Weekly that has been at odds with Mohawk Nation is named best small-circulation paper in Canada

For a copy of the editorial, click here.

The Rural Blog is almost entirely about events, trends, issues, ideas and journalism from and about the rural United States, but our colleagues in Canada share a language and most of the same approaches to journalism. There are lots of good newspapers in rural Canada, and some of them were recognized last week in the Canadian Community Newspaper Awards, sponsored by Newspapers Canada.

The winner for general excellence and best-all round newspaper in the smallest circulation class, up to 1,250, was The Eastern Door of Kahnawake, Que., in a mostly rural area across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal. Edited by Steve Bonspiel, the weekly has been at odds with the local Mohawk Nation tribal government. "I think a real congratulations to Steve is in order for persevering through community boycotts and incredible community divide," one of his Canadian colleagues in the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors said on the ISWNE list-serve, to which Bonspiel is a frequent contributor.

The winners in the next five larger classes were: 1,250-1,999, the Citizen, Blyth/Brussels, Ont.; 2,000-2,999, The Chief, Squamish, B.C.; 3,000-3,999, The Mountaineer, Rocky Mountain House, Alberta; 4,000-6,499, The Independent, Petrolia/Lambton, Ont.; 6,500-12,499, NWT News/North, Northwest Territories. A complete list of the awards is here.