The Order of Canada was created in 1967.

Up to 2020, here is a list of British Columbian authors who received the Order of Canada:

Jo-ann Archibald, Robin Blaser, Robert Bringhurst, David Bouchard, George Bowering, Barry Broadfoot, Audrey A. Brown (1968), Ted Chamberlin, George Clutesi, Douglas Coupland, Lorna Crozier, Adriana Davies, Al Etmanski, Sherrill Grace, Christie Harris, David Chuenyan Lai, Jack Hodgins, W.P. Kinsella, Joy Kogawa, Patrick Lane, Dorothy Livesay, Daphne Marlatt, Roy Miki, Eric Nicol, Bill New, P.K. Page, Jane Rule, Olav Slaymaker, Peter Stursberg, David Suzuki, Audrey Thomas, Alan Twigg, Fred Wah, Phyllis Webb, Howard White, Yosef Wosk and Rachel Wyatt.

Other literary recipients of the Order of Canada who came to reside in B.C. later in their careers include Fred Cogswell, Al Purdy, Sinclair Ross and Carol Shields.

Bookseller Jim Munro, publisher Karl Siegler, publisher Jim Douglas, publisher Scott McIntyre, festival organizer Alma Lee and librarian Basil Stuart-Stubbs have also been admitted.

Renowned World War II flying ace Wing Commander J.F. (Stocky) Edwards of Courtenay wrote three books and was inducted into the Order of Canada as a war hero. Also the author of two books, Ralph Shaw was appointed to the Order of Canada in 1984 for his work in conservation and outdoor education at the McQueen Lake Environmental Education Centre in Kamloops. Holocaust educator Robert Krell,  also a psychiatrist, was admitted to the Order and has written various books, including an autobiography.

 

 

Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro, who lived in B.C. for more than twenty years as a writer, declined her appointment of Officer of the Order of Canada.

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Oddly, far fewer B.C. authors have received the Order of British Columbia.

As of 2014, recipients included George Bowering, Douglas Coupland, W.P. Kinsella, Joy Kogawa, Dorothy Livesay, Roy Miki, P.K. Page, Jane Rule, Howard White.

Former Vancouver Island University Dean Carol Matthews, also an author, received the Order of British Columbia in 2012 as an educator.

[Photo: Little-known B.C. poet and journalist Audrey Brown receives the Order of Canada from Governor-General Roland Michener in 1968, having been inducted to the Order in 1967.]

[BCBW 2016]