CTV News anchor Mutsumi Takahashi named Citizen of honour in Montreal

CTV News Montreal chief anchor Mutsumi Takahashi speaks at a ceremony at City Hall after receiving the Citizen of honour distinction from the City of Montreal on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Ville de Montréal/Sylvain Légaré)

Longtime CTV News anchor Mutsumi Takahashi was recognized with the Citizen of honour on Wednesday by the City of Montreal.

Takahashi received the high honour at a ceremony at City Hall where she also signed the Golden Book. The city awards the Citizen of honour distinction to people who "have improved the well-being of Montrealers through their actions, art and commitment."

Several of her close friends attended the ceremony.

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plate presents the Citizen of honour to CTV News Montreal chief anchor Mutsumi Takahashi Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Ville de Montréal/Sylvain Légaré)

"She is someone who tells it like it is," said Sylvia Martin-Laforge, director general of the Quebec Community Groups Network, following the event.

"As an anchor, she's a professional, she listens, she gives you space to talk and, you know, in this era of media that it's kind of a free-for-all out there, you know you can watch Mutsumi and listen to Mutsumi and you know it's not a free-for-all. She is telling it like it is."

Mutsumi Takahashi signed the Golden Book at the Citizen of honour ceremony at City Hall. (Ville de Montréal/Sylvain Légaré)

Former Westmount mayor Peter Trent was also at the ceremony and remarked in his speech how Takahashi "has a ferocious intellectual curiosity."

"She never excuses herself for some of the problems she incurred by being a member of a minority and last of all she never sought pity," he said. "She never demonstrated weakness … I never really met anybody like her. She is hard on herself but she is kind to all."

She joins a long list of notable figures who have been recognized with the honour, including Roger Thibault and Theo Wouters in 2023 for being the first same-sex couple to enter civil union in Canada and renowned author Mordecai Richler in 2015.

Takahashi has been a familiar face on Montreal television for more than 40 years and was formally recognized in Quebec's National Assembly for her contributions to journalism and to the community. Born in Shiroishi, Japan, she was named to the Order of Canada in 2018 and serves as a citizenship judge, presiding over ceremonies to swear in new Canadians.

In 1982, she started working as a news reporter at CFCF 12 — now CTV News Montreal — and took her place at the anchor desk four years later. Currently, she is the anchor of the 6 p.m. weekday newscasts.