Omar Sachedina (born August 21, 1982) is a Canadian television journalist and anchor for

Bell Media Bell Media Inc. ( French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies. Establishment (2011–13) On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...

. He is the chief news anchor and senior editor for CTV's national evening newscast ''

CTV National News ''CTV National News'' is the flagship newscast of CTV News, the news division of the CTV Television Network, which airs at 11:00 pm local time on the CTV stations across Canada, and is produced from CTV's facilities at 9 Channel Nine Court in Sca ...

'' since September 5, 2022. Previously, Sachedina was the National Affairs Correspondent for

CTV News CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the national ...

Early life

Sachedina was born and raised in Vancouver to

Ismaili Muslim Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (imām) to Ja'far al-Sa ...

parents who immigrated to Canada as Indians from

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

. His great-grandparents had emigrated to Africa from India in the late 1800s. He speaks Gujarati, Kutchi, French, and English. At age 12, he grew an interest in journalism and submitted letters to the editors at various publications. Curious about his parents' East African homeland, Sachedina travelled there in 2005 to report and produce a

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

Frontline Fellowship feature documentary titled Uganda: The Return, exploring the return of Asians to Uganda after the 1972 expulsion. Sachedina completed the

International Baccalaureate Program The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into ...

while attending

Port Moody Secondary School Port Moody Secondary School is a public coeducational high school located in Port Moody, British Columbia. The school offers the International Baccalaureate Program and the Career Preparation Program to its students. There are approximately 400 s ...

Port Moody Port Moody is a city in British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It envelops the east end of Burrard Inlet and is the smallest of the Tri-Cities, bordered by Coquitlam on the east and south a ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. He has a degree in Political Science and Philosophy from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

in Montreal, a Master's in Journalism from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in New York, and is a graduate of The

Poynter Institute The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is a non-profit journalism school and research organization in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. The school is the owner of the ''Tampa Bay Times'' newspaper and the International Fact-Checking Netwo ...

in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Career

Sachedina's work has appeared in the ''

Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published s ...

'', ''

The Province ''The Province'' is a daily newspaper published in tabloid format in British Columbia by Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, alongside the ''Vancouver Sun'' broadsheet newspaper. Together, they are British Columbia's only ...

'', the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', and

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

. While a student, Sachedina was an intern at

Global News Global News is the news and current affairs division of the Canadian Global Television Network. The network is owned by Corus Entertainment, which oversees all of the network's national news programming as well as local news on its 21 owned-and ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

and

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, as well as

CNN International CNN International (CNNI, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel that is owned by CNN Global. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates with sister network CNN's national and inter ...

in London, England. He began his broadcasting career as a reporter for

CTV Northern Ontario CTV Northern Ontario, formerly known as MCTV, is a system of four television stations in Northern Ontario, Canada, owned and operated by the CTV Television Network, a division of Bell Media. These stations are: * CICI - Greater Sudbury (flag ...

. He joined

Citytv Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The licence of the original Citytv station, granted the callsign of CITY-TV by the CRTC on November 25, 1971 to Cable Television Ass ...

in July 2006, working on newscasts for both City''News'' and

CP24 CP24 is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by Bell Media, a subsidiary of BCE Inc. and operated alongside the Bell-owned CTV Television Network's owned-and-operated television stations CFTO-DT (CTV Toronto) and CKVR-DT ( ...

, where he remained until 2008. While at

, Sachedina covered the 2009 Federal Budget from Ottawa, anchored the 2008 Canadian Federal Election night coverage, anchored the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election Night, and President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

's inauguration.

CTV National News

Sachedina joined ''

'' as a correspondent in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

on September, 2009, and has reported from the United States, Jordan, Israel, France, Mexico and South Africa. He also travelled to London, England to cover the Royal

Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton took place on Friday, 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey in London, England. The groom was second in the line of succession to the British throne. The couple had been in a relationship since ...

in 2011. Later that year, Sachedina went to Oslo, Norway, to report on the murder of 77 people at a youth camp. In 2012, Sachedina reported breaking international news when he travelled to Newtown, Connecticut to cover the second deadliest school shooting in United States history, the

Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, United States, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people. Twenty of the victims were children between six and seven years old, and t ...

Sachedina announced on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

on March 22, 2013, that he would be moving to Ottawa to assume the role of Parliamentary Correspondent. Sachedina previously resided in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. He is now based in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, working at ''

'' Ottawa Bureau. Sachedina is a frequent guest host on ''

Canada AM ''Canada AM'' was a Canadian morning television news show that aired on CTV from 1972 to 2016. Its final hosts were Beverly Thomson and Marci Ien, with Jeff Hutcheson presenting the weather forecast and sports. The program aired on weekdays, and ...

'', and contributes to CTVNews.ca and CTV's W5. In March 2012, Sachedina delivered an investigative documentary with CTV's W5, entitled, ''Cold Comfort.'' He also serves frequently as a substitute anchor on ''

'' for Lisa LaFlamme and

Sandie Rinaldo Sandra Brycks "Sandie" Rinaldo (born 16 January 1950) is a Canadian television journalist and anchor for CTV News. Youth and education She was born in Toronto, and was first seen on television as a dancer during the mid-1960s on CBC Television y ...

. On August 15, 2022, Sachedina was named chief news anchor and senior editor for ''CTV National News'', replacing Lisa LaFlamme. Sachedina began anchoring the newscast on September 5, 2022. On the day of his first broadcast, he addressed the controversy regarding LaFlamme's abrupt departure from the newscast.

Awards

In 2020, Sachedina was nominated for Best National Reporter in the Canadian Screen Awards, but he was not the winner. In 2011, the ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'' listed Sachedina on their ''Worthy 30'' list, honouring the top successful men in Toronto. Sachedina is the recipient of the 2010

RTNDA The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA, pronounced the same as " rotunda"), formerly the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), is a United States-based membership organization of radio, television, and online news dire ...

Canada President's Fellowship.

References

External links

CTV Personalities - Omar Sachedina

Twitter - Omar Sachedina

National Post Canada's Worthy 30 Omar Sachedina
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sachedina, Omar 1982 births Canadian television reporters and correspondents Canadian television news anchors Living people Canadian Ismailis People from Vancouver Canadian people of Gujarati descent CTV Television Network people 21st-century Canadian journalists Canadian people of Indian descent Khoja Ismailism