Fil Fraser

Broadcasting and journalism

Fraser began his career in broadcasting in 1951, when hired at the age of nineteen by Foster Hewitt for his radio station CKFH in Toronto. In 1952, he worked as a radio announcer in Timmins, Ontario for six months before being hired as assistant news editor at CKBB radio in Barrie, where he would become the station's sports director and play-by-play announcer, calling games for the Barrie Flyers. In 1955, Fraser moved back to Montreal, where he attended McGill University and hosted an all-night show at CKVL in Verdun. In 1956, he worked as a news editor at CFCF radio, eventually becoming chief writer.

He moved to western Canada in 1958, and initially worked in public relations for Saskatchewan Government Insurance. However, he also remained involved in radio broadcasting, hosting between-period hot stove league discussions on junior hockey broadcasts and sometimes doing play-by-play announcing. In 1960, he founded a newspaper called the Regina Weekly Mirror.

He moved to Edmonton in 1965, where he became program manager and senior producer of the Metropolitan Edmonton Educational Television Association (MEETA), Canada's first educational television channel, which aired on CBXFT. Fraser subsequently became producer/host of Newsmakers, a weekly public affairs program on ITV Global Edmonton, and then served as president and CEO of VisionTV, Toronto.

Fraser served on the Alberta Task Force on Film and the Federal Task Force on Broadcasting Policy (Caplan/Savageau) and was the Governor of the Canadian Journalism Foundation as well as a member of the Canadian Association of Black Journalists.

Film

In the 1970s, Fraser formed a production company to produce educational television films. He then went on to produce four feature films, from 1977 to 1982, including Why Shoot the Teacher? (executive producer), The Hounds of Notre Dame (producer) and Latitude 55° (executive producer). Fraser was a founding member of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. He organized the first Alberta Film Festival in 1974, which later became the Alberta Motion Picture Industry Association, and founded the Banff International Television Festival in 1979.

Writing

Fraser's published non-fiction works include Alberta's Camelot: Culture and the Arts in the Lougheed Years (2003), which looked at how programs by the government of former premier Peter Lougheed helped the provincial arts sector to flourish from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s. His 2006 book Running Uphill: The Fast, Short Life of Canadian Champion Harry Jerome looked at the pioneering Black Canadian track star Harry Jerome. In 2009, he completed the book How the Blacks Created Canada, part of a series of books from publisher Dragon Hill about how different cultural groups have contributed to the development of Canada.

Public service and academia

Fraser served as Chief Commissioner for the Alberta Human Rights Commission from 1989 to 1992 and served on the Spicer Commission. A writer and educator in the field of alcoholism and addictions, he served as head of alcoholism prevention programs for both Alberta and Saskatchewan. He is an adjunct professor in State and Legal Studies at Athabasca University.

Honours

Fraser is a member of the Order of Canada and received the Alberta Achievement Award. In 2015, he was made a member of the Alberta Order of Excellence.