Alastair Sweeny (born August 15, 1946) is a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

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 species; as well as the ...

, and

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

Early life

Born in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, 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 Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

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 Library and Archives Canada (LAC; ) is the federal institution tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is the 16th largest library in the world. T ...

Parks Canada Parks Canada ()Parks Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Parks Canada Agency (). is the agency of the Government of Canada which manages the country's 37 National Parks, three National Marine Co ...

, 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 (now called 201 Portage). It held radio, ...

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

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

. In the 1990s, he developed learning materials for

Apple Computer Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Computer Co ...

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 corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

Inc. and

Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. Bloomsbury's head office is located on Bedford Square in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a US publishing office located in ...

, 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, Alberta Energy Company (now

Encana Encana Corporation was a Canadian independent petroleum company that existed from 2002 to 2020. The company, stylised as EnCana until 2010, was created by David P. O'Brien of PanCanadian Petroleum and Gwyn Morgan of the Alberta Energy Company ...

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 Amer ...

and Gendis, Inc. He has done background research for Canadian authors such as W. L. Morton (research for a biography of Lord Strathcona), Peter C. Newman (Hudson's Bay Company series background history),

Richard Gwyn Richard Gwyn (ca. 1537 – 15 October 1584), also known by his anglicized 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 Roman C ...

(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 historian, writer, journalist and broadcaster. Berton wrote 50 best-selling books, mainly about Canadiana, Canadian history and popular cultur ...

(The Promised Land) and Jeffrey Simpson (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 Canadians, Canadian statesman and Fathers of Confederation, Father of Confederation. The English spelling of the name—George, instead of Georges, th ...

(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, Ontario, Waterloo County). Waterloo is situated about west-southwest of Toronto, but it is n ...

, 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 21st-century Canadian biographers Canadian male biographers 20th-century Canadian historians 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