{"id":35123,"date":"2014-12-13T06:00:39","date_gmt":"2014-12-12T22:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=35123"},"modified":"2014-12-13T00:14:43","modified_gmt":"2014-12-12T16:14:43","slug":"terror-attacks-mountie-killings-ghomeshi-scandal-among-top-news-events-in-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/12\/13\/terror-attacks-mountie-killings-ghomeshi-scandal-among-top-news-events-in-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Terror attacks, Mountie killings, Ghomeshi scandal among top news events in 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

An in-brief look at some of the most significant news events of the last 12 months, in chronological order:<\/p>\n

\"Leaf<\/a>
Leaf of a Cannabis plant. Photo from United States Fish and Wildlife Service \/ Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
January<\/h6>\n

1\u2014Colorado becomes the first U.S. state to allow recreational marijuana sales to adults at licensed pot stores. Washington state followed suit in July.<\/p>\n

3\u2014Phil Everly, the youngest of the Everly Brothers, died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was 74.<\/p>\n

7\u2014Nineteen cars and a locomotive of a CN freight train hauling crude oil and liquefied petroleum derailed near Plaster Rock, N.B., sparking a fire that burned for days and forced the evacuation of about 150 people.<\/p>\n

8\u2014Canada announced North America\u2019s first death from the H5N1 bird flu infection, a young nurse from Red Deer, Alta., who fell ill while flying home from a three-week visit to Beijing. She died Jan. 3.<\/p>\n

11\u2014Ariel Sharon, the Israeli general and prime minister who was one of the country\u2019s most iconic and controversial figures, died eight years after suffering a stroke that left him in a coma. He was 85.<\/p>\n

12\u2014Quebec Archbishop Gerald Cyprien Lacroix was among 19 new cardinals selected by Pope Francis.<\/p>\n

16\u2014Executions were put on hold in Ohio after convicted killer Dennis McGuire appeared to gasp several times and took more than 25 minutes to die in a lethal injection execution carried out with a two-drug combination never before tried in the U.S.<\/p>\n

16\u2014Actor Russell Johnson, known to generations of TV fans as the Professor on \u201cGilligan\u2019s Island,\u201d died at age 89.<\/p>\n

20\u2014Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrived in Israel for his inaugural visit to the Middle East, and became the first Canadian PM to address the Knesset, Israel\u2019s parliament.<\/p>\n

22\u2014Kathy Dunderdale announced she was resigning as premier of Newfoundland and Labrador amid growing pressure after two members left the Progressive Conservative caucus questioning her leadership.<\/p>\n

23\u2014Fire raged through a residence for senior citizens in L\u2019Isle-Verte, Que., killing 32 people. The owners of the facility were part of a $3.8-million civil lawsuit later filed against the town alleging it failed to implement emergency plans that might have lowered the death toll.<\/p>\n

23\u2014The first case of a deadly virus that killed millions of baby pigs in the U.S. was confirmed in Canada at a farm in Middlesex County in Ontario. The virus (porcine epidemic diarrhea) was later also found at farms in Ontario, Manitoba, Quebec and Prince Edward Island.<\/p>\n

27\u2014Folk singer and political activist Pete Seeger died at the age of 94. He helped make \u201cWe Shall Overcome\u201d the anthem of the civil rights movement when he published it in 1948.<\/p>\n

29\u2014Billing it as a bid to reduce partisanship in the Upper Chamber, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau expelled the 32 Liberal senators from his caucus.<\/p>\n

31\u2014Ontario Provincial Police charged discredited engineer Robert Wood, 64, in connection with the June 2012 deadly roof collapse of a mall in Elliot Lake. Charges included two counts of criminal negligence causing death.<\/p>\n

31\u2014An inquiry judge found Manitoba child welfare fundamentally misunderstood its mandate to protect children and failed to save five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair, who was murdered by her mother and the woman\u2019s boyfriend in 2005 despite multiple notices of concern for her safety from various sources.<\/p>\n

31\u2014Former newspaper baron Conrad Black, who was convicted of fraud and obstruction of justice in the U.S. and served a prison sentence there, was removed from the Order of Canada.<\/p>\n

31\u2014The U.S. State Department concluded the proposed Keystone XL pipeline would produce lower greenhouse gas emissions than transporting oil from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico by rail.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Facebook Page of PM Stephen Harper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
February<\/h6>\n

1\u2014Austrian-born actor Maximilian Schell, a fugitive from Adolf Hitler who won an Oscar for his role as a defence attorney in \u201cJudgment at Nuremberg,\u201d died at age 83.<\/p>\n

2\u2014Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of writer Truman Capote and was regarded as one of the world\u2019s finest actors, was found dead in his apartment of a drug overdose. He was 46.<\/p>\n

4\u2014RCMP charged former senator Mac Harb and suspended senator Patrick Brazeau with fraud and breach of trust in relation to their travel and living expense claims, the first criminal charges to emanate from the year-long Senate expenses scandal.<\/p>\n

4\u2014The Harper government introduced legislation to toughen up parts of Canada\u2019s election law, while loosening the rules that govern political donations and party spending. The bill included a mandatory public registry for automated election calls and jail time for anyone convicted of impersonating an elections official.<\/p>\n

5\u2014A report by a U.N. human rights committee blasted the Vatican\u2019s \u201ccode of silence\u201d that it said allowed priests to rape and molest tens of thousands of children over decades, and urged the Holy See to open its files on pedophiles and bishops who concealed their crimes.<\/p>\n

6\u2014Jay Leno bid farewell as host of \u201cThe Tonight Show\u201d for a second time, making way for \u201cLate Night\u201d host Jimmy Fallon, who would take the show back to New York.<\/p>\n

7\u2014The opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics was held in Sochi, Russia. Women\u2019s hockey star Hayley Wickenheiser was Canada\u2019s flag-bearer.<\/p>\n

8\u2014Canada won its first medals at the Sochi Olympics. Montreal\u2019s Justine Dufour-Lapointe won gold in women\u2019s moguls, and sister Chloe captured silver in the same event. Mark McMorris of Regina, recovering from a broken rib, took bronze in men\u2019s slopestyle.<\/p>\n

10\u2014Shirley Temple, the dimpled, curly-haired child star who sang and danced her way into the hearts of Depression-era moviegoers, died at her home near San Francisco. She was 85.<\/p>\n

11\u2014Canadian Dara Howell won gold in the inaugural Olympic ski slopestyle competition while teammate Kim Lamarre captured bronze.<\/p>\n

12\u2014Sid Caesar, the pioneer of TV comedy who inspired a generation of famous writers, died at age 91.<\/p>\n

15\u2014Long-track speedskater Denny Morrison took silver in the men\u2019s 1,000 metres at the Sochi Games. Teammate Gilmore Junio had given up his spot, saying Morrison was a better bet for that distance.<\/p>\n

20\u2014The Canadian women\u2019s hockey team won its fourth consecutive gold medal at the Winter Olympics, edging out the rival U.S. team 3-2 in overtime.<\/p>\n

21\u2014Ukraine\u2019s embattled president fled Kyiv after opposition protesters took control of the capital in the wake of three days of deadly clashes with police. More than 80 people were killed and hundreds injured in the worst violence in nearly three months of protests sparked by Viktor Yanukovych\u2019s decision to abort a pact with the European Union in favour of close ties with Russia.<\/p>\n

23\u2014Canada won its second consecutive Olympic men\u2019s hockey gold medal, defeating Sweden 3-0. It closed the Sochi Games with 10 gold, 10 silver and five bronze, fourth overall in total medals and third-most in golds.<\/p>\n

24\u2014Harold Ramis, the bespectacled \u201cGhostbusters\u201d sidekick to Bill Murray who also helped write the film, died after a four-year battle with an autoimmune disease. The writer-director-actor was 69. He also co-wrote and directed \u201cCaddyshack,\u201d \u201cGroundhog Day,\u201d and \u201cAnalyze This.\u201d<\/p>\n

26\u2014An Al-Qaida-inspired extremist was sentenced to life without parole for hacking British soldier Lee Rigby to death in May 2013 on a London street in front of horrified passersby. His accomplice received a minimum 45-year sentence.<\/p>\n

27\u2014Ukraine\u2019s parliament approved 39-year-old Arseniy Yatsenyuk as the country\u2019s new prime minister.<\/p>\n

\"MARCH<\/a>
MARCH 5 2014: Russian troops without chevrons and distinctive signs, near of the truck without license plates (March 5, 2014) Sergii Morgunov \/ Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

March<\/p>\n

1\u2014Russian troops took over the strategic Crimean peninsula in Ukraine despite calls by U.S. President Barack Obama for Moscow to pull back its forces.<\/p>\n

3\u2014The murder trial of Oscar Pistorius began in Pretoria, South Africa. The double-amputee Olympic athlete was charged in the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the pre-dawn hours of Valentine\u2019s Day 2013 but he argued he had mistaken her for a burglar.<\/p>\n

8\u2014A Malaysia Airlines jet carrying 239 people, including two Canadians, vanished on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Despite a massive multinational search and wide-ranging theories about what might have happened, Flight MH370 was not found.<\/p>\n

11\u2014Canada and South Korea announced they concluded a free trade deal, Canada\u2019s first such foray into the Asia-Pacific region.<\/p>\n

12\u2014The last 100 Canadian Forces soldiers on duty in Afghanistan saw their three year training mission for Afghan security forces formally come to an end at a ceremonial flag-lowering at the Canadian embassy in Kabul.<\/p>\n

18\u2014Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an agreement to annex Crimea, two days after residents voted overwhelmingly to secede from Ukraine. The vote was widely condemned as illegal by Western leaders, who moved swiftly to punish Russia with economic sanctions.<\/p>\n

19\u2014Alison Redford announced she was stepping down as Alberta premier amid unrest in her Progressive Conservative caucus over her leadership style and questionable travel expenses. On Aug. 6, she resigned her seat as an MLA.<\/p>\n

21\u2014The Supreme Court of Canada rejected Prime Minister Stephen Harper\u2019s hand-picked appointment to the high court. It ruled Marc Nadon, the semi-retired Federal Court of Appeal judge from Quebec, did not meet the specific requirements for the jurists appointed from that province.<\/p>\n

22\u2014A massive landslide swept through part of the small community of Oso, Wash., 90 kilometres northeast of Seattle, killing 43 and destroying 30 homes.<\/p>\n

24\u2014Citing a new analysis of satellite data, Malaysia\u2019s prime minister announced a missing jetliner with 239 people aboard had crashed into a remote corner of the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n

26\u2014Striking truckers at Canada\u2019s largest port reached a deal to end a weeks-long strike that had left hundreds of millions of dollars\u2019 worth of cargo stranded at Vancouver-area container terminals.<\/p>\n

\"Mothers<\/a>
Mothers lament over kidnapped daughters. TWITTER PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
April<\/h6>\n

6\u2014Mickey Rooney, the pint-size actor whose more than 80-year career spanned silent comedies, Shakespeare, Judy Garland musicals, Andy Hardy stardom, television and Broadway theatre, died at age 93.<\/p>\n

7\u2014Philippe Couillard led the Liberals to a majority win in the Quebec election, as voters rebuffed the incumbent Parti Quebecois agenda for a possible third sovereignty referendum and its divisive secular charter. PQ leader Pauline Marois lost her riding and resigned, just 18 months after coming to power with a minority government.<\/p>\n

9\u2014Toyota Motor Corp. recalled 6.39 million vehicles globally, including more than half a million in Canada, for a variety of problems spanning nearly 30 models. Some vehicles were recalled for more than one problem.<\/p>\n

10\u2014Jim Flaherty died suddenly at age 64, less than a month following his retirement from politics after serving as federal finance minister since 2006. Flaherty steered the Canadian economy through the global financial crisis of 2008-09 and revealed in 2013 that he was suffering from a rare and painful skin condition. A state funeral was held in Toronto on April 16.<\/p>\n

10\u2014Suspended senator Patrick Brazeau was arrested by police in Gatineau, Que., after an early morning domestic violence call. He was charged with assault, possession of drugs, breach of bail conditions and uttering threats.<\/p>\n

10\u2014The CBC announced it would slash 657 positions over two years to shave $130 million from its 2014-15 budget as it grappled with a shortfall it blamed on poor TV ratings, a softened advertising market and stiff competition from rival private networks.<\/p>\n

15\u2014Five young people were stabbed to death at a party near the University of Calgary celebrating the end of the school year. Matthew Douglas de Grood, the son of a veteran Calgary police officer, was charged with five counts of first-degree murder in the city\u2019s worst mass murder.<\/p>\n

15\u2014RCMP said Nigel Wright, former chief of staff to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, would not face criminal charges in connection with the ongoing Senate expenses scandal. He resigned after it was disclosed he wrote a personal cheque for $90,000 to Mike Duffy to allow the disgraced former Conservative senator to repay disallowed housing expenses.<\/p>\n

15\u2014The Islamic extremist group Boko Haram abducted more than 300 female students from a school in northeast Nigeria. Some managed to escape while more than 200 remained in captivity.<\/p>\n

16\u2014More than 300 passengers, mostly teenagers on a school trip, were killed in the sinking of a ferry off South Korea, causing nationwide grief and fury. Officials blamed crew members\u2019 negligence, untimely rescue efforts and corruption by the ship\u2019s owners for the tragedy.<\/p>\n

17\u2014Canada announced it would contribute six CF-18 jet fighters to a NATO air-policing mission in response to the crisis in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

18\u2014An avalanche in April just above the base camp on Mount Everest killed 16 Nepalese guides.<\/p>\n

20\u2014Rubin \u201cHurricane\u201d Carter, the middleweight title contender whose murder convictions became an international symbol of racial injustice and inspired a Bob Dylan song and a Hollywood film, died at his home in Toronto. The New Jersey native was 76.<\/p>\n

21\u2014Herb Gray, a former deputy prime minister and one of Canada\u2019s longest-serving parliamentarians with a career that spanned nearly four decades, died in an Ottawa hospital. He was 82.<\/p>\n

24\u2014OfficeMax Grand & Toy, which had sold workplace products in Canada for over 130 years, announced it would close all of its 19 retail stores across the country, but continue selling merchandise through its website.<\/p>\n

24\u2014Celebrated Canadian opera singer Ben Heppner announced his retirement. He won three Grammy Awards and a trio of Juno Awards and was named a companion of the Order of Canada.<\/p>\n

25\u2014In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Prime Minister Stephen Harper\u2019s plans to reform the scandal-plagued Senate could not be done unilaterally by the federal government but would require constitutional amendments approved by at least seven provinces representing 50 per cent of the population.<\/p>\n

27\u2014Two 20th-century popes who changed the course of the Catholic Church became saints as Pope Francis honoured John XXIII and John Paul II.<\/p>\n

27\u2014An 800-metre-wide tornado carved a 130-kilometre path of destruction through the suburbs of Little Rock, Ark., killing at least 15 people.<\/p>\n

29\u2014NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, 80, for life for making racist comments in a recorded conversation. Sterling was later forced to sell the club.<\/p>\n

30\u2014Toronto mayor Rob Ford announced he was taking a leave of absence from his re-election campaign and limited mayoral duties to seek immediate help for substance abuse as media reports emerged with new drug and alcohol allegations.<\/p>\n

30\u2014Two employees at a Nanaimo, B.C., sawmill were fatally shot, two others were injured and a former co-worker arrested after he opened fire in the mill\u2019s parking lot and continued shooting inside.<\/p>\n

30\u2014British actor Bob Hoskins, whose varied career ranged from the noir drama \u201cMona Lisa\u201d to animated fantasy \u201cWho Framed Roger Rabbit\u201d died in hospital after a bout of pneumonia. He was 71.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Photo courtesy of Christy Clark \/ Facebook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
May<\/h6>\n

2\u2014Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne called a June 12 election instead of waiting to see her minority Liberal government defeated in a confidence vote on its budget.<\/p>\n

2\u2014Efrem Zimbalist Jr., who gained television stardom in the 1950s and \u201860s hit \u201c77 Sunset Strip\u201d and later \u201cThe FBI,\u201d died at age 95.<\/p>\n

2\u2014Shawn Atleo resigned as national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Canada\u2019s largest aboriginal lobby group. He had been under fire from some aboriginals for supporting the Harper government\u2019s bill to reform First Nations education.<\/p>\n

12\u2014Montreal prosecutors announced that Montreal Maine and Atlantic Railway Ltd., two officials and an engineer of the insolvent railway would each face 47 counts of criminal negligence causing death stemming from the 2013 derailment and explosion that killed 47 people in Lac-Megantic, Que.<\/p>\n

13\u2014An explosion and fire at a coal mine in western Turkey killed 301 workers, making it the country\u2019s worst mining disaster.<\/p>\n

15\u2014B.C. Premier Christy Clark formally apologized for more than 100 racist laws, regulations and policies imposed starting over 140 years ago against Chinese immigrants, calling them a stain on the province\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

15\u2014Veteran newswoman Barbara Walters taped her final edition of \u201cThe View\u201d to end a half-century career on television.<\/p>\n

21\u2014A Cairo court convicted ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak of embezzlement of millions of dollars\u2019 worth of state funds, sentencing him to three years in prison.<\/p>\n

22\u2014Thailand\u2019s army seized power in a bloodless coup, dissolving the government, suspending the constitution and detaining cabinet ministers following six months of political upheaval.<\/p>\n

22\u2014Canada lost its bid to overturn a World Trade Organization ruling that Europe\u2019s ban on seal products is justifiable.<\/p>\n

22\u2014Donald Levine, the Hasbro executive credited as the father of G.I. Joe for developing the world\u2019s first action figure, died of cancer. He was 86.<\/p>\n

24\u2014Veteran CBC broadcaster Knowlton Nash, who spent a decade at the anchor desk of The National, died at his home in Toronto following a lengthy battle with Parkinson\u2019s disease. He was 86.<\/p>\n

25\u2014Billionaire candy-maker Petro Poroshenko won Ukraine\u2019s presidential election outright in the first round of balloting in the bitterly divided country.<\/p>\n

26\u2014Narendra Modi took the oath of office as India\u2019s new prime minister. Modi\u2019s inauguration was the first to which India invited leaders from across South Asia, including Pakistan.<\/p>\n

28\u2014Author and poet Maya Angelou, who rose from poverty, segregation and violence to become a force on stage, screen and the printed page, died at age 86.<\/p>\n

28\u2014Liberal Sen. Romeo Dallaire, best known in Canada as former commander of the U.N.\u2019s ill-fated peacekeeping mission in Rwanda, announced he was resigning from the upper chamber to focus his attention on international humanitarian work.<\/p>\n

29\u2014Nearly a year after he ousted Mohammed Morsi, Egypt\u2019s first freely elected president, former military chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi was elected president by a landslide. Egypt\u2019s Election Commission officially announced on June 3 that el-Sissi had won with nearly 97 per cent of the vote.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/a>
People take part in a candlelight vigil outside Royal Canadian Mounted Police headquarters in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada on Friday, June 6, 2014. The RCMP say Justin Bourque, suspected in the shooting deaths of three Mounties and the wounding of two others in Moncton, was unarmed at the time of his arrest early Friday and was taken into custody without incident. Sean Kilpatrick \/ AP Photo \/ The Canadian Press\/<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
June<\/h6>\n

2\u2014King Juan Carlos, who led Spain\u2019s transition from dictatorship to democracy but faced damaging scandals amid the nation\u2019s financial meltdown, announced he would abdicate in favour of his more popular son. Prince Felipe assumed the throne on June 19.<\/p>\n

4\u2014A heavily armed gunman shot three Mounties dead and injured two others in Moncton, N.B. Justin Bourque, 24, was apprehended nearly 30 hours later after a manhunt that left the city at a virtual standstill.<\/p>\n

4\u2014New legislation governing prostitution was introduced that would criminalize the purchase of sex and crack down on those who reap a material benefit from prostitution. The changes followed a 2013 Supreme Court decision that found the old laws violated the rights of prostitutes.<\/p>\n

5\u2014Quebec became the first jurisdiction in Canada to allow euthanasia, adopting right-to-die legislation by a sweeping margin.<\/p>\n

7\u2014Petro Poroshenko formally took the oath of office as president in Ukraine\u2019s capital of Kyiv.<\/p>\n

7\u2014A Walmart truck slammed into a limo bus on the New Jersey Turnpike, seriously injuring \u201c30 Rock\u201d star Tracy Morgan and killing fellow comedian James McNair.<\/p>\n

11\u2014Actress and civil rights activist Ruby Dee died at age 91 at her home in New York state.<\/p>\n

12\u2014Kathleen Wynne powered Ontario\u2019s minority Liberals past a legacy of spending scandals to an unexpected majority election win and a fourth straight mandate. She became the province\u2019s first elected female premier and Canada\u2019s first elected openly gay premier.<\/p>\n

12\u2014The multi-party board of internal economy, which polices House of Commons spending, concluded New Democrat MPs wrongly used $1.17 million worth of free mailing privileges to send out almost two million partisan missives. The NDP launched a court challenge to overturn the board\u2019s verdict.<\/p>\n

13\u2014Mayor Joe Fontana of London, Ont., was found guilty on charges of fraud, forgery and breach of trust that dated back to his time as a federal Liberal cabinet minister in 2005. Within days he announced his resignation and was later sentenced to four months house arrest, followed by 18 months probation and ordered to pay $1,700 in restitution.<\/p>\n

15\u2014Casey Kasem, radio host of the internationally syndicated \u201cAmerican Top 40\u201d song countdown and the voice of animated TV characters like Scooby Doo\u2019s sidekick Shaggy, died at age 82.<\/p>\n

17\u2014The federal government gave a conditional green light to Enbridge Inc.\u2019s controversial $6.5-billion Northern Gateway pipeline project between the Alberta oilsands and the B.C. coast. The decision was contingent on Enbridge satisfying 209 conditions set out by a federal review panel and embarking on more consultations with affected aboriginal communities.<\/p>\n

23\u2014An Egyptian court convicted three journalists from Al-Jazeera English on terrorism-related charges, including Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fahmy, who was sentenced to seven years in prison. The convictions were denounced internationally as a blow to freedom of expression.<\/p>\n

24\u2014Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson was convicted in London of phone hacking, conspiring to bribe officials and obstruct police, but fellow editor Rebekah Brooks was acquitted of those charges after a lengthy trial centering on illegal activity at the heart of Rupert Murdoch\u2019s newspaper empire.<\/p>\n

24\u2014The original handwritten draft of Bob Dylan\u2019s \u201cLike a Rolling Stone\u201d sold at auction for $2.045 million, including a buyer\u2019s premium, a world record for a popular music manuscript.<\/p>\n

24\u2014Actor Eli Wallach, whose critically acclaimed career spanned more than 60 years with work in such films as \u201cThe Magnificent Seven,\u201d \u201cHow the West Was Won\u201d and \u201cThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly,\u201d died at age 98.<\/p>\n

25\u2014An explosion blamed on Islamic extremists rocked a shopping mall in Nigeria\u2019s capital, Abuja, killing 21 people.<\/p>\n

26\u2014For the second consecutive year, a Canadian was selected No. 1 in the NBA draft. The Cleveland Cavaliers chose Andrew Wiggins, 19, of Vaughan, Ont., after selecting Anthony Bennett\u2014Wiggins\u2019 longtime teammate growing up\u2014in the top spot in 2013.<\/p>\n

26\u2014The Supreme Court of Canada issued a landmark ruling that granted aboriginal title to a specific tract of land\u2014for the first time in Canadian history\u2014to the Tsilhqot\u2019in Nation in the B.C. Interior. The unanimous decision set a historic precedent affecting resource rights.<\/p>\n

27\u2014The Vatican\u2019s former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, was convicted by a church tribunal of sex abuse and was defrocked, the first such sentence handed down against a top papal representative.<\/p>\n

30\u2014An Amber Alert was issued for a five-year-old boy after his mother arrived to pick him up from a sleepover at his grandparents\u2019 home in Calgary to find all three had disappeared. On July 15, police announced Douglas Garland, 54, was formally charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Alvin and Kathryn Liknes, and second-degree murder in the death of Nathan O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n

30\u2014Toronto Mayor Rob Ford returned from rehab to resume his limited duties, saying that seeking treatment for substance abuse was a life-saving decision.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/a>
Screenshot from Euromaidan PR \/ Youtube.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
July<\/h6>\n

4\u2014Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, a one-time aide to British Prime Minister David Cameron, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for participating in a conspiracy to hack the phones of celebrities, politicians and crime victims.<\/p>\n

7\u2014Former Soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze died at age 86. He helped topple the Berlin Wall and end the Cold War, but as the leader of post-Soviet Georgia was chased out of his parliament and forced into retirement in 2004.<\/p>\n

7\u2014Pope Francis begged forgiveness in his first meeting with several victims of clergy sex abuse and vowed to hold bishops accountable for their handling of pedophile priests.<\/p>\n

7\u2014A judge approved a $29-million settlement between the Nova Scotia government and alleged survivors of abuse at the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children, ending a nearly 15-year legal battle.<\/p>\n

8\u2014Israel began an offensive that would last 50 days against what it said were Hamas-linked targets in Gaza. It launched thousands of airstrikes and began a ground offensive July 17, while Gaza militants fired several thousand rockets at Israel. More than 2,100 Palestinians were killed, the vast majority civilians, according to U.N. figures. Sixty-six soldiers and six civilians were killed on the Israeli side.<\/p>\n

9\u2014Modeling agency founder Eileen Ford, who launched the careers of Candice Bergen, Lauren Hutton, Jane Fonda and countless others, died at age 92.<\/p>\n

9\u2014Just shy of his 16th birthday, Canadian Shawn Mendes became the youngest artist to debut in the top 25 on Billboard\u2019s Hot 100 when \u201cLife of the Party\u201d entered at No. 24.<\/p>\n

11\u2014Tommy Ramone, drummer and co-founder of the seminal punk band The Ramones and the last surviving member of the original group, died at age 65.<\/p>\n

14\u2014The Church of England overwhelmingly voted to allow women to become bishops.<\/p>\n

16\u2014Texas blues legend Johnny Winter, known for his lightning-fast blues guitar riffs and his collaborations with the likes of Jimi Hendrix and childhood hero Muddy Waters, died in Zurich while on a European tour. He was 70. Rolling Stone magazine named him one of the top 100 guitarists of all time.<\/p>\n

17\u2014A Malaysia Airlines passenger plane carrying 298 people, including one Canadian, was shot down by a surface-to-air missile over a rebel-held area in eastern Ukraine. Both the government and the Russian-backed separatists fighting in the region blamed each other for downing the aircraft.<\/p>\n

17\u2014The RCMP laid 31 charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery against suspended senator Mike Duffy involving his claims for living expenses, claims for travel expenses unconnected with Senate business and fraudulent contracts.<\/p>\n

17\u2014Microsoft announced the biggest layoffs in its history, saying it would cut 18,000 jobs as it streamlined its Nokia mobile device business to focus on using the Windows Phone operating system.<\/p>\n

18\u2014An Italian appeals court acquitted former premier Silvio Berlusconi in a sex-for-hire case, reversing a lower court conviction that had carried a seven-year prison sentence and a lifetime ban on holding political office.<\/p>\n

18\u2014The CFL returned to Ottawa for the first time since November 2005, and the Redblacks defeated the Toronto Argonauts in their home opener, 18-17, on a last-minute field goal.<\/p>\n

19\u2014Actor James Garner, whose career in TV and films included roles in \u201cThe Rockford Files\u201d and his Oscar-nominated \u201cMurphy\u2019s Romance,\u201d died at age 86.<\/p>\n

23\u2014Hasibullah Yusufzai of British Columbia was charged under a new anti-terrorism law for allegedly leaving the country to join Islamist fighters in Syria. It was the first time the recent Criminal Code legislation was used as a tool to fight terrorism.<\/p>\n

23\u2014A plane making a second landing attempt in stormy weather crashed short of an airport on the small Taiwanese resort island of Penghu, killing 48 people.<\/p>\n

24\u2014An Air Algerie jetliner crashed in a rainstorm in a desolate region of restive northern Mali, killing all 116 aboard, including five Canadians.<\/p>\n

24\u2014Mohamed Hassan Hersi, the first Canadian convicted under a law criminalizing attempts to join a terrorist group, was handed the maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.<\/p>\n

25\u2014An eight-months pregnant woman and her two young children were among six hurt when a reversing car crashed through the front doors of a busy Costco store in London, Ont. A six-year-old girl died in hospital and her mother underwent an emergency C-section, but the newborn died a week later. Ruth Burger, 65, of London, was charged with two counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and two counts of criminal negligence causing death.<\/p>\n

31\u2014The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that confessions extracted through so-called Mr. Big police sting operations must be regulated more carefully in order to be admissible in court. Nelson Hart of Newfoundland and Labrador was subsequently released after nine years behind bars in the 2002 drowning deaths of his twin three-year-old girls and murder charges against him were dropped for lack of evidence.<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/a>
Michael Brown’s stepfather, Louis Head (Photo courtesy of Hoodies Up Music Loud \/ Twitter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
August<\/h6>\n

3\u2014A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck China\u2019s mountainous farming region of Ludian county, killing 589 people and injuring 2,400 others.<\/p>\n

4\u2014A massive tailings pond breach at Imperial Metals\u2019 Mount Polley Mine in central B.C. sent 10 million cubic metres of water and 4.5 million cubic metres of toxic silt into Polley and Quesnel lakes. It prompted a week-long ban on drinking or bathing in water from surrounding lakes and river.<\/p>\n

4\u2014James Brady, the press secretary who survived a devastating head wound in the 1981 assassination attempt on U.S. President Ronald Reagan and undertook a personal crusade for gun control, died at age 73.<\/p>\n

6\u2014In co-ordination with the U.S. and European Union, Canada slapped fresh sanctions and travel bans on several top politicians in Russia over the crisis in Ukraine. Moscow countered the next day with a 12-month ban of agricultural products from countries that imposed sanctions on Russia.<\/p>\n

7\u2014Alberta\u2019s auditor general concluded former premier Alison Redford and her office used taxpayer money inappropriately, citing her use of government aircraft for personal and partisan use.<\/p>\n

7\u2014A suburban Detroit man who insisted he killed unarmed Renisha McBride on his porch in self-defence was convicted of second-degree murder after the jury rejected Theodore Wafer\u2019s claim that he fired through a screen door in the wee hours because he feared for his life.<\/p>\n

8\u2014Justin Bourque pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder in a shooting rampage in Moncton, N.B., that left three RCMP officers dead and two others wounded.<\/p>\n

8\u2014The World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which had killed at least 4,000 people, to be an international public health emergency that required an extraordinary response to stop its spread.<\/p>\n

8\u2014U.S. fighter jets launched the first airstrikes on ISIL artillery in Iraq, carrying out President Barack Obama\u2019s promise of military force to counter the advancing Islamic extremists.<\/p>\n

9\u2014Egypt\u2019s highest administrative court dissolved the Freedom and Justice Party of the banned Muslim Brotherhood and ordered its assets liquidated in the latest move against the 86-year old Islamist group.<\/p>\n

9\u2014Unarmed black teenager Michael Brown was fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., igniting days of heated protests as county police used military-style tactics to control crowds. On Nov. 24, a grand jury decided not to indict Officer Darren Wilson, sparking more protests and violence.<\/p>\n

11\u2014Robin Williams, the Academy Award winning actor and comic superstar, committed suicide at his home in the San Francisco Bay area. He was 63.<\/p>\n

12\u2014Ottawa said it would donate up to 1,000 doses of a made-in-Canada experimental Ebola vaccine to help in the West African outbreak.<\/p>\n

12\u2014The multi-party board that polices House of Commons spending concluded 23 NDP MPs improperly used their parliamentary budgets to pay the salaries of employees in satellite offices in Montreal, Quebec City and Toronto over the past three years. They were ordred to repay untold millions.<\/p>\n

12\u2014Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was officially named the new owner of the Los Angeles Clippers after a California court confirmed the authority of Shelly Sterling, on behalf of the Sterling Family Trust, to sell the NBA franchise for a record $2 billion.<\/p>\n

12\u2014Lauren Bacall, the sultry-voiced actress who starred on screen with Humphrey Bogart in \u201cTo Have and Have Not\u201d and \u201cThe Big Sleep\u201d and off screen in one of Hollywood\u2019s most storied marriages, died at age 89.<\/p>\n

13\u2014Quebec superstar Celine Dion announced she was suspending all of her show business activities\u2014including her lucrative Las Vegas residency and a fall Asian tour\u2014to focus on her family and ailing husband Rene Angelil, who underwent surgery a year earlier to remove a cancerous tumour.<\/p>\n

13\u2014Canadian pop star Justin Bieber pleaded guilty to lesser charges of careless driving and resisting arrest seven months after his arrest in Miami Beach following what police initially called an illegal street drag race. The plea deal allowed him to avoid a DUI conviction.<\/p>\n

13\u2014A special prosecutor approved polygamy charges against Winston Blackmore and James Oler, leaders of an isolated religious sect in Bountiful, B.C. Oler was also charged with unlawfully removing a child from Canada for sexual purposes.<\/p>\n

14\u2014Michael Sona, a former junior Conservative campaign staffer and the lone person charged in the 2011 robocalls election scandal, was convicted under the Canada Elections Act of wilfully preventing or endeavouring to prevent an elector from voting.<\/p>\n

15\u2014The once-stellar reputation of Statistics Canada took a serious blow with the release of a corrected July jobs report showing the economy gained almost 42,000 jobs, a far cry from the paltry 200 it wrongly reported a week earlier.<\/p>\n

19\u2014Islamic State militants released a video showing the beheading of American journalist James Foley as retribution for U.S. airstrikes in Iraq.<\/p>\n

29\u2014Pop star Justin Bieber was arrested and charged with dangerous driving and assault following a collision between a minivan and an ATV in a rural area northeast of his hometown of Stratford, Ont., that police say led to a physical altercation.<\/p>\n

\"Joan<\/a>
Joan Rivers. Photo by ExpressingYourself \/ Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
September<\/h6>\n

1\u2014A targeted U.S airstrike in Somalia killed al-Shabab terror group leader Ahmed Abdi Godane.<\/p>\n

2\u2014Islamic State extremists released a video showing the beheading of American journalist Steven Sotloff.<\/p>\n

3 – Transcontinental announced the closing of 20 publications and the sale of 14 others following the acquisition of Sun Media\u2019s weekly newspaper portfolio in Quebec from Quebecor.<\/p>\n

3\u2014New Brunswick Mountie Cpl. Ron Francis, who suffered from PTSD but was on leave for running afoul of a policy that RCMP officers can\u2019t smoke medicinal marijuana while in uniform, pleaded guilty to assaulting a total of four RCMP officers in two separate incidents. He was found dead in October, a month before his sentencing date.<\/p>\n

4\u2014Raucous and acid-tongued comedian Joan Rivers died at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. She was 81. Rivers had been hospitalized Aug. 28 after going into cardiac arrest in a doctor\u2019s office following a routine procedure.<\/p>\n

4\u2014Former NHL rookie Steve Moore\u2019s multimillion-dollar suit against Todd Bertuzzi and the Vancouver Canucks over the infamous on-ice attack in 2004 was settled shortly before it was set to go to trial. The terms of the settlement were confidential.<\/p>\n

4\u2014British Petroleum was found by a U.S. judge to have acted with \u201cgross negligence\u201d in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill case, leading to the worst U.S. offshore oil spill in history.<\/p>\n

5\u2014The U.S. and 10 of its key allies\u2014including Canada\u2014agreed the Islamic State group is a significant threat to NATO countries, deciding to squeeze their financial resources and to go after them with military force.<\/p>\n

6\u2014Former federal cabinet minister Jim Prentice won the Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership race called after premier Alison Redford resigned amid a travel expense scandal. On Oct. 27 Prentice won a seat in the legislature as his Progressive Conservatives won four provincial byelections.<\/p>\n

7\u2014A Canadian search team solved one of the world\u2019s great exploration mysteries with the discovery of HMS Erebus in the Queen Maud Gulf. It was one of two lost ships from Sir John Franklin\u2019s doomed Arctic expedition during an 1845 quest for the Northwest Passage.<\/p>\n

8\u2014Royal officials announced the Duchess of Cambridge, wife of Prince William, was expecting their second child.<\/p>\n

8\u2014Ray Rice was let go by the Baltimore Ravens and the NFL upgraded his suspension from two games to indefinite after a second video was released showing the star running back striking his then-fiancee in February. Rice appealed the suspension and won reinstatement to the NFL on Nov. 28.<\/p>\n

10\u2014Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was admitted to hospital after complaining for months of abdominal pain. He was later diagnosed with a rare and agressive type of cancer. Citing his health, he withdrew his bid for re-election on Sept. 12 just ahead of an official deadline, choosing instead to run again for his old council seat.<\/p>\n

11\u2014B.C.\u2019s Cody Legebokoff, 24, was convicted on four counts of first-degree murder in the killings of Jill Stuchenko, 35, Cynthia Maas, 35, Natasha Montgomery, 23, and Loren Leslie, 15. He was sentenced to four concurrent terms of life with no parole for 25 years.<\/p>\n

12\u2014A South African judge found double-amputee Olympian Oscar Pistorius guilty of culpable homicide in the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp and declared him not guilty of premeditated murder.<\/p>\n

12\u2014A Nunavut judge found former Roman Catholic priest Eric Dejaeger, 67, guilty of 24 of the more than 70 sex-related charges he faced involving Inuit children more than 30 years earlier. He had pleaded guilty to eight counts of sexual assault at the start of his trial.<\/p>\n

12\u2014The Rev. Ian Paisley, the divisive Protestant firebrand who devoted his life to thwarting compromise with Catholics in Northern Ireland only to become a pivotal peacemaker in his twilight years, died in Belfast at age 88.<\/p>\n

13\u2014Newfoundland and Labrador\u2019s governing Progressive Conservatives chose former police officer Paul Davis as their new leader, replacing the retiring Tom Marshall, who took over after Kathy Dunderdale quit in January.<\/p>\n

14\u2014Video was released showing the beheading of British aid worker David Haines\u2014the third Westerner beheaded by Islamic State group fighters.<\/p>\n

14\u2014Prime Minister Stephen Harper said 69 Special Forces soldiers had been sent to northern Iraq to advise and assist local forces in the fight against Islamic militants known as ISIL.<\/p>\n

14\u2014Ukraine\u2019s parliament ratified a landmark association agreement with the European Union, firmly pivoting the country toward the West and drawing a line under the issue that sparked massive protests and led to the ex-president\u2019s ouster.<\/p>\n

16\u2014A marathon bargaining session with the help of a master mediator resulted in a six-year tentative contract aimed at ending a public teachers\u2019 strike in B.C. that began in June. The delayed school year started Sept. 19 after the agreement with the B.C. government was ratified by teachers.<\/p>\n

18\u2014In a historic referendum that saw an unprecedented turnout, Scottish voters rejected independence 55 to 45 per cent, preventing the rupture of a 307-year union with England. Britain had promised Scotland new powers on taxes, spending and welfare.<\/p>\n

19\u2014A ceremonial opening was held for the $351-million Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

19\u2014The Royal Canadian Navy announced the retirement of four of Her Majesty\u2019s Canadian Ships\u2014Protecteur, Preserver, Iroquois and Algonquin.<\/p>\n

21\u2014NASA\u2019s Maven spacecraft entered orbit around Mars for an unprecedented study of the red planet\u2019s atmosphere following a 710-million-kilometre journey that began nearly a year earlier.<\/p>\n

21\u2014In an audio recording distributed on social media, Abu Muhammad Al-Adnani of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant urged supporters to kill westerners from countries including Canada, the U.S. and Europe who had joined efforts in northern Iraq, whether military or civilian.<\/p>\n

22\u2014Rookie politician Brian Gallant led his Liberal party to a majority victory in the New Brunswick election as voters turfed David Alward\u2019s one-term Tories. The tabulation of ballots was suspended for almost two hours as concerns arose about technical glitches with memory cards and discrepancies with vote-counting machines.<\/p>\n

22\u2014\u201dAnimism\u201d by Nunavut-reared throat singer Tanya Tagaq claimed the $30,000 Polaris Music Prize, given to the best Canadian album of the past year. She was the first Inuit artist to win the award.<\/p>\n

27\u2014Mount Ontake in central Japan erupted suddenly, catching mountain climbers by surprise and killing more than 50 people near its summit.<\/p>\n

27\u2014Hollywood\u2019s serial bachelor George Clooney married human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin in Venice, Italy.<\/p>\n

29\u2014The first-degree murder trial of Luka Rocco Magnotta began in Montreal. Magnotta pleaded not guilty by way of mental disorder to premeditated murder and four other charges related to the slaying and dismemberment of Chinese student Jun Lin in May 2012.<\/p>\n

30\u2014A patient being treated at a Dallas hospital tested positive for Ebola, the first case of the disease to be diagnosed in North America. Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian man visiting family, died Oct 8.<\/p>\n

\"Barack<\/a>
Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, and their daughter Malia meet with Malala Yousafzai in the Oval Office. White House \/ Flickr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
October<\/h6>\n

2\u2014A B.C. Supreme Court Justice found Cody Haevischer and Matthew Johnston each guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit murder and six counts of first-degree murder in the 2009 Surrey Six executions.<\/p>\n

3\u2014Prime Minister Stephen Harper laid out his case in the House of Commons for a Canadian combat mission in the Middle East, promising a fixed six-month window for airstrikes in Iraq\u2014and possibly Syria\u2014with no ground combat. The Conservatives used their majority to pass the motion on Oct. 7.<\/p>\n

3\u2014An Internet video purported to show an Islamic State group fighter beheading hostage Alan Henning, a British volunteer aid worker.<\/p>\n

4\u2014Paul Revere, organist and leader of 1960s rock band Paul Revere and the Raiders, died of cancer at his Idaho home. He was 76.<\/p>\n

4\u2014Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier, whose corrupt and brutal regime in Haiti sparked a popular uprising in 1986 that sent him into a 25-year exile, died of a heart attack at his home in Port-au-Prince. He was 63.<\/p>\n

6\u2014Quebecor signed a $316 million-deal to sell Sun Media Corp.\u2019s English-language operations to Postmedia Network Canada Corp.<\/p>\n

6\u2014U.S.-British scientist John O\u2019Keefe and Norwegian scientists May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser won the Nobel Prize in medicine for discovering the \u201cinner GPS\u201d in the brain that helps us navigate through the world.<\/p>\n

6\u2014Quebec judge Clement Gascon officially took his seat as the newest member of the Supreme Court of Canada.<\/p>\n

7\u2014Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano of Japan and U.S. scientist Shuji Nakamura won the Nobel Prize in physics for the invention of blue light-emitting diodes, a breakthrough that spurred the development of LED technology.<\/p>\n

9\u2014Patrick Modiano, 69, of France, who has made a lifelong study of the Nazi occupation and its effects on his country, won the Nobel Prize in literature.<\/p>\n

9\u2014Jan Hooks, a veteran member of the \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d cast from 1986 to 1991, died after a battle with an undisclosed serious illness. She was 57.<\/p>\n

10\u2014Children\u2019s rights activists Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Yousafzai, a 17-year-old student and education activist, was the youngest person to receive the award.<\/p>\n

10\u2014Premier Stephen McNeil apologized to the former residents of the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children for the abuse and neglect they faced at the Halifax orphanage. Class-action lawsuits were launched by the former residents against the home and the provincial government, which ended in settlements totalling $34 million.<\/p>\n

13\u2014Peter DeGroot was shot and killed in a confrontation with two members of an emergency response team, five days after he had exchanged gunfire with police in the small southeastern community of Slocan, B.C.<\/p>\n

14\u2014A Quebec court ordered suspended senator Patrick Brazeau to go to rehab for two months after he was arrested the previous day for allegedly being drunk behind the wheel of a parked car with a knife in the vehicle.<\/p>\n

14\u2014The B.C. government approved an environmental assessment certificate for the massive $8-billion Site C hydroelectric dam on the Peace River.<\/p>\n

15\u2014A judicial inquiry reported decades of incompetence, neglect, greed and dishonesty by a succession of owners, engineers and municipal officials led to the rooftop garage collapse that killed two women at the Algo Centre Mall in Elliot Lake, Ont., in June 2012.<\/p>\n

15\u2014A blizzard and avalanche at the popular Annapurna trail in Nepal\u2019s mountainous north killed 43 trekkers, including four Canadians.<\/p>\n

16\u2014Tim Hauser, the founder and singer of the Grammy-winning vocal troupe The Manhattan Transfer, died from cardiac arrest. He was 72.<\/p>\n

17\u2014The Nigerian government and Islamic extremists from Boko Haram agreed to an immediate ceasefire. But 200 kidnapped schoolgirls were still not freed.<\/p>\n

20\u2014The first shipment of a made-in-Canada experimental Ebola vaccine left Winnipeg for the World Health Organization in Geneva for clinical trials.<\/p>\n

20\u2014Iconic fashion designer Oscar De la Renta, who dressed U.S. first ladies, socialites and Hollywood stars for more than four decades, died at his Connecticut home at age 82.<\/p>\n

20\u2014Quebec provincial police fatally shot a \u201cradicalized\u201d suspect after a brief car chase following a deliberate hit-and-run attack on two members of the Canadian Forces in front of a recruitment centre in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, 53, later died in hospital from his injuries.<\/p>\n

21\u2014A South African judge sentenced double-amputee Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius to five years in prison for culpable homicide in the killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine\u2019s Day in 2013. Prosecutors filed an appeal Nov. 4 of the manslaughter conviction and sentence.<\/p>\n

21\u2014Ben Bradlee, the hard-charging editor who guided The Washington Post through its Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Watergate scandal, died at age 93.<\/p>\n

22\u2014A gunman opened fire at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, killing ceremonial Honour Guard reservist Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, 24. Michael Zehaf Bibeau then stormed Parliament Hill\u2019s Centre Block, injuring a guard at the front doors and engaging security forces in a gunfight before being killed by sergeant-at-arms Kevin Vickers.<\/p>\n

22\u2014Winnipeg police charged Andrea Giesbrecht, 40, following the discovery of the remains of six infants in a storage unit.<\/p>\n

24\u2014A man was arrested after two Sacramento-area sheriff\u2019s deputies were killed during a series of shootings that spanned about six hours and 50 kilometres across two counties. A third deputy was also shot and a motorist was seriously wounded during the rampage.<\/p>\n

25\u2014Musician Jack Bruce, bassist and lead vocalist of 1960s power trio Cream, died of liver disease. He was 71. He wrote many of the band\u2019s hits, including \u201cSunshine of Your Love,\u201d \u201cWhite Room\u201d and \u201cI Feel Free.\u201d<\/p>\n

26\u2014The CBC abruptly severed ties with \u201cQ\u201d radio host Jian Ghomeshi, who acknowledged he engaged in rough sex but said it was always consensual. In the following weeks, as many as nine women alleged they were victims of non-consensual violence during, or leading up to, sexual encounters with Ghomeshi.<\/p>\n

27\u2014Former provincial politician John Tory won Toronto\u2019s mayoral election, defeating Doug Ford, who entered the race when his scandal-plagued younger brother dropped his bid for re-election. Rob Ford opted to run for a council seat after being diagnosed with cancer and was easily elected.<\/p>\n

28\u2014Orbital Sciences Corp.\u2019s unmanned commercial supply ship bound for the International Space Station exploded just six seconds after liftoff at Wallops Island, Va. It was the first catastrophic launch in NASA\u2019s commercial spaceflight effort.<\/p>\n

31\u2014Justin Bourque, who fatally shot three Mounties and wounded two others in a June 4 shooting rampage in Moncton, N.B., was sentenced to 75 years in prison, the harshest penalty since the last state-sanctioned executions in 1962.<\/p>\n

31\u2014Independent MP Dean Del Mastro was found guilty on all counts of exceeding spending limits during the federal election campaign in 2008. The former Conservative member resigned his seat in the House of Commons less than a week later.<\/p>\n

31\u2014John Forzani, a former offensive lineman with the Calgary Stampeders who became a prominent businessman in the city after his CFL career ended, died at age 67.<\/p>\n

31\u2014The Virgin Galactic space tourism rocket known as SpaceShipTwo exploded after taking off on a test flight in Southern California\u2019s Mojave Desert, killing the pilot and seriously injuring the co-pilot.<\/p>\n

\"Jian<\/a>
Jian Ghomeshi. Penmachine \/ Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
November<\/h6>\n

2\u2014Two Canadian CF-18s involved in the American-led bombing campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant launched their first air strikes since deploying to the region.<\/p>\n

3\u2014Five senior cabinet ministers in Manitoba resigned, saying they had lost confidence in NDP Premier Greg Selinger\u2019s leadership amid ongoing public anger over a 2013 hike in the provincial sales tax.<\/p>\n

4\u2014U.S. President Barack Obama faced the prospect of a turbulent final two years in office after Republicans stormed to power in the U.S. Senate and extended their majority in the House of Representatives in the mid-term elections.<\/p>\n

5\u2014Liberal MPs Massimo Pacetti and Scott Andrews were kicked out of their party\u2019s caucus amid accusations of personal misconduct made by two female members of the NDP. Andrews has denied through a lawyer any wrongdoing since Trudeau suspended him. Pacetti has also denied the allegations.<\/p>\n

6\u2014Montreal-based engineering and construction company SNC-Lavalin announced a major reduction in its global workforce, with about a quarter of the planned 4,000 layoffs coming in Canada.<\/p>\n

6\u2014Pte. Steven Allen, 20, died from injuries he suffered three days earlier when a lookout tower he was standing in collapsed at CFB Wainwright in Alberta.<\/p>\n

10\u2014A suicide bomber disguised in a school uniform detonated explosives at a high school assembly in the northeastern Nigerian city of Potiskum, killing at least 48 students.<\/p>\n

10\u2014Montreal music journalist Sean Michaels won the $100,000 Scotiabank Giller Prize for his debut novel \u201cUs Conductors,\u201d based on the life of Lev Termen, the Russian-born inventor of the theremin, one of the first electronic musical instruments.<\/p>\n

10\u2014The federal government announced people coming to Canada from Ebola-affected countries\u2014including returning health-care workers\u2014would need to undergo a more formal 21-day monitoring period.<\/p>\n

11\u2014South Korean ferry captain Lee Joon-seok was sentenced to 36 years in prison for negligence and abandoning passengers when his ship sank in April, causing more than 300 deaths. The court sentenced the ship\u2019s chief engineer to 30 years in prison and 13 other crew members to up to 20 years in prison.<\/p>\n

12\u2014The European Space Agency\u2019s Rosetta space probe successfully dropped the Philae lander on the speeding comet named 67P\/Churyumov-Gerasimenko – a cosmic first. Unfortunately, Philae settled next to a cliff that largely blocked sunlight from reaching its solar panels. It performed a series of scientific tests and returned plenty of data before depleted batteries forced it to go silent.<\/p>\n

12\u2014The U.S. and China pledged to take ambitious action to limit greenhouse gases, aiming to inject fresh momentum into the global fight against climate change ahead of make-or-break climate talks in 2015.<\/p>\n

13\u2014A young Halifax man who pleaded guilty to making child pornography after he took a picture of an intoxicated teenager having sex at a party was given a conditional discharge and will be registered in the national DNA databank. The case captured national attention after the 17-year-old girl died following a suicide attempt. On Nov. 24, a second young man in the same case pleaded guilty to one count of distributing child pornography.<\/p>\n

14\u2014An Ontario judge ruled that the family of an 11-year-old aboriginal girl with cancer had a constitutional right to opt for traditional medicine over chemotherapy in what some observers called a landmark decision.<\/p>\n

14\u2014Glen A. Larson, a writer and producer behind such notable TV shows as the original \u201cBattlestar Galactica,\u201d \u201cKnight Rider\u201d and \u201cMagnum, P.I.,\u201d died of complications from esophageal cancer. He was 77.<\/p>\n

15\u2014Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson was elected for a third term.<\/p>\n

15\u2014Ottawa sociology professor Hassan Diab was charged with first-degree murder and other offences in France in connection with the October 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue that left four people dead. He was extradited a day earlier when the Supreme Court of Canada announced it would not hear his appeal.<\/p>\n

16\u2014U2 frontman Bono was involved in a bike accident in New York City\u2019s Central Park that left him with a fractured left eye socket, a fractured left shoulder blade and a fractured left elbow.<\/p>\n

16\u2014The Islamic State group beheaded Peter Kassig, releasing a video showing a masked militant standing over the severed head of a man it said was the former U.S. Army Ranger-turned-aid worker, who was seized while delivering relief supplies in Syria.<\/p>\n

17\u2014The federal Conservatives narrowly retained the late Jim Flaherty\u2019s suburban Toronto seat of Whitby-Oshawa and easily hung on to the Yellowhead riding in their Alberta stronghold. The Liberals were the only party to increase their share of the vote in both ridings.<\/p>\n

18\u2014The U.S. Senate rejected a proposal to fast-track the approval of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, only one vote short of the 60 needed to win approval for the bill.<\/p>\n

18\u2014Two Palestinian cousins armed with meat cleavers and a gun stormed a Jerusalem synagogue during morning prayers, killing four rabbis and a Druze Arab policeman and seriously injuring Canadian-Israeli citizen Howie Chaim Rotman. Police killed the attackers in a shootout.<\/p>\n

18\u2014The Buffalo area was buried under as much as two metres of snow after a blast of lake-effect weather, forcing the closure of numerous highways and roads. The storm was blamed for up to 12 deaths in western New York. Another lake-effect storm two days later dumped another half-metre, equalling the amount the region typically gets over an entire year.<\/p>\n

19\u2014Michael Sona, the lone person convicted in the 2011 robocalls election scandal, was sentenced to nine months in jail and one year probation. The former junior Conservative campaign staffer was later released on bail pending an appeal of his sentence. His lawyer said he also plans to contest the conviction.<\/p>\n

19\u2014Director-actor-comedian Mike Nichols who, during a career spanning more than 50 years, won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony, died at age 83.<\/p>\n

22\u2014Merle Barwis of Victoria, who held Canada\u2019s oldest-person title for almost two years, died just one month and one day shy of her 114th birthday.<\/p>\n

23\u2014Former NHL defenceman, longtime coach and executive Pat Quinn died in Vancouver after a lengthy illness. He was 71. Quinn\u2019s crowning achievement was leading Team Canada to the gold medal at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, the country\u2019s first men\u2019s hockey gold medal in 50 years.<\/p>\n

24\u2014A grand jury in Ferguson, Mo., declined to indict white police officer Darren Wilson in the death of unarmed, black 18-year-old Michael Brown\u2014a decision that enraged protesters who set fire to buildings and cars and looted businesses. Wilson resigned from the Ferguson Police Department on Nov. 29.<\/p>\n

26\u2014Former CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi was charged with four counts of sexual assault and one charge of overcoming resistance by choking, exactly one month after he was fired from the public broadcaster over allegations of physical and sexual abuse. His lawyer said he would plead not guilty.<\/p>\n

26\u2014After 36 years, 93-year-old mayor Hazel McCallion of Mississauga, Ont., presided over her last city council meeting.<\/p>\n

28\u2014Mounties in B.C. arrested and charged Ontario-born Garry Handlen, 67, with first-degree murder in the historic deaths of two young girls\u2014Kathryn-Mary Herbert, 11, who disappeared in Abbotsford, B.C., in 1975, and 12-year-old Monica Jack, who was last seen in Merritt, B.C., three years later.<\/p>\n

29\u2014A judge dismissed murder charges against former Egytian president Hosni Mubarak and acquitted his security chief over the killing of protesters during Egypt\u2019s 2011 uprising.<\/p>\n

30\u2014Former governor general Michaelle Jean was named the first woman leader of la Francophonie.<\/p>\n

\"Toronto<\/a>
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford (Facebook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
December<\/h6>\n

1\u2014The tumultuous era of scandal-plagued Rob Ford came to an end as his successor, John Tory, officially took over as mayor of Toronto.<\/p>\n

2\u2014Beloved Montreal Canadiens legend Jean Beliveau died at the age of 83. The classy centre scored 507 goals, won 10 Stanley Cups and was captain for 10 seasons before his retirement in 1971. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972.<\/p>\n

2\u2014Amid a widening scandal over allegations of sexual abuse, comedian Bill Cosby was sued by Judy Huth, who claimed he molested her in a bedroom of the Playboy Mansion around 1974 when she was 15 years old.<\/p>\n

3\u2014A grand jury in New York City declined to indict a white police officer on criminal charges in the July chokehold death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who was stopped on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. It triggered protests around the country and sent thousands into New York\u2019s streets.<\/p>\n

3\u2014An RCMP officer was shot and critically wounded during a pre-dawn traffic stop in Kamloops, B.C. A 36-year-old man who was known to police was arrested by members of an emergency-response team after a 12-hour manhunt.<\/p>\n

5\u2014NASA\u2019s new Orion spacecraft made a \u201cbullseye\u201d splashdown in the Pacific following a 4 1\/2-hour dramatic unmannned test flight that took it to a zenith height of 5,800 kilometres and ushered in a new era of human exploration aiming for Mars.<\/p>\n

5\u2014American photojournalist Luke Somers and South African teacher Pierre Korkie, held by al-Qaida militants in Yemen, were killed in a failed U.S. rescue attempt.<\/p>\n

6\u2014Canada\u2019s new prostitution laws took effect, criminalizing the purchase of sex while providing some legal immunity for sex workers themselves.<\/p>\n

7\u2014A slickly produced video was released featuring a man who said he was a Canadian urging Muslims to either move to the Islamic State or launch attacks against Canadians at home, similar to those carried out in October in Ottawa and Quebec. The man was identified in media reports as John Maguire, a former University of Ottawa student who converted to Islam and became radicalized before leaving Canada in 2013.<\/p>\n

8\u2014Former Quebec lieutenant-governor Lise Thibault pleaded guilty to fraud and breach of trust. Charges were laid after a joint federal-provincial auditors general report suggested more than $700,000 in alleged improper expenses had been claimed.<\/p>\n

9\u2014Senate investigators say the United States brutalized scores of terror suspects with interrogation tactics that turned secret CIA prisons into chambers of suffering and did nothing to make America safer after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The Senate Intelligence Committee\u2019s torture report accused the CIA of misleading its political masters about what it was doing with its \u201cblack site\u201d captives and deceiving Americans about the effectiveness of its techniques.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An in-brief look at some of the most significant news events of the last 12 months, in chronological order: January …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":30258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,1145],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-headline","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}