From how to pronounce ‘Kyiv’ to Lisa LaFlamme, here’s what Canadians Googled in 2022

This year’s Google trends reveal what kind of news Canadians were looking for online, painting a picture of what happened in 2022 and what was important across the country. The top ten searches included news that affected all of Canada, like the Freedom Convoy that arrived in Ottawa in January, the Rogers outage in July, the increase in cases of the monkeypox virus, and most recently, the World Cup. Other stories that effected small communities, but made a big impact on Canadians — like the Saskatchewan stabbings — made the top ten list as well.

Here are highlights from the top Canadian news search trends and the questions Canadians looked up in 2022.

The war in Ukraine

Holding the number one spot for Google searches in Canada was Ukraine. Russia’s invasion began at the end of February, with President Vladimir Putin expecting a quick takeover. However, Ukrainians stood their ground with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy remaining in the capital amid attacks. Images of destroyed cities like Mariupol showed bombed apartment buildings and hospitals in April. Stories of civilians being killed — like three young Ukrainians delivering food to an animal shelter in Bucha — started to surface.

In March, Zelenksyy addressed Canadians in a video message at the House of Commons. He asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for help to “close the sky” above Ukraine in order to put an end to the bombings.

As well as top searches, Canadians also asked Google for answers about Ukraine. “Why is Russia attacking Ukraine?” was the number one question beginning with “why” for all of Canada. Another Ukraine-related question made it into the number four spot: “Why is Ukraine not in NATO?” For questions beginning with “How to…”, the third most popular search was Canadians asking “How to help Ukraine?” In the sixth spot, Canadians were curious about “How to pronounce Kyiv?”

CTV’s dismissal of veteran news anchor Lisa LaFlamme

Making the top ten list for Canadian news search trends was Lisa LaFlamme, the former CTV National News anchor who was dismissed after Bell Media said they wanted to take the role in a “different direction” in mid-August. Viewers and social media users suggested that LaFlamme — who had let her natural grey hair grow in during the pandemic — was fired because of it.

While Bell Media maintained that her departure was not due to her age or hair colour, companies like Dove and Wendy’s launched campaigns to show their support.

LaFlamme ended up becoming a special correspondent for Rogers’ CityNews in England for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.

Hollywood in the headlines

This year was filled with actors making the news, from the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard defamation trial to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars. When it came to searches, Depp was number one for top celebrities. His very public battle with ex-wife Amber Heard happened in the United States — but that didn’t stop Canadians’ insatiable appetites for tuning into the trial, which was live-streamed starting in April.

The Academy Awards made the top ten list for Canadian news search trends, likely because of the shocking moment in which Smith got physical with Rock while the comedian was speaking on stage in March. Rock made a comment about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and her hair. Pinkett Smith has alopecia, a condition which causes hair loss. Although at first, Smith was seen laughing, he then walked up to Rock mid-speech and slapped him. The moment went viral.

Canadians were so curious about the incident that it came in third for one of the most asked questions beginning with “why.” Canadians wanted to know: “Why did Will slap Chris?”

COVID makes the cut

Canadians still had some questions about COVID-19, years into the pandemic. The second most-asked question beginning with “How to…” was: “How to do a rapid test?” while the fourth was “How to get vaccine QR code?”

However, COVID and pandemic-related searches did not appear in the top Canadian news trends, which is a departure from the previous year. Other highlights from the top ten list worth noting include the U.S. midterm elections, held in November, which caught the attention of Canadians. The Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto also made the list, which returned after a two-year hiatus.

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