Awards and Honours
I got my second Governor-General’s Award in Moncton. They put on a splendid seafood buffet but I stuck to beer.
Governor-General’s Award for Poetry, 1969. (Shortlist, 2000)
Governor-General’s Award for Fiction, 1980.
bp Nichol Chapbook award for poetry, 1991.
bp Nichol Chapbook award for poetry, 1992.
Canadian Authors’ Association Award for Poetry, 1993.
Honorary Degree (D. Litt.), University of British Columbia, 1994.
The University of Western Ontario and the University of British Columbia gave me honorary degrees. I was expecting a deluge of them. No dice.
Parliamentary Poet Laureate, 2002-2004.
Officer, Order of Canada, 2003.
Honorary Degree (D.Litt.), University of Western Ontario, 2003.
Order of British Columbia, 2004.
Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence, 2011.
The Pandora’s Collective Distinctive Body of Work Award, 2011
UBC Alumni Award of Distinction, 2011
(Shortlisted at various times for the Governor-General’s Award, The Griffin Prize, various BC Book Prizes, The City of Vancouver Book Prize, The Stephen Leacock Medal, The B.C. National Book Award in Non-Fiction, National Magazine Awards, etc.)
The Governor-General and I had a good yuk when she put the Order of Canada around my neck. I told her I was after her job next.