author
John Wesley Dafoe
1866–1944
A powerful newspaper editor helped shape public debate in Canada for more than four decades, earning a reputation as one of the country’s most influential journalists. His writing and public voice were closely tied to the rise of the Winnipeg Free Press and to major national questions of his time.
3 Audiobooks
Over the Canadian Battlefields Notes of a Little Journey in France, in March, 1919
by John Wesley Dafoe
Laurier: A Study in Canadian Politics
by John Wesley Dafoe
Empire Partnership
by John Wesley Dafoe
About the author
Born in Combermere, Canada West, on March 8, 1866, he started working young, teaching school before moving into journalism in the 1880s. After early newspaper work in Montreal and Ottawa, he built his career in Winnipeg, where he became editor of the Manitoba Free Press in 1901.
He led the paper — later known as the Winnipeg Free Press — until his death in 1944, and during those years became one of the best-known editorial voices in Canada. Sources consistently describe him as an influential journalist and public commentator, and his work reached well beyond Manitoba into national affairs.
He also wrote books, including a biography of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and was recognized as a person of national historic significance in Canada. He died in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on January 9, 1944.