Cheryl McKenzie is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

broadcast journalist and the Director of News and Current Affairs for the

APTN National News ''APTN National News'' is a Canadian television national news program broadcast by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The program produces a single half hour of news each day, broadcasts at 6 and 11:30&nbs ...

. She is of

Anishinabek The Anishinaabe (alternatively spelled Anishinabe, Anicinape, Nishnaabe, Neshnabé, Anishinaabeg, Anishinabek, Aanishnaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They in ...

and

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

descent. She is best known as the host of the Aboriginal People's Television Network's half-hour nightly news show

, and the talk Show

InFocus InFocus Corporation is a privately owned American company based in the state of Oregon. Founded in 1986, the company develops, manufactures, and distributes Digital Light Processing, DLP and LCD Video projector, projectors and accessories as well ...

Early life

Both McKenzie's parents are residential school survivors.Lauren McKeon
Leading the way
J-source. October 12, 2011 They are from the

Hollow Water First Nation Hollow Water First Nation ( also spelt as ''Wanipigow'') is an Anishinaabe (Ojibwa) First Nation located on the east side of Lake Winnipeg, Canada, north of Pine Falls, Manitoba, and north of Winnipeg. The main economic base of the community ...

and

Peguis First Nation Peguis First Nation (formerly St. Peter's Band, meaning ''new reserve'') is the largest First Nations community in Manitoba, Canada, with a population of approximately 11,438 people (3,607 on reserve and 7,831 off reserve). The members of Peguis ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

. Cheryl McKenzie grew up in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, but frequently visited family on her parents' reserves. 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 The University of Winnipeg (UWinnipeg, UW, or U of W) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It offers undergraduate programs in art, business, economics, education, science and applied health as well as graduate progra ...

. McKenzie enrolled initially in political science but was frustrated that the course excluded

Indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

. She switched her major and graduated with a degree in philosophy in 1998.

Career

CBC Radio

Cheryl briefly interned at

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

Winnipeg in 2000.Cheryl McKenzie
Linked in Profile. 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.

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

in 2003. In 2004 McKenzie earned award nominations at the Geminis and the

Canadian Association of Broadcasters The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) is a trade association representing the interests of commercial radio and television broadcasters in Canada. It is co-located with the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council in Ottawa. It was first ...

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 The Department of Aboriginal Affairs was an Australian government department that existed between December 1972 and March 1990. History The department had its origins in the Office of Aboriginal Affairs (OAA), which was established b ...

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.

APTN Contact

McKenzie assumed the role of host producer on the APTN national call-in show

Contact Contact may refer to: Interaction Physical interaction * Contact (geology), a common geological feature * Contact lens or contact, a lens placed on the eye * Contact sport, a sport in which players make contact with other players or objects * C ...

in 2007.

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. 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. 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. 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 Karyn Pugliese (Pabàmàdiz) is an investigative journalist who has significantly impacted Canadian journalism and press freedom, intervening in more than 3 Supreme Court cases. She is a citizen of the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation in ...

, who departed on July 31, 2019.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McKenzie, Cheryl Canadian television news anchors Cree people Canadian Ojibwe people Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Canadian television reporters and correspondents Canadian television producers First Nations journalists Canadian women television journalists Canadian women television producers 21st-century First Nations women