Valerie Pringle

Valerie Pringle had a distinguished career as a broadcaster and journalist for over 35 years. She now makes a significant contribution to Canadian life as a volunteer fundraiser and not-for-profit board member, advocate, and speaker.

Ms. Pringle started her career at age 19 at CFRB Radio in Toronto, after graduating from studies in radio and television at Ryerson University. She worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, hosting MIDDAY, and at CTV, as the host of Canada AM. She covered many significant news stories between 1980 and early 2001, including Canadian elections, presidential inaugurations, the 1994 Olympic games, a royal wedding and funeral, a space launch, natural disasters, and the Oscars.

Her interview subjects have ranged from kings and queens to the Dalai Lama and Sir Edmund Hillary, to Oscar Peterson, Oprah Winfrey, Jimmy Carter, Jean Vanier, Pierre Trudeau, and all the prime ministers who came after him. She also spoke with Canadian astronauts and Olympians as well as thousands of ordinary Canadians, each of whom had stories to share, including, most memorably, five generations of Inuit women in their tent in Igloolik. She has reported from the top of Mount Kilimanjaro and the Mount Everest Base Camp to Haida Gwaii and Aitutaki in the South Pacific. She has hosted and helped produce documentaries and series including: Valerie Pringle Has Left the Building, Test of Faith, and The Canadian Antiques Roadshow.

Valerie Pringle was an early champion of the fight against AIDS, working to fight stigma and raise funds. She has been spokesperson for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research for 25 years. Since 2001, she has been working to build the Trans Canada Trail (TCT) across the country, serving as board chair for five years and co-chair of the TCT Foundation for the past eight years. She has helped lead the successful $75 Million Campaign to connect the Great Trail for 2017. She has been an advocate for improved access to treatment of mental illness since 2006, when she appeared in a public awareness campaign for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). She has spoken widely on this subject and worked to reduce stigma surrounding mental health issues. She co-chairs the Trans Canada Trail Foundation and serves on the boards of the CAMH Foundation, the Ontario Brain Institute, the International Festival of Authors, and the Stephen Lewis Foundation and.

She was made a member of the Order of Canada in 2006 for her work in broadcasting and philanthropy. She has an honorary doctorate from Ryerson University. The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation appointed her a Trudeau mentor in 2017.