It was the year unprecedented wildfires disrupted the lives of thousands from coast to coast, shattering records for the total area burned.
Canadian wildfires -- which consumed an area roughly one-quarter the land mass of Manitoba -- were by far the first choice for The Canadian Press news story of the year, as voted by editors in newsrooms across the country.
An unusually warm and dry winter in much of Canada set the stage for a wildfire season that led to 200,000 people fleeing their homes.
One of the first communities evacuated was , a hamlet west of Edmonton, on April 29. Evacuation orders for other communities were issued in the following days.
On May 29, , in a fashion that experts said was an ominous signal for the rest of Canada. "If Halifax can burn, any place can burn, and that blows all our minds," said John Vaillant, author of the award-winning "Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast."
A heat dome and tinder-dry forests fed the blaze on the outskirts of the Nova Scotia capital. Homeowners, startled by the rapidity of the spread, encountered traffic jams attempting to flee their neighbourhoods.
On June 8, during debate in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, "Canada is burning."
And the impact was not confined within our borders. made international news as the smoke travelled south, giving Toronto among the worst air quality in the world and forcing the cancellation of Major League Baseball games as far away as Washington, D.C.
Quebec's forest fire prevention agency estimated that more than 700 fires burned about 51,000 square kilometres of land, more than the province had ever recorded in a single season.
Fires also ravaged the North. About 70 per cent of the population of the Northwest Territories were at some point displaced during the wildfire season. When flames threatened Yellowknife, the capital's 20,000 residents were ordered out on Aug. 16. People waited in line at the airport for flights while others set off on marathon road trips to Alberta and other regions.
Flames came close but did not enter the city, and after three weeks, residents were allowed to return. The territorial election, less than a month away, was pushed to November.
Meanwhile, British Columbia also suffered its worst wildfire season on record, with about 400 homes destroyed and more than 2.8 million hectares burned.
Fires stoked by drought conditions and howling winds swept down late at night on on the shores of Okanagan Lake in mid-August, making it the centre of the unfolding emergency.
The fires caused tragic loss: six firefighters in B.C. died, including as they returned home from a two-week deployment.
And there were also stories of selflessness, including the efforts of volunteer firefighters such as Mark Zawidzki. He helped extinguish the flames approaching neighbours' houses in a Halifax suburb as his own burned a few kilometres away. "I just wanted to save somebody else's house while I could," Zawidzki told The Canadian Press.
Thousands of Canadians suffered long-term economic loss, and began an exhausting odyssey of rebuilding their lives after everything from wedding photos to cars went up in flames.
"Typically, wildfire season has been isolated as a British Columbia problem with spillover into Alberta. But 2023 proved wildfires are now a national problem and a harbinger of Canada's new normal," said Dawn Walton, managing editor of CTV Calgary.
"Wildfires will intensify as climate change increases. It will soon become the biggest story in the land," commented Richard Dooley, supervising producer of Global News in Nova Scotia.
Thirty-nine per cent of the 80 survey respondents chose wildfires as story of the year. Inflation was the second choice at 21 per cent.
As the year came to an end, the University of Waterloo's Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation said the experience of 2023 will be repeated unless Canadian governments and citizens make significant investments in prevention.
"According to historical records, current wildfire seasons start roughly one week earlier and end one week later than 70 years ago," the centre said in a report released Monday.
Matt Goerzen, managing editor of the Brandon Sun, noted that discussion of the wildfires reflected the sometimes divisive nature of the climate change debate in Canada.
"These discussions became overly heated during the summer of wildfires that claimed large swaths of Canadian forests, and forced an entire city, Yellowknife, to evacuate," he wrote. "I fear we will only see more of these kinds of stories in the coming years."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 20, 2023.
Israel pounded Iran with a series of airstrikes early Saturday, saying it was targeting military targets in retaliation for the barrage of ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic fired upon Israel earlier this month. Explosions could be heard in the Iranian capital, Tehran, though there was no immediate information on damage or casualties.
Canada Post driver Rick Harper recounts how he and others helped save a woman from a Tesla that caught fire after crashing into a guardrail on Lake Shore Boulevard.
A makeshift aquarium that popped up this summer in a puddle beneath a leaky fire hydrant in New York City has been paved over, to the dismay of neighbours who turned the area into a hangout spot and goldfish shrine.
Scotiabank has confirmed outages affecting mobile and online banking services, according to a statement published to its X account.
A New Hampshire woman was sentenced Friday to 53 years to life in prison in the death of her 5-year-old son, who was beaten, starved and exposed to drugs before his 19-pound body was found buried in a Massachusetts park in 2021.
Pizza inadvertently laced with THC has apparently sickened dozens of people in Wisconsin.
Longtime Liberal MP Wayne Long says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should give more weight to the views of his backbenchers in determining his future leading the Party, rather than relying on those in his immediate orbit.
Two adults and two children were found dead in the charred rubble of a house fire after a mother and another child jumped from a third-floor window to escape flames in a southwest Las Vegas neighborhood, authorities said.
Polish authorities have arrested four individuals they allege planned to send parcels containing camouflaged explosives and dangerous materials to Canada and the United States, according to Poland鈥檚 government website.
The Yukon government says testing around the gold mine where a containment facility gave way, spilling millions of tonnes of cyanide-laced rock, has found increased levels of mercury, cobalt and cyanide.
It's been a long and emotional journey for Manitoba residential school survivor Susan Caribou. Her niece, Tanya Nepinak, has been missing since September 2011 and has never been found.
The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick (PANB) has uploaded dozens of dashboard camera videos from the 1970s to their YouTube channel.
Canada Post driver Rick Harper recounts how he and others helped save a woman from a Tesla that caught fire after crashing into a guardrail on Lake Shore Boulevard.
A Canadian navy missile test was aborted mid-flight this week after controllers lost communication with the projectile off the coast of southern California.
A former Alberta teacher has been sentenced to four years for sexually abusing a student.
Russian actors made a widely circulated video falsely depicting mail-in ballots for Donald Trump being destroyed in Pennsylvania, U.S. officials said Friday.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday formally apologized to native Americans for the 'sin' of a government-run boarding school system that for decades forcibly separated children from their parents, calling it a 'blot on American history' in his first presidential visit to Indian Country.
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Chinese hackers targeted cellphones used by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, his running mate, JD Vance, and people associated with the Democratic campaign of Kamala Harris, people familiar with the matter said Friday.
A New Hampshire woman was sentenced Friday to 53 years to life in prison in the death of her 5-year-old son, who was beaten, starved and exposed to drugs before his 19-pound body was found buried in a Massachusetts park in 2021.
Pizza inadvertently laced with THC has apparently sickened dozens of people in Wisconsin.
Longtime Liberal MP Wayne Long says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should give more weight to the views of his backbenchers in determining his future leading the Party, rather than relying on those in his immediate orbit.
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says Canada strongly condemns a new surge in gang violence in Haiti.
Canada's long-held consensus on immigration is under threat but has not disappeared, the immigration minister said in an interview after announcing a major cut to the number of newcomers to Canada.
Children who have coughs that go on for weeks may have a type of walking pneumonia that鈥檚 been surging in the U.S. this year, and they may need a different antibiotic regimen to treat it, infectious disease experts say.
The number of people infected by the E. coli outbreak tied to McDonald's Quarter Pounder hamburgers increased to 75 from 49, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday.
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Phil Lesh, a classically trained violinist and jazz trumpeter who found his true calling reinventing the role of rock bass guitar as a founding member of the Grateful Dead, died Friday at age 84.
A New Mexico judge has upheld her decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
Tom Holland is getting ready to don his Spidey suit again. The fourth installment of the blockbuster series has been set for a July 2026 release, Sony Pictures said Friday.
Natural gas producers in Western Canada have white-knuckled it through months of depressed prices, with the expectation that their fortunes will improve when LNG Canada comes online in the middle of next year.
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says the world has become more prone to supply shocks which create more risks to inflation, but the central bank is in a better place to deal with them now that inflation is under control.
The former longtime CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch pleaded not guilty Friday to federal sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges.
Archeologists have uncovered a tiny house in Pompeii that is filled with elaborate 鈥 and sometimes erotic 鈥 frescoes, further revealing the ornate way in which Romans decorated their homes.
In early 2018, Amanda and Sunil started chatting, messaging back and forth on Instagram, introducing themselves and talking a little about their lives. Fast forward to August 2018, the couple got engaged on vacation in Thailand and a year later, after Amanda moved to India, got married.
A Toronto man who only recently checked a Lotto 6/49 lottery ticket he bought back in June is now $2.5 million richer.
A Sherpa teenager who's won mountaineering celebrity as the youngest person ever to summit the world's 14 highest peaks called for Sherpas to be recognized as athletes and expedition leaders as well as porters and guides.
Nikolaj Ehlers scored the winning goal 1:26 into overtime, and the Winnipeg Jets remained unbeaten this season with a 4-3 win over the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night.
Broadway vs. Hollywood has produced the starriest Series in decades, if not ever.
A town in southern Alberta will be one of the first to let golf carts be driven on select roads as part of a provincial pilot program.
An increased risk of fire has prompted the recall of thousands of Honda hybrid vehicles in Canada.
A senior executive for Volkswagen in China has been deported for allegedly using cocaine and marijuana while on vacation in Thailand, according to Chinese authorities and German media reports.
A new resident at a Manitoba animal rescue has waddled her way into people's hearts.
Hundreds of people ran to the music of German composer and pianist Beethoven Wednesday night in a unique race in Halifax.
He is a familiar face to residents of a neighbourhood just west of Roncesvalles Avenue.
A meteor lit up our region's sky last night 鈥 with a large fireball shooting across the horizon over Lake Erie at around 7:00 p.m.
Residents of Ottawa's Rideauview neighbourhood say an aggressive wild turkey has become a problem.
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Hortense Anglin was the oldest graduate to make her way across the platform at York University's Fall Convocation ceremony this week. At the age of 87, she graduated with an Honours degree in Religious Studies.
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There were tense moments at a ferry terminal outside Victoria, B.C., on Friday after the lion鈥檚 share of standby spots on an early sailing were claimed by 鈥渁ssured loading鈥 passengers 鈥 leaving regular customers who had been waiting for hours out of luck.
The countdown to the arrival of Taylor Swift鈥檚 Eras Tour is on, with three dates planned in Vancouver this December - and some condo owners are looking to cash in on the fan frenzy.
Canada Post driver Rick Harper recounts how he and others helped save a woman from a Tesla that caught fire after crashing into a guardrail on Lake Shore Boulevard.
One person has been rushed to the hospital following a shooting in North York.
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A Montreal man is charged with first-degree murder in connection to the stabbing death of a woman at a park in Ottawa鈥檚 south end on Thursday.
Ontario Provincial Police are investigating after a body was found in Perth, Ont. Friday afternoon.
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Two minors were in court Friday to face charges after four teenagers were stabbed outside a Montreal high school.
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A former Alberta teacher has been sentenced to four years for sexually abusing a student.
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The GoFundMe page for the family of an employee found dead at a Halifax Walmart last weekend has paused donations after almost $200,000 was raised in roughly 24 hours.
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) say a 14-year-old boy from Bridgewater, N.S. is facing several charges in connection with threats made against a Catholic high school in eastern Ontario.
Eviction day is one week away and the number of tents in the median of University Avenue in Halifax is steadily decreasing ahead of the city-imposed deadline.
Winnipeg police are looking for a suspect after a woman's dorm room was broken into at the U of M and she was assaulted.
Repairs to the historic 110-year-old rail bridge at The Forks could come with a multi-million dollar price tag.
Manitoba RCMP are providing an update to a crash on Highway 1 that killed one person on Wednesday.
Saturday will mark the end of the CFL regular season, and the Saskatchewan Roughriders will have their eyes on Winnipeg鈥檚 matchup versus Montreal to know if they have a chance of clinching the West Division.
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Geovanny Villalba-Aleman, the man who stabbed three people in a gender studies class at the University of Waterloo, says he 鈥榓cted dumb鈥.
All the evidence has now been called at the trial of Erick Buhr, who has pleaded not guilty to second degree murder in the death of his grandmother, Viola Erb.
Residents spotted smoke coming from a waste management site in Waterloo on Friday afternoon.
A Saskatchewan woman is worried her child might die before receiving life-saving surgery and tests as he sits on the province's surgical waitlist.
The Saskatchewan RCMP is releasing the names of two suspects arrested on Thursday for a violent vehicle theft that triggered a widespread police search.
Police have still not confirmed the identity of a body discovered in Prince Albert last week.
The Town of Cochrane plans to roll out its $10-lot program in a month or two.
Two people 鈥 one from Timmins, the other from Kapuskasing -- have been fined more than $7,000 for camping violations, including empty septic tanks directly onto the ground.
The federal government is spending a significant amount of money to improve Indigenous student learning across Ontario.
A new staff report calls for homeless encampments to be allowed even closer to residential neighbourhoods, reducing the buffer zone from 100 metres to 25 metres.
London police have issued a warning to the public following an increased number of overdoses in the area of Queens Avenue and Adelaide Street North.
The London Knights picked up an overtime win at Canada Life Place Friday night.
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Several students have been banned from being spectators at school sporting events, and others suspended from school, after verbal and physical exchanges at a high school soccer game.
A 15-year veteran officer with the South Simcoe Police Service has been charged with discreditable conduct following an allegation of sexual assault.
The Windsor Police Service is investigating a suspicious death in south-central Windsor.
A Harrow school is memorializing two students and their mother, who were tragically killed in June.
The Gordie Howe International Bridge will serve as a new crossing for vehicles, but many walkers and cyclists are also excited about the opportunity to access the U.S. in a different way.
The final count of ballots in the 2024 B.C. election begins Saturday, with more than 66,000 mail-in and absentee votes potentially yet to be counted across the province's 93 electoral districts.
There were tense moments at a ferry terminal outside Victoria, B.C., on Friday after the lion鈥檚 share of standby spots on an early sailing were claimed by 鈥渁ssured loading鈥 passengers 鈥 leaving regular customers who had been waiting for hours out of luck.
Hulitan Early Years Centre is a brand new, 48-seat childhood learning centre in Colwood. It was built to support Indigenous children throughout the capital region.
More than two years after Alannah Brown and Douglas Barker were found dead north of Penticton, police are asking for help identifying a vehicle they believe was associated with the crime.
Dave Lindsey began growing giant pumpkins to bring a bit of magic to his grandkids' Halloween.
A U.S. District Court judge in Montana has sentenced a 27-year-old man from Kelowna, B.C., to 18 months in prison for using fake names to buy guns with the aim of selling them in Canada.
About 15,000 students are enrolled at Lethbridge鈥檚 post-secondary schools, and now the city is working with those schools to try to find ways to get them s to stick around a while.
With Halloween less than a week away, organizations in Lethbridge are preparing to get in on the trick-or-treating fun.
The City of Lethbridge is bringing forward a water conservation policy, the first of its kind for the city.
The union that represents hospital workers across the province is used a symbol from Greek mythology Friday in Espanola to drive home its campaign about the perils of privatization in health care.
CTV's Coats for Kids is nearing the end of its donation window, with the need as strong as it鈥檚 ever been.
The Anishinabek Police Service and the Ontario Provincial Police are investigating the circumstances around a death in Fort William First Nation.
Investigators found the remains of a 77-year-old American man on Wednesday at the scene of a fire that destroyed a hotel in western Newfoundland earlier on the weekend.
Police in western Newfoundland say a 77-year-old man visiting the province from Kansas is missing after a fire at a hotel in Deer Lake, N.L.
At 2 p.m. on Thursday, the scene at the Lions Club in Clarenville, N.L., rivalled any rowdy St. John's bar that thumps with music late on a weekend night.
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