He was awarded the Pearson Writers' Trust Non-Fiction Prize in 2003 for his book Virtual Clearcut, or The Way Things Are in My Hometown.
[3][4] His father, Hartley, was a soft drink salesman in Alberta who moved to Prince George during the late 1930s to establish his own company; his mother was Rita Surry.
After working in the forest service for three years, he relocated to Vancouver at the age of 22 to study at the newly-formed Simon Fraser University (SFU).
[3] One of these works, Cambodia: A Book for People Who Find Television Too Slow (1986), which gave an account of the Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian genocide, received recognition across Canada.
The Secret Journal of Alexander Mackenzie, released one year later, analyzed the misuse of the remote areas of British Columbia in a fictional setting, as well as recognizing the "global village" invasion from a psychological and economic perspective.
[1][6] Named after a restaurant on Toronto's Bloor Street West, the site is described as "a news service" and to which he was a regular contributor.
[5][6] His book Virtual Clearcut: Or, the Way Things Are in My Hometown won the Pearson Writers' Trust Non-Fiction Prize in 2003,[A] with Fawcett receiving C$15,000 as a result.