Alastair Sweeny (born August 15, 1946) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

publisher,

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

, and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

Early life

Born in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, he attended St. Andrew's College, and received a bachelor's degree from the Trinity College in the University of Toronto, and a Master of Letters and Doctor of Philosophy from

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

Career

Sweeny has managed research programs, produced reference and learning materials, and consulted with many private and public sector organizations, including as an adviser to the Canadian government's Task Force on National Unity (the Pepin-Robarts Commission), Library and Archives Canada, Parks Canada, Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, National Indian Veterans Association, Assembly of First Nations, Canadian Heritage, eLibrary ProQuest, Nelson Thomson Learning, Quebecor Media, Electric Library Canada and

CanWest Global Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canadian media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place. It held radio, television broadcasting an ...

. In 1989, he produced ''Canadisk'', Canada's first multimedia CD-ROM, as a joint venture with

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...

. In the 1990s, he developed learning materials for Apple Computer's

eWorld eWorld was an online service operated by Apple Inc. between June 1994 and March 1996. The services included email (eMail Center), news, software installs and a bulletin board system (Community Center). Users of eWorld were often referred to as ...

online service, and produced the original ''Encarta Book of Quotations'' (1999) with

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

Inc. and Bloomsbury Publishing, London. In the 1990s, he helped get Canada's SchoolNet under way, and developed the On This Day in Canadian History online service for Bell Globemedia.since replaced b
Today in Canadian History
/ref> Sweeny has produced and written corporate history for a number of Canadian companies, including

Investors Group Power Corporation of Canada () is a management and holding company that focuses on financial services in North America, Europe and Asia. Its core holdings are insurance, retirement, wealth management and investment management, including a portfo ...

Alberta Energy Company Ovintiv Inc. is a hydrocarbon exploration and production company organized in Delaware and headquartered in Denver, United States. It was founded and headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, under its previous name Encana. It was the largest energy ...

(now

Encana Ovintiv Inc. is a hydrocarbon exploration and production company organized in Delaware and headquartered in Denver, United States. It was founded and headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, under its previous name Encana. It was the largest energy c ...

Magna International Magna International Inc. is a Canadian parts manufacturer for automakers. It is one of the largest companies in Canada and was recognized on the 2020 ''Forbes'' Global 2000. The company is the largest automobile parts manufacturer in North Americ ...

and Gendis, Inc. He has done background research for Canadian authors such as W. L. Morton (research for a biography of

Lord Strathcona Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, of Glencoe in the County of Argyll and of Mount Royal in the Province of Quebec and Dominion of Canada, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1900 for the Scottish-born Canadian ...

Peter C. Newman Peter Charles Newman (born May 10, 1929) is a Canadian journalist and writer. Life and career Born in Vienna, Austria, Newman emigrated from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia to Canada in 1940 as a Jewish refugee. His parents were Wanda Maria and O ...

(Hudson's Bay Company series background history),

Richard Gwyn Richard Gwyn (ca. 1537 – 15 October 1584), also known by his anglicised name, Richard White, was a Welsh teacher at illegal and underground schools and a Bard who wrote both Christian and satirical poetry in the Welsh language. A Ro ...

(The 49th Paradox: Canada in North America),

Pierre Berton Pierre Francis de Marigny Berton, CC, O.Ont. (July 12, 1920 – November 30, 2004) was a Canadian writer, journalist and broadcaster. Berton wrote 50 best-selling books, mainly about Canadiana, Canadian history and popular culture. He also wr ...

(The Promised Land) and

Jeffrey Simpson Jeffrey Carl Simpson, OC (born February 17, 1949), is a Canadian journalist. Simpson was ''The Globe and Mails national affairs columnist for almost three decades. He has won all three of Canada's leading literary prizes—the Governor Genera ...

(Spoils of Power). He is author of several books, including a biography of Sir

George-Étienne Cartier Sir George-Étienne Cartier, 1st Baronet, (pronounced ; September 6, 1814May 20, 1873) was a Canadian statesman and Father of Confederation. The English spelling of the name—George, instead of Georges, the usual French spelling—is explained ...

(1976) and ''CanQuiz'' (2002). His "business biography" of the BlackBerry, ''BlackBerry Planet'', was published by John Wiley Canada Ltd in September 2009, and his book on Canada's oilsands industry, ''Black Bonanza'', was published by Wiley in April 2010. His book ''Fire Along the Frontier: Great Battles of the War of 1812'' was published by Dundurn Press to mark the bicentennial of the War of 1812. Sweeny is currently executive director of the non-profit educational foundation The Civics Channel, dedicated to research, teaching and learning in the areas of citizenship and society, politics, human rights and the justice system. He is co-author and producer of Civics Canada Online, as well as its print version, ''Civics Canada'' (2005), and the sponsored Canadawiki portal. He is also Vice President of Northern Blue Publishing of

Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo (formerly Waterloo County). Waterloo is situated about west-southwest of Toronto. Due to the close proximity of the ci ...

, and co-author and producer of ''History of Canada Online'' (Canada's Digital History) and ''Canada's First People'', a history of Canada's native and aboriginal nations.

Bibliography

*''George-Étienne Cartier: A Biography'' McClelland & Stewart., 1976 * ''CanQuiz'' (Key Porter, 2002) *''Civics Canada'' (2005) *''Canada's First People'' (2006) *''BlackBerry Planet'' (2009) *''Black Bonanza'' (2010) *''Fire Along the Frontier: Great Battles of the War of 1812'' (2012) *''The Trackers: How to Manage Your Privacy on the Web.'' (2013, co-author) *''The Founders of Canada (Canada's Digital History)'' (2013, co-author) *''The Settlers of Canada (Canada's Digital History)'' (2013, co-author) *''Canada - The New Nation (Canada's Digital History)'' (2013, co-author) *''Thomas Mackay: The Laird of Rideau Hall and the Founding of Ottawa'' (2022)

References

External links

History of Canada OnlineSamuel de Champlain PortalGeorge-Étienne Cartier PortalToday in Canadian History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sweeny, Alastair 1946 births Living people Canadian Anglicans Canadian biographers Male biographers 20th-century Canadian historians Canadian male non-fiction writers Historians of Canada Canadian technology writers Canadian book publishers (people) Writers from Toronto University of Toronto alumni Trinity College (Canada) alumni Alumni of Trinity College Dublin St. Andrew's College (Aurora) alumni George-Étienne Cartier Athabasca oil sands Bituminous sands of Canada Canadian people of the War of 1812 21st-century Canadian historians