Arno Kopecky, 2015 Magazine Award Winner
Arno is a Vancouver freelance writer, a graduate from the University of Victoria and later he interned at Harper's in New York and The Walrus in Toronto. He has contributed to the Globe and Mail, Maclean's, Foreign Policy, The Tyee, Reader's Digest, Toronto Star, and Alberta Views. Until 2010 when he came back to Canada much of his reportage came from Europe, Africa Asia and Latin America. Social Justice moved to the center of his writing while abroad.
Arno's winning article is "Title Fight: How a Nation Got its Land Back" published in July August 2015 Edition of The Walrus. It tells the story of how the Tsilhqot'in Nation of BC fought for 25 years to reclaim their land. The Supreme Court of Canada heard the longest and most expensive case in Canadian history and on June 26, 2014 ruled unanimously that the Tsilqhot'in Nations held title to approximately 1,900 square kilometers of their traditional territory. This decision marked the first time that an Aboriginal group in Canada had won a land title claim. Arno profiles the leaders of the Tsiilqot'in Nations; the lawyers who navigated the case through the courts and explores the complex legal issues involved.
He has written two books since 2010. The Devils Curve and later The Oil Man and the Sea which won the 2014 Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction and was nominated for a 2014 Governor Generals award. Arno is now focusing on the environmental battles waged by the first Nations in BC and Alberta. His most recent book is The Environmentalist’s Dilemma: Promise and Peril in an Age of Climate Crisis.
@arno_kopecky
The Walrus winning article here
