A look at news events in January 2023:
4 – Canada marked the first National Ribbon Skirt Day, after a bill to recognize the event every Jan. 4 passed in Parliament late last year. It was inspired by a 10-year-old girl who wore a ribbon skirt to her rural Saskatchewan school in December 2020. Isabella Kulak wore the colourful garment as part of a formal day, but her family said at the time that a staff member told her the outfit wasn't formal enough. The school division later apologized.
5 – Despite protests and threats of retaliation from Beijing, airline passengers leaving China, Hong Kong and Macau had to provide evidence of a negative COVID-19 test when they enter Canada starting today. With cases surging in China, the federal government announced the week prior that travellers from the region would need a negative test administered within 48 hours of their departure. Other countries, including the United States and several in the EU, had imposed similar rules.
5 – Canada was golden again at the world junior hockey championship. The host country defeated Czechia 3-2 in the final game of the tournament. Dylan Guenther scored his second goal of the night at 6:22 of overtime as Canada survived a blown 2-0 lead in the third period. Shane Wright, on his 19th birthday, had the other goal for Canada. Canada was the first team to repeat since the country won five straight gold medals between 2005 and 2009.
8 – Supporters of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro who refused to accept his electoral defeat stormed Congress, the Supreme Court and presidential palace, in a scene reminiscent of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Thousands of demonstrators bypassed security barricades, climbed on the roofs, broke windows and invaded the three buildings. Some were calling for a military intervention to restore the far-right Bolsonaro to power. The chaos came just a week after the inauguration of his leftist rival, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Hundreds of people were arrested in the aftermath.
9 – An avalanche claimed the life of a police officer in the mountains of southeastern B.C. The Nelson Police Board said one City of Nelson police officer, 43-year-old Const. Wade Tittemore, was killed and another, Const. Mathieu Nolet, was critically injured near Kaslo, which is about an hour's drive north of Nelson. The board said the pair were on snowmobiles when they were hit by the snowslide.
11 – "Embers'' was introduced as the new name for the Brownies branch of the Girl Guides of Canada. The organization made the decision to change the branch name after determining its previous name dissuaded some racialized girls and women from joining the outdoor adventure and activity group. CEO Jill Zelmanovits said current and former members chose "Embers'' in an online vote over "Comets.''
12 – One person was seriously injured after explosions and a fire in St. Catharines, Ont. The city's fire services chief said it happened at a hazardous waste facility in downtown St. Catharines just after 6:30 a.m. before spreading to a nearby industrial building. An employee at the waste facility was taken to hospital with significant burns. The person died the next day.
12 – Three workers were killed after an explosion at a propane facility north of Montreal. The explosion occurred at Propane Lafortune, a well-known business in the community of St-Roch-de-l'Achigan. Fire Chief Francois Thivierge said the first units on site tried to intervene but had to back off due to a risk of further explosions.
12 – Lisa Marie Presley died after being hospitalized in Los Angeles. Her mother, Priscilla Presley, made the announcement. Lisa Marie, who was 54, was the only child of Elvis Presley.
14 – In a revelation from China, nearly 60,000 COVID-19 and COVID-19-related deaths had been recorded since early December. The data release came amid criticism and complaints that the Chinese government was failing to report on the status of the pandemic. The death toll included 5,503 deaths due to respiratory failure caused by COVID-19 and 54,435 fatalities from other ailments combined with COVID-19.
14 – Former Ontario lieutenant-governor David Onley, who held the post for seven years, died at age 72. Onley, who used a motorized scooter after having polio as a child, was the first visibly disabled person to hold the lieutenant-governor position when he was appointed to the role in 2007. He championed accessibility issues both during and after his term, at one point delivering a blistering indictment of Ontario's efforts to keep up with its own accessibility legislation.
15 – All 72 people aboard a regional passenger plane were killed when it crashed into a gorge in Nepal while landing at a newly opened airport in the town of Pokhara on a 27-minute flight from Kathmandu.
15 – Wayne (Gino) Odjick, who played 12 seasons in the NHL for the Canucks, New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers and Montreal Canadiens, died at 52. Odjick spent the first eight seasons of his career with the Canucks after being selected by them in the 1990 entry draft, before being traded to the New York Islanders for Jason Strudwick in March 1998. In 2014, Odjick was diagnosed with amyloidosis -- a disease he said attacked his organs and his heart.
18 – Rock legend David Crosby died at age 81. His wife confirmed his death, saying the rock 'n' roll Hall of Famer died after a long illness and that he was surrounded by family. Crosby was a founding member of the Byrds and Crosby, Stills and Nash.
21 – The second off-duty officer who was caught in an avalanche in the British Columbia Interior earlier this month died. The City of Nelson said Const. Mathieu Nolet suffered severe internal injuries when he was caught in the avalanche, and was unable to recover. The officers were backcountry skiing near Kaslo, B.C., in a mountain pass 60 kilometres north of Nelson when they were swept down the mountain in a large avalanche.
21 – A man police identified as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran shot and killed 10 people in a California dance club before later killing himself. Police say the man shot himself as officers closed in on the van he used to flee the scene of an attempted second shooting. Ten others were wounded in the shooting, which happened during Lunar New Year celebrations in Monterey Park.
23 – The death toll in the mass shooting at a Los Angeles-area ballroom dance hall rose to 11. Health officials said one of the 10 people injured in the attack died.
29 – Longtime Mississauga-Ont. mayor Hazel McCallion died at 101. Known affectionately as "Hurricane Hazel,'' McCallion was an outspoken political powerhouse whose legacy includes more than three decades of nearly unchallenged leadership. She was voted into office with landslide victories for 12 successive terms and decided to bow out at age 93.
30 – The World Health Organization decided not to declare an end to the COVID-19 global public health emergency. The decision came on the third anniversary of the day Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the emergency, prompting Canada and the rest of the world to impose pandemic restrictions. Tedros said the number of weekly deaths had been rising since early December, and that over the past eight weeks more than 170,000 deaths had been reported. However, he said the actual number was much higher.
30 – Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Hull, the first player in NHL history to score more than 50 goals in a single season, died at 84. Over a pro career than spanned 23 years, Hull played for the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks and Hartford Whalers as well as the World Hockey Association's Winnipeg Jets. He and Chicago teammate Stan Mikita helped popularize the curved hockey stick blade in the NHL.
30 – A suicide bombing at a mosque inside a police compound in Peshawar, Pakistan, killed at least 100 people. Officials said more than 200 others were wounded, and that most of the casualties were police officers. The bomber set off the explosives when more than 300 worshippers were praying inside the mosque and others were approaching. A commander for the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility on Twitter.