Craig Mackie

Craig Mackie (born December 18, 1950 in Toronto, Ontario) is Canadian known for his career in radio at the CBC and at the Ottawa campus-community station, CKCU-FM, his more than half a century commitment to the sport of curling, and his work in supporting immigrants and refugees in Prince Edward Island.

Curling career[edit]

Craig Mackie has been curling competitively since 1964. He has curled in Ontario, the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, Alberta, Quebec and Prince Edward Island. He was third on the Senior Men's team that represented Prince Edward Island at the national championships in Lethbridge in 2003. His team, skipped by Charles Wilkinson finished 4-7. In 2005-06, Mackie and his team of Bob Hennessey, David Murphy and Gordon MacDonald finished runners-up in the PEI provincial senior men's championship. In 2006-07 season, Mackie was invited to join the Ted MacFadyen rink as third or vice-skip. Also on that team is Sandy Foy, second stone and Mike Coady, lead. This team finished runner-up in the 2007 provincial finals. In 2008, the Team won the PEI Senior Men's Provincial Championship and represented the province at the nationals in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

Careers[edit]

Carleton University[edit]

Craig Mackie has been involved with radio and television broadcasting in a variety of roles since 1971. In that year, he began as a volunteer with Radio Carleton (CKCU), an on-campus student radio station at Carleton University. The station broadcast at 670 AM using a carrier-current transmitter in the student residences.

Between 1971 and 1981, Mackie held a number of positions at the station. He started as a volunteer announcer with an all-night radio program from midnight to 9 AM. Mackie said, "It was a great way to learn the music library." He also served as Production Manager, News Director, Assistant Station Manager and then from 1978 to 1981 Station Manager. Mackie was instrumental in starting the annual public funding drive. He also collaborated with other campus station leaders in launching a national campus radio organization.

Career at CBC[edit]

In 1981, Mackie took a one-year contract with CBC Northern Service and became an Announcer/Operator with CBC Inuvik. There he hosted a number of programs including an afternoon Slavey-English current affairs show, Mackenzie Morning, Nunanoon, the Saturday Night Request Show and a country music program called The Lovin', Hurtin', Gamblin', Travellin', Drinkin', Truck-Drivin' and Mom Show.

In 1982, Mackie moved to Whitehorse as an Announcer/Operator with CBC Yukon. At CBC Yukon, the first few months involved learning about the territory, its people and history. He reported and did mini-docs for the morning show. He was given an opportunity to conceive and develop an afternoon radio program that would feature the music, culture and artists of the Yukon. By 1984 Mackie was hosting Yukon Morning. In the two years Mackie worked in the Yukon, he travelled to almost every community and reported on subjects as diverse as the Yukon's economy to Gwi'ichin life in Old Crow to the re-introduction of Dall sheep. As a reporter, he also covered two Arctic Winter Games, 1982 Fairbanks, Alaska and 1984 Yellowknife, NWT.

In 1984, Mackie was offered the opportunity to take on a leadership role in CBC Northern Service. He was appointed Operations Manager at CBC in Frobisher Bay (now Iqaluit, the capital city of Nunavut). Within a year, Mackie was promoted to Area Manager for CBC in the Eastern Arctic.

While working in the Eastern Arctic, Mackie learned to speak some Inuktitut and began the process of moving the CBC station from being an English radio station with Inuktitut translation to one which made Inuktitut the predominant language for programming and where more original journalism in Inuktitut was encouraged. During this time, Mackie was instrumental in establishing a television bureau at the station where a weekly current affairs program in Inuktitut was produced. Mackie also oversaw the establishment of an Inuktitut-speaking bureau in Kuujjuaq, northern Quebec (Nunavik). The bureau was headed up by Senior A/O William Tagoona, a journalist and singer-songwriter originally from the Keewatin.

After five years working in the eastern Arctic, Mackie became Area Manager for CBC Mackenzie in Yellowknife primarily responsible for radio programming in English, North and South Slavey, Dogrib and Chipewyan. Over the next couple of years, Mackie assumed responsibility for regional radio across the north and then television programming in Yellowknife. Some of the highlights of his time in Yellowknife included:

In cooperation with community groups, established Radio Two in Yellowknife.
1995 Exec-in-charge of production for first ever northern native Christmas CD.
1995 Exec-in-charge of production for Radio & TV coverage of NWT election.
1994 Exec-in-charge of production for 1st ever Dene music CD.
1993 Exec-in-charge for Radio and TV Network production of True North Concert.
1992 Election Decision Desk for Yukon Election.
1991 Exec-in-charge of production for 1991 NWT election on radio.
1990 Exec-in-charge of production for Arctic Winter Games based in Yellowknife.

In 1996, Mackie was presented with the CBC North Award for his long service and programming contributions.

After more than a decade as a manager in CBC, Mackie took a year (1996–97) to spend time once again in his first love, programming and journalism. He moved to CBC Calgary and worked as a reporter and producer there.

Then in 1997, Mackie was appointed the first-ever Program Manager in CBC Radio at the Sudbury station or CBC Northern Ontario as it is known. Some of the highlights of his career in Sudbury included:

Produced “A Christmas Carol” 3 years running
Coordinated the launching of websites for small stations in Ontario (Sudbury, Thunder Bay and Windsor)
Chaired the CBC Radio Backfill Development Initiative
Chaired the Small Stations National Program Conference
Developed a partnership with Science North
Member and then Chair of the Radio Broadcasting Advisory Committee at Canadore College in North Bay
Together with the editor of Northern Ontario Business Magazine initiated a program to recognize Influential Women of Northern Ontario
Conceived, produced and mixed a 10-part series of Northern Ontario historical stories with Charlie Angus
Coordinated the development of digital file transfer of stories from news stringers in North Bay and Sault Ste. Marie
Supported the inauguration of Radio Two in Sudbury.

After four years in Sudbury, Mackie took on the role of radio Program Manager for CBC Prince Edward Island. He moved to Charlottetown in 2001. As the CBC moved into news integration between radio and television, Mackie was appointed Managing Editor for radio and TV as well as being responsible for daily operations of the station. Under his leadership, the station launched a number of large scale journalistic projects including a revealing examination of bootlegging, electoral reform, the Island's healthcare system and others. Mackie also produced a 10-part series with folklorist Georges Arsenault on Acadian Legends and Folktales.

After more than 26 years with CBC, Mackie retired from the broadcasting corporation in the summer of 2007.

There is life after CBC[edit]

From 2007-2010, Mackie operated his own company specializing in communications consulting and marketing providing support to non-profit, government and other agencies and businesses. In 2009, Mackie helped to form the first Chapter of the national organization CARP on Prince Edward Island. He was subsequently elected Chapter Chair.

In January, 2010, Mackie was hired as the Executive Director of the PEI Association for Newcomers to Canada. The PEI ANC is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that provides short-term settlement support and long-term integration assistance for immigrants and refugees who arrive on PEI.

In 2014 and 2015, Mackie served as President of the Atlantic Region Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies (ARAISA).

In 2015, Mackie became co-chair of the Immigration and Settlement Working Group of the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR).

Personal life[edit]

On June 24, 1978, Craig Mackie married Margaret Flood. They have three sons: James Scott born 1982; Alexander Simon born 1986; and Robert Alan born 1992.

In 2005, Mackie joined the worldwide blogging community with a picture blog located at http://alancraigmackie.blogspot.com. There are occasional curling pictures, however, many of the pictures are of the scenery, flora and fauna of Prince Edward Island.

References and external links[edit]

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