
Dan Lett
Columnist
Born and raised in and around Toronto, Dan Lett came to Winnipeg in 1986, less than a year out of journalism school with a lifelong dream to be a newspaper reporter.
No really, it was his earliest dream, one that possessed him since he was a kid. He carefully studied every episode of Lou Grant, watched All the President’s Men repeatedly and memorized Humphrey Bogart’s concluding monologue from Deadline USA.
As you can imagine, Dan did not have many friends growing up. That’s what happens when no one on the playground will go “on the record.”
Since arriving in Winnipeg, he has worked at Free Press bureaus covering every level of government — from city hall to the national bureau in Ottawa. And he has seen some stuff.
He has had bricks thrown at him in riots following the 1995 Quebec referendum, wrote stories that helped in part to free three wrongly convicted men, met Fidel Castro, was trapped in a riot with Imelda Marcos, interviewed three Philippine presidents, crossed two borders in Africa illegally, chased Somali pirates in a Canadian warship and had several guns pointed at him.
In other words, he’s had every experience a journalist could ever hope for.
He has also been fortunate enough to be a two-time nominee for a National Newspaper Award, winning in 2003 for investigations. Other awards include winner of the B’Nai Brith National Human Rights Media Award and nominee for the Michener Award for Meritorious Public Service in Journalism.
Dan’s principal beat now is politics, but he also dabbles in justice and youth sports. He also devotes time to programming content at the Free Press News Café.
Now firmly rooted in Winnipeg, Dan visits Toronto often, but no longer pines to live there.
Recent articles of Dan Lett
Deal flushes Pallister-caused clog in sewage-treatment plant upgrades
4 minute read Preview Yesterday at 7:00 PM CDTOutsiders’ gripes aside, no need to alter rules for mayor’s cabinet
5 minute read Preview Friday, Aug. 12, 2022Tax policy key to unlocking minimum-wage debate
5 minute read Preview Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022Project Dioxide data price tag raises further questions
5 minute read Preview Monday, Aug. 8, 2022Tories see no monkeypox, speak no monkeypox
5 minute read Preview Friday, Aug. 5, 2022Stefanson takes step north to open distance on Pallister
5 minute read Preview Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022Pope’s omission proof of long way still to go
5 minute read Preview Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022After a week of carefully crafted apologies for the Roman Catholic church’s role in residential schools, Pope Francis decided to save his most intriguing comments to last.
On a July 30 flight from Iqaluit to Rome following a six-day tour of Canada, Francis finally conceded the residential schools system amounted to “genocide.” Although he apologized repeatedly for the Church’s role in that system, to that point he had not uttered the term genocide.
In an exchange with reporters on the plane, Francis noted he had used words like “assimilation” and “colonization” and “cultural destruction,” all of which the pontiff argued amounted to the same assessment.
“It’s true that I did not use the word because I didn’t think of it. Yes, genocide is a technical word, but I did not use it because I did not think of it. But … yes, it was a genocide, yes, yes, clearly. You can say that I said it was a genocide.”