{{For|the Canadian professional wrestler|Dan McLeod (wrestler)}} {{Infobox writer | embed = | honorific_prefix = | name = Dan McLeod | honorific_suffix = | image = Dan Mcleod, Cooktown lo-res.jpg | image_size = | image_upright = | landscape = | alt = | caption = Dan McLeod at work near Cooktown, Australia | native_name = | native_name_lang = | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Canada | death_date = | death_place = | resting_place = | occupation = Journalist, writer | language = English | nationality = Canadian | citizenship = Canada | education = | alma_mater = | period = | genre = Journalism | subject = | movement = | notable_works = | spouse = | partner = | children = | relatives = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | signature_type = | years_active = | module = | website = | portaldisp = }}
'''Dan McLeod''' (born 1943) is a Canadian writer and journalist. He is one of the founders and the former owner, publisher, and editor of the influential weekly newspaper, ''The Georgia Straight'' in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Dan was born and raised in Vancouver. He graduated from Kitsilano High School and went on to study mathematics and meteorology at the University of British Columbia,<ref name="rickmcgrath.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.rickmcgrath.com/georgia_straight/staffers.html |title=Georgia Straight Staff 1967-1972 |accessdate=January 5, 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222025442/http://www.rickmcgrath.com/georgia_straight/staffers.html |archivedate=February 22, 2012 }}</ref> where Dan earned an Honours B.Sc degree in mathematics. He was also a poet, and after readings by the poet Charles Duncan (poet) at U.B.C. in the summer of 1961, he, with some friends, began a small newsletter, ''Tish'', which he edited from about 1964 until ''The Georgia Straight'' was founded in 1967.<ref name="chronology1967">{{Cite web|url=http://www.chuckdavis.ca/chronology1967.htm|title=The History of Metropolitan Vancouver - 1967 Chronology|website=www.chuckdavis.ca|accessdate=Apr 8, 2020|archive-date=March 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303175054/http://www.chuckdavis.ca/chronology1967.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Foundation of ''The Georgia Straight''== :"Legend has it the joint decision to start a so-called underground newspaper like the Village Voice was made at a party following a poetry reading by Leonard Cohen. McLeod emerged as the prime leader behind the idealistic, naive, frequently irresponsible, consistently cheeky, often insightful, collectively-run initiative because he was most willing to take the brunt of police persecution and unmitigated legal harassment that ensued."<ref name="chronology1967" />
:In April 1967: "The proposed paper is christened ''The Georgia Straight'' over beer at the Cecil Hotel. The name aims to play on the fact that the weather forecasts will offer free publicity: they're always issuing gale warnings for ''The Georgia Strait''."<ref>''The Georgia Straight: What the Hell Happened''? Naomi Pauls and Charles Campbell, p. 67. (1997) Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver/Toronto. {{ISBN|1-55054-534-5}}.</ref>
The paper was founded by Pierre Coupey,<ref name="rickmcgrath.com"/> Milton Acorn,<ref name="rickmcgrath.com"/> Dan McLeod, Stan Persky, and others, and operated originally as a collective.<ref>''The Georgia Straight: What the Hell Happened''? Naomi Pauls and Charles Campbell, p. 20 (1997) Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver/Toronto. {{ISBN|1-55054-534-5}}.</ref>
The first issue appeared on 5 May 1967 and cost a dime. It was at first a biweekly. On 12 May the paper moved into its first office at 432 Homer St., and soon after Dan was taken away in a paddy wagon and jailed for three hours for "investigation of vagrancy." College Printers refused to print the second issue,<ref name="chronology1967" /> but an alternative printer was soon found. Dan continued to regularly find himself at odds with the Law, especially in the early days, and was even asked once by a policeman: "What do you want me to arrest you for—disturbing the peace?"<ref>''The Georgia Straight: What the Hell Happened?'' Naomi Pauls and Charles Campbell, p. 20. (1997) Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver/Toronto. {{ISBN|1-55054-534-5}}.</ref>
"The Straight" soon developed into an anti-establishment alternative newspaper with a focus on investigative reporting, and providing a voice for the growing alternative culture in Vancouver, which grew rapidly in the late 1960s with an influx of many thousands of Vietnam War draft dodgers and military deserters seeking refuge, as Canada remained neutral.<ref name="dogers">[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/draft-dodger-memorial-to-be-built-in-b-c-1.492954 Draft-dodger memorial to be built in B.C.], CBC News, 09/08/2004</ref> This exodus was "the largest politically motivated migration from the United States since the United Empire Loyalists moved north to oppose the American Revolution."<ref name = "strawberry">"On Strawberry Hill" by Chris Turner in The Walrus, September 2007.</ref>
:"Then-editor (and now publisher) Dan McLeod was a grad student and a poet who strongly advocated press freedoms. He opened up the pages of the Straight as a forum for alternative opinions, which often got him in trouble with the law. Within the first two years of publication, McLeod and his paper were charged with 27 counts of obscenity, one charge of "counselling to commit an indictable offence" (for publishing tips on how to grow marijuana) and one count of criminal libel for comparing a judge to Pontius Pilate."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rrj.ca/issue/1996/spring/216/ |title=Ryerson Review of Journalism |access-date=2009-06-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090608081926/http://www.rrj.ca/issue/1996/spring/216 |archive-date=2009-06-08 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Awards==
In 1998, Dan won the Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award from the Jack Webster Foundation.<ref name="straight-2000">{{Cite web|url=https://www.straight.com/article/2-000-issues-and-counting|title=2,000 issues and counting|date=Apr 20, 2006|website=The Georgia Straight|accessdate=Apr 8, 2020}}</ref><ref>http://www.jackwebster.com/awards/1998.shtml/images/past_awards.swf{{Dead link|date=July 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
In 2002, Dan McLeod was honoured with another Lifetime Achievement Award from the Western Magazine Awards Foundation.<ref name="straight-2000" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sources.com/SSR/Docs/WesternMagazineAwardsWinnners2002.htm|title=Sources Select Resources|website=www.sources.com|accessdate=Apr 8, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://abcbookworld.com/writer/mcleod-dan/|title=McLeod Dan|website=ABC BookWorld|accessdate=Apr 8, 2020}}</ref>
==Recent activities==
{{As of|2009}}, Dan McLeod still owns, edits and publishes ''The Georgia Straight'', and he and his partner Yolanda Stepien, are involved in many philanthropic and other projects supporting the arts. They have two grown children. Their son, Matt, is currently VP of Operations for the Straight, while Yolanda is the Distribution Director.<ref name="rickmcgrath.com" />
==Footnotes== {{Reflist}}
==References== * ''The Georgia Straight: What the Hell Happened''? Naomi Pauls and Charles Campbell. (1997) Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver/Toronto. {{ISBN|1-55054-534-5}}.
==External links== * [https://www.straight.com/ ''The Georgia Straight''] * For some excellent video clips on the history of The Georgia Straight, go to: [https://www.straight.com/article-161796/last-streetfighter-history-georgia-straight History of The Georgia Straight | The Georgia Straight » Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly] * [https://www.straight.com/article/2-000-issues-and-counting "2,000 issues and counting."] Dave Watson. April 20, 2006. * [http://www.abcbookworld.com/view_author.php?id=4324 "McLeod, Dan"] on abcbookworld.com * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120222025442/http://www.rickmcgrath.com/georgia_straight/staffers.html "Storming The Barricades: Vancouver's Underground Press Gangs: 1967-1973."] * [http://www.vancouverhistory.ca/chronology1967.htm "The History of Metropolitan Vancouver"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090703060549/http://www.vancouverhistory.ca/chronology1967.htm |date=2009-07-03 }} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090608081926/http://www.rrj.ca/issue/1996/spring/216 "What a Long Straight Trip It's Been: From rag to respectability: the real dope on Canada's oldest underground weekly."] Jennifer Patterson. ''Ryerson Review of Journalism'', Spring 1996. * The Last Streetfighter, the history of The Georgia Straight, documentary. * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QykaUVHvags <!-- use Mac for Mc in sorts -->
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{{DEFAULTSORT:McLeod, Dan}} Category:Canadian newspaper editors Category:Canadian newspaper founders Category:Canadian newspaper journalists Category:Canadian male journalists Category:20th-century Canadian newspaper publishers (people) Category:21st-century Canadian newspaper publishers (people) Category:20th-century Canadian poets Category:Canadian male poets Category:Poets from Vancouver Category:University of British Columbia alumni Category:Living people Category:1943 births Category:20th-century Canadian male writers Category:Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award winners