Broadcast career
Mesley enrolled in the journalism program at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute but left before completing her degree, though she later obtained a diploma. [4] In 1979, during her last year of studies, both CBC and CTV interviewed students for summer job opportunities. [4] Mesley received offers from both networks but chose to work for CFCF-TV, the CTV affiliate in Montreal. [8] [4] However, by 1981, she transitioned to CBC. [4]
In 1985, Mesley became CBC's first female TV correspondent to cover the Prime Minister, when she joined the parliamentary bureau. [8] [1] Then in 1991, she became CBC's national affairs correspondent and started hosting Sunday Report . [4]
From 1994 to 2001, Mesley played a pivotal role in the creation and hosting of the media and technology series Undercurrents . [1] In 2002, following a brief stint co-hosting the investigative show Disclosure , [7] Mesley transitioned to the consumer investigation series Marketplace , [9] concurrently serving as a frequent backup anchor for CBC's flagship evening news program, The National . [9]
In 2004, Mesley hosted a 13-part series called The Greatest Canadian , [10] and between 2007 and 2008, she co-hosted four episodes of Test the Nation , with Brent Bambury, [11] [12] [13] [14] and one with Ron MacLean, [15] which all aired on CBC.
From October 2009, Mesley had a greater presence on The National, and in 2010, she became the program's regular Friday and Sunday anchor. [16]
In January 2018, she started hosting a new Sunday morning talk show on politics and media, titled The Weekly with Wendy Mesley". [6]
On June 9, 2020, Mesley was suspended from The Weekly with Wendy Mesley [17] for saying "nigger" in an editorial meeting about a presumed panelist who had tweeted she was repeatedly called that; [18] this occurred mere days after the murder of George Floyd. [18] Mesley immediately apologized. [19] Months earlier, during staff discussions of Quebec's Bill 21 prohibiting some civil servants from wearing anything connected to a religious belief, Mesley had referred to the seminal Quebec book "White Niggers of America", written by Pierre Vallières. [18]
On July 5, 2021, Mesley announced her retirement from CBC. [5] On July 7, 2021, an opinion piece she had written appeared in The Globe and Mail , entitled "I made mistakes. But my departure wasn't the solution to the CBC's problem with racism", [18] which detailed the issues leading up to her retirement. While Mesley did concede to having made a serious error by using the "n-word" in editorial meetings, she indicated that her second mistake was in trusting CBC management to manage the story appropriately. [18] She also felt that the punishment administered by management was disproportionate, given that on both occasions, her use of the word was not malicious. [18]
In 2022, Mesley, along with Maureen Holloway, created a podcast called "Women of Ill Repute". [2] She also began writing on Substack. [3]
Personal life
Mesley was born in Montreal, Quebec. [4] Following the dissolution of her parents' marriage shortly after her birth, her mother, Joan Mesley, relocated them to Toronto in 1958. [4] Joan, who never remarried, provided for Wendy by working as a physiotherapist. Wendy met her father, Gordon Mesley, a radio journalist, for the first time, at the age of eighteen. [4]
At the age of ten, Mesley accompanied her mother to the U.S. consulate to picket in support of Martin Luther King Jr. [4]
Mesley married CBC news anchor Peter Mansbridge in 1989, [4] but the union ended in 1992. [4] She remarried in 1998, with marketing executive Liam McQuade. Together, they have a daughter. [4]
During the fall of 2004, Mesley received a diagnosis of an aggressive form of breast cancer subsequent to the discovery of a lump in her left breast. [23] Shortly thereafter, she found a small, malignant lump in her right breast. [24] In January 2005, she publicly disclosed her diagnosis. [9] [24] Despite reducing her workload, Mesley persevered with her hosting duties on Marketplace when she could and as a backup newsreader for The National. [9] Following a series of treatments, including two lumpectomies, chemotherapy, and radiation, [23] Mesley resumed her full-time position at CBC in March 2006, albeit under the ongoing care of an oncologist. [23] During her treatment period, Mesley also undertook the filming of a documentary, titled Chasing the Cancer Answer, which aired in March 2006. [23]
