Whit Grant Fraser (born November 26, 1942) is a Canadian journalist, broadcaster, and author who has served as the 56th

viceregal consort of Canada The viceregal consort of Canada is the spouse of the serving governor general of Canada, assisting the viceroy with ceremonial and charitable work, accompanying him or her to official state occasions, and occasionally undertaking philanthropic wo ...

since 2021, as the husband of Governor General

Mary Simon Mary Jeannie May Simon (born August 21, 1947) is a Canadian civil servant, diplomat, and former broadcaster who has been serving as the 30th governor general of Canada since July 26, 2021. She is Inuit, Inuk on her mother's side, making her th ...

Biography

Born in Merigomish,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

, and educated in

Stellarton Stellarton is a town in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It is adjacent and to the south of the larger town of New Glasgow. In pioneer times the area was called Coal Mines Station, and from 1833 until 1889, it was known as Albion Mines. The ...

, Fraser began his career in journalism as a reporter for

CKEC-FM CKEC-FM is a Canadian radio station broadcasting at 94.1 FM in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, owned by the Stingray Group. The station airs a soft adult contemporary format branded as ''94.1 The Breeze''. The transmitter tower is situated on Mount T ...

New Glasgow New Glasgow is a town in Pictou County, in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It is situated on the banks of the East River of Pictou, which flows into Pictou Harbour, a sub-basin of the Northumberland Strait. The town's population was 9,471 ...

. He joined

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

in 1967 as a reporter in

Frobisher Bay Frobisher Bay is an inlet of the Davis Strait in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. It is located in the southeastern corner of Baffin Island. Its length is about and its width varies from about at its outlet into the Davis Strait ...

and later in

Yellowknife Yellowknife is the capital, largest community, and the only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the outlet of t ...

. He covered topics such as

land claims A land claim is "the pursuit of recognized territorial ownership by a group or individual". The phrase is usually only used with respect to disputed or unresolved land claims. Some types of land claims include aboriginal land claims, Antarctic l ...

and oil and gas development in northern Canada. His coverage of the

Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry {{No footnotes, date=April 2009 The Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry, also known as the Berger Inquiry after its head Justice Thomas Berger, was commissioned by the Government of Canada on March 21, 1974, to investigate the social, environmental, ...

in the late 1970s expanded his national prominence, following which he worked for a number of years as a national reporter based in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

and

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

. In 1989 he was one of the final contenders to replace

Peter Downie Peter Downie is a Canadian journalist, broadcaster and academic. For 25 years, Downie worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. On CBC Television, he was best known as the co-anchor of ''Midday'' from 1985 to 1989 and the host of '' Man Al ...

as host of the network's noon-hour newscast ''

Midday Noon (also known as noontime or midday) is 12 o'clock in the daytime. It is written as 12 noon, 12:00 m. (for '' meridiem'', literally 12:00 midday), 12 p.m. (for ''post meridiem'', literally "after midday"), 12 pm, or 12:00 (using a 24-hour cloc ...

'', but was not selected; instead, he became host of ''This Country'', a six-hour nightly program on the CBC's new all-news channel

CBC Newsworld CBC News Network (formerly CBC Newsworld) is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It is Canada's first all-news channel, and the world's third-oldest television service of this ...

which covered regional news from across the country. He left the CBC in 1991 when he was appointed by the federal government as chair of the

Canadian Polar Commission Polar Knowledge Canada is a departmental corporation of the Government of Canada under the Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) portfolio. It is responsible for monitoring, promoting, and disseminating knowledge of th ...

, a new federal government agency devoted to territorial and Arctic issues. He briefly returned to television with the

Inuit Broadcasting Corporation 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 sho ...

in 1999 as cohost with Jonah Kelly of the special broadcast covering the formal creation of

Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...

.Jim Bell
"Whit Fraser’s big-hearted memoir looks back on 50 years of service"
. ''

Nunatsiaq News ''Nunatsiaq News'' () is a Canadian weekly newspaper in operation since 1973 based in Iqaluit, serving as the newspaper of record for the territory of Nunavut and the Nunavik region of Quebec. The paper is published online on a daily basis, and ...

'', January 9, 2019. He subsequently served as chief operating officer of

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (Inuktitut syllabics: , meaning "Inuit are united in Canada"), previously known as the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (Eskimo Brotherhood of Canada), is a nonprofit organization in Canada that represents over 65,000 Inuit acro ...

in the 2000s.Sutton Eaves, "Inuit group angry at $5m budget cut". ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of the American-owned Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only.

'', February 26, 2005. In 2018, he published ''True North Rising'', a memoir of his work in Arctic communities. In 2021, he was appointed an ''ex-officio'' Extraordinary Companion of the Order of Canada by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

– a customary appointment for all modern viceregal consorts – and gained the temporary courtesy style of ''Excellency'' upon his wife's assumption of office as governor general. He currently resides at

Rideau Hall Rideau Hall (officially Government House) is the official residence of the governor general of Canada, the representative of the monarch of Canada. Located in Ottawa, the Capital city, capital of the country, on a estate at 1 Sussex Drive, th ...

, the seat of the

Canadian Crown The monarchy of Canada is Canada's Government#Forms, form of government embodied by the Canadian sovereign and head of state. It is one of the key components of Canadian sovereignty and sits at the core of Canadian federalism, Canada's cons ...

. In 2022, he published his second book, ''Cold Edge of Heaven'', a historical fiction novel set in

Dundas Harbour Dundas Harbour (Inuktitut: ''Talluruti'', "a woman's chin with tattoos on it") is an abandoned settlement in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is located on Devon Island at the eastern shore of the waterway also named Dundas Harbour () ...

and based on some actual events.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Whit 1942 births 20th-century Canadian journalists 21st-century Canadian journalists 21st-century Canadian memoirists 21st-century Canadian male writers Canadian radio reporters and correspondents Canadian television reporters and correspondents Canadian television news anchors Canadian civil servants Canadian viceregal consorts Journalists from Nova Scotia People from Pictou County Living people CBC Television people Canadian male non-fiction writers Companions of the Order of Canada