McKenna, Brian

Brian McKenna was born in Montreal on August 8, 1945, as the eldest of five children of Leo McKenna, descendant of an Irish family that immigrated to Canada around 1850, and Agathe Macdonell, whose ancestors came to Ontario around 1786. Brian McKenna worked as journalist, author, filmmaker, producer, and contributor to numerous local and national radio and television shows. He passed away on May 5, 2023, at age 77.

Brian McKenna grew up in downtown Montreal, where he went to a French elementary school of the Congregation of Notre-Dame, until his family moved to the Montreal suburb of Valois, and later to Beaconsfield. While a student at St. Thomas High School in Pointe-Claire, McKenna worked as sports editor of the high school paper, the St. Thomas News. After his high school graduation in 1963, McKenna enrolled in the Honours English program at Loyola College. There he joined both the debating society and the college weekly paper, the Loyola News, first as a reporter, then desk editor and subsequently news editor. McKenna took over as editor-in-chief in autumn 1966. He received his Bachelor of Arts in English literature in 1967. He was hired as a summer reporter at the Montreal Star to cover the Expo 67 World’s Fair. In autumn 1967 he returned to studies and to work as editor of the Loyola News. In 1968, Brian McKenna graduated in communication arts and became a full-time reporter at the Montreal Star. From 1969 to 1971 he was parliamentary correspondent in Ottawa. McKenna resigned from the Montreal Star in 1973, to become story editor for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Montreal local TV news and current affairs show The City at 6. At that time, he also became the Quebec correspondent for the CBC’s national radio current affairs show As It Happens. In 1975 McKenna joined the current affairs program The Fifth Estate as founding producer. He remained there until 1988. In addition, since 1972, he independently produced several films. In the fall of 1980 McKenna Purcell Productions Inc. was formed and subsequently McKenna’s services were contracted through the company. In 1989, the production company Wartime Productions was incorporated by Brian McKenna and Susan Purcell. The same year, McKenna was named the Max Bell Fellowship visiting professor at the University of Regina School of Journalism, where he taught documentary filmmaking. Brian McKenna also worked on various projects with his brother Terence McKenna.

Brian McKenna wrote articles for Saturday Night, Weekend Magazine, the Literary Review of Canada, Cité libre, and The Last Post and did book reviews for the Montreal Gazette and the Toronto Star. He co-authored a biography of Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau. He contributed to the profiles of Montreal mayors Camilien Houde and Jean Drapeau to The Canadian Encyclopedia.

Throughout his career, Brian McKenna received numerous honours, awards, and prizes. In 1968, he was named Grand Old Man of Loyola News, and honoured as Man of the Year at the annual student awards ceremony. In 1973 he won his first ACTRA award for television writing and directing The City at 6 film documentary Settling Accounts. He also won the Anik Award for reporting, two Gemini awards for And Then You Die, and five Gemini Awards for The Valour and the Horror, a Canadian military history film series. He received further ACTRA awards, including one for His Worship Jean Drapeau, three ribbons from the American Film Festival, two Golden Sheaf awards from the Yorkton Film Festival, a medal at the New York Film Festival, and a “Chris” plaque at the Columbus Film Festival. For The Killing Ground, which he co-wrote with his brother Terence McKenna, he received a Wilderness Award and an Anik award.

Created by Records Management and Archives Department in 2010. Revised and input by Concordia University Libraries 2015-05-29. Updated by Concordia University Libraries 2023-07-04