Céline Galipeau

Céline Galipeau (1957-    ) is one of the most respected news anchors in the history of Canadian French language television broadcasting.  Since the end of 2008, she has been the weekday news anchor for Le Téléjournal, the flagship newscast of the Radio-Canada television network.

Her father was Canadian diplomat and acclaimed journalist Georges Galipeau who had worked as a foreign correspondent in Saigon during the First Indochina War.  Céline Galipeau is of Québecois and Vietnamese descent.  Her mother, Lang Ngoc Thi Pham, was a Vietnamese refugee from the First Indochina War who worked as a nurse.  Born in 1957 in Longueuil, Québec, Céline Galipeau is the eldest of three daughters.  Due to her father's profession, she was raised in several different countries other than Canada including Togo, Senegal, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Jordan.

In 1976, Céline Galipeau enrolled at Birzeit University in Palestine as a political science major.  The following year, she attended Al-Ahliyya Amman University in Amman, Jordan and studied English literature.  She returned to Québec in 1978 and obtained her bachelor's degree in sociology and political science from McGill University in Montréal two years later.  In 1983, she completed her graduate studies at McGill University earning her master's degree in sociology and political science.

During her first year at the beginning of her career as a journalist, Céline Galipeau primarily worked for private radio and television networks.  In 1985, she relocated to Toronto where she would find work as a field reporter for CBC and Radio-Canada.  Two years later, she relocated again to Montreal where she would take on the position as anchorwoman of the television newscast program, Montreal Ce Soir.  She would return to Toronto in 1989 as a national reporter.  From 1992 until 2003, Céline Galipeau successfully followed in her father's footsteps and became a foreign correspondent stationed in several major global cities such as London, Moscow, Paris and Beijing.  Her insightful coverage of Boris Yeltsin and the war in Chechnya while stationed in Moscow would earn her tremendous critical praise, as well as a Gemini Award, the Canadian equivalence to an Emmy.

The passing of her father in 2002 prompted her decision to return to Canada the following year.  In 2003, Céline Galipeau became the weekend news anchor for Montreal's Le Téléjournal.  In 2008, she replaced Bernard Jerome as the weekday news anchor for Le Téléjournal making her the first female to hold the position as primary news anchor of Radio-Canada's flagship newscast.

Known for her stand on women's rights and humanitarian issues, Céline Galipeau has been honored with numerous accolades throughout her career.  Among such awards include the Amnesty International Award (1995), the Claire L'Heureux-Dubé Award (2004) and the Raymond-Charette Award (2006).  She was named to the National Order of Québec on June of 2009 and then to the Order of Canada on June of 2013.