The Juno Awards of 2020, the 49th
Juno Awards, was an awards presentation that was to be held at
SaskTel Centre
SaskTel Centre (formerly Credit Union Centre, and originally Saskatchewan Place; informally also known as ''Sask Place'') is an arena located in the Agriplace Industrial Park, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. With 15,195 permanent stadium seats ...
in
Saskatoon
Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as th ...
,
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...
on 15 March 2020. The awards and associated events were cancelled due to the emergence of the
COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Que ...
, making it the first Juno Awards since
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...
to be cancelled. The award winners were announced on 29 June 2020 in an online event.
Host city bids
Saskatoon attempted to host the
2019 awards
Nineteen or 19 may refer to:
* 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20
* one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019
Films
* ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film
* ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film
Music ...
, but abandoned that bid due to lack of funding.
The city's subsequent bid for 2020 was successful.
The municipal government of Saskatoon had allocated $350,000 towards the event.
Hamilton, Ontario was previously interested in bidding for the 2019 or 2020 Junos.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and cancellation
On 12 March 2020, three days before the presentation, the
Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) is a non-profit organization responsible for promoting Canadian music and artists. It administers the Juno Awards, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the MusiCounts music education cha ...
(CARAS) announced that the ceremony and all ancillary events had been cancelled due to health concerns surrounding the
coronavirus, as it had been declared a
pandemic by
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...
the day before. Although Saskatchewan had, until shortly after the cancellation (when its chief medical officer announced the first presumptive case in the province), not had any confirmed cases of coronavirus yet, an announcement on Wednesday that the show would go on had faced backlash from residents and others. CARAS stated that it would "coordinate an alternate plan" to honour its 2020 award recipients.
The Junos Songwriters' Circle, an annual event normally held as part of the Juno Awards weekend which features Canadian songwriters performing and sharing the stories behind their songs in a panel format, was relaunched in May 2020 in a
web series
A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single in ...
format, with the first episode featuring
Brett Kissel
Brett Kissel (born May 27, 1990) is a Canadian country singer. He has had four number-one hits on the Canadian country chart with " Airwaves", "Drink About Me", "A Few Good Stories", and " Make a Life, Not a Living".
Early life
Kissel was born ...
,
Dominique Fils-Aimé
Dominique Fils-Aimé is a Canadian singer from Quebec, whose album ''Stay Tuned!'' was shortlisted for the 2019 Polaris Music Prize and won the Juno Award for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2020.
Born and raised in Montrea ...
,
Kaia Kater
Kaia Kater (born in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, guitar, piano and banjo player.
Background
Kater was born in Montreal, Quebec, where she spent her early childhood in Mile End. She started playing the banjo at 12 years old. ...
and
Devon Portielje. The second episode featured
Rose Cousins
A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be e ...
,
William Prince,
Ed Robertson
Lloyd Edward Elwyn Robertson (born October 25, 1970) is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of the band Barenaked Ladies. He, along with former member Steven Page, founded the group in 1988. As of Page's ...
and
Tenille Townes
Tenille Nicole Townes (born Nadkrynechny; January 20, 1994) is a Canadian country music singer from Grande Prairie, Alberta. In 2011, at the age of 17, she was nominated for a Canadian Country Music Award for Female Artist of the Year.
Biograp ...
; the third featured
Dallas Green,
Sarah Harmer
Sarah Harmer (born November 12, 1970) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and environmental activist.
Early life
Born and raised in Burlington, Ontario, Harmer gained her first exposure to the musician's lifestyle as a teenager, when her older sis ...
,
Joel Plaskett
William Joel MacDonald Plaskett (born April 18, 1975) is a Canadian rock musician and songwriter based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was a member of Halifax alternative rock band Thrush Hermit in the 1990s. Plaskett performs in a number of genre ...
and
Buffy Sainte-Marie
Buffy Sainte-Marie, (born Beverly Sainte-Marie, February 20, 1941) is an Indigenous Canadian-American ( Piapot Cree Nation) singer-songwriter, musician, composer, visual artist, educator, pacifist, and social activist. While working in these ...
; and the fourth featured
Scott Helman,
Meghan Patrick
Meghan Patrick (born March 25, 1987) is a Canadian-American country singer-songwriter from Bowmanville, Ontario, signed to Warner Music Canada, and Riser House Entertainment. She released her debut album, ''Grace & Grit'', on April 29, 2016. P ...
,
Tom Wilson and
Whitehorse
Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...
.
Online ceremonies
On 18 June, the Junos announced that a virtual ceremony would be broadcast through
CBC Gem
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...
on 29 June 2020.
Events
Alessia Cara
Alessia Caracciolo (born July 11, 1996), known professionally as Alessia Cara (), is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Born in Mississauga, Ontario, to Italian Canadian parents, she began posting covers of songs on YouTube at age 13. After uploadi ...
was the planned host of the main ceremonies. The livestream was hosted by
Odario Williams and
Damhnait Doyle
Damhnait Doyle (; born December 9, 1975) is a Canadian musician, singer and composer. A phonetic spelling of her first name (which is Irish) also serves as the title of her 2003 album. She was a member of Atlantic Canadian band Shaye from 200 ...
.
Performers
The following performers appeared during the livestream:
*
iskwē
*
Neon Dreams
Neon Dreams is a Canadian alt-pop duo consisting of vocalist Frank Kadillac and drummer Adrian Morris. They write and produce their own music with long-time collaborator Corey Lerue. They defy genre pigeonholing, as they draw freely upon pop, rock ...
*
Alessia Cara
Alessia Caracciolo (born July 11, 1996), known professionally as Alessia Cara (), is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Born in Mississauga, Ontario, to Italian Canadian parents, she began posting covers of songs on YouTube at age 13. After uploadi ...
*
The Dead South
Nominees and winners
Jann Arden
Jann Arden (born Jann Arden Anne Richards; March 27, 1962) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and actress. She is famous for her signature ballads, "Could I Be Your Girl" and " Insensitive", which is her biggest hit to date.
Early life and educat ...
was set to be inducted into the
Canadian Music Hall of Fame
The Canadian Music Hall of Fame was established in 1978 by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) to honour Canadian musicians for their lifetime achievements in music. The award presentation is held each year as part of the ...
during the main ceremonies. As the ceremony was cancelled, her formal induction instead took place at the
Juno Awards of 2021
The Juno Awards of 2021, honouring Canadian music achievements, were presented on 6 June 2021, observing the 50th anniversary of these awards. The main ceremonies were televised on CBC.
The ceremony was originally scheduled to take place in Ma ...
.
Nominations were announced on 18 January 2020. Winners were announced on 29 June.
People
Albums
Songs and recordings
Other
References
{{Juno Award years
2020 in Canadian music
2020 music awards
Culture of Saskatoon
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...
Music events postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Music festivals in Saskatchewan
2020 awards in Canada