Cheryl McKenzie

Last updated
Cheryl McKenzie
Nationality Hollow Water First Nation, Peguis First Nation, Canadian
Employer APTN National News
AwardsNAJA-Medill Milestone Achievement Award (2022)
Website aptn.ca/about/our-people/cheryl-mckenzie/

Cheryl McKenzie is a Canadian broadcast journalist and the Director of News and Current Affairs for the APTN National News. [1] She is of Anishinabek and Cree descent. She is best known as the host of the Aboriginal People's Television Network's half-hour nightly news show APTN National News, and the talk Show InFocus. [2]

Contents

Early life

Both McKenzie's parents are residential school survivors. [3] [4]

They are from the Hollow Water First Nation and Peguis First Nation in Manitoba. [5]

Cheryl McKenzie grew up in Winnipeg, but frequently visited family on her parents' reserves. [3] Cheryl's first career was as a chef. She worked in Winnipeg's number one–ranked restaurant, Amici, when she was still a teenager, aged 19. The grueling work schedule proved difficult after Cheryl became a single mother, and so she returned to school at the University of Winnipeg. [3]

McKenzie enrolled initially in political science but was frustrated that the course excluded Indigenous peoples. She switched her major and graduated with a degree in philosophy in 1998. [3]

Career

CBC Radio

Cheryl briefly interned at CBC Radio Winnipeg in 2000. [6] The internship ended after 10 months when the funding ran out. Also, her superiors at CBC told her they didn't think she would be successful as a journalist. [3]

APTN

In 2001 Cheryl landed a job as a reporter at the Aboriginal People's Television Network's weekly news show, InVision, which was rebranded into APTN National News in 2003. [6]

In 2004 McKenzie earned award nominations at the Geminis and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters for an investigative series of reports into the lives of First Nations people who became ill and in some cases died from asbestos-related illness after their homes were contaminated by the Department of Aboriginal Affairs. [7] [8]

APTN Daytime

In July 2005 McKenzie was promoted to Host/Producer for the launch of APTN National News: Daytime a second national half hour newscast. Announcing New Host and Producer For APTN National News. [9]

APTN Contact

McKenzie assumed the role of host producer on the APTN national call-in show Contact in 2007. [10]

APTN National News and InFocus

A new talk format show, APTN InFocus, replaced Contact in 2009, with McKenzie at the forefront as the host-producer.

McKenzie reappeared on the news, this time on the desk as a co-anchor with Michael Hutchison in 2012. [11]

In the fall of 2014, InFocus reverted to a half-hour show. Topics have included: suicide rates, addiction, mental health issues, low income, community violence, high incarceration rates, and self-governance struggles. [3]

APTN InFocus reformatted again in 2016, becoming a one-hour show, interactive as Contact had been but with a new focus on social media. The first episode on June 3, 2016, featured Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a guest. It was the first time a serving Prime Minister ever gave a sit-down interview to an Indigenous media organization. Trudeau took questions via telephone and Twitter for an hour. [12] The current design of the show usually features a three guest panel, and allows viewers to join the conversation via telephone Twitter or Facebook.

Executive Director of news and current affairs

McKenzie was promoted to executive director of news and current affairs on July 22, 2019, succeeding Karyn Pugliese, who departed on July 31, 2019. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanya Tagaq</span> Canadian Inuk throat singer

Tanya Tagaq, also credited as Tagaq, is a Canadian Inuk throat singer, songwriter, novelist, and visual artist from Cambridge Bay (Iqaluktuuttiaq), Nunavut, Canada, on the south coast of Victoria Island.

Tina Keeper, OM is a Cree actress, film producer and former politician from Canada.

APTN National News is a Canadian television national news program broadcast by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peguis First Nation</span>

Peguis First Nation is the largest First Nations community in Manitoba, Canada, with a population of approximately 10,300 people. The members of Peguis are of Saulteaux (Ojibway) and Cree descent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Indigenous Television</span> Australian television channel

National Indigenous Television (NITV) is an Australian free-to-air television channel that broadcasts programming produced and presented largely by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It includes the six-day-a-week NITV News Update, with programming including other news and current affairs programmes, sports coverage, entertainment for children and adults, films and documentaries covering a range of topics. Its primary audience is Indigenous Australians, but many non-Indigenous people tune in to learn more about the history of and issues affecting the country's First Nations peoples.

24Hours is a one-hour news and current affairs program that was broadcast by CBWT, the CBC television station in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

The Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) is a television production company based in Nunavut with programming targeted at the Inuit population of Nunavut. Almost all of its programs are broadcast in Inuktitut. Some are also in English. IBC shows center on Inuit culture. The company has five production centers in Nunavut, all staffed by Inuit. Founded in the early 1980s, the IBC was the first indigenous-language television network in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada</span> Investigated harm to indigenous students

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada was a truth and reconciliation commission active in Canada from 2008 to 2015, organized by the parties of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aboriginal Peoples Television Network</span> Canadian television network

The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network is a Canadian specialty channel. Established in 1992 and maintained by governmental funding to broadcast in Canada's northern territories, APTN acquired a national broadcast licence in 1999. It airs and produces programs made by, for and about Indigenous peoples in Canada and the United States. Based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, it is the first network by and for North American indigenous peoples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Candy Palmater</span> Canadian actress and broadcaster (1968–2021)

Candy Palmater was a Canadian actress, comedienne, and broadcaster. She was the creator and writer of her own national television show for APTN, The Candy Show, and hosted the daily interview series The Candy Palmater Show on CBC Radio One in summer 2016.

Todd Lamirande is a Canadian video journalist. He is a member of the Métis Nation, and was formerly a co-host of APTN National News, aired by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) and a host and co-producer of APTN Investigates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Screen Institute</span> Non-profit organization headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

The National Screen Institute – Canada is a non-profit organization headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The organization describes itself as "Serving content creators across Canada to tell unforgettable stories through industry-informed training and mentoring."

Janet Panic is a Métis singer, guitarist, and songwriter. She has released a number of albums of original music as a member of the band Phew (1994–1995), 10 Ft. Henry (1996–1997) and under her own name. Panic is best known for the 10 Ft. Henry songs, "I Can't Get Enough", "Shove It" and "Fish" which received considerable Canadian college radio airplay and the song "Blink" from 2001's The Girl Who Passed for Normal, which has also received regular Canadian airplay. She has also been active in First Nations media, both as a producer and as a broadcast journalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wab Kinew</span> Canadian politician (born 1981)

Wabanakwut "Wab" Kinew, is the Leader of the Manitoba New Democratic Party and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.

Trina Roache is a Mi'kmaq video journalist, educated at University of King's College. She has worked with CBC, as a freelancer and with APTN National News at the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network covering the issues and stories of the Mi’kmaq, Wolastoqey (Maliseet) and Peskotomuhkati people in the Atlantic Canada.

Karyn Pugliese (Pabàmàdiz) is a Canadian broadcast journalist and communications specialist, of Algonquin descent. She is member of the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation in Ontario. She is a Nieman Fellow, Class of 2020, Harvard University and has been recognized by the Canadian Association of Journalists with a Charles Bury Award for her leadership supporting journalists and fighting for media rights. In 2018 the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presented Pugliese with the organization's annual Gordon Sinclair Award for distinguished achievement in journalism at the 6th Canadian Screen Awards. In 2019 Pugliese received the Hyman Solomon Award for Public Policy Journalism and was the co-recipient with journalist Justin Brake for the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) 2019 Elias Boudinot Free Press Award. She was chosen for the twenty-fifth Martin Wise Goodman Canadian Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University. She won a National Newspaper Award for a series of columns written for the National Observer in 2021, where she is now editor-in-chief. She is a frequent commentator on Rosemary Barton Live and the podcast Canadaland.

Roxann (Karonhiarokwas) Whitebean is an independent film director and media artist from the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake (Canada).

Carmen L. Robertson is a writer and scholar of art history and indigenous peoples. She was born in Balcarres, Saskatchewan, of Lakota and Scottish ancestry. She is Canada Research Chair in North American Art and Material Culture in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Carleton University. Before joining Carleton, Robertson was an associate professor in the Faculty of Media, Art & Performance at the University of Regina (2006-2012). She also served as the Indian Fine Arts department head at the First Nations University of Canada where she taught from 2000-2006. A number of Robertson's writings focus on the Aboriginal Canadian artist Norval Morrisseau. She is past president of the Native Heritage Foundation of Canada.

Taken is a Canadian true crime documentary television series produced by Winnipeg-based production company Eagle Vision. It first aired on the Aboriginal People’s Television Network on September 9, 2016 and was broadcast again later that year by the CBC. The series features reenactments and interviews with the family and friends of Canada's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, as well as interviews with local and federal law enforcement, various Canadian experts, advocates, activists and politicians who provide social commentary on the issue of MMIWG in Canada. The series also encourages viewers with information about the featured cases to call the RCMP or Canadian Crime Stoppers anonymous toll-free tip line at 1-800-222-8477. The series was created by Lisa Meeches, Kyle Irving and Rebecca Gibson and is broadcast in both English with host Lisa Meeches, and in Cree by host George Muswaggon. There are currently 3 seasons of Taken, with a fourth and final season in development.

Art Napoleon is a former chief of the Saulteau First Nation, from Victoria, British Columbia. He has used his television shows, music, and books to provide education on and increase awareness of Indigenous foods, languages, and cultures. He is co-host of the popular cooking show, "Moosemeat & Marmalade", and has appeared in other programs that promote and support Indigenous languages and cultures. Napoleon has also recorded several award-winning music albums.

References

  1. 1 2 "APTN Announces New Executive Director of News and Current Affairs". 22 July 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-12-14.
  2. ↑ "New Host and Producer For APTN National News in Broadcaster Magazine". Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-12-13.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lauren McKeon, Leading the way, J-source. October 12, 2011
  4. ↑ Canadian Media Guild Building APTN to last in a changing Canada, Feb 27, 2013
  5. ↑ "Announcing New Host and Producer For APTN National, News Media Release". Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  6. 1 2 Cheryl McKenzie, Linked in Profile.
  7. ↑ Canadian Media Guild In support of APTN's license renewal, May 2005
  8. ↑ Cheryl McKenzie - APTN Producer and Television Host, Native Trailblazers.
  9. ↑ APTN Launches Fall Campaign Archived 2015-12-22 at the Wayback Machine , Broadcaster Magazine, 2005-10-07.
  10. ↑ Lee Rickwood, New Season Scores with Space and Sex Comedy Continues Amid Dramatic Dearth Archived 2015-12-22 at the Wayback Machine , Broadcaster, 2007-09-01.
  11. ↑ APTN National News Unveils Fall Lineup Archived 2015-12-22 at the Wayback Machine , Broadcaster Magazine, 2012-08-28.
  12. ↑ Levin, Dan (29 October 2016). "APTN, a TV Voice for Largely Ignored Indigenous Canadians". The New York Times.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.