George Copway (Ojibwe: Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-Bowh; 1818 – June 27, 1869) was a Mississaugas Ojibwa writer, ethnographer, Methodist missionary, lecturer, and advocate of indigenous peoples.

[1] In July 1834, together with an uncle and cousin, he was invited to work with a Methodist minister as a missionary to Ojibwe who lived near the western part of Lake Superior.

His activities in two different areas over the next few years included working with Reverend Sherman Hall in La Pointe, Wisconsin to translate the Christian Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel of St Luke into Ojibwa.

[1] In 1840, Copway met Elizabeth Howell, an English woman whose family were farmers in the Toronto area.

[2] The couple later returned to Canada in 1842, where Copway served as a missionary for the Saugeen and Rice Lake Bands of the Ojibwa.

This proposal was never approved by the United States Congress, but Copway attracted considerable attention from leading intellectuals of the time, including the historian Francis Parkman.

A recurring theme in Copway's publications is the use of alcohol by Euromericans to weaken Native American social fabric: The introduction of spirituous liquors...has been greater than all other evils combined.

But as soon as these vile drinks were introduced, dissipation commenced, and the ruin and downfall of a noble race has gone on — every year lessening their numbers.

[4]In 2018, Copway was designated a National Historic Person by the Canadian federal government (through the Minister of Environment & Climate Change).