Wildfires, strikes and other 2023 events: Canada's year in pictures

With 2023 almost a wrap, here's a look back at the most compelling Canadian images of the year captured by CBC photojournalists, videographers and others. 

Unprecedented wildfires

In springtime, smoke began to pollute the air in Calgary, Montreal and other major cities — the first sign for city dwellers of the unprecedented year of wildfires Canada would face. By fall, over 6,765 fires had burned nearly 18.5 million hectares across the country — surpassing the 10-year average of 2.7 million hectares and the previous record of 7.5 million hectares in 1989.

In the interim, thousands were forced to flee their homes, including these people who left Celista, B.C., on the north shore of Shuswap Lake on Aug. 19, after two fast-moving wildfires torched homes and buildings in multiple communities in the Shuswap region.

(Ben Nelms/CBC)

Unrest on the labour front

Many workers hit the picket line across Canada this year, demanding among other things better wages that haven't kept pace with rising inflation. 

Outside grocery stores, government buildings and airports, union members such as these flight attendants were out in such force, 2023 felt like it was the Year of the Strike.

(Heather Waldron/CBC)

The refugee crisis

Thousands of asylum seekers have crossed into Canada from the United States at Roxham Road, a rural road straddling the Canada-U.S. border in Quebec. We're seeing more and more people from the Americas, the Middle East and African nations seeking refuge here as the number of global conflicts and crises rise, experts say.

Since January 2022, over 3,500 people crossed monthly into Quebec from New York until a new treaty with the U.S. went into effect on March 25, allowing Canada to turn back asylum seekers at irregular border crossings, such as Roxham Road.  

Here, Pamela Haiala, originally from Congo, and her son wait to cross at Roxham Road late March 24, shortly before the new border deal went into effect just after midnight.

(Carlos Osorio/Reuters)

Years in the making

The Arctic Winter Games (AWG) were cancelled due to the pandemic in 2020 and postponed for the same reason in 2022. When athletes were finally able to gather in late January, the magic of the event took hold in the Wood Buffalo, Alta., region.

Athletes from the circumpolar world, including those from Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Nunavik in northern Quebec and Alberta North, competed in 20 sports categories, including traditional sports such as snowshoe events, hand games and knuckle hop.

Chris Stipdonk of Northwest Territories nearly broke the AWG record of 191 feet in knuckle hop, coming up just three feet short of that mark. 

(Evan Mitsui/CBC)

Palestinians reunited in Canada

Canadians in the Gaza Strip struggled to escape the deadly Israel-Hamas war that began on Oct. 7. At least 600 Canadians, permanent residents and their eligible families were able to leave Gaza at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt after it opened to foreign nationals in early November, according to latest figures by Global Affairs Canada (GAC).

After first being told that GAC couldn't help get his family out of the territory, Ahmad Abualjedian was reunited with his wife, Yara, and baby, Sila, the latter of whom he met for the first time at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Nov. 10.

(Carlos Osorio/CBC)

'We did it for everyone'

Following a six-week trial, one-time fashion mogul Peter Nygard — who was accused of attacking five women in the private bedroom suite of his downtown Toronto office building — was found guilty of four counts of sexual assault on Nov. 12.

Outside the courthouse, Shannon Moroney, a therapist who worked with four of the accusers, said she received a message from one woman who said the verdict should be shared with all survivors of sexual assault.

"We did this for everyone, not only for ourselves," Moroney quoted the woman as saying.

Nygard, 82, still faces sex-related charges in other jurisdictions, including Manitoba and Quebec.

(Evan Mitsui/CBC)

Deteriorating diplomatic relations

Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45 — head of Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, B.C., and a proponent of an independent Sikh state called Khalistan — was gunned down in his vehicle in the temple's parking lot soon after evening prayers had finished on June 18. 

Diplomatic relations quickly deteriorated when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stood in the House of Commons on Sept. 18 and said there was credible intelligence that "agents of the Indian government" carried out the killing of the Canadian citizen, which India denied.

No charges have been laid in Canada in relation to Nijjar's killing.

See | Other notable moments from 1st half of 2023:

See | Other notable moments from 2nd half of 2023: