Victor Coleman French *
President 1921-1922
Wetaskiwin, AB

Victor Coleman French

VICTOR Coleman French founded The Wetaskiwin (Alta.) Times; when it began its fortieth year he established a record for Western Canada for continuous publication under the same ownership.

V.C. French started to learn the printer’s trade at the age of 15 at The Exeter (Ont.) Times, moving to The Mitchell (Ont.) Recorder and The Clinton (Ont.) New Era. At the turn of the century he went west and was favourably impressed by Wetaskiwin. There was already another newspaper there, published by the then not so famous, but versatile, Bob Edwards. Mr. French hesitated, working for a short time at The Lacombe (Alta.) Advocate before determining to return to Wetaskiwin despite Bob Edwards and his paper. He purchased equipment in Winnipeg, rented part of a house, and his first issue was published in March 1901. In 1906 he built The Times Block which remained the home of the paper..
He became active in most of the organizations in the town including the United Church, Kiwanis, Masons and I.O.O.F. He was past chairman of the Alberta newspapers division. Mr. French died in 1941. His widow Winona wrote the history of the paper and town for the 50th anniversary edition of the paper in 1951.

Mr. French had a busy year as CWNA president.
Accompanied by manager Roy Sayles, Mr. French attended regional conferences in the west, speaking on the work of CWNA, management of the office, the need for improved newspapers, the mimimum $2 suscription rate, relations with advertising agencies, the cost of producing display advertising, and a system for estimating job printing costs. He urged the forming of district associations which would meet at least twice a year. The first district was formed in the Okanagan Valley, B.C., in 1921, the next in New Glasgow, N.S., in 1922 and then five districts in Manitoba.

CWNA pioneered in the establishment of schools of journalism. The association had by resolution recorded the need for journalism courses. The first short course was held in 1921 at the University of Toronto; the second in 1922 at Manitoba Agricultural College, Winnipeg, with participants living in for six days at a cost of $1.50 per day. Soon other provinces followed suit. Eventually the first permanent Faculty of Journalism was established at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario.
By the end of Mr. French’s term as president, membership had soared to 511. This increased the work of the manager as CWNA office made itself useful in the collection of accounts, credit information, job printing estimates, promotion work, heading off free publicity seekers and the preparation of special material for the Bulletins, which at some times averaged one every seven days in 1921.
The third annual convention was held in Ottawa in June, 1922, attended by over 400. For the first time there were newspaper competitions - two of them! Manager Sayles offered two prizes of $10 for “the best and neatest weekly newspaper.” The Weyburn (Sask.) Review was the winner and The Norwich (Ont.) Register won the second award which was for the best newspaper using readyprint. Convention delegates were received by Lord and Lady Byng at Rideau Hall. Sessions were rushed and it was determined that convention business really required more than two days to complete.

* Indicates that this honouree has deceased