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It's official: Canada fell into recession in the first half of the year.

Statistics Canada reported Friday that Canadian GDP fell 0.5 per cent at annualized rate in the second quarter of the year, following a 0.8 per cent decline in the first quarter. Two consecutive quarters of contraction are generally seen as the technical definition of a recession.

But StatsCan's numbers also showed a surprisingly large bounce-back in GDP in June, up 0.5 per cent on the month, suggesting the country entered the third quarter of 2015 on a stronger economic footing.

There was no sign of a bounce-back in the oil industry. The oil, gas and mining sector saw output fall a significant 4.9 per cent in June compared to the same month a year earlier. Industries supporting oil extraction saw output collapse by 18 per cent.

But the recession was felt outside the oil industry as well, with construction dropping by 3.1 per cent in June from a year earlier, and manufacturing output dropping 1.7 per cent.

Bright spots included finance and insurance (up 6.5 per cent), real estate (up 3.2 per cent) and retail (up 1.4 per cent).

Exports were a bright spot in the second quarter, adding to growth after being a drag on it in the previous two quarters.

StatsCan also revised downwards Canada's performance in the first quarter of 2015. It now shrank at a 0.8 per cent annual pace. It had earlier reported the economy shrank at a 0.6 per cent pace that quarter.

But many economists argue Canada is in a "technical recession" -- the economy meets the definition of a recession, but is missing some of the hallmarks of an actual recession. For instance, overall employment levels have been growing in Canada, despite job losses in western provinces.

That led CIBC economist Avery Shenfeld to conclude that Canada is "not yet [in] a recession."

In a client note Tuesday, Shenfeld said the first half of the year was "as weak as advertised" but the strong performance in June suggests that the third quarter of the year "will provide a breather as the economy, at least for a quarter, returns to growth."