The Pierre Berton Award for 2017 -- for a career in presenting Canadian history in books, film, television, and new media -- will be presented to my friend and fellow history blogger Daniel Francis of North Vancouver, a historian "both of the local and the national." Bravo!
Daniel began writing histories of the fur trade, exploration, and Arctic whaling, He edited the newsstand history magazine Horizon Canada, and wrote the widely read (and taught) National Dreams and The Imaginary Indian, both groundbreaking works in redefining Canadian perceptions of the past. After returning to his British Columbia roots, he became one of that province's pre-eminent interpreter of west coast history, notably through his editorship of the Encyclopedia of British Columbia, but also through his journalism (particularly at Geist), and his books on everything from political biography to highways to the sex trade to prohibition.
