
March 12 – 2001 Alberta general election: Ralph Klein's PCs win a ninth consecutive majority.

April to June

April 18 - Online only media rabble.ca is founded with well known media critic and feminist activist Judy Rebick as publisher.
April 20 – Summit of the Americas is held in Quebec City to discuss the FTAA; the city, which has been divided by a high fence around much of the downtown core, also hosts the People's Summit and is wracked by the Quebec City protests.
May 4 – Chrétien's longtime Chief of Staff, Jean Pelletier, is made the head of Via Rail.
May 14 – Video lottery terminal referendum in New Brunswick.
May 16 – British Columbia election: Gordon Campbell's BC Liberals win a landslide victory over Premier Ujjal Dosanjh's NDP.
May 18 – Conrad Black renounces his Canadian citizenship.
May 23 – Federal Ethics Commissioner releases a report which clears Alfonso Gagliano of any wrongdoing in the sponsorship scandal.
June 5 – Gordon Campbell becomes premier of British Columbia, replacing Ujjal Dosanjh.

July to December

July – Canada becomes the first country in the world to legalize medical marijuana.
July 17 – Infighting in the Canadian Alliance forces out leader Stockwell Day.
August 24 – Conrad Black sells The National Post to Izzy Asper's CanWest.
August 24 – René Lévesque Bust unveiled.
August 28 – The US Governors of New England agree with the Quebec and Atlantic Canadian premiers to the Climate Change Action Plan 2001.
September 7 - Documentary Channel signs on.
September 11 – Canada's border with the United States is on high alert in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the United States. Canadian government initiates both "Operation Support" and "Operation Yellow Ribbon."
September 14 – Three days after the September 11 terrorist attacks, while the rest of the world sees the memorial service for the victims at the Washington National Cathedral, Canadians see the similar service on Parliament Hill—the largest single vigil ever seen in the nation's capital.
October 7 – the 2001 Attack on Afghanistan begins. Canadian fighter pilots and ground troops are involved in the war.
November 17 – Vancouver resident Aaron Webster is killed in what many believe to be a gay bashing attack.
December 12 – The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary arrests Dr. Shirley Turner in St. John's on suspicion of murdering her boyfriend Andrew Bagby in Pennsylvania. However, Justice Gale Welsh releases Turner deeming her not a threat to society, despite the murder charges.

Full date unknown

Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research is founded.
Chris Hadfield becomes the first Canadian to perform a spacewalk.
CTV purchases The Globe and Mail.
Jean Drapeau Statue unveiled.

Arts and literature

March 4 – Bruce Cockburn is inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

New literature

Literary awards

Alistair MacLeod's No Great Mischief wins the lucrative International Dublin Literary Award
Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Richard B. Wright: Clara Callan
See 2001 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
Books in Canada First Novel Award: Michael Redhill, Martin Sloane
Geoffrey Bilson Award: Sharon McKay, Charlie Wilcox
Gerald Lampert Award: Anne Simpson, Light Falls Through You
Griffin Poetry Prize: Anne Carson, Men in the Off Hours
Marian Engel Award: Elizabeth Hay
Matt Cohen Prize: Mavis Gallant
Norma Fleck Award: Gena K. Gorrell, Heart and Soul: The Story of Florence Nightingale
Pat Lowther Award: Sharon Thesen, A Pair of Scissors
Stephen Leacock Award: Stuart McLean, Vinyl Café Unplugged
Trillium Book Award English: Richard B. Wright, Clara Callan
Trillium Book Award French: Michèle Matteau, Cognac et Porto
Vicky Metcalf Award: Linda Granfield

New music

All Killer No Filler: Sum 41
Back to the Mansion: April Wine
Pretty Together: Sloan
Silver Side Up: Nickelback
Ten New Songs: Leonard Cohen

Film

Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner wins the Golden Reel for Best First Feature at Cannes

Television

Rick Mercer leaves This Hour Has 22 Minutes, then is replaced by Colin Mochrie
Kevin Newman anchors Global Television Network's national newscast, Global National, beginning days before 9/11.

Sport

January 31 – George N. Gillett Jr. buys 80% of the Montreal Canadiens and 100% of the Molson Centre in Montreal for US$275 million.
February 3 – Catriona Le May Doan wins gold in the 500 m and 1000 m speed skating races in Heerenveen, Netherlands.
April 18 – The Vancouver Grizzlies play their final game as Canadian-based team, winning over the Golden State Warriors 95–81. The team moved to Memphis later in 2001.
May 27 - The Red Deer Rebels win their first Memorial Cup by defeating Val-d'Or Foreurs 6 to 5. The tournament was played at Agridome in Regina, Saskatchewan
June 9 - Burnaby, British Columbia's Joe Sakic of the Colorado Avalanche is awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy
November 25 – The Calgary Stampeders win their fifth Grey Cup by defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 27 to 19 in the 89th Grey Cup played at Olympic Stadium in Montreal
December 1 - The Saint Mary's Huskies win their second Vanier Cup by defeating the Manitoba Bisons by a score of 42–16 in the 37th Vanier Cup played at Skydome in Toronto

Births

March 6 - Aryana Engineer, actress
March 9 - Jeon So-mi, singer, member of I.O.I
May 8 - Jordyn Huitema, soccer player
May 12 - John Paul Ruttan, actor
May 26 - Megan Charpentier, actress
July 8 - Riele Downs, child actress
July 22 - Alisha Newton, actress
July 26 - Ludovick Choquette, football player
October 3 - Keelan White, football player
October 5 - Dalila Bela, actress
October 8 - Percy Hynes White, Canadian actor
October 9 - Kyla Leibel, swimmer
October 11 - Alexis Lafrenière, ice hockey player
October 17 - Jake Beale, actor
November 7 - Amybeth McNulty, actress

Deaths

January to March

January 13 – Michael Cuccione, child actor and cancer research activist
January 18 – Al Waxman, actor and director
January 31 – Gordon R. Dickson, science fiction author
February 5 – David Iftody, politician
February 28 – Gildas Molgat, politician
March 8 – Frances Adaskin, pianist
March 23
*Louis Dudek, poet, literary critic and publisher
*David McTaggart, environmentalist
March 28 – Moe Koffman, flautist and saxophonist, cancer

April to June

April 2 – Charles Daudelin, sculptor and painter
April 16 – Horace Gwynne, boxer and Olympic gold medalist
May 5 – Aba Bayefsky, artist and teacher
June – Gordon Donaldson, author and journalist
June 3 – Maurice Breton, politician and lawyer
June 7 – Charles Templeton, cartoonist, evangelist, agnostic, politician, newspaper editor, inventor, broadcaster and author
June 19 – William Austin Forsyth, politician
June 23 – Yvonne Dionne, one of the Dionne quintuplets

July to December

July 3 – Mordecai Richler, author, screenwriter and essayist
July 24 – Georges Dor, author, composer, playwright, singer, poet, translator and theatrical producer and director
August 9 – Kimberly Rogers, Sudbury woman whose suicide while under house arrest for a disputed welfare fraud conviction led to a major scandal and inquest
September 18 – Ernie Coombs, children's entertainer Mr. Dressup
November 19 – Marcelle Ferron, painter and stained glass artist
November 24 – Donald McPherson, figure skater
December 14 – Pauline Mills McGibbon, politician and 22nd Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario

Full date unknown

Gordon Donaldson, author and journalist