1995 in Canada

See also: 1994 in Canada, other events of 1995, 1996 in Canada and the list of 'years in Canada'.

Incumbents

• Prime Minister – Jean Chrétien
• Governor General – Ray Hnatyshyn then Roméo LeBlanc

• Premier of Alberta – Ralph Klein
• Premier of British Columbia – Mike Harcourt
• Premier of Manitoba – Gary Filmon
• Premier of New Brunswick – Frank McKenna
• Premier of Newfoundland – Clyde Wells
• Premier of Nova Scotia – John Savage
• Premier of Ontario – Bob Rae then Mike Harris
• Premier of Prince Edward Island – Catherine Callbeck
• Premier of Quebec – Jacques Parizeau
• Premier of Saskatchewan – Roy Romanow

Events

• January 5 – Rogers Communications withdraws an unpopular retroactive billing system after widescale consumer protest
• January 7 – The opening of Parliament is televised for the first time
• January 18 – A video of the Canadian Airborne Regiment's brutal hazing rituals is made public
• January 23 – As a result of the Somalia Affair and the video the Airborne Regiment is disbanded
• January 23 – Guy Paul Morin's conviction for murder that had seen him jailed for 11 years is overturned
• February 21 – The inquiry into the April 1994 uprising in the Kingston Women's Prison rules that authorities used excessive force in putting it down
• February 23 – American President Bill Clinton address Parliament
• March 9 – As part of Brian Tobin's Turbot War Canadian officials seize the Spanish trawler the Estai
• March 11 – The Globe and Mail publishes an investigative piece by Gerald Hannon, alleging that Julian Fantino's "Project Guardian" child pornography investigation in London, Ontario is a deliberately falsified attempt to harass members of the city's gay community
• March 15 – Former Nova Scotia Premier Gerald Regan is charged with child abuse
• March 18-March 27 – A major rail strike occurs, the workers are eventually legislated back to work
• March 20 – Erichs Tobias is accused of war crimes
• March 27 – Bell Canada announces major job cuts
• March 31 – Perrin Beatty appointed head of the CBC
• April – Chapters is officially incorporated
• April 5 – Mark Chahal kills 10 people in Vernon, British Columbia
• April 9 – Steve Stavro buys Maple Leaf Gardens from Harold Ballard's estate
• April 16 the Turbot War ends as Canada and the European Union reach an agreement
• April 26 – Direct to home satellite television is made legal in Canada
• May 9 – The law against homosexual adoption is struck down
• May 18 – The trial of Paul Bernardo begins
• May 25 – Egan v. Canada – Supreme Court of Canada rules that sexual orientation is a prohibited grounds of discrimination under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
• May 31 – The RCMP announce a $1,000,000 reward in Air India flight 182 case and restarts its investigation.
• June 6 – Labatt is sold to a Belgian company
• June 8 – Ontario election: Mike Harris's PCs win a majority, defeating Bob Rae's NDP
• June 9 – Floods in Medicine Hat, Alberta force the evactuation of over 5000 people
• June 13 – A strict new gun control law is paased banning most handguns and forcing all rifles to be registered
• June 15-June 17 – The G-7 meet in Halifax, Nova Scotia
• June 21 – Saskatchewan election: Roy Romanow's NDP win a second consecutive majority
• June 28 – Mike Harris becomes premier of Ontario, replacing Bob Rae
• July 17 – Christine Silverberg becomes Canada's first female police chief when she is promoted to that position in Calgary
• July 20 – In Hill v. Church of Scientology of Toronto the Supreme Court upholds Canada's largest ever libel award
• July 27 – Thomson Corp. agrees to sell 27 Canadian newspapers to Hollinger Inc.
• August 1 – Popular Ottawa sportscaster Brian Smith is shot in the parking lot of CJOH by escaped mental patient Jeffrey Arenburg; Smith dies in hospital the following day.
• August 11 – The first ever fatal accident aboard a Toronto Transit Commission subway kills three
• September 1 – Paul Bernardo is found guilty of the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French
• September 6 – The government announces plans to sell off most of its remaining holdings in Petro-Canada
• October 14 – Alexa McDonough is elected head of the NDP, replacing Audrey McLaughlin
• October 26 – The Cree of Quebec hold a plebiscite voting overwhelmingly to stay in Canada
• October 27 – A massive rally is held in Montreal by the No side in the referendum
• October 30 – The 1995 Quebec referendum is held on separation. The No side narrowly wins.
• October 31 – Newfoundland passes a constitutional amendment to overhaul its school system
• November 4 – Radarsat, Canada's first observation satellite is launched
• November 5 – Andre Dallaire breaks into 24 Sussex Drive, the Prime Minister fends him off with an Inuit sculpture
• November 5 – Paul Bernardo is declared a dangerous offender, meaning he will be ineligible for parole
• November 11 – Journalist Judy Steed, in a conference speech, attacks the chair of Ryerson University's journalism program for employing Gerald Hannon as a part-time instructor; the controversy spans the next three weeks.
• November 15 – British Columbia premier announces his resignation because of the bingogate scandal.
• November 20 – Former PM Brian Mulroney sues the government over the Airbus Affair
• November 22 – Don Morin becomes premier of the Northwest Territories, replacing Nellie Cournoyea
• November 23 – Jean Chrétien unveils a law that would give each of Canada's four regions a constitutional veto. The west complains that it deserves more than one.
• November 28 – Canadian National Railway is privatized
• December – Representatives of aboriginal peoples gather and issue the Sacred Assembly Proclamation; from this was developed the Reconciliation Proclamation and the Statement of Principles and Priorities.
• December 6 – The Toonie is introduced
• December 6 – Canada agrees to send 1000 peacekeepers to Bosnia
• December 7 – The Montreal Canadiens trade Patrick Roy to the Colorado Avalanche
• December 11 – Voters in what will become Nunavut select Iqaluit as the capital of the new territory
• December 20 – Lt. Gen Jean Boyle becomes Chief of the Defence Staff
• December 21 – The Krever Commission holds its final hearings
• December 28 – Premier of Newfoundland Clyde Wells announces his retirement

Arts and Literature

New Books

• Bill Bissett – Th influenza uv logik
• Ann-Marie MacDonald – The Arab's Mouth
• Douglas Coupland – Microserfs
• Stevie Cameron – On the Take
• Dave Duncan – The Hunters' Haunt
• Antonine Maillet – La Fontaine ou la Comédie des animaux
• Farley Mowat – Aftermath: Travels in a Post-War World

Awards

• Carol Shields wins the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Stone Diaries
• Robert J. Sawyer wins the Nebula Award for his work The Terminal Experiment
• Giller Prize: Rohinton Mistry – A Fine Balance
• See 1995 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
• Books in Canada First Novel Award: Shyam Selvadurai, Funny Boy: A Novel in Six Stories
• Geoffrey Bilson Award: Joan Clark, The Dream Carvers
• Gerald Lampert Award: Keith Maillard, Dementia Americana
• Marian Engel Award: Bonnie Burnard
• Pat Lowther Award: Beth Goobie, Scars of Light
• Stephen Leacock Award: Josh Freed, Fear of Frying and other Fax of Life
• Trillium Book Award English: – Margaret Atwood, Morning In The Burned House and Wayson Choy, The Jade Peony
• Trillium Book Award French: – Maurice Henrie, Le Balcon dans le ciel
• Vicky Metcalf Award: Sarah Ellis

Music

• Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill released
• Shania Twain's The Woman in Me released

Television

• Long running quiz show Front Page Challenge is canceled by the CBC

Film

• Michael Moore's Canadian Bacon is released

Births

Deaths

• January 28 – George Woodcock, author
• February 23 – Murray Cotterill, labour leader
• April 23 – Douglas Lloyd Campbell, Manitoba politician
• May 6 – John Black Aird, politician
• July 8 – George Johnson, Manitoba politician
• August 2 – Brian Smith, sportscaster
• August 25 – Francis Lawrence Jobin, Manitoba politician
• September 3 – Earle Birney, poet
• September 23 – Philip Gaglardi, British Columbia politician
• September 30 – Jean-Luc Pépin, politician
• October 17 – Herbert J. Smith, president of General Electric Canada
• October 26 – Lucie Cavoukian, photographer
• October 27 – Artin Cavoukian, photographer
• November 3 – Gordon S. Fahrni, doctor
• November 13 – Emmett Hall, Supreme Court Justice
• November 21 – Bruno Gerussi, actor
• December 2 – Robertson Davies, author
• December 3 – Elsie Knott, first female band chief
• December 4 – Little Beaver, wrestler
• December 17 – Jean Fortier, head of Radio-Canada
• Earle Birney, poet
• John Peters Humphrey, legal scholar