# 1977 in Canada

Events from the year 1977 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, 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)