He served as a member of the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association (QAHA) executive committee for 23 seasons, and helped establish a provincial referee's board in 1936.

He worked with the Quebec Senior Hockey League to resolve disputes on player registrations, the sharing of gate receipts, and travel expenses in the playoffs.

He led efforts to bolster the Ottawa RCAF Flyers in advance of ice hockey at the 1948 Winter Olympics, who then won the gold medal representing Canada.

[5] Dawe resided in Verdun from age four onward, worked for 30 years at the Canadian Car and Foundry, and had become the assistant manager of human resources.

[11][14] In 1945, Dawe began organizing Canadian football played in the autumn to fill the gap between the baseball and ice hockey seasons.

[17] The league included four teams in both age groups for the 1947 season, and Dawe presided over the juvenile division of the Quebec Rugby Football Union.

[23] The Gazette credited Dawe for spending most of his time with the juvenile, midget and bantam age groups, and attending many minor hockey games played during the winter on outdoor rinks.

He sought to unify all officials in Quebec under a governing body to assign games in the provincial playoffs and establish a grading system for referees.

[30] Registrations in minor hockey had increased to 200 teams by 1940, and Dawe oversaw expansion of the provincial playoffs to include a championship for the midget age group.

[35][36] Beginning in 1940, Dawe oversaw efforts by the QAHA to host benefit games to aid the Canadian Red Cross during World War II.

Despite the approval, the CAHA had expressed concerns about the low gate receipts at the Montreal Forum, compared to expected profits elsewhere, and reserved the right to change the location of the games.

[49] The QSHL proposed forming an Eastern Canada Hockey Association in May 1941, which Dawe supported for the sake of the Allan Cup playoffs.

[50][51] QSHL president George Slater felt that any team which reached the Allan Cup finals would face bankruptcy without a better financial deal, since the CAHA kept all profits from gate receipts in inter-branch playoffs.

[51] Dawe stated that the proposal may seem like mutiny, but that the QAHA wanted to form a new association within the CAHA, and voice Eastern Canada's concerns.

[53] In the 1942 Allan Cup playoffs, the QAHA wanted the winners of the QSHL and the Eastern Townships League to play a series for the provincial senior championship.

[63] Dawe planned to expand minor hockey in Quebec by targeting ages 10 to 17, and assist the players to be part of a team outside of a school program.

[64] The QAHA wanted floodlights on outdoor ice rinks to play minor hockey games at night, despite national efforts to conserve electricity during the war.

CAHA president Frank Sargent forwarded a letter from Dawe and the QAHA to C. D. Howe, the minister of the Department of Munitions and Supply, which appealed for an exception for the sake of the kids playing hockey.

Dawe remained willing to co-operate with the QSHL as long as a settlement could be reached with the ODAHA that allowed the teams to play under the jurisdiction of the QAHA.

He attempted to mediate the dispute by allowing the ODAHA to keep the five per cent share of gate receipts for the Ottawa and Hull teams, instead of the funds being paid to the QAHA.

[80] Rumors about the QSHL becoming a professional minor league persisted in The Gazette, which reported that teams were upset with the amount of travel expenses given by the CAHA in the Allan Cup playoffs.

Dawe stated that Lester Patrick of the New York Rangers, and Art Ross of the Boston Bruins, wanted to see the QSHL and other CAHA senior leagues become professional for the best interests of the other NHL teams.

[1][89] Fred Roberts wrote in The Gazette that Dawe was, "one of the men who has done most for Canada's national sport"; "has always worked fervently for the betterment of the game"; his slogan is "please everybody at all times"; and that he was "one of Montreal's best goodwill ambassadors".

[94] He sat on the CAHA committee to publish the first common hockey rulebook with the NHL, and to find ways to speed up the game by eliminating delays.

Dawe and CAHA president Al Pickard led a committee which made a framework that the western champion could choose to travel to Toronto due to better financial returns anticipated for games played at Maple Leaf Gardens.

Dawe and CAHA executives held multiple meetings in the final weeks before the deadline to reply to the invitation to send a team.

[22] The Montreal Royals were invited to represent Canada as the 1947 Allan Cup champions, but they did not accept due to commitments to the QSHL schedule.

[104] In October 1947, the CAHA announced that the senior hockey team from the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) base in Ottawa would represent Canada and satisfy the amateur requirements at the Olympics.

[4] Dawe remained active in hockey until his death,[21][22] and his efforts to bolster the Ottawa RCAF Flyers resulted in the team winning every game at the Olympics and the gold medal.

[110] In the same season, management of the Montreal Forum donated the Norman Dawe Memorial Trophy which was awarded to the cleanest and most efficient player in the Junior Amateur Hockey Association.