Dead at 68: Christie Blatchford was a tenacious voice for victims, a thorn to the smug

Christie Blatchford, a powerful public voice through nearly five decades of journalism, has died after being diagnosed with cancer in November.

Blatchford was one of Canada’s most prominent writers, having been a leading journalist at each of Toronto’s daily newspapers, a trailblazer for women in sports reporting, an award-winning war correspondent, and a columnist renowned for her vexing mix of toughness and tenderness.

She was 68.

Blatchford spent two stints as a marquee columnist at National Post, including being one of the first editorial employees hired when the newspaper was created in 1998. Her last column in the Post and the Postmedia chain was published on Oct 22, expressing her bewilderment that Justin Trudeau was re-elected.