Journalist, author.
Born atWinnipeg on 19 March 1942, daughter ofHenry “Harry” Robertson and Margaret Ellen Duncan (1911-1988), she was educated atKelvin High School and theUniversity of Manitoba, serving at the latter as Editor ofThe Manitoban (1961-1962). She began a career in professional journalism at theWinnipeg Free Press and later theWinnipeg Tribune. She also contributed articles to such magazines asChatelaine,Saturday Night, andMacleans. She published her first non-fiction book in 1968, producing more non-fiction works during the 1970s and early 1980s. Then she switched to fiction before returning to non-fiction in the 1990s.
Her books include the following:
- Sugar Farmers of Manitoba (1968)
- Reservations are for Indians (1970)
- Grass Roots (1973)
- Salt of the Earth (1974)
- A Terrible Beauty: The Art of Canada at War (1977)
- The Flying Bandit (1981)
- Willie: A Romance (The King Years, Volume 1) (1983)
- I Fought Riel: A Military Memoir byCharles Arkoll Boulton (1985, editor)
- Lily: A Rhapsody in Red (The King Years, Volume 2) (1986)
- Igor: A Novel of Intrigue (1989)
- More than a Rose: Prime Ministers, Wives, and other Women (1991)
- On the Hill: A People’s Guide to Canada’s Parliament (1992)
- Driving Force: The McLaughlin Family and the Age of the Car (1995)
- Writing from Life: A Guide for Writing True Stories (1998)
- Meeting Death: In Hospital, Hospice, and at Home (2000)
- Magical, Mysterious Lake of the Woods (2003)
- Measuring Mother Earth: How Joe the Kid Became Tyrrell of the North (2007)
- Walking into Wilderness: The Toronto Carrying Place and Nine Mile Portage (2010)
She was a founding member of the Writers’ Union of Canada and the Periodical Writers Association of Canada. In 1996, she launched a class-action lawsuit over what she believed was the illegal use of print articles in online media without due compensation to the authors. The case went to the Supreme Court of Canada where her view was upheld. She received an honorary doctorate from theUniversity of Manitoba in 1998.
She died at King City, Ontario on 19 March 2014. A collection of her papers is held at theUniversity of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections.
Obituary [Margaret Ellen Robertson],Winnipeg Free Press, 5 January 1988, page 38.
“Author excelled at both fiction and true tales,”Winnipeg Free Press, 21 March 2014, page D5.
“Writer’s best legacy: respect for her peers,”Winnipeg Free Press, 25 March 2014, page A2.
This page was prepared byGordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 19 April 2025
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