John Wesley Dafoe (1866-1944)

Journalist.

Born at Combermere, Ontario, 8 March 1866, son of C. W. and Mary Dafoe. Educated at the Public and High Schools of Arnprior, Ontario. Commenced career as a reporter on Montreal Star, 1883-1885; editor of the Ottawa Journal, 1886; editorial staff, Manitoba Free Press, Winnipeg, 1886-1892; editor, Montreal Herald, 1892-1895; editorial staff, Montreal Star, 1895-1901; editor in chief, Manitoba Free Press, 1901-1944.

Dafoe made the Free Press the voice of Prairie Liberalism as well as an international newspaper of record. He combined an advocacy of western issues (lower tariffs, lower freight rates, provincial control of natural resources) with an international perspective that favoured the Commonwealth and the League of Nations. Dafoe helped found the Canadian Institute of International Affairs, and he was highly critical in the late 1930s of Mackenzie King’s diffident foreign policy. He was a member of the Rowell-Sirois Commission on Dominion-provincial relations and from 1934 to 1944 was chancellor of the University of Manitoba.

Married Alice Parmelee, Ottawa, 1890, with whom he had three sons and four daughters, including Elizabeth Dafoe.

His essay, Laurier: A Study in Canadian Politics (1922) and his biography Clifford Sifton in Relation to His Times (1931) are distinguished contributions to Canadian historical writing. As contributor of the chapters on the Economic History of the Prairie Provinces, 1870-1915, in Canada and Its Provinces, volume 20, Dafoe proved his knowledge of the growth of the Canadian West of which, indeed, he was himself a great part.

He is commemorated by Dafoe Road in Winnipeg and the Dafoe Book Prize.

His papers are at the Archives of Manitoba and the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections.

His articles for the Manitoba Historical Society:

Early Winnipeg Newspapers: The Last 70 Years of Journalism at Fort Garry and Winnipeg
MHS Transactions, Series 3, 1946-47 Season

More information:

The Politics of J. W. Dafoe and the Free Press by Ramsay Cook (1963)

Dafoe of the Free Press by Murray Donnelly (1968)

John Wesley Dafoe - Person of National Historic Significance

Sources:

Who’s Who in Western Canada: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of Western Canada, Volume 1, 1911. C. W. Parker, editor. Canadian Press Association, Vancouver.

Profile revised: 14 November 2009

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