Officer of the Order of Canada

• Awarded on: December 4, 2017
• Invested on: July 05, 2018

Lee Maracle, O.C.
Toronto, Ontario

Si’yam Lee Maracle is recognized as one of the most influential Indigenous voices in Canada’s literary landscape. A traditional teacher, Elder and instructor at the University of Toronto, she was among the first Indigenous authors to be published in Canada in the early 1970s. Comprising numerous acclaimed fiction and non-fiction books, as well as poetry anthologies, her work touches upon gender, sexuality and cultural relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. She has launched a dialogue that has been instrumental in promoting social justice in Canada.