OTTAWA — Journalist Stephen Thorne, who movingly chronicled some of the most difficult episodes in Canada's recent history, died Friday after contracting prostate cancer.
Thorne spent most of his career at The Canadian Press and later worked as a freelance writer, photographer and public relations consultant before joining Legion Magazine.
He worked at CP for nearly three decades, covering everything from major crime and federal politics to coastal fishing controversies and professional baseball.
But most of all he was attracted to events that tested the human spirit.
Thorne has been the public's eyes and ears on stories such as the 1992 Westray coal mine explosion, the 1998 Swissair Flight 111 crash and the Canadian Forces invasion of Afghanistan following the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.
His incisive writing style allowed facts, highlighted by vivid details, to propel the narrative forward.
Thorne was also an accomplished photographer who captured moments of intense drama, unspeakable sadness and joyful camaraderie.
He has received numerous awards for his journalism. Among other awards, Thorne has won the National Newspaper Award for breaking news and international reporting, the Ross Munro Media Award for defense reporting and four RTNDA national radio awards.
Former CP editor-in-chief Scott White said he once told Thorne he was the best breaking news reporter he had ever worked with.
Thorne was often competing with many other news outlets chasing the same stories.
“But he told it differently and better,” White said. “This guy was a great writer.”
Thorne was the sole reporter for the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry during its attack on the Back of the Whale in eastern Afghanistan in March 2002, Canada's first combat operation in half a century.
In words and photographs, he also depicted the rhythm of daily life for Canadian soldiers and Afghans in the war zone.
White spoke with Thorne frequently on the phone during his time in Afghanistan.
“He was completely in his element—pissing off the bosses, telling good, human stories, breaking some stories,” White recalled.
Thorne grew up in Halifax, where he attended Queen Elizabeth High School and then studied political science at Acadia University in Wolfville, North Carolina.
He worked for the Halifax Chronicle Herald as a reporter and photographer in the early 1980s and joined CP in 1984.
“I have interviewed political leaders, Nobel laureates, grieving families, wounded soldiers, disaster survivors, artists, heroes, villains, celebrities, performers and sports icons,” Thorne wrote on his website.
“I’ve walked the windswept sands of Sable Island, chased the dancing northern lights in Canada’s high Arctic, and climbed the towering peaks of the Rocky Mountains—and the Hindu Kush.”
Former CP journalist Dean Beebe, who supervised Thorne in Halifax and Ottawa, described him as a dogged, independent-minded reporter who grabbed a story and wouldn't let go.
“He had that very rare combination of someone who was passionate about chasing a story, and when he had it, he could sit down and write it in a way that made you feel like you were there,” Beebe said.
“His charm gave him the ability to get people to talk to him. People felt at ease around him and they opened up to him.”
Beebe recalled how Thorne used these abilities to gain exclusive details from the rescuers who were scrambling through the collapsed Westray Mine in search of survivors and bodies.
Six years later, Thorne took a small fishing boat to survey the aftermath of the Swissair plane crash off Peggy's Cove, North Carolina.
“In the windswept sea, 10 km southwest of this postcard site, the acrid smell of jet fuel is almost unbearable; here reigns the dull, visceral reality of death, washed away completely by the ever-rolling ocean,” he wrote.
“And there are always reminders.
Wallets. Suitcases. Shaving kit. Documents with names and Swiss addresses.
White remembers Thorne's message well.
“This is the only story I've ever edited that made me cry in CP,” White said before pausing. “It still upsets me when I think about it.”
Years later, Thorne wrote about that day in an article for Legion Magazine about his father, who was a doctor with the Canadian Air Force in Europe during World War II.
Thorne was returning to the CP office when he saw his father crossing the road. He stopped, opened the passenger side window and told him he had spent the day on the water at the crash site.
“I didn’t have to tell him what we found there. He knew.” He nodded, pursed his lips and studied my face. “I know, son,” he said. “I know where you were.” There was silence, and I moved on.
“It was perhaps the most poignant moment we've ever had. I went back to the newsroom and wrote the words: 'The lives of the 229 passengers and crew who died on board Swissair Flight 111 are passing by in 100,000 tiny pieces.'
“My life will never be the same again.”
According to Beebe, Thorne told an incredible story. “But I think it stayed with him and haunted him.”
White acknowledges that decades ago the media, including CP, were not as aware as they are now of the psychological toll that covering grim tragedies can take on a journalist.
Thorne spent much of his later career telling the stories of those who went to war.
He organized several photography exhibitions throughout North America, including one on Afghanistan that featured his stories and photographs, as well as videos by documentary filmmaker Garth Pritchard.
Another exhibition featured images of wounded soldiers.
Thorne served for a time as editor of The CWCA Newsletter, the magazine of the Canadian War Correspondents Association.
In 2018, he joined Legion Magazine, specializing in military history as a staff writer, photographer and editor.
Thorne also weaves his own experiences and stories from veterans into his book, On War: Exploring Why and How We Fight.
Valor in the Presence of the Enemy, a non-profit organization dedicated to honoring and supporting Canadian soldiers, posted a tribute to Thorne on social media after learning of his illness.
“He didn't just tell our stories – he carried them with him, protected them and made damn sure they were told correctly. His tireless work at Legion Magazine preserved countless stories that might have been forgotten,” the statement said.
“He gave voice to the fallen, honor to veterans and visibility to a cause that desperately needed a champion.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 7, 2025.
