In her 27 years with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Trina McQueen’s singularly successful career has constituted a series of “firsts” for women. In 1991 she became vice president of English television news and current affairs and of CBC Newsworld (the all-news cable channel), the first and only woman to hold such a high-ranking position at the Canadian network.

The following year, McQueen was made vice president of regional broadcasting operations, which included equity in portrayals across all broadcast services and foreign bureaus. This move was widely regarded as a demotion as well as a backward step for the future of high-level female broadcast executives. The network, however, denied that charge, and McQueen remained uncomplaining even after her departure. The only other female vice president, however, Donna Logan, who was head of English-language CBC Radio, was also demoted, leaving the executive suite all male. McQueen had been opposed to the changes being initiated by the head office to move the successful flagship nightly 10:00 news The National to the all-news cable channel Newsworld. The switch also involved canceling the acclaimed in-depth nightly documentary news series that followed, The Journal, and launching Prime Time News at 9:00 P.M. CBC brass brought in news head Tim Kotcheff from rival network CTV to implement the changes, which proved to be disastrous.

McQueen’s quiet, soft-spoken, and tactful negotiating manner combines with a toughness attested to by longtime colleagues. She has been called “something of a Patton in Pollyanna’s clothing.” It was reported that McQueen lost a power struggle for the position of senior vice president of TV services to fast-rising wunderkind Ivan Fecan in a management arrangement in which their duties, previously carried out by vice president Denis Harvey, were split into two vice president jobs. McQueen oversaw a thousand people and more than 200 hours of information programming per week in her position.

McQueen began in journalism at the entry level, parlaying student jobs on newspapers to a stint with the Journal (Ottawa). From there, she became the first female reporter for CTV’s local Toronto station, CFTO, and cohost for CTV’s current affairs magazine show, W5. When CTV execs indicated that a woman would not be hired as a national reporter, McQueen quit and joined the public network, CBC, in 1967. There she became the first female on-camera reporter for The National news. After nine years as reporter, producer, and assignment editor, she became the first female executive producer of The National in 1976 when she was 33.

Having grown up watching The National in Belleville, Ontario, she has said that it was a glorious dream job for her. She presided over a virtual revolution of the news, replacing the old guard with the then-new faces of Hike Duffy, Peter Mansbridge, and Knowlton Nash. She guided the new management through the 1980 Quebec referendum and two federal elections in addition to daily news stories. She also stood up to the chauvinists’ stereotypes of women in news and won respect and success.

McQueen returned to news, after nine years in CBC administration, as director of news and current affairs. It was a time of huge budget cuts that decimated jobs, regional CBC stations, and employee morale. Then as vice president, she also became manager of the CBC broadcast center, the new downtown facility that gathered together the disparate TV and radio production entities that had inhabited various spaces throughout Toronto. In addition, she was head of English network finances and human resources.

In 1993, when the federal government handed down more budget cuts for CBC, as it had every year since 1985, McQueen decamped for a job in the private sector. She became vice president and general manager of the newly created Discovery Channel, Canada, largely owned by Labatt Communications, Inc., the entertainment arm of the giant beer conglomerate, which produces shows on science, technology, nature, the environment. and world cultures. In 1999, however, McQueen returned to CTV in the role of vice president. She was eventually promoted to president and then chief operating officer. In this capacity, she was responsible for overseeing the CTV network of 27 local stations, seven cable channels, and three production companies. McQueen retired in 2002, although she continues to work and perform volunteer activities through her company, Hutton-Belleville Inc. She is chair of the board of the Governor-General’s Performing Arts Awards. McQueen is also a professor at Carleton University. In 2003, McQueen was chosen to lead the International Jury at the 24th Banff Television Festival.