The 2026 Juno Awards swept through a short list of awards and long list of performances Sunday night.
Helmed by comedian and actor Mae Martin, a past Canadian Screen Awards host, the 55th iteration of the biggest night in Canadian music lightly returned to last year’s spirit, where hosts, presenters and awards recipients defiantly voiced the importance of a unique Canadian identity in the face of perceived American aggression.
But for the most part, they felt the same as most Junos: safe.
Part of that is the few awards actually handed out in the televised portion of the ceremony. After more than 40 were given out at a smaller gala Saturday, four main categories (group, contemporary R&B recording, breakthrough artist or group and fan choice) were awarded Sunday.
Because of that, the clear champion was decided on long before Martin began their opening monologue. Alberta’s Tate McRae had already nearly doubled her career wins, pulling in honours for artist, single (Sports Car), pop album and album (So Close to What) of the year.
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That just left her to lose the fan choice award, the sole completely audience-voted category, a potentially difficult category to triumph in after a recent PR debacle involving her seeming endorsement of the American Olympics team.
That award was instead won by bbno$, a Vancouver rapper who was most recently in the news for a questionable claim that he was quitting music due to online negativity — shortly before releasing a new track.
But neither McRae nor bbno$ were actually in attendance to speak about those issues, nor did Martin poke fun at those controversies — as might have been expected at an American ceremony like the Oscars. Instead, Martin showed off their impressive ability to shepherd awards shows through the dual Canadian requirements of safe self-effacement, and pugnacious pride.
“I’ve spent the last month on tour across the United States, so I’ve never felt more grateful to be back in my homeland,'” said Martin, who uses they/them pronouns, as the night began.
“I just feel like I’m with my people, you know? People who care more about which hockey team I support than which gender I am.”
With big names like Justin Bieber and The Weeknd expected to miss the Junos this year, best rock album winners The Beaches were asked why the band makes a point of attending. ‘We do have the privilege of getting to travel all over the world, but we’ll never feel as supported and loved as we do in Canada,’ drummer Eliza Enman-McDaniel said in the press room at Saturday’s Juno Awards Gala.
The rest of the monologue, and rest of the night, would return to that refrain. In fact, in an evening that appeared virtually void of any political statements — or streakers — the most potentially contentious moment came from a surprise face.
“Being a woman in the music industry in any era is something that I have to tip my hat to. The men in this business do not make it any easier,” rapper Drake said in a virtual segment, addressing Victoria’s Nelly Furtado ahead of her induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
He and fellow presenters went on to speak about the contributions the “Portuguese princess” made to the country’s music industry before Alessia Cara, Shawn Desman and others performed a medley of her music.
But not before Drake managed to get in one more jab, directly referencing a complete awards shut out 15 years ago that has led him to boycott every ceremony since.
“To the Junos — because you are honouring one of my dearest friends tonight, I will spare you,” he said.
“Even though I know you’re still thinking about those six awards that you gave to Shad in 2011 when you snubbed [my album] Take Care as I hosted the 40th anniversary of your award show,” he said with a smile. “But listen, that’s neither here nor there. Tonight we’ll let it go.”
Unlike Drake, another no-show was The Weeknd — who similarly hasn’t shown up to the Junos since 2016. Nominated in five categories, he was already shut out of four of them Saturday — making his Hurry Up Tomorrow the Ontario musician’s first studio album to go without a Junos win since 2013’s Kiss Land.
Also absent was Justin Bieber: also up for six awards, and also completely shut out. While he made a virtual appearance at the pandemic-adjusted virtual Junos in 2021, he hasn’t made an in-person appearance since 2010.
As The Globe & Mail’s Brad Wheeler theorized, it’s likely not just a disinterest in Canadian pride: while losing at the Grammys would be one thing, attending the comparatively smaller potatoes Juno Awards as a megastar and losing could be uniquely damaging to an artists’ image.
Because of that, the Junos were forced to focus on what they regularly focus on: honouring both incredible incoming, and established talent. In that regard, we saw genuinely jaw-dropping performances by up-and-comers Mico (performing Homesick) Sofia Camara (singing Girls Like You), and Cameron Whitcomb — the last of whom executed a backflip onstage just moments before winning breakthrough artist.
We saw a stripped down performance of Daniel Caesar’s Who Knows — a day after the soul singer won songwriter of the year, and shortly before he was honoured with an international achievement award and won contemporary R&B recording of the year for Son of Spergy.
We saw a performance by Toronto’s The Beaches, rocking through their track Lesbian of the Year alongside Strings From Paris. Immediately afterwards, they would be awarded with group of the year for the third ceremony in a row.
The 2026 Juno Awards gala featured performances from some of Canada’s biggest acts, a surprise appearance from Rush and a star-studded tribute to Joni Mitchell. Many of the night’s honourees celebrated the opportunities and influences they found in Canada.
Earlier, Rush kicked off the show with their first public performance with new drummer Anika Nilles since the death of founding member Neil Peart in 2020. And Joni Mitchell took to the stage to accept a lifetime achievement award, presented by Prime Minister Mark Carney.
“I’m happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy to be here in the company of our wonderful prime minister,” Mitchell said, to raucous applause.
“I’m living in the States and you know what’s happening there,” she then joked just moments before joining Sarah McLachlan and Allison Russell in a performance of her Big Yellow Taxi. The three then traded off the melody before, in the most Canadian way, McLachlan and Russell begged off, to let Mitchell have the final word.
