In 2007, he was made a lifetime member of the Playwrights Guild of Canada for “his outstanding contribution to Canadian Playwriting and Theatre.” Foon's screenplays have continued his exploration into the psyche of youth: Little Criminals (1995), produced as a CBC movie about an 11-year-old gang leader, won multiple national and international awards; Life, Above All (2011), is a feature that received a ten-minute standing ovation at Cannes; it was shortlisted for a 2011 best foreign language Oscar.
During his early years (1975–1978) in theatre, Foon wrote experimental plays, drawing from common children's genres, such as myth, folktales, and indigenous legends.
The plays portray with compelling credibility and theatricality the perilous world of children who endure systemic racism, school bullying, the trauma of divorce, and dysfunctional families.
He served as dramaturge and director of Joan MacLeod’s play, Amigo’s Blue Guitar, which won the Governor General’s Award; Rigtig Dansk Dreng at Taastrup Teater, Denmark; and a production of his own Invisible Kids for the Unicorn Theatre, London, England.
Foon wrote the screenplay Life Above All, winner of the Prix Francois Chalais at Cannes and shortlisted for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
His A Shine of Rainbows (starring Aidan Quinn and Connie Nielsen) premiered at TIFF and played at over 30 international film festivals, winning 11 awards.
[5] In the 2000s, wanting to delve still deeper into the psyche of youth, he began to write novels, publishing Double or Nothing, Skud (winner of the Sheila A. Egoff Book Award), and the trilogy, The Longlight Legacy.