Adam Lajeunesse wins Dafoe Book Prize for look at Arctic Maritime sovereignty

WINNIPEG – Historian Adam Lajeunesse has won the $10,000 J.W. Dafoe Book Prize for his look at Canada’s claims to sovereignty in the Arctic.

“Lock, Stock, and Icebergs: A History of Canada’s Arctic Maritime Sovereignty” (University of British Columbia Press) beat four other finalists for the prize on Wednesday.

The book runs down the economics, politics, international law and the geography of the area that is contested by Canada, Russia and the United States.

Jury members called it a “thorough, judicious, and absorbing book.”

Lajeunesse, who is also an international relations expert specializing in the Canadian North, will formally receive the honour at a dinner on May 17 in Winnipeg.

Named after a prominent editor, the prize honours non-fiction titles concerning Canada.