TV host running in by-election
October 9, 2020
Since becoming a co-host three years ago of CTV’s daytime talk show, ‘The Social’, Marci Ien received numerous letters saying, ‘I liked you a lot better when you did Canada AM’.
Reading between the lines, the veteran broadcaster knew exactly what they were inferring.
“What that means to me is ‘Shut up and read the teleprompter’,” she said. “That also tells me I am doing something right and I am going the right way.”
The ‘Canada AM’ news anchor and co-host for 13 years until the national breakfast television news show ended in 2016 after a 43-year run has put on hold a virtual book tour she was preparing for in the fall to pursue a political career.
African Canadian Achievement Awards 2016 recipient Marci Ien
Ien is the Liberal candidate in Toronto Centre, seeking to replace former Finance Minister Bill Morneau who abruptly resigned at the end of August.
The by-election takes place on October 26.
“It was one thing to be a news reporter and an anchor and have to maintain neutrality,” she said. “I was reporting on stories and that was my job. And then came a talk show where it was opinion-based and I could speak to my lived experiences and I could talk about what it is like to be a Black mother, I could talk about what it is like be to be Black in an industry where I haven’t seen a lot of me and what it is like to want to mentor others and make sure that that changed.
“And then in the past few months where we saw the murder of George Floyd and the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet in Canada, I talked about those cases and the fact that I have Black children and a Black son and fear for him and what might happen to him. While I continued to share these stories, I also challenged corporate Canada. I said on the air that I had never had in my 30 years of journalism a Black boss or a boss of colour and what does that say about our newsrooms in this country. And then I talked about the lack of diversity and inclusivity that we see when we look at Boards and who is on them.”
Marci Ien (fourth from left) with other Black Business & Professional Association Women of Honour awardees Ebonnie Rowe (l), Jacqueline Walters, Itah Sadu & Tracy Moore
Ien said she was approached several times in the past to consider a political career.
“This is not new,” she pointed out. “This time, I knew I had to accept because there was no way I was going to continue to talk about those things and demand change from my perch as a talk show host and not, if given the opportunity, act on it. I had a big microphone and I never took it for granted, but there was only so much I could do with it. If I am going to be talking about it, I have to be about it.”
Toronto Centre riding comprises Regent Park which is Canada’s first social housing development, the LGBTQ2 neighbourhood and the largely immigrant and densely populated St. Jamestown where Ien was born 51 years ago.
Her family resided at an apartment building at 700 Ontario St.
“This is like a full circle moment for me,” she said. “What an honour. My parents came here with nothing from Trinidad to go to school. They were trying to make ends meet and they couldn’t even afford to go to school at the same time. Dad went first, he got a job, and then mom was able to do her schooling. That’s how it went for our family and what I am seeing is that it is still the same for immigrants in St. Jamestown.”
Marci Ien was presented with a Future Aces Award for journalism excellence
Dr. Joel Ien is a retired school principal and superintendent and Vilna Ien was an accountant.
As she knocks on doors and meets residents in the community, Ien said food security and homelessness are among constituents’ main concerns.
“I was walking through Moss Park and I am seeing couples and families living in tents,” she noted. “Because of COVID-19, people have lost their homes. It’s even worse for homeless people now as some of the places they could go to before are struggling as well.”
Planet Africa winner Marci Ien
Though Ien’s parents moved out of St. Jamestown just before she started public school, the television personality returned to Toronto Centre to attend Ryerson University with which she has been associated with for the last three decades.
Inducted into the Radio & Television Arts (RTA) Wall of Fame in 2013 and honoured with an Alumni Achievement Award of Distinction a year later, Ien was a visiting professor and often mentors students enrolled in the RTA program.
Marci Ien & Dwight Drummond with their first scholarship winner Laura Girardo
Six years ago, she and fellow broadcaster and Ryerson alumni Dwight Drummond started awarding two scholarships annually to RTA second-year students.
“Ryerson has been a huge part of my life,” said Ien who sits on the university’s Board of Governors. “It has really enabled me to keep a foothold in the community that way.”
Toronto Centre has been a Liberal stronghold for the last 23 years.
The party resonates with Ien because of Pierre Trudeau who, 50 years ago, announced multiculturalism as an official government policy and opened the door for immigrants from the Caribbean.
“That’s how my parents got here and they have always been proud Liberals,” she said. “I was raised that way. It’s also the inclusivity and the ‘we are stronger together mentality’. It has always been a party that represents my views and values that we can all do this together.”
Marci Ien & Liberal MP Judy Sgro
Ien has authored a book, ‘Off Script: Living Out Loud’ that will be released later this month.
She spent the last 18 months penning her journey.
“I thought it was important to document it, not just for people coming up in this industry, but anybody that can identify with having a dream, working hard to attain it, the challenges and triumphs and everything along the way,” said the award-winning journalist who, in 2018, made the Women’s Executive Network Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada list. “It is also about transition because in the past three years, I changed jobs and went from news to lifestyle television and I did this in my late 40s to show it’s more important to stay in the game and persevere and find the people that will support you, whether it’s a small circle or not. The book encapsulates all of that from my perspective and it also re-introduces people to some of the interviews I have done over the years and the things I have learnt from the people sitting opposite me.”
Marci Ien with Trust 15 award winners Kwaku Agyemang & Jessica Nguyen
