Fabian Dawson is a multiple-award winning journalist, an internationally acclaimed author, filmmaker and media expert. His work over the last three decades spans the globe and he also serves as a consultant/strategic advisor to a variety of international companies. Until August of 2016, Dawson was the deputy editor-in-chief of The Province newspaper in Vancouver, which is part of the Postmedia group, Canada’s largest media organization. He was also the editor of Vancouverdesi.com, Canada’s biggest South Asian news portal. As the deputy editor-in-chief, Dawson oversaw the work of dozens of reporters and unit heads responsible for both the print and internet edition of the paper which covers financial reporting, investigative reporting, local and international news, sports and lifestyle and revenue generating directed content initiatives. Born and raised in Malaysia, Dawson is of Indian origin. He migrated to Vancouver in 1988. He has two children. As a journalist, Dawson’s work has taken him all over Asia, Europe, North and Central America. He serves as the editorial advisor to the Vancouver-based South Asian Post, Asian Pacific Post and Filipino Post newspapers as well as several publications in Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, India, Singapore, Philippines and England and the Market One Media Group. Dawson is a regular on TV and radio talk shows and is a guest lecturer at various schools of journalism. His work, particularly in India, has led to the creation of four documentary films and a made-for-TV movie. Dawson has been cited for excellence in journalism multiple times since 2002 by the Jack Webster Foundation while many of the stories he has directed have won national and international journalism awards. In 2004, The National Newspaper Awards Board of Governors named Dawson as the recipient of 2004 Unsung Hero of Canadian journalism. The NNA awards are the highest honours in Canadian newspaper journalism.
In July 2006, an investigative team led by Dawson won the prestigious Daniel Pearl Award in New York for 2005’s outstanding story about South Asia. The team also took the Rolls Royce Commonwealth Award in London, the Jack Webster Award for Excellence in Journalism in Canada, while receiving citations of merit from the Canadian Association of Journalists, the Society of Newspaper Design and the Canadian National Newspaper Awards Committee. In 2008, Dawson was presented the Izzy Award, the highest honour in the Canwest Media (now Postmedia) empire of 10,700 employees. Later he was awarded the company’s president’s prize for innovation in media.
He is also a recipient of the Queen’s Jubilee Medal, cited as among the top 100 influential South Asians in Vancouver by the Vancouver Sun and was recently honoured by the Vancouver-based Darpan Magazine and the Chetna Association of Canada for his work within the South Asian media.
Dawson is a much sought-after media commentator on Asian affairs and has been called to speak to Members of Parliament in Canada’s House of Commons on matters pertaining to national security and at international seminars sponsored by organizations like the United Nations. He also speaks regularly at seminars for Canadian police officers, crown prosecutors and social workers. Dawson has been invited by the governments of India, Malaysia, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and the United States to act as a media observer/advisor on a variety of Asian-Canada issues.