Born in
Merigomish,
Nova Scotia, and educated in
Stellarton, Fraser began his career in journalism as a reporter for
CKEC-FM in
New Glasgow. He joined
CBC News in 1967 as a reporter in
Frobisher Bay and later in
Yellowknife. He covered topics such as
land claims and oil and gas development in northern Canada. His coverage of the
Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry in the late 1970s expanded his national prominence, following which he worked for a number of years as a national reporter based in
Ottawa and
Edmonton. In 1989 he was one of the final contenders to replace
Peter Downie as host of the network's noon-hour newscast
Midday, 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 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, a new federal government agency devoted to territorial and Arctic issues. He briefly returned to television with the
Inuit Broadcasting Corporation in 1999 as cohost with Jonah Kelly of the special broadcast covering the formal creation of
Nunavut. He subsequently served as chief operating officer of
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami in the 2000s. 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 – 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, the seat of the
Canadian Crown. In 2022, he published his second book,
Cold Edge of Heaven, a historical fiction novel set in
Dundas Harbour and based on some actual events. and First Lady
Jill Biden in Ottawa, 2023 == References ==