CTV morning show host leaves TV

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This article was published 11/11/2021 (1143 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg television viewers won’t be able to have their morning coffee with Michael Hutchinson anymore.

Hutchinson, who has been co-host of CTV Morning Live, Monday to Friday starting at 6 a.m., is leaving for a communications job at the Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre.

Hutchinson could not be reached for comment on Friday, but on his Facebook site he said he is leaving for two reasons: family and to help Indigenous youth.

“My daughters hate my hours and are disappointed we do not get to spend much of our evenings together, especially now that school has started,” said Hutchinson.

“In my culture, the way to be a good person is to find your Creation-given talent and use it to help your people and community. My talent seems to be writing and communications so I have been offered a job back on the communications side of the desk.”

Hutchinson said his new job will allow him to work with First Nation young people, including, because he is a member of the Misipawistik Cree Nation, youth from his traditional territory of Treaty 5.

Hutchinson had a varied work history before going into the media.

While a teenager in Grand Rapids, he worked in commercial fishing on Lake Winnipeg. He fought forest fires and worked at the Whiteshell Nuclear Research Station’s underground research laboratory in Pinawa.

A few years later, he was a bartender and caterer at rock concerts, before becoming a print reporter with the Calgary Straight and Aboriginal Times. He spent seven years as a host of APTN National News and producer of APTN’s sit-down interview show Face to Face.

Hutchinson is also the author of the Mighty Muskrats Mystery series.

The new gig isn’t Hutchinson’s first communications job. He has done communications work for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, the Indian Claims Commission, and the Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba.

Earlier this year, Hutchinson sparked controversy when he admitted on television he had broken the province’s pandemic restrictions by meeting with friends when it wasn’t allowed under public health orders. He immediately left the broadcast and spent the next two weeks working and isolating at home.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca