The Canadian Screen Awards (CSAs) Big Winners

Mike Myers cried. On Sunday night in Toronto, when the comedy legend accepted the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television’s Icon Award, his voice cracked and the whole theatre went quiet — and you could feel it in every living room where the ceremony was being simulcast on CBC, CTV, and Global, a first-of-its-kind three-network pile-on. He told the crowd he’d be nothing without Canada. It wasn’t rehearsed. It was the kind of moment that doesn’t happen at most award shows.

Hours earlier, the hockey drama Heated Rivalry had finished its own unlikely sweep, winning Best Drama Series and Best Lead Performer for Hudson Williams. Nobody saw that coming a few months ago, because the series almost missed the eligibility window entirely. More on that later.

Myers, 63, has been one of Hollywood’s most elastic comedic brains for decades. But he’s never pretended to be from anywhere other than Scarborough. The Icon Award gave him the stage to pay back the debt with raw emotion. He mentioned The Second City. The late-night CBC sketches that gave him his start. And when his voice broke during the thank-you, the sincerity landed harder than any bit he’s ever done. Within hours, clips spread across social media with Canadians posting their own memories of discovering *Wayne’s World* or quoting Austin Powers lines at family dinners. Myers said afterward he was “taking it all in” and might spend the summer at the cottage. He declined to speculate on future projects.

Heated Rivalry’s improbable road to the podium

The domination of Heated Rivalry was the night’s real professional shock. The hour-long drama, set in the junior hockey world of Northern Ontario, wasn’t supposed to be eligible. Under the Academy’s television rules, a series must air a specific portion of its season within a fixed window. Season one straddled the cutoff, which would normally push eligibility to 2027. The producers appealed. They argued — loudly, and with a stack of supporting letters from the Sudbury film community — that the production represented an emerging wave of regional storytelling that had to be in the room. The Academy agreed, handing out a rare exception. That decision sparked its own industry debate, but the argument evaporated Sunday night.

The series won Best Drama Series, Best Lead Performer for Williams, and collected honours for writing and directing at earlier galas. In total, Heated Rivalry turned 18 nominations into the kind of trophy haul that immediately raises a show’s international profile. Williams plays a rookie coach navigating a toxic locker-room culture, and the performance is the quiet, frayed centre of everything. “We made this in Sudbury, with a largely Northern cast and crew, because a hockey story should smell like the rink” executive producer Marie Fontaine said backstage. The Academy seeing that and saying yes — it means everything.

And she’s right. The exception wasn’t a handout. The show earned its place, and the sweep proves it.

A broadcast first for the Canadian Screen Awards

For years, the CSA telecast bounced between CBC and specialty channels, sometimes reduced to pre-taped highlight packages. This year, a three-way partnership among the CBC, Bell Media, and Corus Entertainment put the ceremony on three conventional networks at once — a collaboration that hadn’t happened before in Canadian entertainment. Host Andrew Phung, the Kim’s Convenience star, kept things moving. He teased the industry for taking itself too seriously while still giving time to the editors, sound mixers, and documentary filmmakers who rarely get televised moments.

The awards, born in 2013 from merging the Genie and Gemini Awards, have been shifting toward inclusivity. Gender-neutral performance categories arrived in 2023, and the Academy is studying how to shorten future broadcasts without snubbing the army of craftspeople who build the shows.

Other winners of note

Best Motion Picture went to Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, the long-gestating film adaptation of the cult series. Matt Johnson thanked audiences for “sticking with two idiots who refuse to grow up.” North of North, a CBC Gem comedy set in a fictional Arctic community, took Best Comedy Series. Lead performer Anna Lambe accepted in Inuktitut, a moment that resonated through the room. The non-televised galas handed dozens of craft awards to projects like The Accountant of Auschwitz and kids’ shows Super Team Canada and Odd Squad.

What comes next

For Heated Rivalry, the sweep arrives right as production wraps on a second season, which premieres on Crave in early 2027. The awards could help attract U.S. or international streaming partners, a path already walked by Schitt’s Creek and Letterkenny. A representative for the production mentioned a few conversations are already underway. Backstage, Williams said he hadn’t slept in two days, and then he walked off to find a beer.