Swain first entered Winnipeg television as co-anchor of the evening newscast on independent station CKND in 1988. Notably, she co-anchored the newscast with her father Brian Swain. Swain joined CBC's Winnipeg station CBWT in 1990. She started as a reporter for the localnews program24 Hours and quickly became a national reporter. She covered Manitoba and Saskatchewan for The National before becoming anchor of 24 Hours. In 1997, she achieved national notice for her coverage of devastating floods in southern Manitoba. In 2000, Swain's work on 24 Hours was recognized when she won the first of three Gemini Awards for Best News Anchor. By winning the most prestigious award in Canadian television, she broke a streak that saw CBC's anchor Peter Mansbridge and CTV's national news anchor Lloyd Robertson swap the trophy back and forth for many years. In 2000 she anchored the Winnipeg portion of CBC's Canada Now before leaving for the investigative program Disclosure.
Toronto
Initially, Swain commuted to Toronto from Winnipeg while working on Disclosure, but in 2003, she and her family moved to Oakville, Ontario. A year later, "Disclosure" was cancelled, and Swain became the host of CBC News Toronto. Since then, she has frequently substituted for Peter Mansbridge as anchor of CBC's flagship news show, The National. On August 6, 2010, she stepped down as anchor of CBC News Toronto to move to the CBC News Investigative unit, where she is currently Senior Investigative Correspondent and makes frequent reports on The National. In 2014 she became an anchor on CBC News Network. In 2016, she began hosting a brand new program - The Investigators with Diana Swain - which looks at the work of investigative journalists and the challenges and ethical questions they face in their work. She can also be heard on CBC Radio and can be seen on cbcnews.ca. Swain was given the alumni of the year award from her alma materBCIT in 2006 recognizing her achievements in the industry. She received an honorary degree from Humber College in June, 2010. In 2017, she received an honorary Doctorate in Technology from BCIT and gave the convocation speech 30 years after her own graduation from the school's journalism program.
Personal life
Swain has two children: son Mason and daughter Lara. She was previously married to former Winnipeg sportscaster Ron Kuipers.