Veteran Winnipeg journalist Val Werier dead at 96
Werier, who wrote for the Winnipeg Tribune and the Winnipeg Free Press, had a career spanning more than 75 years.
Veteran Winnipeg journalist Val Werier died Monday at age 96. Werier had a career spanning more than 75 years. He started as a freelancer for the Winnipeg Tribune and after its demise in 1980, he joined the Winnipeg Free Press.
In his last column in the Free Press, published in 2013, Werier reflected on his early days as a journalist. "I got my first byline as a reporter 75 years ago, freelancing for the Winnipeg Tribune at a princely sum of 20 cents per column inch. How happy I was to open the newspaper and see my name in print," he said.
The Free Press said Werier wrote “unrelentingly as a champion of the environment long before it was fashionable.”
Werier received both the Order of Canada and the Order of Manitoba and was honoured by the Winnipeg Press Club with its President's Award for Someone Who Made a Difference.
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Tamara Baluja is an award-winning journalist with CBC Vancouver and the 2018 Michener-Deacon fellow for journalism education. She was the associate editor for J-Source from 2013-2014.