Joni Mitchell received a Lifetime Achievement Award, while Mariel Buckley’s Strange Trip Ahead was named Contemporary Roots Album of the Year and Morgan Toney’s Heal the Divide won Traditional Roots Album of the Year during the 55th annual JUNO Awards ceremonies on March 28 and 29, 2026 in Hamilton, Ontario. The coveted awards were presented at a JUNO Awards Gala on Saturday, March 28, and during The JUNO Awards Broadcast on Sunday, March 29. Members of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) selected the award recipients in these and other categories.
During the JUNO Awards Broadcast that aired live nationwide on CBC and CBC Gem and was viewed globally on CBC Music’s YouTube channel, Joni Mitchell received thunderous applause as she took to the stage at the TD Coliseum to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award. In introducing her, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said: “Joni’s music didn’t just provide the soundtrack to our lives he shifted culture, inspired generations and redefined what songwriting could be.”
Gracing the stage, Mitchell, 82, said that she was “so happy to be in Canada [with] our wonderful prime minister.” Noting that she now lives in the United States, she continued “and you know what’s happening there. This man is a blessing. You guys are so fortunate.”
Following her brief remarks, the widely acclaimed Canadian-American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist joined Sarah McLachlan, Allison Russell and other artists in a musical tribute to her body of work, which includes such notable songs as “Big Yellow Taxi,” “Both Sides, Now,” “Chelsea Morning,” “Help Me,” and “River.”
Mariel Buckley, whose October 2025 release Strange Trip Ahead (Birthday Cake Records) was named Contemporary Folk Album of the Year, is a Calgary, Alberta-based singer-songwriter. She is the younger sister of singer T. Buckley, with whom she has also recorded and performed together as a duo. Strange Trip Ahead was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee with her Edmonton-based band and produced by Jarrad K at Chateau Noir Studios. Her third full-length album, it was preceded by the critically acclaimed Everywhere I Used To Be (2022) and Driving In The Dark (2018). Although Buckley’s music may be genre defying, her songwriting reflects an intimate folk style. She tours Europe for several weeks this spring.
Morgan Toney, 27, whose Heal The Divide, was named Traditional Folk Album of the Year, is a Mi’kmaq folk singer-songwriter and fiddler from Nova Scotia. A member of he Wagmatcook First Nation, Toney performs and records music blends Celtic folk (reflective of Cape Breton) and the traditional, old songs of his people – a fusion that he calls Mikmatic) and describes as his way of celebrating his language and heritage. Heal The Divide is Toney’s third album. Preceding it were 2023’s Resilience, which was nominated for a Juno Award for Traditional Roots Album of the Year in 2024, and 2021’s First Flight, which was reissued in 2022 on Ishkode Records.
Also nominated for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year were The Hammer & The Rose (Matt Andersen), Purple Gas (Noeline Hofmann), These Dark Canyons (The Young Novelists), and Further From The Country (William Prince). The other Traditional Roots Music Album of the Year nominees included I Lost My Heart on Friday (Aerialists), Gold And Coal (Cassie and Maggie), The Moon’s Daughter (Heather MacIsaac), and Folk Signals (The Southern Residents).
Also of potential interest to AcousticMusicScene.com readers, Steven Marriner’s Hear My Heart was named Blues Album of the Year, while Sarah McLachlan’s Better Broken was named Adult Contemporary Album of the Year. Canadian pop star Tate McRae was the big winner, receiving awards in four of the six categories in which she was nominated: album of the year, artist of the year, single of the year, and pop album of the year.
For more information on Canada’s top music awards, including a complete listing of winners and the 248 nominees across 47 categories, visit https://junoawards.ca.
