Arctic Predator

The shocking crimes of a trusted teacher wrought lasting damage on Inuit communities in Canada's Arctic.

In the 1970s, a young schoolteacher from British Columbia was becoming the darling of the Northwest Territories education department with his dynamic teaching style. He was learning to speak the local language, Inuktitut, something few outsiders did. He also claimed to be Indigenous - a claim that would later prove to be false. In truth, Edward Horne was a pedophile who sexually abused his male students.

From 1971 to 1985 his predations on Inuit boys would disrupt life in the communities where he worked - towns of close-knit families that would suffer the intergenerational trauma created by his abuse.

Journalist Kathleen Lippa, after years of research, examines the devastating impact the crimes had on individuals, families, and entire communities. Her compelling work lifts the veil of silence surrounding the Horne story once and for all.

Arctic Predator is the utterly gripping story of the dark side of colonialism... Through exhaustive research and first person interviews, Kathleen Lippa’s book painfully exposes the failings of those of us who were there in the education establishment. And she gives voice to the children who never had the courage to speak of the horrors inflicted on them by this cunning, duplicitous and twisted demon or who were dismissed and ignored if they did. This important book is a chilling must-read. Dennis Patterson, retired Senator (Nunavut), former Premier of the Northwest Territories
Unbelievable, but it’s all true. It contains all that only a survivor knows. Inuit have been lied about for decades and this book will spell it out. The crazy, untrue world Ed Horne lived in still has impact on many men who were boys when it happened. I speak on behalf of my brothers who never had a chance to be something — they had hoped and dreamed of succeeding one day. Many Ed Horne victims have taken their lives, and some victims are incarcerated. Hope they won’t blame themselves anymore. Now I’m in the light. Invisible walls have fallen. There is now room to breathe. No more walls of shame, confusion, most of all, self-doubt. Aksaqtunguaq Pitseolak Ashoona, Inuit Cultural Advocate
Arctic Predator is impeccably researched, and although the subject matter is deeply disturbing, beautifully written. It is the story of one of the worst institutionalized, sexual abuse cases committed by a single pedophile in Canadian history. A must read for anyone who cares about justice and the protection of children. Michael Harris, investigative journalist
Arctic Predator achieves profound insight into one of the most disturbing and dismaying series of events in Canadian Arctic history. This is a work of great scholarship and extraordinary depth. It sets out and seeks to understand how terrible crimes were committed by one evil man against individual children and the communities where they lived, and how the damage has spread deep and wide. Kathleen Lippa has written a book that is of huge importance and, at the same time, as accessible as it is revelatory. It is compelling and anguished and humane. Hugh Brody, anthropologist and author of Landscapes of Silence: From Childhood to the Arctic

Kathleen Lippa grew up in St. John's, Newfoundland, and worked as a reporter at newspapers across Canada, eventually serving as bureau chief for Nunavut News/North in Iqaluit. Kathleen divides her time between Ottawa and St. John's.

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