Book detailing crimes of northern sexual predator shortlisted for national award
Kathleen Lippa’s work examines Ed Horne’s crimes and impact on Arctic communities
Kathleen Lippa’s ‘Arctic Predator: The Crimes of Edward Horne Against Children in Canada’s North,’ is shortlisted for the Crime Writers of Canada Brass Knuckles Award for Best Non-fiction Crime Book. (Photo by Billy Akavak, Special to Nunatsiaq News)
Kathleen Lippa’s book about notorious sexual predator Edward Horne has been shortlisted for a Crime Writers of Canada award.
Arctic Predator is a finalist for the $300 Brass Knuckles Award for Best Non-fiction Crime Book, one honour in the organization’s suite of prizes, which have been handed out annually since 1984.
Published last year by Dundurn Press, the book examines the harm caused by Horne, who worked as a schoolteacher and principal in Sanikiluaq, Iqaluit, Kimmirut, Grise Fiord and Cape Dorset (now Kinngait), from 1971 to 1985.
Horne was later convicted of multiple sex offences against children. He served about 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to 28 charges.
Lippa, a longtime northern journalist who splits her time between St. John’s, N.L., and Ottawa, first encountered Horne’s story in 2003. An article about Cape Dorset residents burning a former school portable where he had worked prompted her to dig deeper.
Her reporting expanded into a years-long project. She wanted the book to document what happened, highlight the intergenerational impacts of trauma and raise awareness of Horne’s crimes, which weren’t widely known among southerners.
Sixty-six of Horne’s victims launched a lawsuit against the Nunavut and Northwest Territories governments in 2004.
In 2011, a $15-million settlement was reached. Before that, a separate case involving 85 victims was settled for $21.5 million.
Also shortlisted for the award are titles by Robert Cree, Therese Greenwood, John L. Hill, Lorna Poplak and Julian Sher with Lisa Fitterman.
The winners will be announced May 29.
Congratulations on being shortlisted. Last summer, I read Lippa’s account of the Horne crimes in what felt like one sitting. A well-written, highly readable account of the doings of a monstrously damaged and damaging former teacher in Nunavut, the book should be required reading for all Nunavut teachers and educational administrators. Ed Horne is just one cause of the inter generational trauma that manifests itself in the behaviour and struggles of our students. Lest we ever forget.
Thank you!