Donat Marc LeBourdais (1887 – November 8, 1964) was a Canadian non-fiction writer and political activist. He wrote eight books during his lifetime, including six on Canada's economic history, a financial investment guide and a biography of explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson.
Born in Clinton, British Columbia and raised in Barkerville, he worked for the Yukon Telegraph Service before moving to Ottawa in 1919. He founded the shortlived journal Canadian Nation, before joining a press syndicate to report on Stefansson's expedition to Wrangel Island. He moved to Toronto in 1926, and began to write for periodicals including the Canadian Geographical Journal, Maclean's, Empire Review, Saturday Night and The Beaver."Canada An Unfinished Country". Swan Valley Star and Times, May 17, 1962. During World War II, he was also employed as an administrator with the Wartime Prices and Trade Board.
As an activist he was the founding executive secretary of the National Railway League, an organization formed to defend public ownership of the Canadian National Railway,"Proposed League Pledges Defense Of C.N.R. System: New Organization Will Answer Hostile and Unfavorable Attacks on Publicly Owned Railways". The Globe and Mail, February 11, 1936. and served on the boards of the National Committee on Mental Hygiene and the Mental Patients Welfare Association."Whitby Patient Held Behind Bars, Says LeBourdais". The Globe and Mail, October 1, 1949. He ran for election to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1935 federal election as a Co-operative Commonwealth Federation candidate in the electoral district of High Park, but lost to Alexander James Anderson."Parties Name Nominees in 169 Seats Today". Lethbridge Herald, October 7, 1935.
He married journalist Isabel LeBourdais in 1942. Isabel was noted for her 1966 book The Trial of Steven Truscott."Name Isabel LeBourdais Most Newsworthy Woman". Brandon Sun, December 24, 1966. They raised four children. Their grandchildren include Mark LeBourdais, a musician who was associated with the band King Apparatus in the 1990s.
Works Northward on the New Frontier (1931)"Miscellaneous Topics Provide Grist for Authors' Literary Mills". Winnipeg Free Press, December 5, 1931. Canada's Century (1951)"Rich Northern Resources Index to Canada's Future". The Globe and Mail, April 28, 1951. Why Be a Sucker? Invest in Canada (1952)"Invest Wisely". The Globe and Mail, October 11, 1952. Nation of the North: Canada Since Confederation (1953)"Books received". Winnipeg Free Press, December 19, 1953. Sudbury Basin: The Story of Nickel (1953)"Rocky Sudbury Sustained By Vast Mineral Wealth". The Globe and Mail, December 19, 1953. Metals and Men: The Story of Canadian Mining (1957)W.T. Easterbrook and M.H. Watkins, Approaches to Canadian Economic History. McGill-Queens University Press, 1967. . p. 277. Canada and the Atomic Revolution (1959)"Canada leader or satellite?" Lac du Bonnet Springfield Leader, January 19, 1960. Stefansson: Ambassador of the North (1963)"Stefansson: Ambassador of the North by D.M. LeBourdais". Ottawa Citizen, December 7, 1963.
References
External links Donat LeBourdais papers on Stefansson biography at Dartmouth College Library Sigrid Galbraith Letters and Memoranda at Dartmouth College Library