Selwyn Dewdney

Selwyn Hanington Dewdney (October 22, 1909 – November 18, 1979) was a Canadian writer, illustrator, artist, activist and pioneer in both art therapy and pictography.

In the summer of 1928, he accompanied his father on a 3,800 mile journey to visit the Ojibway and Cree religious missions in the diocese of Keewatin in Northern Ontario.

[4] This job meant that he had to hold religious services both at Lac Seul and Hudson under the supervision of Canon Maurice Sanderson.

Their children were:[6] In 1936, he began teaching at Sir Adam Beck Secondary School, London, Ontario, but resigned in protest at the demotion of a colleague in 1945.

[7] With a growing family of three sons, he turned to illustrating books, writing, researching, editing and painting commissioned murals to support them.

[9] Dewdney learned of a secret society within the Ojibway, the Midewiwin, which purportedly embodied traditional ceremonial rituals of healing and sorcery and included four degrees of initiation.

It is believed that some essential elements of the Midewiwin, which was first documented by Europeans in the early 18th century, were "elaborations of traditional Anishinaabe beliefs and practices".

In 1980, two stands of white pine were planted at Agawa Bay in Lake Superior Provincial Park by the Ministry of Natural Resources to honor his memory.

A plaque erected by the family stands against the Shield rock he loved so much, a few meters away from the Ojibway pictograph Mishibizhiw, the great horned lynx.

In 1997, Selwyn's son, Alexander K. Dewdney, published Daylight in the Swamp, based on his father's bush diary, field notes and letters.