By Canadian Press

Year in review: A look at news events in June 2023

Dec 31, 2023 | 3:27 AM

A look at news events in June 2023.

01 –  Civil servants in Quebec are now required to speak and write exclusively in French while on the job except in certain cases, such as access to health care and social services in English, or situations where health, public safety or principles of natural justice require the use of languages other than French.

02 – A shortage of lifeguards prompts Ontario to lower the minimum age requirement to 15 years old, from 16. The province says the change aligns with updated requirements from the Lifesaving Society’s certification course.

06 – Nova Scotia officials say about 100,000 people had personal information stolen as a result of a privacy breach. The province’s minister of cybersecurity says social insurance numbers, addresses and banking information of current employees of the public service were taken.

07 – The Bank of Canada hikes its trendsetting rate a quarter of a percentage point as it tries to get ahead of the country’s hot economy. The increase brings the rate to 4.75 per cent – its highest level since 2001. 

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07 – Quebec adopts a new law that expands access to medical aid in dying and allows early requests for the procedure. The law permits people with a serious and incurable diseases such as Alzheimer’s, to apply for a doctor-assisted death before their condition deteriorates and prevents them from consenting to one.  

08 – Former U.S. president Donald Trump says he had been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate. 

09 – After repeated calls from opposition leaders and members of the public, former governor general David Johnston says he is stepping down from his role as special rapporteur investigating foreign interference in Canada.

10 – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau makes a surprise visit to Kyiv in Ukraine meant to show Canada’s solidarity with the country’s ongoing efforts to push back against Russia’s invasion.  

13 – The Las Vegas Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup, easily dispatching the Florida Panthers by a final score of 9-3 in Game 5. The nine goals tie the record for the most in a Cup final game.

14 – The federal government confirms land expropriations for a rail bypass to be built around Lac-Megantic. The town was the site of a deadly 2013 train explosion that killed 47 people. In a statement, Ottawa says it is going ahead with the expropriations without the consent of all of the affected landowners.

14 – Bell announces it’s cutting three per cent of its workforce or 1,300 jobs. The company says it also plans to close six of its radio stations and significantly adapt how it delivers the news.

14 – The Calgary Stampede names Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen its parade marshal for 2023. The 47-year-old colonel and CF-18 pilot is set to become the first Canadian to travel the moon as part of the Artemis Two mission.

14 – A Quebec judge rejects a request from a Muslim group to suspend a ban on school prayer rooms. In April, Quebec Education Minister Bernard Drainville barred public schools from making space available to students for prayer, saying students would still be allowed to pray discreetly and silently.

15 – RONA Inc., a Boucherville, Quebec-based company, announces it’s eliminating 500 jobs across Canada in a bid to simplify its organizational structure amid a slowing economy. 

16 – The national population reaches more than 40 million, with 95.9 per cent of 2022’s growth made up of permanent and temporary immigrants. For the first time, Canada’s population grows by more than a million people in a 12-month period.

16 – Prince Edward Island Premier Dennis King slams the island’s only university in the aftermath of a scathing report. King says he was sickened to read the report by Toronto law firm Rubin Thomlinson, which detailed a toxic culture of harassment and racism at the University of P.E.I. 

16 – Ontario’s Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark says the province is expanding its so-called strong mayor powers beyond Toronto and Ottawa. He says the heads of 26 large and fast-growing communities will get their new powers as of July 1. The affected cities include Mississauga, Waterloo and Barrie.  

16 – Fifteen people are killed and 10 injured when a small bus collided with a semi-truck as the bus was crossing the Trans-Canada Highway in Manitoba. The bus was carrying mostly seniors on a day trip from Dauphin to a casino in Carberry.

17 – Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. must pay an Indigenous band in Wisconsin more than $5 million and relocate it’s cross-border pipeline within the next three years. 

18 – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen leads from start to finish and cruises to victory at the Canadian Grand Prix for a second year in a row. The two-time reigning world champion holds off the competition over 70 laps at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes place second and third.

18 – The president of a Sikh gurdwara is shot dead outside a temple in Surrey, B.C. Officials with a national Sikh organization say Hardeep Singh Nijjar was alone in his pickup truck when he was attacked. They say Nijjar had received death threats because of his support for a separate Sikh state of Khalistan in India.  

21 – One of Canada’s largest bakery giants is fined $50 million for playing a role in a price-fixing scheme that inflated the price of bread in Canada for years. The settlement with Canada Bread Company is a significant milestone in the competition watchdog’s ongoing investigation into alleged bread price-fixing in Canada. The breadmaker admitted that it arranged with its competitor, Weston Foods, to increase prices for various bagged and sliced bread products.

21 – The U.S. Coast Guard says a missing submersible imploded near the wreckage of the Titanic, killing all five people on board. The Titan had been missing for several days. 

26 – Olivia Chow is elected the next mayor of Toronto.

28 – RoseAnne Archibald is voted out as national chief of the Assembly of First Nations. The vote to remove Archibald takes place during a special chiefs assembly that was convened in part to address the implications of a human-resources investigation related to complaints filed against her. 

28 – Two students and a teacher are stabbed at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. Police say the 24-year-old former student who initiated the attack entered a classroom, asked the professor what course was being studied, and began attacking once he learned it was a gender studies class.

28 – The Chicago Blackhawks select Regina Pats forward Connor Bedard with the first pick in the NHL draft. The 17-year-old from North Vancouver, B.C., has been compared to Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby as a once-in-a-generation player. 

The Canadian Press