Canadian Female Media Personalities

Renee Paquette is a Canadian television personality and host. She is best known for appearing in WWE, where she worked as an interviewer, presenter, and commentator from 2012 to 2020. In 2013, Renee Paquette received the Slammy Award for her work in The JBL and Cole Show. In 2020, she started hosting Oral Sessions, her own podcast.

Political activist and YouTuber Lauren Southern is also a prominent white nationalist. Initially an employee of The Rebel Media, she later also worked for Sky News Australia. She and two of her fellow anti-Muslim activists were refused entry at the Luton airport in the UK and even detained in 2018.

American-Canadian journalist Jane Jacobs is best known for her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities. A specialist in urban culture and its issues, she was one of the few women who excelled in a male-dominated field. The Vincent Scully Prize winner was initially scorned at as a housewife.

Lyse Doucet is a Canadian journalist who works with the popular broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). She is BBC's current Chief International correspondent. One of the most respected and decorated Canadian journalists of all time Lyse Doucet has received several prestigious awards, such as the Royal Television Society Award, Peabody Award, David Bloom Award, and a Silver Sony Award. 

Ashleigh Banfield is a Canadian-American journalist best known for hosting the popular television news program Banfield. A well-known journalist, Banfield has also hosted shows like Early Start and Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield on CNN. In 1994, she was honored at the NATPE Iris Awards with two awards under the Best of Festival and Best News Documentary categories.

Adrienne Clarkson is a Hong Kong-born Canadian political leader and journalist. She is best known for her service as the Governor General of Canada from 7 October 1999 to 27 September 2005. Over the course of her career, Adrienne Clarkson has won many prestigious medals and awards such as the Canadian Centennial Medal and the Vimy Award.

Bonnie McFarlane is a Canadian-American writer and comedian best known for her participation in a reality TV talent competition show called Last Comic Standing, where she was the first comedian to be eliminated. McFarlane has appeared in popular TV shows like The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, and Late Show with David Letterman. 

The first North American Black woman to publish a newspaper, USA-born Mary Ann Shadd was the founder of the Canadian newspaper, The Provincial Freeman. Concurrently serving as its anonymous editor and contributor, she also became one of the first women to pursue journalism in Canada. She was also one of the first Black women to earn a degree in law.

CBS News journalist Catherine Herridge has won multiple awards, such as the Tex McCracy Award, for investigative journalism and covered many international events such as the 9/11 attacks. She has also worked with FOX News and penned the book The Next Wave, which spoke about homegrown terrorism.

After graduating in human kinetics, Jeanette Jenkins started her own fitness brand, Hollywood Trainer, and now has a client list that consists of the who’s who of Hollywood, such as Alicia Keys, Pink, Queen Latifah, and Mindy Kaling. Her fitness programs include bikini bootcamps and power yoga.

Canadian journalist and author Christie Blatchford had created history as her country’s first sports columnist. Also known for her award-winning book Fifteen Days, which was based on her experiences in Afghanistan, she was associated with publications such as National Post. She unfortunately died of lung cancer at age 68.

Apart from being a popular TV host and journalist, Kara Scott is also a celebrated poker player. Audiences have loved her as a host on Poker Night Live. She has also been a columnist for poker magazines and has appeared in movies such as Sucker Punch.

Named to the Ottawa Board of Trade’s list of 40 under 40, Catherine Clark is a popular TV broadcaster and the daughter of former Canadian PM Joe Clark. She heads her own communications consultancy, Catherine Clark Communications, and has co-established the podcast The Honest Talk.

Canadian comedy star DeAnne Smith is also an LGBT icon. Apart from being part of several comedy festivals and a podcast, she also had her own Netflix comedy special. She previously taught English in Mexico and was inspired by her then-girlfriend to pursue stand-up comedy as a career.

Sci-fi author Judith Josephine Grossman, better known by her pen-name, Judith Merril, is also known for editing several anthologies. After her father’s suicide, she was raised by her mother in the Bronx. That Only A Mother remains one of her best-known short stories and has been part of many anthologies.

A pioneer of Canadian gymnastics, Elfi Schlegel was born to Swiss immigrants in Toronto. Starting training at age 7, she later earned a Pan American Games gold, 2 Commonwealth Games gold medals, and a World Cup bronze. Post-retirement, she became a successful sports commentator for channels such as NBC Sports.

After winning a beauty contest as a housewife, Joyce Davidson worked on a TV cooking show. The CBC TV broadcaster was once dragged into a controversy for stating that she was “indifferent” about Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to Canada. Public backlash drove her out of the country, and she eventually settled in the US.

Known widely as Canada's Conscience, journalist, author, and activist June Callwood had been associated with several publications, such as The Globe and Mail. She also established some of the first charity centers for women in Canada, opposed abortion laws, and co-founded the Writer’s Union of Canada.

Kathleen Tynan was a Canadian-British journalist and screenwriter. The daughter of prominent Canadian war correspondent Matthew Halton, she followed in her father’s footsteps and pursued a journalistic career. She started writing novels and screenplays following her marriage to theater critic Kenneth Tynan. She also published theater and literary criticism. She died from cancer in 1995.