2002 in Canada

For people who check facts

See also: 2001 in Canada, other events of 2002, 2003 in Canada and the list of 'years in Canada'.

Table of contents

1 Incumbents
2 Events
3 Arts and literature
4 Births
5 Deaths

Incumbents

Events

January 11 - Ford Motor Co announces the closing of the truck assembly plant in Oakville, Ontario
January 14 - Industry Minister and Liberal leadership hopeful Brian Tobin announces that he is leaving politics.
January 15 - Jean ChrÃÂÃÂ©tien shuffles the cabinet mostly to remove the scandal-tainted Alfonso Gagliano
January 18 - Walkerton Report released: it puts partial blame for the water tragedy on the provincial government
February 8 through February 24 - 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. Canada wins gold for men's and women's hockey. Controversy erupts when Jamie Salé and David Pelletier are given only silver for the pairs' figure skating
March 4 - Federal government allows stem cell research using human embryos
March 11 - Six children die when their home burns down in Quatsino, British Columbia
March 20 - Stephen Harper defeats Stockwell Day to become leader of the Canadian Alliance.
March 23 - Ernie Eves is elected to replace Premier Mike Harris at the Ontario Tory leadership convention
March 26 - B.C. Supreme Court rules that works of the imagination are not child pornography.
April 15 - Ernie Eves becomes premier of Ontario, replacing Mike Harris
April 16 - The New York Sun, partially owned by former Canadian Conrad Black, is launched
April 17 - Four Canadian infantrymen are killed, and eight injured, in Afghanistan by friendly fire from two U.S F-16s, dropping a 230-kilogram bomb.
May 5 - Hell's Angels leader Maurice Boucher is convicted in Montreal of two counts of first-degree murder
May 7 - A court injunction is granted to Marc Hall, permitting him to bring a same-sex date to his high school prom
May 26 - Jean ChrÃÂÃÂ©tien shuffles the Cabinet again removing Art Eggleton and Don Boudria who were both embroiled in scandals
June 2 - Prime Minister Jean ChrÃÂÃÂ©tien fires Finance Minister Paul Martin and replaces him with John Manley
June 5 - Alexa McDonough announces her resignation as leader of the federal NDP
June 7 - Quebec becomes the first province to grant homosexual couples full parental rights
June 26 - G-8 leaders meet at Kananaskis, Alberta
July 10 - At a Sotheby's auction, Peter Paul Rubens' painting "The Massacre of the Innocents" is sold for ÃÂÃÂ£49.5 million (US$76.2 million) to Canadian Lord Thomson
July 14 - During Bastille Day celebrations, Jacques Chirac is saved from an assassination attempt by a Canadian tourist
July 23 - Pope John Paul II arrives in Toronto for World Youth Day
August 6 - Joe Clark announces decision to resign as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party
August 21 - Facing pressure from Martin loyalists Jean ChrÃÂÃÂ©tien announces he will step down as prime minister in February 2004
September - A Senate committee rules that marijuana should be legalized in Canada
September 30 - CBC starts an uproar when it announces Ron MacLean will not be returning as host of Hockey Night in Canada. The CBC later agrees to MacLean's salary demands.
October 4 - The Queen arrives in Canada to start of 12-day Canadian tour to mark her Golden Jubilee.
October 7 - American officials deport Canadian citizen Maher Arar to Syria
October 14 - Chris Jericho and Christian win WWE Tag Team Championship
October 22 - Yann Martel wins the Booker Prize for his novel Life of Pi
October 29 - Canada issues a travel adivosry for all those of Middle Eastern decent travelling to the United States
October 31 - Pat Buchanan calls Canada Soviet Canuckistan
November 5 - Austin Clarke wins the Giller Prize for his novel The Polished Hoe
November 24 - The Montreal Alouettes defeat the Edmonton Eskimos 25-16 to win the Grey Cup
November 26 -- FranÃÂÃÂ§oise Ducros, the Prime Minister's communication director resigns over her comment that U.S. President George W. Bush is a "moron"
November 28 - Romanow commission on health care recommends a $15-billion infusion into the health care system
November 30 - Dennis Fentie becomes premier of Yukon Territory, replacing Pat Duncan
December 16 - Canada signs the Kyoto Accord, limiting greenhouse gas emissions
Towns of Chicoutimi, JonquiÃÂÃÂ¨re and La Baie consolidated into a new city officially called Saguenay.

Arts and literature

New books

Family Matters - Rohinton Mistry
In Search of America - Peter Jennings
The Last Crossing - Guy Vanderhaeghe
Lucky Man - Michael J. Fox
Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World - Margaret Olwen Macmillan
Unless - Carol Shields
Negotiating with the Dead, A Writer on Writing - Margaret Atwood
Fences and Windows - Naomi Klein
School Spirit - Douglas Coupland
High Latitudes: An Arctic Journey - Farley Mowat

Awards

Yann Martel's Life of Pi wins the Booker Prize
Margaret Macmillan wins the Samuel Johnson Prize for Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World
Books in Canada First Novel Award: Mary Lawson, Crow Lake
Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction: Austin Clarke - The Polished Hoe
See 2002 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
Geoffrey Bilson Award: Virginia Frances Schwartz, If I Just Had Two Wings
Gerald Lampert Award:
Griffin Poetry Prize: Christian BÃÂÃÂ¶k, Eunoia
Marian Engel Award: Terry Griggs
Matt Cohen Prize: Norman Levine
Norma Fleck Award: Gena K. Gorrell, Heart and Soul: The Story of Florence Nightingale
Pat Lowther Award:
Stephen Leacock Award: Will Ferguson, Generica
Timothy Findley Award: Bill Gaston
Trillium Book Award English: Austin Clarke, The Polished Hoe and Nino Ricci, Testament
Trillium Book Award French: Michel Ouellette, Le testament du couturier and ÃÂÃÂric Charlebois, Faux-fuyants

Music

Joni Mitchell wins a Grammy for life time achievement

New music

A New Day Has Come - CÃÂÃÂ©line Dion
Let Go - Avril Lavigne
Under Rug Swept - Alanis Morissette
Vapor Trails - Rush
Does This Look Infected? - Sum 41
Up! - Shania Twain

Film

Atom Egoyan's, Ararat is released

Television

Sesame Park, a Canadian spin-off of the American show Sesame Street, is cancelled due to low ratings, after more than three decades of airing on the CBC.
CBC Celebrates 50 Years of Television.

Births

Deaths

January 13 - Frank Shuster
January 24 - CBC journalist Peter Gzowski (67)
March 12 - Jean-Paul Riopelle - painter
March 18 - Dalton Camp, Tory political strategist
April 17 - Richard Green, soldier serving in Afghanistan
May 16 - Edwin Alonzo Boyd, bank robber
June 20 - Timothy Findley (71), author
July 13 - Yousuf Karsh - photographer
December 18 - Ray Hnatyshyn, former Governor-General of Canada