Maurice Switzer Bnesi, a citizen of the Mississaugas of Alderville First Nation, is the winner of the 2022 Debwewin Citation for excellence in journalism and storytelling.
“Chi-miigwech Maurice for continuing to share our Debwewin with students all over Ontario,"says Grand Council Chief Reg Niganobe. "He enriches thousands through teaching Canada’s true history, racist and oppressive policies and their intergenerational effects, including the Indian Act, and the significance and importance of treaty relationships, He ensures that students know about the many successes and contributions of Indigenous people across Turtle Island.”
Switzer currently serves on the Indigenous Reconciliation Advisory Group of the Ontario Human Rights Commission. He lives in North Bay, where he operates Nimkii Communications, a public education practice with a focus on the treaty relationship that made possible the peaceful settlement of Canada, says a news release.
He is the former Communications Director of the Anishinabek Nation, editor of the Anishinabek News, Assembly of First Nations Communications Director, former publisher of the Timmins Daily Press and the first Indigenous publisher of a daily newspaper in Canada, the Winnipeg Free Press.
Switzer is the author of We are all Treaty People which is a National Best-Seller in Canada and editor of Nation to Nation: A Resource to Treaties in Ontario.
"He was an integral part of creating the Treaty Learning Centre housed in the Harris Learning Library on the Nipissing University/Canadore College campus. He has previously been a recipient of the Anishinabek Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in public education," adds the release.
The Debwewin Citations are the first major awards intended to recognize and encourage excellence in journalism and storytelling about Indigenous issues by First Nations and other writers. The award name reflects the Anishinaabemowin word for “truth”, and the literal meaning is “to speak from the heart”.
