Helen Anne Donnelly HUTCHINSON

1934 - 2023

HELEN ANNE DONNELLY HUTCHINSON 1934 - 2023 Helen Hutchinson passed away peacefully in Toronto, on February 21, 2023. Helen forged a decades-long and noteworthy media career and was highly regarded as a journalist in the Canadian news and current affairs landscape. Her unique family history may explain her drive, her ambition and her talents. On her maternal side, she was the daughter of Russian Siberians who emigrated to Canada. On her paternal side, she was the daughter of an Irish family from Newfoundland. From the Russian side Helen inherited her drive, ambition and strength and from the Irish side, her loquaciousness, her fire and her intellect. Helen's Russian grandparents arrived in Vancouver courtesy of the Hudson's Bay Company and the Russian Revolution. Her grandfather worked for the company, negotiating the purchase of furs. As the Revolution raged on and the political situation worsened, the Company evacuated the family, via a Japanese warship to Japan, and several months later to Vancouver. Her Father's Irish family, the Donnelly's, left Newfoundland and also eventually settled in Vancouver. From these two opposite and distinct cultures emerged the dynamic personality of the woman many Canadians listened to and watched for over fifty years. Academically, Helen was always at the top of her class. At 16, she entered the University of British Columbia. She graduated from UBC at age 20 with a BA Honours, English. Helen's love of sports began as a teenager and continued throughout her life. She excelled at swimming, tennis, and Women's Football at UBC. Her first visit to the racetrack was at the tender age of three with her father and grandfather. One year after graduating UBC, Helen married Jack Hutchinson, a CFL football star with a strong academic background. The couple moved, via trades, to Saskatchewan and Winnipeg where Helen renewed her studies obtaining a Masters Degree in English Literature. By now Jack and Helen had two small children, Megan and Max. After a year in England at the London School of Economics, Jack accepted a position with CBC Radio in Winnipeg. Eventually, Helen too would join CBC Radio as a Book Reviewer. It was the beginning of her decades long and noteworthy career in national news and current affairs in Canada. More about Helen's career from a longtime colleague and friend...


"Canada lost a legend. I lost a friend. By Rosemary Vukmanich Helen Hutchinson was a media star. She was one of the first women to gain national prominence in Canada's television news and current affairs landscape. Her career began in the late 1960s as a book reviewer for CBC Radio and peaked in later years as the host of CTV's "CANADA AM" and then, CTV's flagship newsmagazine, "W5". At the time, Helen was called Canada's answer to Barbara Walters. In 1975, she won an ACTRA award as television's Best Public Affairs Broadcaster. Whip smart, witty, challenging and acerbic, garrulous and fearless with a wicked sense of humour, Helen was 'one of a kind'. She was a 'broad' in the best sense of the word - in the tradition of a Katherine Hepburn. She was fiercely independent, self-possessed, didn't suffer fools, was sassy and classy. Helen was complex and flawed - as are many of the best and most interesting characters. She was often the most interesting person in the room, and one of the smartest. She was also great company. Helen was an avid life-long learner, a lover of books, supremely well-read, and had a wide-ranging curiosity and thirst for information. She knew the ins and outs of sports as well as geopolitics and the vagaries of the human heart. Petite and slight of frame, Helen had an outsized personality that would fill a concert hall. Her laugh also belied her size and stature. She was quick with a smile and had that mischievous Irish twinkle and sense of fun. The word 'impish' comes to mind. No matter your view of Helen, she left an impression on those she met. For a number of years Helen and I roamed around the world telling other people's stories. We worked together while I was the Show Producer of "Canada AM" and later a Senior Field Producer with "W5". We traversed the entire breadth of the North American continent in search of news stories. Internationally we shot stories in France, England, Israel, Cyprus, Mexico and the Cayman Islands. Helen once noted she'd travelled to 89 countries during her career. Our documentary film crew - reporter, producer, camera and sound - often became a tight unit of travelling vagabonds. We worked long, gruelling hours but had boatloads of fun while producing good television. We met all manner of unique, interesting, notable and newsworthy people - politicians, movie stars, celebrities, scientists, athletes, corporate titans and the neighbour next door. It was all an adventure. In the 1970's, Helen and Norm Perry were the royal couple of Canadian morning television, hosting two hours of live TV, weekday mornings on CTV's "CANADA AM". They were both smart, well-read, highly respected and 'political junkies'. They made an impressive team. In those days, live, in-studio production was a bit like the wild west. Helen and Norm smoothed out the rough edges while conducting incisive, provocative interviews. Those interviews often 'broke news' and were covered by other media outlets. Informed sources 'inside the Beltway' said that every TV set in Ottawa was tuned to the program, every morning. On CTV's newsmagazine, "W5" Helen shared hosting duties with Henry Champ, Jim Reed and later, Bill Cunningham. It was the Canadian version of "60 Minutes" and as such was must-see Sunday night, primetime viewing. It was a heady time for investigative journalism in Canada and the entire "W5" news team chomped at the bit to produce the highest quality broadcast journalism. Helen shone on "W5", as the sole female host-reporter. Career-wise, her output was prodigious. She could hop on a plane to interview a prime minister, host two hours of live television, command an audience, lead a discussion, handle a panel of experts, and moderate a Mensa debate - all with a smile on her face, a witty aside at the ready, and without dangling a single participle. Did I mention she was a stickler for grammar? Helen was a consummate TV professional with all the requisite skills. She was smart, likeable, watchable, photogenic and impressive. Helen was just 'good tv'. There were few broadcasters in her day who had her breadth of experience in front of the camera as well as her intelligence and knowledge. Consequently, she was pressed into hosting and interviewing all manner of television productions not just for CTV News, but for other networks as well. Notably, when Ralph Mellanby, the Executive Producer of CBC's "Hockey Night in Canada" wanted a female to conduct between-period interviews on game nights, he chose Helen. Mellanby couldn't hire a 'token' female. The woman needed both hockey knowledge and a certain gravitas to be accepted by both the male audience and the hockey players. Helen nailed it. She was the first woman to be part of the "Hockey Night in Canada" broadcast. It was another 'first' for Helen as a female broadcast journalist in a field traditionally dominated by men. It can be argued she helped pave the way for the acceptance of female news journalists and anchors at the national level. Near the end of her life, Helen battled an almost intractable depression. She became an activist for those suffering from the debilitating disease and was rewarded for her efforts with the Courage to Come Back Award. It was a point of pride for her. When I look at the scope of Helen's entire career, I see a media pioneer, a breaker of glass ceilings, an intelligent interviewer, and a lover of books, ideas and debate. She was an impressive role model in the Canadian media firmament who did it all, often did it first and did it with class, grace and intelligence. Helen Hutchinson should be remembered for her contributions to broadcast journalism, her many notable 'firsts' and her outsized talent. She will also be remembered as a dear and irreplaceable friend. The studio's gone dark. It's a wrap."


Helen was predeceased in 1989 by her daughter, Megan. She is survived by her son, Max and her granddaughter, Molly Bell. She is also survived by her cousins, Barbara James, Victor, Janet, and Roland; stepdaughter, Siobhan Gabis, and the man who shared her joys and tribulations for almost half her life, Edward Gabis. The family extends heartfelt appreciation to the staff at both Mt. Sinai Hospital and Toronto Grace Palliative Care for their care and professionalism. Cremation has taken place and Helen will be returned to the waters off her beloved Kitsilano Beach in Vancouver. Seamus Heaney, the Co. Derry Nobel Prize recipient wrote - "If you have the words there's always a chance that you'll find the way." Helen had the words, and, in most, cases found the way. REQUIESCAT in PACE