A globally acclaimed musician born and raised in Morden is receiving yet another honour.
It was announced last week that Loreena McKennitt will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in recognition of her “astounding contributions to Canada’s music history.”
Now long based in Stratford, Ontario, McKennitt said she was surprised and humbled by the honour.
“You kind of go through a range of things, particularly when one considers the other people who are being inducted this year as well as the ones in the past … it’s a pretty storied and iconic bunch. I would never have considered myself in their company.
“I am extremely honoured to be acknowledged in this way. It has been and continues to be a fascinating, enriching, and at times challenging journey,” McKennitt continued. “I am now humbled to find myself in the company of all the other artists who’ve been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and I’m most grateful for the enjoyment and enrichment I’ve experienced through their creative work.”
She added seeing how there is such a diverse group of esteemed musicians in the hall of fame says something about Canadian music.
“Music has been a very strong part of the Canadian fabric … certainly there in Manitoba, certainly there in that region [of Morden and Winkler].
“I do think Canada is pretty prominent in this way,” said McKennitt. “When I think back on my formative years in Morden, there was just music all the time everywhere … it just seemed like it was a very constant part of our fabric.”
A May 15 ceremony will officially induct McKennitt along with Dan Hill, Ginette Reno, Glass Tiger, and Sum 41.
McKennitt is a rarity in popular music: a self-managed, self-produced artist who owns her own record label and mounts her own tours.
She has sold more than 14 million albums worldwide with music that crosses stylistic and cultural boundaries. Her songs, which combine elements of pop, folk and world beat styles, has often been dubbed “eclectic Celtic.”
McKennitt’s extensive catalogue includes eight studio recordings, three seasonal recordings, seven live recordings, one field recording, four compilations, a live in-concert DVD, and two DVD documentaries. Available in more than 40 countries, they have garnered critical acclaim worldwide and gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards in 15 countries across four continents.
And yet, growing up in Morden, McKennitt would not have imagined her life’s journey taking her into music.
“I wanted to be a veterinarian. I never aspired to have a career in music, and I still maintain that I’ve got the internal disposition of a vet,” she shared.
“Part of it is the way I’ve run my career and undertaken my creations, being so interested in the history of the Celts and travelling and research and then spinning that back into my music,” McKennitt said. “When I look back, it looks to me like kind of an act of musical travel writing.”
She started singing in small clubs in Winnipeg and then at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. She eventually made her first recording with money borrowed from her parents.
“It was $10,000 they had saved for my veterinarian studies, and I asked if I could borrow it to make my first recording … I’m not sure I would have,” she recalled with a laugh.
Then based in Stratford, she spent one week recording in a barn in Elora and generated 30 cassettes.
“And I went to the St. Lawrence market in Toronto and busked at the market,” said McKennitt, who gradually kept building her audience, doing a variety of small concerts and all the while maintaining her independence.
“There was an eco-system, but there was also a business model whereby you could make a decent living,” she said, suggesting the music business was the first industry to really be hit hard by the unregulated tech companies and online services and sharing sites. “If I were to start now, there’s absolutely no way that it could be built to the height and degree that it has.”
She touched on the harmful impact of social media, especially on youth and the impact on democracy, but she especially lamented the increasing loss of music programs for many youth.
“I feel immensely grateful that I grew up in that community and those people who nurtured that, who participated … it just was there, and people loved it,” said McKennitt, who recalled having a music teacher who required her students to also participate in a choir.
Although she has largely stepped back from her musical career in recent years, she has continued to do a number of smaller tours. Her recent projects include putting together a Christmas performance called Under The Winter’s Moon with a Celtic band called The Bookends, and she hinted at perhaps touring again in 2026.
“I’m hugely blessed to have some amazing musicians to work with that just make it a pleasure every night,” McKennitt noted. “I’m just trying to find other things that if we’re not out doing international touring that there are things that we can do on a smaller and more local level.”
