EVERYTHING IN THIS BIOGRAPHY is sourced to Matt’s print and broadcast journalism; his diaries, notebooks and letters; interviews with his contemporaries; and his own stories and observations that so often enlivened the family dinner table. I have tried scrupulously to avoid embellishing the book with imaginative detail, or to attribute thoughts or feelings to Matt for which there is no evidence.
Two great national institutions helped make this book possible. The Canada Council provided me with a generous grant and Library and Archives Canada (LAC) – the institutional memory of our country – was unfailingly helpful with my research.
A biography of Matthew Halton was first discussed shortly after his death. Publishers approached his two friends, Rache Lovat Dickson and Sean Fielding, but were unsuccessful in persuading them to write a memoir. Forty years later the Alberta author Kenneth Dyba took up the challenge, conducting more than ninety interviews with Matt’s friends and colleagues before having to move on to other projects. Ken’s interviews were of immense value in shaping my own biography, and my thanks to him are boundless.
For years, a trove of research material was stored at the publisher Lester & Orpen Dennys, where it was meticulously sorted by Susan Burns, now my publisher’s wife.
When the material was later supplemented by more letters, transcripts, and interviews and turned over to LAC, Kara Quann did an excellent job re-cataloguing the Halton archive under the able supervision of Senior Archivist Rob Fisher.
I am indebted to friends who read all or parts of the manuscript. The improvements suggested by Alan Grossman, Andrew Cohen, Charlotte Gray, Tim Cook, Paul Gaffney, Jonathan Lovat Dickson, and Rodney Moore were invaluable.
In Pincher Creek, Harvey Wuth, curator of the Kootenai Brown Pioneer Village, shared his encyclopedic knowledge of local history to my great benefit.
Layla Mashkoor did valuable work unearthing Matt’s writings from a variety of media.
At the Toronto Star, Astrid Lange, Carol Elder, and MaryJo Lavelle gave generously of their time in tracking down photos and articles in the Star Weekly. I am also most grateful to Allison Lennox and Brent Michaluk at the CBC for digging out information from the corporation’s archives.
Doug Pepper, my publisher at McClelland & Stewart, showed admirable patience as deadlines were stretched because of the daunting volume of research material. Apart from being a pleasure to work with, my editor, Jenny Bradshaw, provided a skilful guiding hand in trimming verbiage and sharpening the focus of the book. I am also grateful to others at M&S and Random House of Canada for their help in producing the book, notably its eagle-eyed copy editor Wendy Thomas, designer Leah Springate, production coordinator Valentina Capuani, and publicist Shona Cook.
In the course of researching and writing Dispatches from the Front, I have benefited from the help of scores of other people, including (in alphabetical order):
Gene Allen, Christine Anderson, Timothy John Balzer, Ted Barris, Aimé-Jules Bizimana, Cindy Boucher, Bob and Mary-Jo Burles, Nicole Chauvelle, Tamar Chute, the Hon. Joe Clark, Beth Entz, Sylvia Faoro, John Fielding, Roderick Gibbs, Barbara Gillespie, Edmund Griffiths, Naomi Griffiths, Paul Egert, Bessie Halton, Don Halton, Steve Harris, Sarah Jennings, Joan Jewell, Ruth Kereliuk, Susan Langlois, Michael Maclear, Richard MacFarlane, Jean MacNaughton, Barbara Mahoney, Jean Matheson, Richard Menkis, Birga Meyer, Gillian Wadsworth Minifie, Hugh Whitney Morrison, Jeff Noakes, Jack Ondrack, Helen Piddington, Daniel Priollet, B.J. Scott, Ellen Shoeck, Bill Silver, Peter Smith, Zilla Soriano, Lib Spry, Peter Stursberg, Gwyn “Jocko” Thomas, Joe Thomas, Craig Thompson, Harold Troper, Bernard Trotter, Joe Turner, Lord George Weidenfeld.
Finally, I owe heartfelt gratitude to my wife, Zoya, for putting up with my long preoccupation with researching and writing this biography.