Officer of the Order of Canada

• Awarded on: May 2, 2013
• Invested on: November 22, 2013

Fred Wah has contributed to the life of poetry in Canada for more than 50 years. His award-winning work explores issues of race and equality inspired by his own experiences as a multicultural Canadian raised in small-town British Columbia. Committed to nurturing literary culture, he has developed university writing programs, edited for several literary magazines, including Open Letter and West Coast Line, and was part of the collective that established TISH, an influential poetry newsletter. Most recently, he served as parliamentary poet laureate.