The 2026 Juno Awards, televised live from Hamilton, Ont.\u2019s renovated and renamed TD Coliseum on Sunday night, was one for the books. Or for a series of Heritage Minutes, at least.<\/p>\n
Joni Mitchell sang a little \u2014 and sang the praises of Prime Minister Mark Carney a lot.<\/p>\n
Drake buried his beef with Canada\u2019s music awards establishment for the sake of Nelly Furtado, who was being inducted in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
And, without any clear enticement, Rush made their very first Junos musical appearance 58-odd years into their prog-rock career by playing the first track off the first side of their first album \u2014 with their second drummer.<\/p>\n
The Junos may have aired with a disclaimer that the live event \u201ccontains coarse language and may contain offensive material, nudity and sexual content,\u201d but it should have more accurately warned that this was the most wholesome event seen on TV in ages. <\/p>\n
Mae Martin, the Canadian comedian, podcaster and creator of Netflix\u2019s Wayward, hosted for the first time \u2014 and turned the sincerity up to 11 from their opening monologue.<\/p>\n
Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n HAMILTON, ONTARIO – MARCH 29: Mae Martin speaks onstage during the 2026 JUNO Awards at TD Coliseum on March 29, 2026 in Hamilton, Ontario.Cindy Ord\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Martin opted for boasts about Canada and its music industry rather than roasts of, say, dancer-singer Tate McRae for not showing up to collect awards.<\/p>\n \u201cSo often, when anything\u2019s written about me in the American press, they describe me as an earnest comedian,\u201d Martin said, preempting any criticism of their style. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize I was earnest until I left Canada. I think I\u2019m just Canadian. I think that\u2019s what they mean!\u201d<\/p>\n That set the tone for what followed. Here were some of the best, most emotional and weirdest moments.<\/p>\n The best: Joni Mitchell gets happy<\/p>\n Receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from presenter Mark Carney, Mitchell, 82, came on stage in her signature beret, with cane in hand and a outfit covered with the word \u201chappy\u201d in Chinese. <\/p>\n \u201cGood evening, Hamilton!\u201d she said, then explained what was printed on her dress by repeating the word \u201chappy\u201d at least a dozen times.<\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Joni Mitchell accepts the Lifetime Achievement award at the 2026 Juno Awards in Hamilton, on Sunday, March 29, 2026.Chris Young\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n The international folk icon\u2019s short speech was about the good things that can come from living through hard times. <\/p>\n \u201cSome years ago, 10 or 12 years, I forget, I had an aneurysm which changed my life oddly for the better,\u201d she said. \u201cI went into a coma which helped me to quit smoking. And my house filled up with the most wonderful nurses.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was on the road with men for year and years and years,\u201d she continued. \u201cNow I live with a house full of women.\u201d<\/p>\n The even better: The Mitchell musical tribute <\/p>\n None other than Sarah McLachlan was on hand to pull out an airy, heartfelt version of A Case of You. Then, Allison Russell, Canada\u2019s foremost purveyor of Americana, sang Both Sides Now with McLachlan providing harmony.<\/p>\n Finally, the Junos stage filled with all the musicians who had performed, won awards or given them out that night for a Joni jamboree. <\/p>\n A Big Yellow Taxi sing-along saw mics passed around to all, even to Billy Talent. (That pop-punk band\u2019s screamo-styled singer Benjamin Kowalewicz politely declined to join in.)<\/p>\n But the moment everyone had been waiting for came when Mitchell grabbed a microphone herself. <\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n HAMILTON, ONTARIO – MARCH 29: (L-R) Alyshia Grace Hobday, William Prince, Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney, Mae Martin, Joni Mitchell and Sarah McLachlan perform onstage during the 2026 JUNO Awards at TD Coliseum on March 29, 2026 in Hamilton, Ontario.Cindy Ord\/Getty Images<\/p>\n After giving it a good looking over to see if it was in fact working, she sang a few lines here and there, before McLachlan fed her the high-pitched \u201cThey paved paradise\u201d and the iconic singer nailed the song\u2019s deep voiced ending \u201c\u2026and put up a parking lot.\u201d Tears abounded.<\/p>\n The weirdest: Mitchell\u2019s induction of Carney into the Prime Minister Hall of Fame<\/p>\n Early in the ceremony, Martin told the crowd: \u201cMy parents are here tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n But what the Juno broadcast\u2019s cameras cut to were Carney and Mitchell in the crowd at the TD Coliseum.<\/p>\n It turned out Carney was on hand not just to keep Mitchell company, but to give the international folk icon, born in Fort McLeod, Alta., and raised in Saskatoon, her lifetime achievement award.<\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Prime Minister Mark Carney sits with Joni Mitchell in a photo of a live video screen at the 2026 Juno Awards in Hamilton, on Sunday, March 29, 2026.Chris Young\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n The Prime Minister quoted from her oeuvre in his intro \u2014 and showed off how his French has improved \u2014 in front of projections of Mitchell\u2019s paintings.<\/p>\n But Mitchell seemed as eager to sing the praises of Carney as vice versa. Chalk it up to a mixture of age and genuine enthusiasm: Mitchell returned to how \u201cwonderful\u201d Carney is in her acceptance speech not once, but thrice. \u201cWe are so fortunate to have him,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m living in the States and you know what\u2019s happening there.\u201d <\/p>\n The best musical tribute: Nelly Furtado\u2019s<\/p>\n Truth be told, for pure musical pleasure, the highlight of the Junos was the tribute to Furtado. <\/p>\n An appropriately eclectic lineup of artists sang a medley of her genre-jumping songs, from Lido Pimienta (Say it Right) to Tanya Tagaq (Powerless), and Shawn Desman (Do It) to Alessia Cara (I\u2019m Like a Bird.)<\/p>\n But the part I hope will pop upon my TikTok feed for the next few week was rapper and Canada\u2019s Got Talent host Kardinal Offishall and R&B singer Jully Black performing Promiscuous from the 2006 album of the same name. Offishall took on Timbaland\u2019s verse, of course, and it was like watching two of Canada\u2019s best musicians joyfully let loose at the karaoke bar.<\/p>\n The weirdest video call: Drake buries the hatchet – in his own inimitable style<\/p>\n The Canadian rapper born Aubrey Graham finally ended his Junos boycott, which began after he hosted the 2011 ceremony in Toronto and was rewarded by not winning any of the awards he was nominated for.<\/p>\n The occasion for the Drake detente was the hall-of-fame induction of Furtado. \u201cYou are our North star, the proof that it was possible,\u201d he said, in a heartfelt recorded speech about how her success inspired a young actor on Degrassi to imagine he could make a successful transition to rapper.<\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Drake gives a video message to Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee Nelly Furtado at the 2026 Juno Awards in Hamilton, on Sunday, March 29, 2026.Chris Young\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n Of course, Drake being Drake, he took a moment in his tribute to rehash how Shad had won all those awards back in 2011 \u2014 and he hadn\u2019t. \u201cTo the Junos, because you are honouring one of my dearest friends tonight, I will spare you,\u201d he said, in what seemed more like self-deprecating humour than true grudge. \u201cTonight we\u2019ll let it go… This is about Nelly.\u201d<\/p>\n The best Canada boosterism: Whoa, Nelly nationalism<\/p>\n From host Martin to Carney, everyone on stage seemed eager to pump Canada up, a change in tone from last year when many artists made political points in their musical performances or speeches.<\/p>\n \u201cI just feel like I\u2019m with my people, you know,\u201d Martin said in an opening monologue as aw-shucks as anything Stuart McLean ever put on the radio. \u201cPeople who care more about which hockey team I support than which gender I am.\u201d<\/p>\n But most convincing Captain Canuck of the evening turned out to be none other than Furtado. \u201cWho loves living on Turtle Island?\u201d she asked the crowd, getting cheers back. \u201cCanada is a dream. I\u2019m literally a product of she Canadian dream.\u201d<\/p>\n