Canards have been used quite heavily in fighter jets for the last 20 years... Gripen, Typhoon, Rafale, Kfir. All delta-winged designs with the same basic layout.

For that specific example however I was thinking civilian aircraft, in which canards would be a huge step forward but are never seen.

You are practically correct about that last thing, though I must point out that never is too strong a word: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-144

Never as in "commercial success". Closer to reality than the 144, which was pretty much a government money pit, was the Beech Starship (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beechcraft_Starship). Again though, not able to see any real success.