For advancing social justice in Canada through his sociological research into race, immigration and multiculturalism.
Peter Li has advanced our understanding of the immigrant experience in Canada. Over the course of a 40-year career as a professor of sociology at the University of Saskatchewan, he authored a number of influential books and journal articles on race, ethnicity and social inequality. Notably, his landmark study of the experience of Chinese Canadian immigrants helped set the knowledge base for Chinese head tax redress. He has also advanced policies to help immigrants adapt to their new home as an advisor to governments and as a co-founder of the Prairie Metropolis Centre.