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The Joe Zuken Citizen Activist Award
The Joe Zuken Citizen Activist Award is given to individuals or groups that uphold Joe Zuken’s values of serving the community and working to build better communities. The Award honours those who have made significant contributions and rendered service to Winnipeg in a variety of ways, particularly in terms of education, social policy, justice and law, and the arts.
Joe Zuken (1912-86) was one of Winnipeg’s most effective politicians. He served for over 42 years as a school trustee and city councillor, representing Winnipeg’s North End. By the time he retired from public office, many of his proposals had become accepted, including the implementation of kindergarten, free textbooks for schoolchildren, and increased public housing and urban development. For more on Zuken and a fascinating history of leftist politics in Winnipeg during the 1960s-90s, you may read Joseph Zuken, Citizen and Activist by Doug Smith.
The Joe Zuken Citizen Activist Award was created by the Joseph Zuken Memorial Association. When this group wound down, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba was honoured to become the host of the award.
Nominations
A call for nominations for the Joseph Zuken Citizen Activist Award is made annually. To inquire, please email [email protected].
Previous recipients
Dorothy Betz
Sel Burrows
Olga Foltz
Kent Gerecke
Barry Hammond
John Loxley
Mount Carmel Clinic
Neechi Foods
Carl Ridd
Rossbrook House
Jim Silver
Tom Simms
Murray Smith
Leslie Spillett
Val Werier
Errol Black (2012)
Shirley Lord (2014)
Meet Me at the Bell Tower (2017)
Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata (2019)
Roz Usiskin (2020)
Mitch Bourbonniere (2021)
Harold Dyck (2022)
Lynda Trono (2024)
Right to Housing Coalition (2026)
