Joni Mitchell received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2026 Junos, the annual awards show hosted by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS). After accepting the award, Mitchell joined Sarah McLachlan and Allison Russell during their tribute medley to sing “Big Yellow Taxi.” Watch footage from the ceremony below.
After accepting the trophy from Prime Minister Mark Carney, who gave her a heartfelt introduction, Mitchell used her speech to talk about Carney’s generous leadership, the unrest in the United States, and what her life looks like now. “I had a [brain] aneurysm, which changed my life — oddly, for the better,” she said. “I went into a coma, which helped me to quit smoking. And my house filled up with the most wonderful nurses. I was, on the road with men for years and years; now I live with a house full of women. So my life has changed for the better out of a catastrophe like a phoenix.”
In its introduction of the Lifetime Achievement Award, CARAS called Mitchell “one of Canada’s most influential and enduring creative voices,” adding that she “has profoundly impacted folk, rock, pop and jazz music through her distinctive voice, innovative guitar playing, and a unique ability to craft poetic and thought-provoking lyrics.” Mitchell is the third person to receive its Lifetime Achievement Award, following singer Anne Murray last year and broadcast executive Pierre Juneau, after which it’s named, in 1989.
Mitchell has four prior Junos, including her induction into the Canadian Hall of Fame back in 1981 (16 years before her induction into the Rock Hall). In 2002, she was also designated a Companion of the Order of Canada, the uppermost ranking in the second tier of Canadian national honors.
Born in Alberta and raised in Saskatchewan, Mitchell hasn’t attended any public events in Canada since 2013, when she performed a short set and read an original poem at Joni: A Portrait in Song, a tribute event held at the historic venue Massey Hall. She’s largely stayed out of the public eye following her 2015 brain aneurysm — that is until her recovery progress allowed her to do a historic surprise set at Newport Folk Festival in 2022, a moving performance of “Both Sides Now” at the 2024 Grammy Awards, multiple Joni Jam concerts, and an appearance at the California FireAid benefit concert last year.
Read Joni Mitchell: Her Art and Life in 33 Songs.
