Awards and Honours

Erna Paris was the author of seven books and has contributed to ten other works, for which she received many awards and honours.

Erna Paris was invested into the Order of Canada by Governor General David Johnston in September 2016.

Erna is thrilled to be honoured by University College, University of Toronto, as a “UC Alumni of Influence” 2014. Please follow the link for further information about other honorees and the gala dinner, which took place on November 6, 2014.
UC Alumni of Influence 2014

As of 2013 Erna has been a vice president of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

On June 7, 2012, The New Solitudes, Erna’s Walrus magazine article on a changed Canada, won a silver medal at the Canadian National Magazine Awards.

Erna Paris is the 2012 recipient of the WFM – Canada World Peace Award to be presented July 12, 2012 in Winnipeg. The award recognizes an outstanding Canadian whose work advances awareness and action in support of a more peaceful future for humanity.

On October 25, 2011, Long Shadows:Truth, Lies and History was chosen by the finalists for the inaugural Hilary Weston Writers Trust Prize for Nonfiction as one of Canada’s twenty-five most influential works of nonfiction

“Top 10 Canadian Books.” Long Shadows was chosen as one of the 10 best books of the decade, in NOW, December 9-16, 2009.

In August 2009, Erna Paris was appointed to the Honorary Council of the Canadian Centre for International Justice.

“The Globe’s Top Non-Fiction of 2008.” The Sun Climbs Slow is number one for the year, in the Globe and Mail, December 4, 2008.

In May 2007 Long Shadows inspired the Canadian House of Commons motion to apologize, on behalf of the government, to survivors of Canadian residential schools. In June 2002 it inspired a resolution in the United States House of Representatives to create a monument to American slaves on the Washington Mall.

“The 100 Most Important Canadian Books Ever Written” (1535-2004) Long Shadows: Truth, Lies and History makes the list, Literary Review of Canada, November 2005

The Presence of Excellence / Vingt-Cinq Ans d’Excellence: Twenty-Five Years of Selections from the National Magazine Awards, National Magazine Awards Foundation, 2003

Visiting Fellow, International Affairs Program, University of Colorado at Boulder, Fall 2002

June 2002: Long Shadows is the inspiration for a resolution in the United States House of Representatives to create a monument to American slaves on the Washington Mall. (Tony P. Hall [Dem] Ohio)

Pearson Writers’ Trust Non-Fiction Prize, 2001
(Long Shadows)

CTV Shaughnessy Cohen Award for Political Writing, 2001 (inaugural year)
(Long Shadows)

Dorothy Shoichet Prize for History, Canadian Jewish Book Awards, 2001
(Long Shadows)

Globe and Mail Best Books, 2000
(Long Shadows)

The Christian Science Monitor Best Books, 2001
(Long Shadows)

The New Statesman Best Books, 2001
(Long Shadows)

NOW Magazine Best Books, 1981-2001
(Long Shadows)

Canadian Jewish Book Awards (History), 1996
(The End of Days)

Maclean-Hunter Fellowship, 1996
Banff Centre for the Arts

Year-End Best Books, Quill and Quire, 1995
(The End of Days)

The White Award, bronze medal, 1991
North America City and Regional Magazine Competition (U.S. and Canada)
(“The Boat People,” Toronto Life)

Best Canadian Essays, 1990
Fifth House Press
(“The Boat People”)

National Magazine Awards, gold medal, 1983
(“Canada’s Jews and the Summer of Lebanon,” Quest Magazine, 1982)

Media Club of Canada Awards:
1974 – feature writing
1974 – radio documentary
1973 – radio documentary
1970 – feature writing