We the North, Trudeau in blackface, Trump impeached: The year in photos

We the Champs 

The Toronto Raptors made history this year, defeating the Golden State Warriors in Game 6 of the NBA Finals to win their first title, becoming the first team to bring the Larry O'Brien Trophy north of the border as NBA champions.

Hundreds of thousands of ecstatic fans packed the streets of Toronto for the Raptors' victory parade in June, culminating in a rally in Nathan Phillips Square in one of the largest turnouts the city has ever seen.

She the North

Bianca Andreescu, the 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., became the first Canadian to win a Grand Slam singles title, beating the legendary Serena Williams in the U.S. Open women's final in New York.

Flooding in Ottawa-Gatineau

Spring flooding in the Ottawa-Gatineau region prompted the City of Ottawa to declare a state of emergency in April.

Between April 20 and 30, 2,196 dwellings were flooded or at risk of flooding in Ottawa, according to Statistics Canada. During the same period in Gatineau, 3,800 homes and cottages were affected.

Hong Kong protests

Hundreds of thousands of protesters have been cramming into the streets of Hong Kong, clashing with riot police during months of demonstrations. 

Protests in Hong Kong are now in their seventh month, with many residents angry at what they see as Chinese meddling in the freedoms promised to the former British colony when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

California wildfires

Strong winds send embers flying across a road in Calistoga, Calif., in October as fire crews raced to contain two major wind-whipped blazes that destroyed dozens of homes in Sonoma County wine country and in the hills of Los Angeles.  

The hot, dry and windy conditions have turned California into "a tinderbox," according to Jonathan Cox, a spokesperson for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

European heatwave

People play as they bathe in the Trocadéro Fountain in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris during a heatwave in June. The temperature in France surpassed 45 degrees Celsius on June 28 for the first time as Europe wilted in a major heatwave, according to state weather forecaster Météo-France.

Fire engulfs Notre Dame Cathedral

The historic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris went up in flames in April, destroying the landmark's roof and famed spire. Investigators believe the fire was likely caused by a short-circuit. French President Emmanuel Macron has promised to rebuild the fire-ravaged Cathedral.

Brexit saga continues

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has won approval for his Brexit deal in Parliament, the first step toward fulfilling his election pledge to deliver the country's departure from the European Union by Jan. 31 following his landslide election victory.

Archie visits Canada for the holidays 

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, hold their son Archie while in Cape Town, South Africa, in September. The royal trio are in Canada for a private visit during which they will celebrate Christmas and ring in the new year.

Canada-wide manhunt

Three murders in northern B.C. this summer sparked one of the largest manhunts in Canadian history. Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, were charged in July with second-degree murder in the death of botanist Leonard Dyck and are also suspected of gunning down a young couple, Lucas Fowler, 23, an Australian, and Chynna Deese, 24, an American.

The two men fled east, sparking a weeks-long massive cross-Canada search, until their remains were found in dense brush in northern Manitoba.

Boeing grounds 737 Max after deadly crashes

A relative carries soil in her hands as she mourns at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in March. The 737 Max has been grounded since March after two crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 346 people within five months, costing the plane manufacturer more than $9 billion so far.

Dorian devastates Bahamas 

An aerial view of Marsh Harbor after Hurricane Dorian passed through Great Abaco Island, Bahamas, in September. Dorian is the most damaging storm to ever strike the island nation, causing widespread flooding, pulverizing homes and leaving dozens dead.

Crisis in Venezuela

Venezuela's National Assembly head Juan Guaidó shouts as he speaks to the crowd during a mass opposition rally against leader Nicolás Maduro in which he declared himself the country's "acting president" in January.

Tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela have been escalating since early this year when Guaidó declared the constitution gives him presidential powers because Maduro's election last year was a fraud. However, Guaidó has been unable to loosen Maduro's grip on power and in particular, the military.

1st-ever photo of a black hole

This is the first image ever taken of the event horizon of a supermassive black hole, captured by the Event Horizon Telescope in 2017. The image was released by astronomers in April and required a team of over 200 scientists, eight special telescopes and churning through millions of gigabytes of data to capture the image.

Trudeau's blackface bombshell

A photograph of Justin Trudeau in brownface and wearing a turban at a 2001 costume party was published in Time Magazine in September, just weeks before the federal election.

The prime minister acknowledged the actions were "racist" and apologized directly to racialized Canadians after more bombshell images surfaced of him in blackface.

SNC-Lavalin scandal

Trudeau was also dogged this year by the SNC-Lavalin affair, after reports surfaced that the PMO improperly pressured former attorney general Jody Wison-Raybould to consider offering the company a deferred prosecution agreement.

Months of political controversy followed, resulting in Wilson-Raybould resigning from cabinet before being tossed out of the Liberal caucus along with former health and Indigenous services minister Jane Philpott.

2019 federal election

Despite the scandals, Trudeau's Liberals held on to just enough seats in Atlantic Canada, Quebec and Ontario to secure a minority government in the 2019 federal election, defeating Andrew Scheer and the Conservative Party.

In a surprise move, Scheer announced earlier this month that he is stepping down as Conservative leader following weeks of mounting criticism of his election performance. 

Trump and Trudeau's G7 kiss goes viral

First lady Melania Trump kisses Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the cheek prior to a group photo at the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, in August. The photo, with a sullen looking Donald Trump standing next to Melania, quickly started circulating on social media.

Robert Mueller testifies on Russia investigation

Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller arrives before testifying to the House Judiciary Committee about his report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Mueller answered questions on Capitol Hill for six hours on July 24. He refused to confirm that Donald Trump had broken any laws, but also pushed back against lawmakers suggesting his report exonerated the U.S. President.

Trump impeached

U.S. President Donald Trump turns to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as he delivers his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in February.

Earlier this month, the Democrat-led House of Representatives passed two articles of impeachment that charged Trump with abuse of power for his dealings with Ukraine and with obstruction of Congress, marking just the third time in history it has voted to recommend removing a sitting president.

Protests in India-controlled Kashmir

A masked Kashmiri man with his head covered with barbed wire attends a protest after Friday prayers following the scrapping of the special constitutional status for Kashmir by the Indian government in October.

Violent protests in Haiti

A girl cries during her father's funeral organised by government opposition in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Over the past year, Haiti has sunk deeper into political crisis as anti-corruption protests demanding the resignation of President Jovenel Moise have rocked the destitute Caribbean nation.

Assange arrested

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrives at the Westminster Magistrates Court, after he was arrested  in London in April.  Assange was arrested by British police in the Ecuadorian Embassy where he'd been holed up since 2012 after the United States requested his extradition.

The Wikileaks founder remains in prison while his extradition case continues. In October, Assange lost a bid in a U.K. court to delay proceedings so that his legal team would have more time to prepare his case.

Greta Thunberg and the youth climate movement

Swedish youth climate activist Greta Thunberg sits next to a placard reading "school strike for climate" on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, in January.

Thunberg, 16, was named Time magazine's Person of the Year for 2019, lauded for starting an environmental campaign in August 2018 that became a global movement, initially skipping school and camping out in front of the Swedish parliament to demand action.

Here, a hungry, stray polar bear walks on a road on the outskirts of the Russian industrial city of Norilsk in June, hundreds of miles from its natural habitat.

Historic flooding in Venice

Venice was hit by the highest tide in more than 50 years in late November, with tourists wading through flooded streets to seek shelter as a fierce wind whipped up waves in St. Mark's Square.

Venice's mayor has put the flooding damage at hundreds of millions of euros and Italian officials have declared a state of emergency for the area. They say Venice is both sinking into the mud and facing rising sea levels due to climate change.

Deadly wildfires in Australia 

A kangaroo escapes the flames as a wildfire approaches in Colo Heights, Australia, in November. About 50,000 square kilometres of land in Australia have burned over the past few months, with nine people killed and more than 950 homes destroyed.

The power of nature

In this photo provided by Michael Schade, tourists on a boat look at the eruption of the volcano on White Island, New Zealand.

There were 47 people on the White Island when it erupted on Dec. 9. Of those, dozens were killed, injured or are missing. Details are scarce because conditions on the island are too dangerous for officials to return and disaster victim identification experts have only begun their work.