Past Winners

2015

Up Ghost River: A Chief’s Journey through the Turbulent Waters of Native History (Alfred A. Knopf/Penguin Random House Canada, 2014) written by Edmund Metatawabin with Alexandra Shimo, is the winning entry of the 2015 Speaker’s Book Award. The Honourable Dave Levac, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, made the announcement during a ceremony at the Ontario Legislature on March 7th, 2016.

Up Ghost River is Edmund Metatawabin’s memoir of growing up in Fort Albany, Ontario, and being sent to St. Anne’s Residential School where he and his classmates were the victims of numerous abuses. After studying and working in Alberta for several years, Edmund returned to Fort Albany to reconnect with the land, and was elected Chief of his community. He has worked hard to expose the wrongdoings of St. Anne’s and to help residential school survivors heal.

2014

Paikin and the Premiers - Personal Reflections on a Half Century of Ontario Leaders (Dundurn Press, 2013) was the winning entry of the 2014 Speaker’s Book Award. The Honourable Dave Levac, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, made the announcement during a ceremony at the Ontario Legislature on March 9th, 2015.

Steve Paikin - anchor and Senior Editor of TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin - is one of Canada's most astute and respected journalists. Few people know the modern-era premiers of Canada's most populous province the way Steve Paikin does. He has covered Queen's Park politics, discussed provincial issues from all perspectives with his TVO guests, and has interviewed the premiers one-on-one. Paikin and the Premiers offers a rare, uniform perspective on John Robarts, Bill Davis, Frank Miller, David Peterson, Bob Rae, Mike Harris, Ernie Eves, Dalton McGuinty, and Kathleen Wynne.

2013

Unlikely Radicals: The Story of the Adams Mine Dump War was the winning entry of the second annual Speaker’s Book Award. The Honourable Dave Levac, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, made the announcement during a ceremony at the Ontario Legislature on March 5th, 2014.

This year’s winning book was written by author, musician and Member of Parliament Charlie Angus and published by Between the Lines in 2013. Originally from Timmins, Ontario, Mr. Angus spent a number of years living in southern Ontario before moving to Cobalt where he now resides with his family. 

Unlikely Radicals: The Story of the Adams Mine Dump War presents the compelling story of a fight for environmental justice in Ontario. The plan to dump millions of tons of waste into the fractured pits of the Adams Mine prompted five separate civil resistance campaigns, mass demonstrations, blockades, and non-violent resistance. This first hand, front lines account explains how an incredibly diverse community in Northern Ontario organized itself to fight a very creative and militant campaign and, against all odds, won the war.

2012

The winner of the 2012 Speaker’s Book Award was Walking into Wilderness:The Toronto Carrying Place and Nine Mile Portage by author and journalist Heather Robertson.  Ms. Robertson lives in King City, Ontario north of Toronto. Walking into Wilderness was published by Heartland Associates in 2010.

Walking into Wilderness is the story of the land and water trails between Lake Ontario and Georgian Bay. It examines the geological history and early archaeology of these early transportation routes into Ontario’s hinterland, while weaving the stories of the peoples who used them over the course of the province’s history.  More than a regional history book, Walking into Wilderness is a perspective on the history of Ontario, Canada and North America.