Reporter, journalist, filmmaker.
Born at Winnipeg on 7 December 1962 to Marilyn Deanna Johnson (1937-2013) and Roderick John Thomson “Thom” Murray (1932-2013), she graduated from Churchill High School in 1980. After a few years in the work force she decided to pursue a career in the media and began studies in the Creative Communications Program at Red River Community College. Her studies there included various internships at local newspapers and radio stations. In 1987 she made the jump to television where she was a news reporter for CKY-TV in Winnipeg. Two years later she decided to relocate to Toronto, where she returned to writing for the Canadian TV trade journal Playback, and being the Toronto correspondent for Variety, the main trade journal of the American entertainment industry.
She returned to the medium of television when she was hired by Citytv as a producer for Media Television, and then SexTV, an award-winning, internationally-syndicated Canadian documentary series that explored all facets of human sexuality and gender. Whether in radio, newspaper, or television, she always had a passion for telling stories, which led her to begin creating documentary films. In 1997 she completed her first documentary film, Windows on Asia-Pacific: The Medium is the Masses.
While working on a segment during her time with Citytv, she met and was inspired in many ways by John Dugdale, a blind photographer whose story she felt compelled to tell. Life's Evening Hour, her second documentary, tells the story of Dugdale’s struggle with HIV/AIDS and blindness. In her third documentary film, Adventures in Breathing, she told the most personal story of all, that of her struggle with a chronic lung disease and a life-saving double lung transplant. This was followed with two educational films for others facing a transplant: A Patient’s Perspective: Preparing for Transplant and A Patient’s Perspective: Recovering from Transplant.
Not only were her films an outlet for her creative mind, but she was the recipient of numerous awards including recognition from the McLuhan Program in Culture Technology; a Certificate of Merit from Intercom, a video competition associated with the Chicago Film Festival; and a nomination for Best Educational Program at the Yorkton Short Film Video Festival. Her films have appeared at numerous film festivals in North America as well as on Bravo, and Discovery Health Canada.
She had three children: Brent Halayko, Justin Halayko, and Matthew Richardson. In 1994 she married Victor Chadi. She died at Toronto, Ontario on 10 August 2006.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 15 August 2006.
“Karen Murdina Murray,” All My Relations Family Tree, Ancestry.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 24 February 2024
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