Veteran journalist, TV anchor Wendy Mesley retires from CBC News after 38 years

TORONTO — Wendy Mesley, a longtime CBC television news anchor and journalist, has retired from the public broadcaster.

Chuck Thompson, CBC’s head of public affairs, says Mesley retired from the CBC in late June after working there for 38 years.

Mesley could not be immediately reached for comment.

The Montreal-born reporter covered various posts throughout her career with the corporation, including as a host of the consumer watchdog series “Marketplace” and the technology show “Undercurrents,” and as a back-up anchor for “The National.”

Last year, she became embroiled in a controversy surrounding her use of the N-word on two separate occasions during editorial meetings in 2019 and again in 2020 while preparing for a segment of her program “The Weekly” that focused on anti-racism.

The allegations sparked an internal investigation that led CBC News to take disciplinary action against her.

Mesley later tweeted that she used the word “not as a slur,” but as a reference to what another journalist, who they were considering booking as a panelist on the show, had been called.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 5, 2021.

The Canadian Press