text:
2002 in Canada

Events from the year 2002 in Canada.

Incumbents
Estimated Canadian population: 31,413,990

Crown

 * Monarch – Elizabeth II

Federal government

 * Governor General – Adrienne Clarkson
 * Prime Minister – Jean Chrétien
 * Chief Justice – Beverley McLachlin (British Columbia)
 * Parliament – 37th

Lieutenant governors

 * Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Lois Hole
 * Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Iona Campagnolo
 * Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Peter Liba
 * Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Marilyn Trenholme Counsell
 * Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador – Arthur Maxwell House (until November 1) then Edward Roberts
 * Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Myra Freeman
 * Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Hillary Weston (until March 7) then James Bartleman
 * Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Léonce Bernard
 * Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Lise Thibault
 * Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Lynda Haverstock

Premiers

 * Premier of Alberta – Ralph Klein
 * Premier of British Columbia – Gordon Campbell
 * Premier of Manitoba – Gary Doer
 * Premier of New Brunswick – Bernard Lord
 * Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador – Roger Grimes
 * Premier of Nova Scotia – John Hamm
 * Premier of Ontario – Mike Harris (until April 15) then Ernie Eves
 * Premier of Prince Edward Island – Pat Binns
 * Premier of Quebec – Bernard Landry
 * Premier of Saskatchewan – Lorne Calvert

Commissioners

 * Commissioner of Yukon – Jack Cable
 * Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Glenna Hansen
 * Commissioner of Nunavut – Peter Irniq

Premiers

 * Premier of the Northwest Territories – Stephen Kakfwi
 * Premier of Nunavut – Paul Okalik
 * Premier of Yukon – Pat Duncan (until November 30) then Dennis Fentie

January to March

 * 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 Chrétien 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.
 * January 25 – Canada officially re-establishes diplomatic relations with Afghanistan.
 * February 6 – Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II's accession as Queen of Canada.
 * February 18 – The towns of Chicoutimi, Jonquière and La Baie consolidated into a new city officially called Saguenay.
 * March 4 – Federal government allows stem cell research using human embryos.
 * March 7 – James Bartleman appointed Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.
 * 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 Mike Harris as party leader at the Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership convention.
 * March 26 – Supreme Court of British Columbia rules that works of the imagination are not child pornography.

April to June

 * April 1 – The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority is established.
 * 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 – Tarnak Farm incident. 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 – Hells 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 Chrétien shuffles the Cabinet again, removing Art Eggleton and Don Boudria, who were both embroiled in scandals.
 * June 2 – Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, on the advice of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, dismisses Finance Minister Paul Martin and replaces him with John Manley.
 * June 5 – Alexa McDonough announces her resignation as leader of the federal New Democratic Party.
 * June 7 – Quebec becomes the first province to grant homosexual couples full parental rights.
 * June 26 – G8 leaders meet in Kananaskis, Alberta.

July to September

 * 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 of Canada.
 * August 21 – Facing pressure from Martin loyalists Jean Chrétien announces he will step down as prime minister in February 2004.
 * September – A Senate special committee recommends that marijuana should be legalized in Canada.
 * September 9 – A riot breaks out at Concordia University in Montreal, by protesters against a scheduled talk by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien; a Holocaust survivor and a rabbi are assaulted.

October to December

 * October 4 – The Queen arrives in Canada to start of 12-day tour to mark her Golden Jubilee as Queen of Canada.
 * October 7 – American officials deport Canadian citizen Maher Arar to Syria.
 * October 29 – Canada issues a travel advisory for all those of Middle Eastern descent travelling to the United States.
 * October 31 – Pat Buchanan calls Canada Soviet Canuckistan.
 * October 31 – In Sauvé v. Canada (Chief Electoral Officer), the Supreme Court rules that all prisoners have the right to vote under Section Three of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, regardless of the stipulation in the Canada Elections Act that prisoners serving sentences of two years or more may not vote.
 * November 22 - The Sheppard Subway (Later renamed Line 4 Sheppard) opens on the Toronto Subway.
 * November 26 – Françoise Ducros, the Prime Minister's communication director resigns over her comment that U.S. President George W. Bush is a "moron".
 * November 28 – The Royal Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada (the Romanow Commission) 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.
 * December 17 – The Service de police de la Ville de Québec arrest many people in a child prostitution bust that includes many well-known people of the city.

Art

 * July 10 – At a Sotheby's auction, Peter Paul Rubens's painting "The Massacre of the Innocents" is sold for £49.5 million (US$76.2 million) to Canadian Kenneth Thomson.

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 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

 * October 22 – Yann Martel wins the Booker Prize for his novel Life of Pi
 * November 5 – Austin Clarke wins the Giller Prize for his novel The Polished Hoe
 * 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
 * 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 Bök, 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 Éric Charlebois, Faux-fuyants

Music

 * Joni Mitchell wins a Grammy for lifetime achievement

New music

 * A New Day Has Come: Céline Dion
 * Let Go: Avril Lavigne
 * Acoustic Kitty: John Mann
 * Under Rug Swept: Alanis Morissette
 * Vapor Trails: Rush
 * Does This Look Infected?: Sum 41
 * Up!: Shania Twain
 * What If It All Means Something: Chantal Kreviazuk

Film

 * Atom Egoyan's, Ararat is released.
 * April 12 – Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, first movie in Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit.

Television

 * 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.
 * 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 CBC Television.
 * The CBC celebrates its 50th anniversary as a television broadcaster.

Sport

 * February 8 – 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 (later upgraded to gold after a judging controversy.
 * May 26 – The Kootenay Ice win their only Memorial Cup by defeating Victoriaville Tigres 6 to 3. The tournament was played at Guelph Sports and Entertainment Centre in Guelph, Ontario
 * November 23 – The Saint Mary's Huskies win their second (consecutive) Vanier Cup by defeating the Saskatchewan Huskies 33 to 21 in the 38th Vanier Cup played at Skydome in Toronto
 * November 24 – The Montreal Alouettes win their fifth (and first since 1977) Grey Cup by defeating the Edmonton Eskimos 25 to 16 in the 90th Grey Cup played at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton

Births

 * February 4 – Graham Verchere, actor
 * April 6 – Andrea Botez, chess player
 * May 10 – Sophia Ewaniuk, actress
 * July 30 – Zachary Turner, murder victim (died 2003)
 * September 6 – Leylah Fernandez, tennis player
 * September 19 – Isaac Kragten, actor
 * December 23 – Finn Wolfhard, actor

January to March

 * January 4 – Douglas Jung, politician and first Chinese Canadian MP in the House of Commons of Canada (born 1924)
 * January 5 – Christie Harris, children's author (born 1907)
 * January 13 – Frank Shuster, comedian (born 1916)
 * January 24 – Peter Gzowski, broadcaster, writer and reporter (born 1933)
 * February 3 – Lucien Rivard, criminal and prison escapee (born 1914)
 * February 14 – Bud Olson, politician, Minister and Senator (born 1925)
 * February 26 – Harry Rankin, lawyer and politician (born 1920)
 * March 12 – Jean-Paul Riopelle, painter and sculptor (born 1923)
 * March 18
 * Dalton Camp, journalist, politician, political strategist and commentator (born 1920)
 * Johnny Lombardi, CHIN-TV television personality (born 1915)

April to June

 * April 14 – Gustave Blouin, politician (born 1912)
 * April 17 – Richard Green, soldier killed in Afghanistan (born 1980)
 * April 19 – Ross Whicher, politician and businessman (born 1918)
 * May 9 – Robert Layton, politician (born 1925)
 * May 17 – Edwin Alonzo Boyd, criminal and leader of the Boyd Gang (born 1914)
 * June 21 – Timothy Findley, novelist and playwright (born 1930)

July to December

 * July 8 – Sidney Spivak, politician and Minister (born 1928)
 * July 13 – Yousuf Karsh, photographer (born 1908)
 * September 13 – George Stanley, historian, author, soldier, teacher, public servant and designer of the current Canadian flag (born 1907)
 * November 24 – Harry Gunning, scientist and administrator (born 1916)
 * November 30 – Jeffrey Baldwin, murder victim (born 1997)

 * December 5 – Prosper Boulanger, politician and businessman (born 1918)
 * December 10 – Les Costello, ice hockey player and Catholic priest (born 1928)
 * December 13 – Zal Yanovsky, rock musician (born 1944)
 * December 16 – Bill Hunter, ice hockey player, general manager and coach (born 1920)
 * December 18 – Ray Hnatyshyn, politician and 24th Governor General of Canada (born 1934)

title: 2002 in Canada


text:
2003 in Canada

Events from the year 2003 in Canada.

Crown

 * Monarch – Elizabeth II

Federal government

 * Governor General – Adrienne Clarkson
 * Prime Minister – Jean Chrétien (until December 12) then Paul Martin
 * Chief Justice – Beverley McLachlin (British Columbia)
 * Parliament – 37th

Lieutenant governors

 * Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Lois Hole
 * Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Iona Campagnolo
 * Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Peter Liba
 * Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Marilyn Trenholme Counsell (until August 26) then Herménégilde Chiasson
 * Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador – Edward Roberts
 * Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Myra Freeman
 * Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – James Bartleman
 * Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Léonce Bernard
 * Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Lise Thibault
 * Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Lynda Haverstock

Premiers

 * Premier of Alberta – Ralph Klein
 * Premier of British Columbia – Gordon Campbell
 * Premier of Manitoba – Gary Doer
 * Premier of New Brunswick – Bernard Lord
 * Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador – Roger Grimes (until November 6) then Danny Williams
 * Premier of Nova Scotia – John Hamm
 * Premier of Ontario – Ernie Eves (until October 23) then Dalton McGuinty
 * Premier of Prince Edward Island – Pat Binns
 * Premier of Quebec – Bernard Landry (until April 29) then Jean Charest
 * Premier of Saskatchewan – Lorne Calvert

Commissioners

 * Commissioner of Yukon – Jack Cable
 * Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Glenna Hansen
 * Commissioner of Nunavut – Peter Irniq

Premiers

 * Premier of the Northwest Territories – Stephen Kakfwi (until December 10) then Joe Handley
 * Premier of Nunavut – Paul Okalik
 * Premier of Yukon – Dennis Fentie

January to March

 * January – A Windsor, Ontario court invalidates Canada's marijuana laws.
 * January 20 – Avalanche kills eight skiers in eastern British Columbia.
 * January 25 – Jack Layton is elected to replace Alexa McDonough as party leader at the New Democratic Party leadership convention.
 * January 26 – Marc Ouellet is installed as Archbishop of Quebec, and Primate of Canada.
 * February 2 – An avalanche in Glacier National Park, British Columbia, kills six boys and one girl.
 * March 5 – Sui-chu Kwan, who travelled to Hong Kong in February, dies of SARS in Toronto.
 * March 7 – Endeavour Hydrothermal Vents on the British Columbia Coast becomes Canada's first marine protected area.
 * March 10 – Toronto'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 24 – YellowTimes.org website is shut down.
 * March 26 – Ontario declares a public health emergency as a result of SARS.

April to June

 * 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 bovine spongiform encephalopathy (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 Court of Appeal for Ontario rules the ban on same-sex marriage illegal, and marriages begin immediately.
 * June 10 – The Michaels are wed in Ontario, making their marriage the first legal same-sex marriage in Canada.
 * June 30 – Canada's first space telescope is launched.

July to September

 * July 2 – The International Olympic Committee awards the 21st Olympic Winter Games to Vancouver.
 * 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 and the northeastern United States.
 * August 18 – Zachary Turner murdered by his mother in Conception Bay South. She had controversially been bailed and granted custody of the toddler despite facing extradition and trial for the murder of Zachary's father. The case was documented in the film Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
 * 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 – Canada opens its embassy in Kabul.
 * September 19 – The remnants of Hurricane Isabel cross over Lake Erie in Ontario, killing one indirectly and causing local power outages.
 * 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. Four were killed directly and four indirectly.

October to December

 * 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 life sentence, a jury finds Colin Thatcher eligible to apply for early parole.
 * October 21 – Newfoundland and Labrador election: Premier Roger Grimes's Liberals are defeated by Danny Williams's Conservatives.
 * October 21 – Marc Ouellet is elevated to the Cardinalate.
 * 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 US$0.7695.
 * 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 27 – Canadian Alliance party leader Stephen Harper fires CA Member of Parliament Larry Spencer as Family Values Critic after anti-gay remarks.
 * November 28 – Liberal Party Member John Manley announces his retirement from politics.
 * 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.
 * 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 Tarnak Farm 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.
 * 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 14 – Pamela Holopainen, a 22-year-old Inuk woman, disappears after leaving a house party in Timmins, Ontario.
 * 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 Adrienne Clarkson, with her husband John Ralston Saul, arrives in Afghanistan to meet with Canadian troops.

Date unknown

 * Le Tour du Québec en BD, novel albums are published.

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

 * October 14 – The online music store Puretracks launches
 * Shania Twain's CD Up! is a hit
 * Sarah McLachlan's CD Afterglow is released, her first studio album in six years.

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

Sport

 * February 22 – 2003 Canada Winter Games
 * June 9 – Montreal's Jean-Sébastien Giguère of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim is awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy in a losing effort
 * November 16 – The Edmonton Eskimos win their 12th Grey Cup by defeating the Montreal Alouettes 34 to 22 in the 91st Grey Cup played at Taylor Field in Regina
 * November 22 – The 2003 Heritage Classic, the first outdoor game in NHL history, is played in Edmonton.
 * November 22 – The Laval Rouge et Or win their second Vanier Cup by defeating Saint Mary's Huskies by a score of 14–7 in the 39th Vanier Cup played at Skydome in Toronto

Births

 * January 21 – Natalie Garcia, rhythmic gymnast
 * January 24 – Johnny Orlando, singer and actor
 * June 16 – Anna Cathcart, actress
 * July 1 – Tate McRae, singer and dancer
 * August 25 – Christian Lalama, singer

January to June

 * January 3 – Henry Botterell, World War I fighter pilot (born 1896)
 * January 20 – Bill Werbeniuk, snooker player (born 1947)
 * January 28 – Elsie Gibbons, politician, first women to be elected mayor of a municipality in Quebec (born 1903)
 * March 19 – Émile Genest, actor (born 1921)
 * March 31 – Harold Scott MacDonald Coxeter, geometer (born 1907)
 * April 8 – Vatche Arslanian, Canadian Red Cross worker, killed in Iraq (born 1955)
 * April 9 – Richard Doyle, journalist, editor and Senator (born 1923)
 * April 26 – Rosemary Brown, politician (born 1930)
 * May 13 – John Savage, politician and Premier of Nova Scotia (born 1932)
 * May 18 – Barb Tarbox, anti-smoking activist (born 1961)
 * June – Donald Jack, novelist and playwright (born 1924)
 * June 14 – Jacob Froese, politician (born 1917)
 * June 15 – Hume Cronyn, actor (born 1911)
 * June 16 – Pierre Bourgault, politician and essayist (born 1934)
 * June 21 – Roger Neilson, ice hockey coach (born 1934)

July to December

 * July 11 – Zahra Kazemi, photographer, died in Iranian custody (born 1949)
 * July 16 – Carol Shields, author (born 1935)
 * August 9 – Daniel Ling, speech teacher and professor (1926–2003)
 * August 18 – Zachary Turner, murder victim (born 2002)
 * August 19 – Chris Klein-Beekman, aid worker killed in Iraq (born 1971)
 * September 5 – Gisele MacKenzie, singer (born 1927)
 * September 8 – Jaclyn Linetsky, actress (born 1986)
 * September 20 – Vernon Singer, politician (born 1919)
 * October 7 – Izzy Asper, tax lawyer and media magnate (born 1932)
 * October 13 – Bertram Brockhouse, physicist, shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1994 (born 1918)
 * October 16 – Stu Hart, wrestler, promoter and trainer (born 1915)
 * October 20 – Clarence Dunlap, Chief of Air Staff, Royal Canadian Air Force (born 1908)
 * November 15 – Ray Lewis, track and field athlete, Olympic bronze medalist, first Canadian-born black Olympic medalist (born 1910)
 * November 24 – Hugh Kenner, literary scholar, critic and professor (born 1923)
 * November 25 – Johnathon Robert Madden, murder victim (born 1991)
 * December 16 – Robert Stanfield, politician and 24th Premier of Nova Scotia (born 1914)
 * December 23 – John Newlove, poet (born 1938)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: 2003 in Canada


text:
2004 in Canada

Events from the year 2004 in Canada.

Crown

 * Monarch – Elizabeth II

Federal government

 * Governor General – Adrienne Clarkson
 * Prime Minister – Paul Martin
 * Chief Justice – Beverley McLachlin (British Columbia)
 * Parliament – 37th (until 23 May) then 38th (from October 4)

Lieutenant governors

 * Lieutenant Governor of Alberta – Lois Hole
 * Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Iona Campagnolo
 * Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – Peter Liba (until June 30) then John Harvard
 * Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Herménégilde Chiasson
 * Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador – Edward Roberts
 * Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Myra Freeman
 * Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – James Bartleman
 * Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Léonce Bernard
 * Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Lise Thibault
 * Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan – Lynda Haverstock

Premiers

 * Premier of Alberta – Ralph Klein
 * Premier of British Columbia – Gordon Campbell
 * Premier of Manitoba – Gary Doer
 * Premier of New Brunswick – Bernard Lord
 * Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador – Danny Williams
 * Premier of Nova Scotia – John Hamm
 * Premier of Ontario – Dalton McGuinty
 * Premier of Prince Edward Island – Pat Binns
 * Premier of Quebec – Jean Charest
 * Premier of Saskatchewan – Lorne Calvert

Commissioners

 * Commissioner of Yukon – Jack Cable
 * Commissioner of Northwest Territories – Glenna Hansen
 * Commissioner of Nunavut – Peter Irniq

Premiers

 * Premier of the Northwest Territories – Joe Handley
 * Premier of Nunavut – Paul Okalik
 * Premier of Yukon – Dennis Fentie

January

 * January 1 – Montreal Dorval Airport is renamed, after some controversy, Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.
 * January 5 – Canadian dollar value climbs above $0.78 US, for the first time since July 1993.
 * January 12 – Stephen Harper enters leadership race for the new Conservative Party of Canada.
 * January 13 – U.S. President George W. Bush allows Canada to bid for contracts in Iraq.
 * January 16 – Race begins in 2004 Nunavut general election.
 * January 19 – Government of Canada challenges Department of Justice against repayment of benefits to same-sex couples dating back to 1985.
 * January 19 – The Sûreté du Québec announce a new police force to fight organized crime.
 * January 22 – Montreal's Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine warns of a former surgeon who may have infected 2,600 patients with HIV, by letter.
 * January 27 – a Canadian soldier, Corporal Jamie Murphy, is killed in a suicide attack in Afghanistan. Three other soldiers are also injured.
 * January 29 – North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer requests Canadian soldiers to keep a presence in Afghanistan after the scheduled return of troops in August.
 * January 30 – The Supreme Court of Canada upholds a law allowing parents to spank their children within "reasonable limits".

February

 * February 2 – The Speech from the Throne is read by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson in the Senate chamber.
 * February 6 – Canadian SPCA finds 100 dead cows and 100 more being improperly cared for, on an Alberta farm.
 * February 6 – The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation announces it will use a broadcast delay during Don Cherry's Coaches Corner on Hockey Night in Canada, after he makes anti-French and European comments, a possible violation of the Official Languages Act of Canada.
 * February 10 – Auditor General of Canada Sheila Fraser releases a study on the federal government's advertising and sponsorship in Quebec which notes millions of dollars were mishandled. (See: 2004 Canadian sponsorship scandal).
 * February 12 – The World Health Organization endorses a Health Canada plan to deal with a potential influenza pandemic.
 * February 12 – A Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan woman, now 18, who became a quadriplegic after being hit by a vehicle at age 4, is awarded $12 million in a lawsuit against the driver, the city and the former police chief. It is the largest lawsuit awarded in Saskatchewan history.
 * February 13 – Jane Stewart, former Human Resources Development Canada Minister, announces her retirement from politics, to work for the United Nations International Labour Organization.
 * February 16 – Conservative Party of Canada Member of Parliament Elsie Wayne announces her retirement from politics.
 * February 16 – The Canadian Recording Industry Association ask a judge to order many Canadian Internet service providers to hand over names of 29 suspected illegal fileswappers.
 * February 16 – Polling day, 2004 Nunavut general election. Of the 19 members of the consensus government, 1 is acclaimed and 18 elections are held. Eight members of the previous government are re-elected, five are defeated, and five who did not run again are replaced. MLAs will choose the premier from among themselves on March 5; incumbent Paul Okalik is challenged by Tagak Curley.
 * February 17 – John Bryden, Liberal Party of Canada Member of Parliament for Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Aldershot in the House of Commons of Canada, resigns from the party due to the Prime Minister of Canada's sponsorship scandal.
 * February 17 – Canada donates $800,000 to the World Food Program and $350,000 to the International Red Cross, to help with the current food and medical needs in Haiti, following the recent coup there.
 * February 18 – Auditor General of New Brunswick Daryl Wilson reports Premier of New Brunswick Bernard Lord lied about the province having a budget surplus of $1,000,000. Lord accuses the Auditor General of "accounting semantics".
 * February 19 – Jeremy Hinzman, a US soldier from the US 82nd Airborne Division in North Carolina, seeks refugee status in Canada as a conscientious objector to serving in Iraq. He currently lives in Toronto with his wife and child.
 * February 19 – Starting in Buffalo, New York, and ending in Niagara Falls, Ontario, a cross-border police pursuit results in dead Canadian woman.
 * February 20 – The Saskatchewan Minister of Justice, Frank Quennell, announces Alberta Justice Edward P. McCallum will head an inquiry into David Milgaard's wrongful conviction.
 * February 20 – South Korea, Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong ban poultry and birds imports from Canada, after the virus H7 is found. It is not linked to H5N1 (virus), which was blamed for killing 22 people in Asia (See also: avian influenza).
 * February 20 – Canada is part of multi-national delegation with the United States, France and Caribbean nations sent to Haiti, to help end the conflict.
 * February 21 – A joint investigation into the February 19 cross-border police chase is made by Niagara Falls, New York Police, Niagara Falls, Ontario Police and Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, to determine if proper procedure was followed.
 * February 23 – Microcell Solutions Inc. sues Telus Communications, Bell Mobility, Rogers Wireless and Société Tele-Mobile, in a Quebec superior court, for violating its trademark Fido dog image.
 * February 23 – Toronto nurse Andrea Williams files a $600 million lawsuit against the governments of Canada and Ontario due to her contracting SARS, during the 2003 outbreak.
 * February 24 – Prime Minister Paul Martin suspends three Crown corporation heads in steps dealing with the sponsorship scandal. Those suspended are Michel Vennat, president of the Business Development Bank of Canada, Via Rail president Marc LeFrançois and Canada Post president André Ouellet.
 * February 25 – Vancouver International Airport (YVR) announces $1.4 million expansion.
 * February 26 – Canadian Forces send nine members of elite counter-terrorism unit Joint Task Force 2 to Haiti to aid in evacuating Canadians.
 * February 28 – Canadian businessman James Sabzali, living in Philadelphia since 1996, fined and sentenced to a year probation for violating the United States embargo against Cuba.
 * February 28 – Royal Canadian Mounted Police Corporal Jim Galloway shot dead during a standoff.

March

 * March 3 – United Nations International Narcotics Control Board criticizes Canada for having a provincially run safe house for drug users in Vancouver, British Columbia.
 * March 3 – RCMP investigate threatening letters sent to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island government and media buildings.
 * March 3 – Former Jean Chrétien aide Jean Carle linked to 2004 Canadian sponsorship scandal.
 * March 5 – Paul Okalik re-elected as Premier of Nunavut in 2004 Nunavut general election.
 * March 5 – Canadian Forces plans to send 450 troops, including three infantry platoons and six helicopters from 430 Squadron in Valcartier, Quebec, and members of I Company 2nd Battalion The Royal Canadian Regiment, based at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown in New Brunswick, to Haiti for a 90-day mission.
 * March 5 – Prime Minister Paul Martin fires the President of Via Rail, Marc LeFrançois.
 * March 5 – Abdurahman Khadr, who admitted recently to having Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden links, alleges to working for the Central Intelligence Agency as an informant.
 * March 6 – Sheila Copps loses nomination to Tony Valeri to represent the riding of Hamilton East—Stoney Creek in the 2004 federal election.
 * March 7–8 – UN Secretary General Kofi Annan visits Canada to meet with Governor General of Canada Adrienne Clarkson, Prime Minister Martin, and Louise Arbour, who was recently named UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Topic of discussion with the PM will be the Haiti crisis.
 * March 9 – Sheila Copps files an appeal of the Liberal nomination loss and a complaint to the RCMP.
 * March 9 – Belinda Stronach wins Conservative Party of Canada nomination for riding of Newmarket—Aurora, defeating Lois Brown 512-412 in total votes.
 * March 9 – Second form of avian influenza found on British Columbia farm.
 * March 9 – Ottawa police chief Vince Bevan admits involvement in investigating Maher Arar before he was deported to Syria.
 * March 9 – Protests across the country against Citizenship and Immigration Canada for arrest of Algerian refugee Mohamed Cherfi by Quebec City police for failing to report an address change. He had been hiding in a church, which is normally considered a refugee safe house.
 * March 9 – 2004 Canadian sponsorship scandal investigation finds $2.3 million missing which was to be used to fund the Bluenose 2.
 * March 12 – Canadian Forces begin deployment to Haiti to support peacekeeping force.
 * March 12 – CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick Colonel Barry McLeod named Chief of Staff of United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC). He will arrive there in July.
 * March 12 – 2004 Canadian sponsorship scandal investigation results in firing of Michel Vennat, the Business Development Bank of Canada's President.
 * March 15 – Treasury Board of Canada President Reg Alcock announces a "merit-based" system to appoint new CEOs for Crown corporations.
 * March 15 – Quebec government warns 1,144 people who attended an acupuncture clinic (owned by Suzanne Sicotte) in Montreal to take blood tests for HIV and hepatitis.
 * March 15 – Brad Wall appointed leader of the Saskatchewan Party.
 * March 16 – Equifax confirms security breach resulting in the illegal access to files containing credit information of 1,400 Canadians.
 * March 17 – House of Commons committee summons 11 federal bureaucrats in investigation of the sponsorship scandal for a private hearing, later to become a public hearing.
 * March 17 – Canadian Food Inspection Agency creates a programme for routine testing of poultry for avian influenza (bird flu), after British Columbia had to destroy 57,000 chickens.
 * March 17 – Fisheries Minister Geoff Regan announces increased patrols outside the 320-kilometre limit off Canada's east coast.
 * March 17 – A stamp is created in honour of former Governor General of Canada Ray Hnatyshyn.
 * March 17 – 170 Canadian Forces soldiers sent to Haiti to provide security (See Operation Halo).
 * March 18 – Kickbacks discovered in free flag giveaway discovered from 1996 promise by Sheila Copps to give away one million free flags.
 * March 20 – In the 2004 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election, Stephen Harper wins on the first ballot to become leader of the party and the official opposition.
 * March 22 – Federal government announces an aid package worth almost $1 billion to farmers hurt by mad cow disease.
 * March 22 – Conservative Party of Canada leader Stephen Harper appointed Peter MacKay as Deputy Leader.
 * March 22 – Supreme Court of Canada jurist Frank Iacobucci announces his retirement effective June.
 * March 22 – Canada condemns Israel's assassination of Hamas founder Shaikh Ahmed Yassin.
 * March 22 – Canada introduces a bill to protect public service worker whistleblowers.
 * March 23 – The 2004 Canadian budget is announced.
 * March 23 – The government of Canada will sell its stake in Petro-Canada within next twelve months.
 * March 24 – RCMP release documents detailing investigation of newspaper reporter Juliet O'Neill telling how they searched for details of her knowledge of the Maher Arar case. A January 2004 raid of her house was also documented.
 * March 24 – Canadian Food Inspection Agency orders slaughter of 275,000 chickens and turkeys in British Columbia to fight avian influenza outbreak.
 * March 24 – Myriam Bédard testifies to a committee investigating the sponsorship scandal that she heard Jacques Villeneuve was paid millions of dollars to wear a Canadian flag on his racing suit; Villeneuve calls this allegation "ludicrous".
 * March 25 – Supreme Court of Canada rules 9–0 in not holding Catholic Church of Canada responsible for sexual abuse of altar boys by a Newfoundland priest Kevin Bennett.
 * March 26 – Supreme Court of Canada upholds legitimacy of pre-nuptial agreements saying it cannot be considered unfair at the time of signing.
 * March 26 – Minister of Foreign Affairs Bill Graham speaks at a memorial conference at the United Nations for the 1994 Rwanda massacre, reminding people to not forget the genocide.
 * March 26 – Canada makes One-Tonne Challenge.
 * March 29 – The Progressive Canadian Party registers with Elections Canada to elect members into the House of Commons of Canada in the 2004 Canadian federal election.
 * March 29 – RCMP raid an Ottawa area home, arrest Momin Khawaja on terrorism charges.
 * March 29 – Peel Regional Municipality, Ontario police officer arrested for possessing $2.5 million worth of cocaine.
 * March 29 – The federal Assisted Human Reproduction Act is signed into law.
 * March 30 – Auditor General of Canada Sheila Fraser criticizes flaws in national security.
 * March 30 – Ottawa area man Momin Khawaja arrested on March 29 is charged with acts of terrorism under the Canada Anti-Terrorism Act.
 * March 31 – Colin Thatcher is denied early parole.
 * March 31 – 170 people, including 29 Canadians, arrested in drug bust across Canada and the United States.
 * March 31 – Discovery finds that million flag promise in 1996 by Sheila Copps was organized by Groupaction.
 * March 31 – Federal Court of Canada rejects Canadian Recording Industry Association request to obtain names of music fileswappers, making the sharing legal.
 * March 31 – Saskatchewan government releases 2004 budget, raising the Provincial Sales Taxes from 6% to 7%.

April

 * April 1 – RCMP confirms arrest of Mohammad Momin Khawaja is related to arrests in United Kingdom.
 * April 1 – United States Department of Homeland Security exempts Canadians from being fingerprinted and photographed when entering the United States.
 * April 1 – Federal riding redistribution comes into effect: number of seats rises from 301 to 308.
 * April 1 – Same-sex marriage in Canada: the first legal same-sex marriage in Quebec is celebrated; Michael Hendricks and René Leboeuf wed in Montreal.
 * April 6 – Canada orders slaughter of 19 million British Columbia poultry due to avian influenza.
 * April 6 – 2004 Canadian sponsorship scandal – Jean Pelletier, former Canadian Prime Minister's Office Chief of Staff, alleges there was "no direction" in the federal sponsorship programme.
 * April 7 – Fadi Ihsan Fadel, a Canadian humanitarian working in Iraq, taken hostage among group of other nationals.
 * April 7 – Former Member of Canadian Parliament Jack Ramsay's son Spencer found dead in their family home.
 * April 8 – Nine Hells Angels members from Montreal are convicted of drug trafficking and gangsterism.
 * April 8 – Department of Justice considering extraditing alleged mafia leader Vito Rizzuto to the United States. He is accused of three murders in 1981.
 * April 14 – Prime Minister Paul Martin announces extension to deployment of current soldiers in Afghanistan until summer 2005.
 * April 15 – Member of Parliament Svend Robinson confesses to stealing a ring from an auction firm and then takes medical leave.
 * April 16 – The auction firm that Svend Robinson stole the ring from says it will not pursue charges against him.
 * April 16 – Canadian hostage in Iraq, Fadi Ihsan Fadel, freed.
 * April 16 – Canadian Member of Parliament John Cannis (Scarborough Centre Liberal Party) calls for deportation of Abdurahman Khadr.
 * April 17 – Dalai Lama visits Canada for 19-day tour.
 * April 17 – Canadian peacekeeper in Prnjavor, Bosnia and Herzegovina, injured in road accident, one civilian also injured. (See: Operation Palladium)
 * April 20 – Rifat Mohammed Rifat, a Canadian citizen, taken hostage in Iraq.
 * April 27 – Air Canada flight 109, a Halifax to Vancouver 767, is escorted by two CF-18s after a suspicious threat is received by North American Aerospace Defense Command.
 * April 27 – Deputy Prime Minister of Canada Anne McLellan introduces new $690 million national security and foreign security initiative.
 * April 29 – Prime Minister Martin speaks at a U.S. conference reaffirming position not to join coalition in Iraq, but says Canada wants to aid in rebuilding Iraq.
 * April 29 – A North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) panel rules in favour of Canada in the US - Canada softwood lumber dispute against the United States.

May

 * May 3 – Canadian businessman Naji al-Kuwaiti is reported to have been taken hostage in Iraq on April 28; he is released May 4.
 * May 10 – 2004 Canadian sponsorship scandal – Jean Brault, president of Groupaction, and Charles Guité arrested by the RCMP for fraud.
 * May 17 – Ken Dryden announces his candidacy in the 2004 Canadian election representing the Liberal Party in the Canadian electoral district of York Centre.
 * May 18 – Supreme Court of Canada upholds law on spending limit by Lobby groups during elections.
 * May 18 – Karlheinz Schreiber ordered extradited to Germany on charges of fraud, bribery, and failure to pay taxes.
 * May 27 – Conservative Party of Canada official languages critic Scott Reid resigns after making comments suggesting reduction of French language access.
 * May 27 – Former Public Works Minister Alfonso Gagliano launches $4.5 million lawsuit against Prime Minister Martin and the federal government.
 * May 27 – Farmers' income hits 25-year low in 2003 from drought and mad cow crisis.
 * May 30 – Vandal(s) spraypaint anti-gay messages on the office of Liberal Party of Canada candidate Glen Murray (Charleswood—St. James). Murray was Canada's first openly homosexual municipal leader as the mayor of Winnipeg (1998–2004).

June

 * June 3 – Canada–United States softwood lumber dispute: United States Commerce Department will cut its tax on softwood lumber exports, effective 2005.
 * June 3 – Peel, Ontario Police charge another 13 officials at the federal Department of Human Resources Development in fraud, bribery, and receiving secret commissions investigation.
 * June 10 – Elections Canada's Chief Electoral Officer announces changes to allow televised results of upcoming election without delay after closing of local polling stations.
 * June 17 – Michael Briere pleads guilty to the murder of Holly Jones, admits to viewing child pornography immediately before the murder.
 * June 18 – The Conservative Party of Canada issues, retracts, reissues, and re-retracts a news release entitled "Paul Martin Supports Child Pornography?".
 * June 28 – The Liberal Party of Canada wins a minority government of 135 seats in the 2004 federal election (155 seats were needed for a majority). The Conservative Party of Canada wins 99 seats, New Democratic Party 19, Bloc Québécois 54, and one seat is won by an independent candidate.
 * June 29 – Lethbridge, Alberta city councillor Dar Heatherington is convicted of public mischief after a police investigation concludes that she falsely alleged being stalked by a constituent. She previously faced similar charges after a 2003 investigation in Great Falls, Montana, concluded that she filed a false report of having been abducted and raped.

July

 * July 2 – Nine-year-old Djamshid Djan Popal arrives in Toronto. Early diagnoses suggest Popal suffers from patent ductus arteriosus, a condition he cannot get treatment for in his native Afghanistan, but will be able to in Canada thanks to fundraising efforts by the Muslim Association of Hamilton and volunteering doctors.
 * July 6 – Five-year-old Tamra Keepness, of Regina, is declared missing; massive police search ensues.
 * July 11 – Hail and torrential rain causes flooding in Edmonton; damage to the West Edmonton Mall is estimated in the millions of dollars.
 * July 13 – The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) does not renew the broadcasting license of the Quebec City FM radio station CHOI, citing obscene and offensive content; it is the first time a Canadian station has been forced off the air as a result of crude material.
 * July 14 – Same-sex marriage in Yukon: Yukon territory becomes the fourth province or territory to legalize same-sex marriage.
 * July 14 – Foreign affairs minister Bill Graham orders the withdrawal of Canada's ambassador to Iran after Canada is denied attendance at the trial of Mohammed Reza Aghdam Ahmadi, alleged murderer of Canadian-Iranian citizen Zahra Kazemi.
 * July 15 – Peterborough is hit with 235 mm of rain, backlogging the city's sewer system and flooding streets.
 * July 16 – Iran announces it will allow some diplomatic observers at the trial of Zahra Kazemi's alleged murderer; Canada suspends the withdrawal of its ambassador to Iran.
 * July 18 – Trial of Zahra Kazemi's alleged killer abruptly ends; Canadian ambassador to Iran is recalled.
 * July 19 – Stepfather of missing Regina girl Tamra Keepness is charged with assault causing bodily harm; the alleged altercation occurred at 3 a.m. the morning of July 6, four hours after Tamra was last seen by the family.
 * July 20 – Prime minister Paul Martin announces his new cabinet, which includes new faces such as ice hockey great Ken Dryden, former British Columbia premier Ujjal Dosanjh, and former Progressive Conservative and the openly gay Scott Brison.
 * July 22 – An arrest is made in the Cecilia Zhang murder case, 9 months after she was abducted.
 * July 24 – An Iranian court acquits the accused killer of Iranian-Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi of charges of "semi-intentional murder".
 * July 30 – Two audits claim that suspended Canada Post president Andre Ouellet overlooked contract-tendering and hiring protocols and ran a massive expense budget; he is given a week to explain his actions.

August

 * August 5 – Bill Clinton signs his autobiography My Life at a Toronto bookstore and draws huge lineups.
 * August 6 – Former NDP MP Svend Robinson pleads guilty to theft over $5000 for stealing a ring, and receives a conditional discharge; he avoids jail time and a criminal record but receives a sentence of 100 hours of community service.
 * August 9 – Lethbridge, Alberta city councillor Dar Heatherington resigns after being convicted of public mischief.
 * August 12 – Andre Ouellet resigns as head of Canada Post.
 * August 19 – Lyse Lemieux, Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Quebec, resigns her position as a result of criminal charges.
 * August 20 – Groupe TVA and Sun Media announce plans to acquire Toronto, Ontario television station Toronto One from CHUM Limited when CHUM purchases the Craig Media stations.
 * August 20 – Catherine Clark is announced as the new host of a daily local talk show in Ottawa, Ontario.
 * August 24 – Louise Charron and Rosalie Abella are nominated to the Supreme Court of Canada.
 * August 25 – A Toronto man takes one woman hostage outside of Union Station before being shot dead by a Toronto Police Emergency Task Force sniper.
 * August 26 – Larry Fisher (murderer) denied parole. Saskatchewan plans an inquiry possibly starting in 2005 into the incident.
 * August 26 – Todd Bertuzzi enters not guilty plea in British Columbia court for assaulting Steve Moore.
 * August 30 – Charron and Abella are formally appointed to the SCOC.
 * August 30 – The Canadian Passport Office asks permission to use facial recognition technology to detect potential terrorists.

September

 * September 8 – Canada gives the United Nations $20 million for Sudan peacekeeping.
 * September 10 – The federal government announces $500-million to help cattle farmers hurt by the restricted trade of cattle stemming from one case of Mad Cow disease in 2003.
 * September 10 – Former Lethbridge, Alberta, city councillor Dar Heatherington is given a 20-month conditional sentence for public mischief.
 * September 13–15 – Health care conference in Ottawa between Prime Minister Paul Martin and the provinces.
 * September 13 – Canada's first same-sex divorce occurs, in Ontario.
 * September 16 – Same-sex marriage in Manitoba: The Supreme Court of Manitoba rules the province's ban on same-sex marriages unconstitutional.
 * September 18 – John Tory wins the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario.
 * September 19 – Mihai Eminescu Statue, Montreal unveiled.
 * September 22 – Ottawa forgives debts of Senegal, Ghana and Ethiopia.
 * September 22 – Canadian Fairuz Yamucky, who was held captive in Iraq for 16 days, is returned home.
 * September 24 – Same-sex marriage in Nova Scotia: The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia rules the province's ban on same-sex marriages unconstitutional.
 * September 27 – Calgary Health Region investigates E. coli outbreak affecting more than 600 people. Three local restaurants suspected.
 * September 29 – About 24 North Koreans in Beijing, China, successfully scale the wall of the Canadian embassy seeking asylum.
 * September 29 – Nelson, British Columbia city council reject plan to build a monument dedicated to American draft dodgers.
 * September 30 – It is announced that Governor General Adrienne Clarkson will serve an additional year as Canada's viceroy.
 * September 30 – Air Canada emerges from bankruptcy protection.

October

 * October 1 – Governor General Adrienne Clarkson's term extended one year.
 * October 1 – Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Alberta introduce new anti-smoking laws.
 * October 2 – Poet/musician Meryn Cadell comes out as transgender on CBC Radio One.
 * October 4 – Canada's first minority government since 1979 is sworn in.
 * October 4 – Amnesty International releases a report slamming Canada's lack of protection of Aboriginal women.
 * October 4 – Canada opens an investigation against United Nations Relief and Works Agency for possible relations with Hamas militants.
 * October 5 – Speech from the Throne.
 * October 5 – A fire aboard HMCS Chicoutimi (SSK 879), located off the coast of Ireland.
 * October 6 – Same-sex marriage in Canada: The Supreme Court of Canada begins three days of hearings to determine the legality of same-sex marriage under the Constitution.
 * October 13 – HMCS Chicoutimi (SSK 879) Lieutenant Chris Saunders's funeral is held at a Halifax, Nova Scotia church.
 * October 14 – A Boeing 747 MK Airlines cargo plane crashes after takeoff at Halifax International Airport.
 * October 17 – The ten finalists in the CBC's The Greatest Canadian series are announced. They are Sir Frederick Banting, Alexander Graham Bell, Tommy Douglas, Terry Fox, Wayne Gretzky, Sir John A. Macdonald, Lester B. Pearson, David Suzuki, Pierre Trudeau and, in a surprise which many Canadian media commentators have heavily mocked, Don Cherry.
 * October 19 – A lawyer in Toronto successfully challenges a traffic ticket on the basis that the city had not posted bilingual traffic signs in accordance with Ontario's French Language Services Act of 1986. The city is expected to appeal the decision.
 * October 20 – British Columbia lowers its provincial sales tax from 7.5% to 7%.
 * October 20 – The Canadian dollar closes at $0.8029, its first time above $0.80 since 1993.
 * October 25 – Alberta premier Ralph Klein obtains a dissolution of the legislature; an election is called for November 22.
 * October 28 – Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler sends Steven Truscott's case to the Court of Appeal for Ontario, 45 years after the sentence to hang.
 * October 28 – Supreme Court of Canada rules Newfoundland and Labrador was justified in deferring pay equity to women during a financial crisis.

November
.
 * November 4 – Two couples file suit for same-sex marriage in Newfoundland and Labrador.
 * November 4 – Citizenship and Immigration Canada web traffic jumps sharply as many U.S. Democratic Party supporters react to the recent U.S. election.
 * November 5 – Same sex marriage in Saskatchewan: A Saskatchewan judge declares that same-sex couples have the right to marry in that province.
 * November 12 – The Saskatoon Police Department fire two constables for their involvement in the Neil Stonechild case.
 * November 15 – The United States Department of Homeland Security tightens border security at three checkpoints, including Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia, Ontario — 17 other checkpoints will have similar security before 2005, part of the US-VISIT programme.
 * November 15 – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission opens a civil fraud lawsuit against Conrad Black.
 * November 16 – It is announced that U.S. President George W. Bush will visit Canada November 30 for a two-day visit, his first formal visit to the country since becoming president in 2001.
 * November 18 – Prime Minister Paul Martin expels Mississauga—Erindale Member of Parliament Carolyn Parrish from the Liberal Party caucus, after the controversial MP tells the Canadian Press she feels no loyalty to the party or the prime minister.
 * November 18 – The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission approves an application by the American news channel Fox News for a digital licence.
 * November 19 – The CRTC approves CHUM Limited's purchase of Craig Media.
 * November 21 – The Toronto Argonauts win the Grey Cup for the first time since 1997.
 * November 22 – Ralph Klein wins his 4th mandate as Premier of Alberta.
 * November 29 – Tommy Douglas is voted "The Greatest Canadian" in a CBC popular television series poll.
 * November 30 – U.S. President George W. Bush arrives in Ottawa for a two-day official visit.

December

 * December 9 – The Supreme Court of Canada issues its decision for the same-sex marriage reference bill sent to it by the Government of Canada. The court finds that the federal government has jurisdiction over the definition of marriage and can pass a law to change it.
 * December 19 – Prime Minister Paul Martin arrives in Libya for an official two-day visit. This is the first visit to that country by a Canadian prime minister.
 * December 21 – The Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador legalizes same-sex marriage.
 * December 23 – Danny Williams, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador pulls down the Canadian flags in a protest of his province's treatment by the federal government.
 * December 26 – 15 Canadians are among the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
 * December 27 – The Canadian government donates $4 million to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami relief effort and pledge a further $36 million.
 * December 29 – The United States Department of Agriculture announces the resumption of beef importation effective March 7, 2005 after banning it after finding mad cow disease in one Alberta pig.

Date unknown

 * Beach Travellers, a Vancouver-based tour operator is founded.
 * Ouanani, a world music group is formed in Montréal.

New books

 * Wayson Choy, All That Matters
 * Jane Jacobs, Dark Age Ahead
 * Alice Munro, Runaway
 * Miriam Toews, A Complicated Kindness
 * Bryan Lee O'Malley, Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life

Awards

 * Giller Prize: Alice Munro, Runaway
 * Governor General's Awards: See 2004 Governor General's Awards.
 * Griffin Poetry Prize: Anne Simpson, Loop
 * Stephen Leacock Award: Ian Ferguson, Village of the Small House: A Memoir of Sorts
 * Juno Awards of 2004

Film

 * February 29 – Denys Arcand's film The Barbarian Invasions wins the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

Television

 * January 12 – Rick Mercer Report and This Is Wonderland debut on the CBC

January to March

 * January 5 – In the 2004 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Team USA defeats Team Canada 4–3 in the Final at Helsinki, Finland
 * January 7 – The National Hockey League suspends the Toronto Maple Leafs' Mats Sundin after he throws his stick into the stands after it breaks. No one was hurt and he was suspended only one game.
 * January 7 – Randy Ferbey wins Canada Cup opener.
 * January 29 – Hockey Canada and the Canadian Hockey League jointly announce Vancouver will host the 2006 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships
 * February 9 – Canadian Clara Hughes wins bronze in the world speed skating championship
 * February 10 – The Canadian softball team wins silver in the world softball championship
 * February 10 – Canadian François Bourque wins bronze in the world junior alpine ski championship
 * February 29 – Colleen Jones' curling team wins the Scott Tournament of Hearts, in Red Deer, Alberta, 7–4
 * March 6–14 – Nokia Brier at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
 * March 8 – Vancouver Police Department investigate a National Hockey League incident involving Vancouver Canucks Todd Bertuzzi and Colorado Avalanche rookie Steve Moore. Moore was hit by Bertuzzi resulting in Moore's receiving a neck injury and concussion. Moore is out of the lineup indefinitely.
 * March 11 – Vancouver Canucks forward Todd Bertuzzi suspended without pay for remainder of regular season and playoffs for injuring Steve Moore of the Colorado Avalanche

April to June

 * April 6 – Canada wins the IIHF 2004 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships defeating the United States, 2–0 in Halifax, Nova Scotia
 * April 24 – Canada wins the Women's World Curling Championship
 * May 9 – The Canadian national men's hockey team wins the Men's World Ice Hockey Championships 5–3 over Sweden
 * May 23 – Kelowna Rockets won their First Memorial Cup by defeating the Gatineau Olympiques 2 to 1. The Tournament was played at Prospera Place in Kelowna, British Columbia
 * May 29 – Peter Gibbons wins CASCAR's MOPAR 250 at Delaware Speedway
 * June 6 – Peter Gibbons wins CASCAR's Power Water 200 at Cayuga 2000 Speedway
 * June 7 – Tampa Bay Lightning won their First Stanley Cup by defeating the Calgary Flames 4 games to 3. Murray Harbour, PEI's Brad Richards was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy
 * June 12 – Mark Dilley wins CASCAR's Dodge Dealers of Ontario 200 at Peterborough Speedway
 * June 13 – Michael Schumacher wins the 2004 Canadian Grand Prix held in Montreal, Quebec.
 * June 20 – Jeff Lapcevich wins CASCAR's Clarington 200 at Mosport International Raceway

July to December

 * July 4 – Dave Whitlock wins CASCAR's Canada Day Shootout at Cayuga 2000 Speedway
 * July 10 – Jeff Lapcevich wins CASCAR Toronto Indy 100 km at the Toronto Molson Indy
 * July 19 – Two-time Olympic medallist Nicolas Gill is chosen by the Canadian Olympic Committee to be Canada's flag-bearer at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
 * July 24 – Jeff Lapcevich wins CASCAR's Canadian Tire 100 at the Vancouver Molson Indy
 * July 31 – Dave Whitlock wins CASCAR's MOPAR Parts 300 at Race City Motorsport Park
 * August 11 – Windsor, Ontario's Petey Williams became the First Canadian to win the TNA X-Division Championship by winning a Gauntlet for the Gold match at Total Nonstop Actions's Weekly PPV #106 at the Tennessee Fairgrounds in Nashville
 * August 29 – Closing ceremonies for the 2004 Summer Olympics are held. Canada wins 12 medals, its lowest medal count since taking 10 at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.
 * September 2 – Minor league baseball (AAA) Pacific Coast League baseball leaves Canada as the Edmonton Trappers play their last game.
 * September 14 – Canada wins the World Cup of Hockey
 * September 29 – The Montreal Expos play their last game in Montreal. The team moved to Washington, D.C. for 2005.
 * November 21 – Toronto Argonauts won their Fifteenth Grey Cup by defeating the BC Lions 27 to 19 in the 92nd Grey Cup played Frank Clair Stadium in Ottawa
 * November 27 – Laval Rouge et Or won their Third Vanier Cup by defeating the Saskatchewan Huskies 7 to 1 in the 40th Vanier Cup played at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton, Ontario

Births

 * January 4 – Peyton Kennedy, actress
 * May 12 – Émilie Bierre, actress
 * July 6 – Dylan Kingwell, actor

January to March

 * January 4 – Robert Hylton Brisco, politician (born 1928)
 * January 7
 * Doug Creighton, founder of the Toronto Sun
 * Doug Morton, member of the Regina Five (painter)
 * January 15 – Alex Barris, actor and writer (born 1922)
 * January 17 – Jim Penner, businessman and politician (born 1939)
 * February 8 – Nicholas Goldschmidt, conductor, administrator, teacher, performer, music festival entrepreneur and artistic director (born 1908)
 * February 9
 * Gerald Bouey, 4th Governor of the Bank of Canada (born 1920)
 * Claude Ryan, politician (born 1925)
 * Janusz Żurakowski, fighter and test pilot, first test pilot of Avro Arrow (born 1914)
 * February 21 – Guido Molinari, artist (born 1933)
 * February 29
 * Toni Onley, painter (born 1928)
 * Nat Taylor, inventor of the cineplex (born 1905)
 * March 3 – Tooker Gomberg, politician and environmental activist (born 1955)
 * March 18 – Harrison McCain, businessman (born 1927)
 * March 19 – Mitchell Sharp, politician and Minister (born 1911)
 * March 20 – Pierre Sévigny, soldier, author, politician and academic (born 1917)
 * March 24 – Dominic Agostino, politician (born 1959)
 * March 26 – Sheldon Oberman, children's writer (born 1949)
 * March 30 – Michael H. Rayner, Acting Auditor General of Canada

April to June

 * April 14 – Micheline Charest, producer (born 1953)
 * April 23 – Ross Rutledge, field hockey player (born 1962)
 * May 1 – Larkin Kerwin, physicist, President of the Canadian Space Agency (born 1924)
 * May 4 — David Reimer, Canadian man, born male but reassigned female and raised as a girl after a botched circumcision (b. 1965)
 * May 9 – Eric Kierans, economist and politician (born 1914)
 * June 4 – Brian Linehan, television host (born 1944)
 * June 14 – Jack McClelland, publisher (born 1922)
 * June 17 – Gerry McNeil, ice hockey player (born 1926)
 * June 29 – Alvin Hamilton, politician (born 1912)

July to September

 * July 11 – Frances Hyland, actress (born 1927)
 * July 12 – Betty Oliphant, ballet mistress, co-founder of the National Ballet School of Canada (born 1918)
 * July 19 – Sylvia Daoust, sculptor (born 1902)
 * July 30 – Andre Noble, actor (born 1979)
 * August 8 – Fay Wray, actress (born 1907)
 * August 17 – Frank Cotroni, mobster (born 1931)
 * September 4 – Moe Norman, golfer (born 1929)
 * September 5 – Gerald Merrithew, politician (born 1931)
 * September 10 – Leonard Birchall, World War II hero (born 1915)
 * September 15 – Walter Stewart, writer, editor and journalism educator (born 1931)

October to December

 * October 3 – John Cerutti, baseball player (born 1960)
 * October 16 – Doug Bennett, singer, musician and music video director (born 1951)
 * October 19
 * Calvin Ruck, anti-racism activist and Senator (born 1925)
 * Lewis Urry, chemical engineer and inventor (born 1927)
 * October 27 – Al Clouston, storyteller, humourist and author (born 1910)
 * November 13 – Ellen Fairclough, politician and first female member of the Canadian Cabinet (born 1905)
 * November 15 – John Morgan, comedian (born 1930)
 * November 30 – Pierre Berton, non-fiction author (b. 1920)
 * December 16
 * Agnes Martin, painter (born 1912)
 * Lawrence D. O'Brien, politician (born 1951)
 * December 22 – Alice Strike, Canada's last surviving female World War I veteran (born 1896)

title: 2004 in Canada


text:
Bee learning and communication

Bee learning and communication includes cognitive and sensory processes in all kinds of bees, that is the insects in the seven families making up the clade Anthophila. Some species have been studied more extensively than others, in particular Apis mellifera, or European honey bee. Color learning has also been studied in bumblebees.

Honey bees are sensitive to odors (including pheromones), tastes, and colors, including ultraviolet. They can demonstrate capabilities such as color discrimination through classical and operant conditioning and retain this information for several days at least; they communicate the location and nature of sources of food; they adjust their foraging to the times at which food is available; they may even form cognitive maps of their surroundings. They also communicate with each other by means of a "waggle dance" and in other ways.

Learning

Honey bees are adept at associative learning, and many of the phenomena of operant and classical conditioning take the same form in honey bees as they do in the vertebrates. Efficient foraging requires such learning. For example, honey bees make few repeat visits to a plant if it provides little in the way of reward. A single forager will visit different flowers in the morning and, if there is sufficient reward in a particular kind of flower, she will make visits to that type of flower for most of the day, unless the plants stop producing nectar or weather conditions change.

Memory
A 2005 three-part study tested the working memory of honey bees, after learning to associate a certain pattern with a reward (delayed matching-to-sample). Bees were shown a pattern at the beginning of a tunnel, and then subjected to a series of variations: in the length of the tunnel (How long can bees retain the pattern in working memory?), in a choice between two patterns (matching and non-matching) placed at different distances (Can bees trained in the task continue to perform correctly when the matching pattern as well as a non-matching pattern are presented in the tunnel?); and a choice between two patterns (Can bees learn which of two sequentially encountered patterns in the tunnel is the pattern to be matched in the decision cylinder?). The researchers found that working memory in the honey bee is both robust and flexible. The experiments demonstrated that bees can choose between alternatives, determine if a stimulus is the same or different than one seen earlier, remember the earlier one for a short period, and generalize this performance to new pairs of stimuli. The bees retained information in working memory for about 5 seconds, and they might have been simultaneously learning a matching and a nonmatching task; further research was needed.

Color learning in honeybees
A number of experiments have demonstrated color recognition, discrimination and memory in honey bees Apis mellifera. Beginning in the early 1900s, scientists Karl von Frisch and later Randolf Menzel began asking questions about color vision and various aspects of color learning in bees.

Color discrimination

The Austrian zoologist Karl von Frisch began the exploration of color vision in honey bees when, in 1919, he asked whether or not bees have color vision. He performed an elegant experiment that showed not only that the bees could discriminate colors but that they demonstrated associative learning. He first trained his bees to feed from a small dish filled with a nectar-like sugar water. This dish was placed on a piece of blue colored cardboard so that the color was visible to the bees as they arrived at the dish and fed. Next, von Frisch placed identically sized pieces of cardboard in varying shades of grey, each with a dish, all around the blue piece. Lacking color vision, the bees should visit one or more of the gray pieces as often as the blue piece, but he found the vast majority of the bees flew directly to the blue piece of cardboard on which they had previously obtained their reward. The bees largely ignored the gray pieces which had not been rewarded. Von Frisch repeated the experiment with other colors like violet and yellow and got the same results. Later other researchers used this experimental design to test the color vision of vertebrates.

Color learning rates and preferences
The German scientist Randolf Menzel continued the study of color vision in honey bees with more detailed tests. He was curious about whether bees would learn certain colors faster than others. He used lights of various color and intensity to project circles of light on a surface, a set-up like that used by von Frisch except that, by using light instead of cardboard, Menzel was able to easily change the intensity and color of the circles.

To test bees ability to distinguish between two different colors, Menzel placed a small dish containing sugar-water in one circle and a second empty dish some distance away on a differently colored circle. A single bee was placed equidistant between the two circles and allowed to choose between the dishes. The bees quickly learned to choose the color signaling the dish with the reward, and Menzel was able to measure how quickly the bees learned this task with various color differences.

Menzel's results showed that bees do not learn to discriminate between all color pairs equally well. Bees learned the fastest when violet light was rewarded, and the slowest when the light was green; the other colors fell somewhere in between. This evidence of inherent bias is evolutionarily reasonable, given that bees forage for differently-colored nectar-bearing flowers, many of which are to be found in green foliage which does not signal reward.

Color memory
After his work on color preferences, Menzel extended his experiments to study aspects of color learning and memory. He wanted to know how many trials bees need to reliably choose a previously rewarded color when they are presented with several alternatives, and how long they would remember the rewarded color.

Menzel did several experiments to answer these questions. First, he gave individual bees a single sugar reward on a colored background. He then kept these bees in small cages for several days without any further trials. After a few days, he presented each bee with an array of several dishes, each on a different colored background. One of the colors was the same as that used during the initial trial, and the others were novel, unrewarded colors. Remarkably, after a single trial and several days without exposure to the rewarded color, bees correctly chose to explore the color used in the first trial more than fifty-percent of the time.

Menzel then repeated this experiment with another group of bees, keeping all factors the same except that in the second round of testing he gave the bees three initial trials with the rewarded color instead of just one. When, after several days in confinement, the bees were presented with a choice of colors they almost always chose the color that was used on the first three trials.

This ability to retain information about color-linked rewards for several days after minimal exposure to the rewarded color demonstrates the remarkable facility with which bees learn and retain color information.

Timing in color learning
In still other experiments, Menzel explored the timing of bee color learning by testing whether bees register color before, during, or after receiving their sugar-water reward. For this purpose Menzel displayed the color beneath a rewarded dish at different stages of the honey bee feeding process: during approach, feeding and departure.

Menzel found that bees register color during both approach and feeding, and that they had to see the color for about a total of about 5 seconds, with best performance usually coming with about three seconds exposure during the approach and two seconds after landing and beginning to feed.

Color learning in bumblebees
An American specialist in bee cognition, Dr. Felicity Muth, has studied the mechanism behind the associative learning in bumblebees, specifically Bombus impatiens. Bumblebees were shown to be able to learn multiple color-food associations and tended to continue to apply what they learned. In another study, Dr. Felicity Muth continued to learn more about these associations. Bumblebees initially preferred yellow anthers and blue corollas when foraging for pollen. After this initial test, they began associating floral color with pollen success. The bumblebees' association between pollen and features of the anther and petal also showed that they discriminated between rewarding and unrewarding patterns. This knowledge persisted, both after 24 hours of learning and after 7 days. Dr. Muth's studies have also shown that bumblebees do not prefer nor choose against a flower based on its complexity. However, they will learn those unique traits if the reward, the pollen, is great enough.

Communication
Foragers communicate their floral findings in order to recruit other worker bees of the hive to forage in the same area. The factors that determine recruiting success are not completely known but probably include evaluations of the quality of nectar and/or pollen brought in.

There are two main hypotheses to explain how foragers recruit other workers—the "waggle dance" or "dance language" theory and the "odor plume" theory. The dance theory is far more widely accepted, and has far more empirical support than the odor theory. Supporters of the dance theory often grant odor a significant role in recruitment, while supporters of the odor theory have claimed that the dance is essentially irrelevant to recruitment. The academic debate between these theories has been polarized and sometimes hostile.

Dance communication

It has long been known that successfully foraging Western honey bees perform a waggle dance upon their return to the hive. The laden forager dances on the comb in a circular pattern, occasionally crossing the circle in a zig-zag or waggle pattern. Aristotle described this behaviour in his Historia Animalium. This waggle pattern of movement was thought to attract the attention of other bees. In 1947, Karl von Frisch correlated the runs and turns of the dance to the distance and direction of the food source from the hive. He reported that the orientation of the dance is correlated with the relative position of the sun to the food source, and the length of the waggle portion of the run is correlated to the distance of the food from the hive. Von Frisch also reported that the more vigorous the display is, the better the food. Von Frish published these and many other observations in his 1967 book The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees and in 1973 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries.

Later work has supported Von Frisch's observations and added many details. It appears that all of the known species and races of honey bees exhibit the behavior, but details of its execution vary among the different species. For example, in Apis florea and Apis andreniformis (the "dwarf honeybees") the dance is performed on the dorsal, horizontal portion of the nest, which is exposed. The runs and dances point directly toward the resource in these species. Each honey bee species has a characteristically different correlation of "waggling" to distance, as well. Such species-specific behavior suggests that this form of communication does not depend on learning but is rather determined genetically. It also suggests how the dance may have evolved.

Other experiments further document the communicative nature of the waggle dance. For example, dances by robotic dummy bees induced some recruitment. Research has also shown that the dance may vary with the environmental context, a finding that may explain why the results of some earlier studies were inconsistent.

Odor plume
While many researchers believe that bee dances give enough information to locate resources, proponents of the odor plume theory argue that the dance gives little, or no actual guidance to a nectar source. They argue that bees instead are primarily recruited by odor. The purpose of the dance is simply to gain attention to the returning worker bee so she can share the odor of the nectar with other workers who will then follow the odor trail to the source. Most scientists agree that odor is used in recruitment to resources, but they differ strongly in opinion as to the information content of the dance.

The primary lines of evidence used by the odor plume advocates are
 * 1) experiments with odorless sugar sources which show that worker bees are unable to recruit to those sources and
 * 2) logical difficulties of a small-scale dance (a few centimeters across) giving directions precise enough to hold the other bees on course during a flight that could be several kilometers long. Misreading by even a few degrees would lead the bee off course by hundreds of meters at the far end.

Neither of these points invalidate the dance theory, but simply suggest that odor might be involved, which is indeed conceded by all proponents of dance theory. Critics of the odor plume theory counter that most natural nectar sources are relatively large—orchards or entire fields— so, precision may not be necessary or even desirable. They have also challenged the reproducibility of the odorless source experiment.

Odor learning in bees is usually tested by the proboscis extension reflex. Significant to the argument are the experiments of William F. Towne, of the Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, in which hives are moved to "mirror image" terrain settings, and the bees are thereby fooled into dancing about the wrong location for a nectar source. Foragers were successfully recruited to the wrong location, but only when the sun was obscured by clouds, forcing them to rely on terrain-based navigation rather than "solar ephemeris"-based navigation. As the cloud cover broke up, more and more bees corrected their dances to indicate the actual location of nectar, and forager visits shifted to the correct location.

Odor is essential and even necessary at various stages of the recruitment process, including once a recruited forager reaches the vicinity of the resource while some scientists think that dancing may be a simple idiothetic movement that conveys no information. Others see the dance as conveying information, but doing it poorly compared to other means and potentially used backup approach.

Note: much of the research on the two competing hypotheses of communication has been restricted to Western honey bees (see the work of F.C. Dyer though). Other species of Apis use variants on the same theme, and other types of bees use other methods altogether.

Trophallaxis
The exchange of food, trophallaxis, can be used to communicate the quality of a food source, temperature, a need for water, and the condition of the queen (Sebeok, 1990).

Primer pheromones
Research that was published in November 2004, by scientists under the leadership of Zachary Huang, Michigan State University indicates that so called primer pheromones play an important part in how a honey bee colony adjusts its distribution of labor most beneficially. In order to survive as a bee colony of sometimes 50,000–100,000 individual bees, the communal structure has to be adaptable to seasonal changes and the availability of food. The division of labor has to adjust itself to the resources available from foraging. While the division of labor in a bee colony is quite complex, the work can be roughly seen as work inside the hive and outside the hive. Younger bees play a role inside the hive while older bees play a role outside the hive mostly as foragers. Huang's team found that forager bees gather and carry a chemical called ethyl oleate in the stomach. The forager bees feed this primer pheromone to the worker bees, and the chemical keeps them in a nurse bee state. The pheromone prevents the nurse bees from maturing too early to become forager bees. As forager bees die off, less of the ethyl oleate is available and nurse bees more quickly mature to become foragers. It appears that this control system is an example of decentralized decision making in the bee colony.

Other bees like Trigona corvina rely on pheromones for much of their communication with nest mates and rivals. They produce pheromones from their labial glands. The function of signaling depends on the profitability, but they commonly will scent mark a food source either for self-orientation, to deter rivals or to direct a nest mate to the resource. Once an individual finds a good food source, they will return to the same source for many days. If an individual detects the scent of a rival bee, they will avoid the plant in order to avoid conflict and to save time. It has also been shown that pheromones are a method of sexual selection between male drones and queens.

Cognition
Experiments by James Gould suggest that honey bees may have a cognitive map for information they have learned, and utilize it when foraging. In an experimental demonstration, Gould lured some bees to a dish of artificial nectar, then gradually moved it farther from the hive. He marked the trained bees, placed them in a darkened jar, and relocated them to a spot where the dish could not be seen but the hive was still visible. When released one by one, the bees appeared disoriented for a few seconds, then flew directly to the dish, 73 of 75 bees reaching it in about 28 seconds. They apparently accomplished this feat by devising a new flight path based on a cognitive map of visible landmarks.

Interpretations of another test suggested not only the use of a map, but also an ability to remember and combine relevant information. Gould moved a supply of sugar water 25% farther away from a hive each day. The bees communicated the location of the water to each other as usual. Then a researcher in his lab placed the sugar water on a boat in the middle of a small lake. When scouts returned to the hive to communicate their find, Gould claimed that other bees refused to go with them, even though they frequently flew over the lake to reach pollen sources on the opposite shore. To Gould, these observations suggested that "bees somehow consider information to see if it makes sense before they act on it". No one observed behavior of bees in the hive during this experiment, however, and when the experiment was replicated by Wray et al. in 2008, the researchers found no evidence for Gould's assertion that followers of waggle dances advertising "implausible" sites refused to respond to these dances. The authors' conclusion: "Contrary to prior findings, our results provide no evidence that honeybees assess the plausibility of information contained in waggle dances or reject dances for locations that are unlikely to yield food. Thus, we conclude that the original Lake Experiment should no longer be cited as evidence that honeybees possess cognitive maps, ‘insight’ or ‘imagination’."

Neurobiology of color vision

A seminal paper by Menzel (1975) described the morphology and spectral sensitivity of the honey bee eye that underlie their color vision. He examined color-coding in the honey bee retina by marking individual cells with a fluorescent dye and recording from these cells as single units. From this analysis he determined that there are three types of receptors in the honey bee eye: 1) UV receptors, 2) blue receptors, and 3) green receptors The three receptors contain three rhodopsin-like pigments which have maximal absorbance at wavelengths of 350 nm, 440 nm, and 540 nm. Menzel also found that most of the cells he studied had secondary sensitivities that corresponded to wavelength regions at which the other two receptor types were maximally active. He used spectral efficiency experiments to suggest that these secondary sensitivities result from electric coupling between the receptors.

Certain morphologies distinguished the receptor types. UV cells were found to have long visual nerve fibers that penetrated the lamina with deep tree-like branchings. Blue and green receptor cells had more shallow fibers.

title: Bee learning and communication


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Talk:New Age Ancient Near East Chronology

It seems this page is more about alternative ideas about sea-people than anything to do with New Age Ancient Near East Chronologies. I don't know if Velikovsky (it was not Rohl's idea), nor Rohl for that matter, can really be classified as New-Age or rather simply non-conventional or at worst anti-establishment. How about filling this page out a bit with some more really zany ideas which are in existence out there concerning middle-eastern chronologies for example the Alien origin theories.

from VfD

 * New Age Ancient Near East Chronology -- The body of the article is unrelated to the title and the rest is demeaning in Kenneth Kitchen-ite style thus neither is is NPOV. Any useful relevant info can be moved to relevant pagest such as Sea Peoples and Phoenicians while the rest is already said in a much more objective & detailed manner on the David Rohl page. Zestauferov 08:29, 27 Dec 2003 (UTC)
 * It at least needs some serious NPOV work. I'm not familiar enough with the content to be able to tell if it's total bunk.  moink 20:33, 3 Jan 2004 (UTC)
 * I've redirected it for now and listed it on Cleanup so if anyone wants to NPOV it and sort it out they unredirect it and deal with it. Angela. 05:57, Jan 4, 2004 (UTC)


text:
Talk:District

U.S. county
Wouldn't "county" be the correct term for district in the USA? ly 06:13, 19 Nov 2003 (UTC)

county globally
The USA are divided into counties for self government and have districts for services like 'school, water & sewage, mosquito abatement, and community colleges. [also for fire protection service] ... These districts don’t “see” the county or city boundaries.' As a Czech with some US experience I am confused by wide use of "district" where I expect "county". Let me plead for using "county" globally.

double entries
Every entry is duplicated!

This is not new, maybe somebody changed one entry and didn't change the other, so please help to remove the doubles, but look, if there is information in one entry and not in the other.

-- Serpens 11:03, 12 Oct 2004 (UTC)

India
In India it is wrongly written that District Magistrate or Deputy commissioner has Judicial or session powers. After 1973 Criminal procedural code had been amended,thenceafter only a few Executive powers are vested in them.so the line and for the Judiciary of the district and sessional courts is worth amending or liable to be deleted. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Tribhuwan (talk • contribs) 24 Nov 2005.

 * In that case, Tribhuwan, you would be most welcome to update the article yourself, particularly if you've access to the relevant information- go right ahead! --cjllw | TALK  22:54, 23 November 2005 (UTC)

Practically all the content under India should be moved to Districts of India, with an absolutely bare minimum left here to orient the reader. The fact that an Indian district is much bigger than a taluka but much smaller than a province puts it in a funny no-man's land for the casual reader from, say, America thinking in terms of cities, counties, and states. But details about district officials, etc., should be saved for the main article—which incidentally could probably use some work.

I would do this myself but I really don't have time right now, I've already spent more hours fixing up Subdivisions of India and pages within two degrees of it than I ever intended or wanted to.

India: abbreviations
There are many abbreviations in the "India" section that are not explained. The Wikipedia Manual of Style says that when abbreviations are used for the first time they must be written out. Subsequent uses may be abbreviated. Caeruleancentaur (talk) 13:17, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

Translations sorted alphabetically
Translations of the word 'district' in different Indian languages are sorted alphabetically now. There was no sorting previously.

EsdnePyaJ 03:35, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Grammar, clarity, please?
hopiakuta 20:53, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

County
The correct description for a Landkreis seems to be County. The Deutscher Landkreistag calls itself German County Association. This really makes sense. In the context of the EU the federal system of Germany is structured as follows: 1)	municipalities, which are local self-government bodies 2)	counties, which are also local self-government bodies 3)	districts, which are only an administrative level of the administration of the Bundesland, therefore they are better called “regional district” 4)	federal states also called regions in the European context or land This wording is used in the European context by the German County Association, the German Association of Town and municipalities and the German Association of Cities which are the official representatives of the local government bodies. This Nomenclature makes a clear differentiation between the self-government bodies, which are granted by the German constitution and the merely administrative level of the regional district. According to this definition the kreisfreie Stadt should be called County Borough. The term County Borough, even though it is now historical, describes perfectly the fact that this is a city or town independent to a county and with the self-governance competencies of a county. Therefore somebody should change this and all related articles. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gereonmc (talk • contribs) 16:23, 25 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Discussed at WP Germany TrueColour (talk) 00:22, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

Article naming
I compiled a list, see below TrueColour (talk) 00:28, 24 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Switzerland now uses common X District instead of the "Germany"-format. Schwyz (talk) 18:06, 27 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Austria now uses common X District instead of "X (district)". Schwyz (talk) 04:47, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

List of district article sets and page name format

 * Europe
 * Category:Districts of Albania X District
 * Category:Districts of Austria X District
 * Category:Districts of Azerbaijan X District
 * Category:Districts of Belarus X District
 * Category:Districts of Cyprus X District
 * Category:Districts of the Czech Republic X District
 * Category:Districts of Georgia (country) X District
 * Category:Districts of Hungary X District
 * Category:Districts of Latvia X District
 * Category:Districts of Luxembourg X District
 * Category:Districts of Moldova X District
 * Category:Districts of Montenegro X District
 * Category:Districts of Portugal X District
 * Category:Districts of Russia by federal subject X District
 * Category:Districts of Serbia X District
 * Category:Districts of Slovakia X District
 * 1) Slovenia
 * 2) * Category:Districts of Ljubljana X District
 * Category:Districts of Switzerland X District
 * Category:Districts of Transnistria X District

 * Category:Districts of Germany Xkreis, X (district), only X, in category names: X district
 * Category:Districts of Turkey by province X, some categories X District

 * Africa
 * Category:Districts of Algeria X District
 * Category:Districts of Botswana X District
 * Category:Districts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo X District
 * Category:Districts of the Republic of the Congo X District
 * Category:Districts of Ghana X District
 * Category:Districts of Ivory Coast X District
 * Category:Districts of Kenya X District
 * Category:Districts of Lesotho X District
 * Category:Districts of Liberia X District
 * Category:Districts of Libya X District
 * Category:Districts of Madagascar X District
 * Category:Districts of Malawi X District
 * Category:Districts of Mauritius X District
 * Category:Districts of Mozambique X District
 * Category:Districts of Rwanda X District
 * Category:Districts of São Tomé and Príncipe X District
 * Category:Districts of Sierra Leone X District
 * Category:Districts of Somalia X District
 * Category:Districts of South Sudan X District
 * Category:Districts of Sudan X District
 * Category:Districts of Tanzania X District
 * Category:Districts of Uganda X District
 * Category:Districts of Zambia X District
 * Category:Districts of Zimbabwe X District

 * Category:Districts of the Gambia X, X District
 * Category:Districts of Saint Helena X
 * Category:Districts of Seychelles X District

 * Americas
 * Category:Districts of Belize X District
 * Category:Districts of Panama X District
 * Category:Districts of Paraguay X District (not fully yet)
 * Category:Districts of Peru X District
 * Category:Districts of Suriname X District

 * Category:Districts of the Bahamas plain X

 * Asia
 * Category:Districts of Afghanistan X District
 * Category:Districts of Bangladesh X District
 * Category:Districts of Bhutan X District
 * Category:Districts of Brunei X District
 * Category:Districts of Burma X District
 * Category:Districts of Cambodia X District
 * Category:Districts of China X District
 * Category:Districts of Iran X District
 * Category:Districts of Iraq X District
 * Category:Districts of Israel X District
 * Category:Districts of Japan X District
 * Category:Districts of Kazakhstan X District
 * Category:Districts of Kyrgyzstan X District
 * Category:Districts of Laos X District
 * Category:Districts of Lebanon X District
 * Category:Districts of Malaysia X District
 * Category:Districts of Myanmar X District
 * Category:Districts of Nepal X District
 * Category:Districts of Pakistan X District
 * Category:Districts of Sri Lanka X District
 * Category:Districts of Syria X District
 * Category:Districts of Tajikistan X District
 * 1) Thailand
 * 2) * Category:Districts of Bangkok X District
 * Category:Districts of Turkmenistan X District
 * Category:Districts of Uzbekistan X District
 * Category:Districts of Vietnam X District
 * Category:Districts of Yemen X District

 * Category:Districts of India X district (lower case class name)
 * Category:Districts of Kuwait only X
 * Category:Districts of Mongolia only X

Article naming consistency
Overwhelmingly used is the format "X District" for individual articles. Should the others be changed to that format? Why does India as the only country use "X district"? What is special about Central Europe countries Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg that they do not use "X District"? TrueColour (talk) 00:30, 24 October 2009 (UTC)
 * One of the downsides of having non-native English speakers undertake sweeping article-naming projects on the English Wikipedia is that it results in titles like Gruyère District, which is awkward in English. I have changed this one, and will continue to change others as I come across them. Eric talk 16:33, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
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Whether belongs to other district
mm 2001:DF7:480:72ED:954D:2FC3:7733:5EE6 (talk) 05:32, 19 October 2023 (UTC)

Myanmar
Myanmar was formerly called Burma. Wisdood (talk) 10:13, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

Counties in Poland
There are 380 counties (powiats) in Poland, 314 usual, and 66 being cities with counties rights. Please actualize that. 109.206.213.146 (talk) 18:06, 7 April 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:District