McCue grew up in a traditional culture where hunting and trapping were central to life. Cree was the main language. At 17.5, McCue graduated high school and, at the suggestion of his father took a year off school to hunt, trap and fish with an elder named Robbie Matthew Sr.. Living on the land for 5 months helped McCue settle questions about his identity. He also learned about the plants and animal, and traditional methods of Cree teaching, which he calls 'learning experientially.' McCue would later write a book about that time in his life called the Shoe Boy. McCue left the community to attend university and earned a degree in English at University of King's College in Halifax. His first introduction to journalism came working on the school newspaper at King's. After graduating, he attended law school at the University of British ColumbiaFirst Nations law program. While in school he worked part-time at several different television jobs, including the CBC. In 1998 after he was called to the bar, McCue launched a career as television news reporter at CBC.
Career
From 1998 to 2016 McCue worked as a national reporter for CBC radio and television in Vancouver, frequently filing for the national. During this time McCue also worked as an adjunctprofessor at the University of British Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. He also taught aboriginal Canadians at First Nations University and Capilano College. McCue has won a number of journalism awards, including a Jack Webster Award for Best Feature, an RTNDA Award for Best Long Feature and two regional RTNDA Diversity Awards for his coverage of aboriginal issues. McCue was part of the CBC Aboriginal team's investigation into missing and murdered Indigenous women which won the Hillman Award for Investigative Journalism and the 2016 Canadian Association of Journalist's Don McGillivray Award. in 2017 he won an Indspire award for public service. In 2010–11, he was awarded a John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford University in California. The fellowship allowed McCue to create an online education guide to help journalists who report in Indigenous communities. He continues to be the curator of Reporting in Indigenous Communities. Beginning August 7, 2016 McCue became the new host of Cross Country Checkup, replacing Rex Murphy, making McCue the first Indigenous person to host a mainstream show at the public broadcaster. Checkup is a national open-line radio program. It plays weekly on Sunday afternoons, and covers a broad range of topics. According to the CBC, the show has more than a half million listeners and on average, 5,000 to 10,000 people attempt to call in each week. He also regularly reports on current affairs for The National. In 2016 he was appointed Rogers visiting journalist at the Ryerson School of Journalism at the Faculty of Communication & Design where he worked with instructors in the School of Journalism to develop new approaches and curriculum for students learning to report on indigenous stories and issues. In 2018 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Kings University in recognition of his public service. McCue lives in Toronto. He has two children.
