Sunday, February 16th, 2025

Dan Needles was appointed to the Order of Canada on Boxing Day.

The Nottawa playwright was among 95 people in a wide range of fields appointed by Governor General of Canada David Johnston.

As a member of the Order of Canada, Needles is recognized for celebrating “rural communities as the playwright of the much-loved Wingfield Farm series, and for championing the dramatic arts outside of Canada’s major centres”.

“I was thrilled,” said Needles. “I think it’s lovely. The idea is that the Order is given to people who help to build a better Canada for starters and the idea that you can build a better country by making people laugh is one of the reasons that I prize my Canadian citizenship.”

Needles became editor of the Free Press and Economist, a small town weekly newspaper near Rosemont, Ontario, in 1974, where he began writing the Letter from Wingfield Farm column. The column developed into the Wingfield Farm plays.

Needles is the author of 13 plays that show the humorous side of country life as experienced by Walt Wingfield, a city man who becomes a farmer in the fictional Persephone Township.

“What I like about this is the attention that has given to farmers in rural Canada indirectly through the granting of the Order to me,” said Needles. “I think our national character has been shaped by people who live in the country and if you only listen to the voice of the city – and these days the media is dominated by that – you tend to forget that fact.”

“The country has produced a lot of interesting people who don’t make a lot of fuss and they have a great sense of fun and that’s what the Wingfield plays are about, they are about these people. The plays have crisscrossed the country for 30 years because they speak to communities like ours, places that are often overlooked by popular culture. The fact that I have been given this honour shows respect for those people and the neighbourhoods they represent.”

Needles is also the author of two books and the winner of the 2003 Stephen Leacock Medal for humour.

Letter From Wingfield Farm, the first play in the Wingfield Series of seven plays and the first play staged by Theatre Orangeville 21 years ago, is playing at Theatre Orangeville from Feb. 18 to Mar. 8. 

His latest play, Baco Noir, is not a Wingfield play but it is a comedy about a young couple trying to make a go of a vineyard in Persephone Township. It will be on stage in Orangeville May 7-24 and then in Collingwood the week after.

Needles received a phone call from the Governor General’s office at the beginning of December asking if he would accept the award. He will be presented the insignia at an official ceremony in Ottawa later this year.

The Order of Canada, one of our country’s highest civilian honours, was established in 1967, during Canada’s centennial year, to recognize outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation. Over the last 45 years, more than 6,000 people from all sectors of society have been invested into the Order.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *